#patho ask

[xabarik]

я сделала первый ответ в аск :-) приветку не буду кидать но она есть нам там весело an thing for the patho ask :-) translation isnt perfect but i was TRY my best There's a lot of biblical references (unfortunately not very popular but i mean apostle andrey is exist its something) and i little bit of blood Q: Were you like that when you were young? Violent and obsessed with will?

Violent?! Obsessed! Pal, are you sure you're not mistaking me for someone else?! I guess you don't care for your tongue at all. I'm not "violent", it's you the one who's fearful. And I've never been afraid. 

But when I was young, it wasn't will that drove me, no. Behind the action was a thought, an idea! I believed that by not doing what my hands longed for, I could get something more... I knew I couldI could keep from burning in a fire, from being taken by a bullet. But that's what the rules were made for. A cage for the will.

But in a single moment, all goals were forgotten. I knew the punishment that awaited me. A punishment that would tear my skull apart with the fire of guilt. One moment stretched into hours. For I had anticipated. Waited. But nothing happened. Then I realized that neither fire nor bullet could take me. I realized my nature. I realized my purpose. And I realized freedom. Will. 

I became "obsessed" with this knowledge, if you like. You would like to believe that this is my obsession from a young age, don't you?

[pathologicy]

Thank you for the Kaede deserves and gets better propaganda. Good food indeed!

of course ! she deserves so much more than what was given to her in canon , i will definitely be drawing her more soon enough !

[chalkrub]

strange fellas

[wiltkingart]

PATHO 3 CONFIRMED DANIIL’S PUSSY SHALL BE OBLITERATED

i need his cervix torn to shreds by the time space continuum 🧎‍♂️

[seance]

THE MUSKETEERS 10TH ANNIVERSARY REWATCH / fave episodes [4/?] ↳ SEASON 1, EPISODE 10 / musketeers don't die easily

[writingjourney]

Really, just remember to be kind and supportive. It's so much more important than notes, numbers, reach or whatever. Fandom spaces can be very toxic and the mechanisms of social media don't help, but first and foremost they are a community of people. Support and kindness will always transcend anything ♡

[blasphemousclaw]

*spots another Vengeance-Seeking Hornsent fan through looking at the tags in fav SoTE NPC poll* I am still seeing "he was a potentate himself because of the mask" claims here and there 😔 I honestly think he is wearing the mask for its actual function: to ward off the doubts and other things that make you lose focus, since he must keep his mind fixed on revenge. Besides he comes from Belurat and not Bonny Village (revealed if you share scorpion soup with him) and his trademark weapon implies he only grabbed a sword for revenge and didn't wield weapon before, let alone their butchering knife

These are just what I think. What do you think about him and the "discourse" though? Do you lean strongly to this or that side or neutral on both takes?

HORNSENT NATION

OK so I was always kind of kind of torn between whether I believed he was a greater potentate or not, but I was leaning towards him being a potentate… BUT then after you sent this I went on a deep dive to see if I could prove either theory, and what I found really made feel like he WASN’T a potentate???

I went through like every possible source of info in the game and listed all the possible interpretations so I’m gonna list a bunch of it here with my conclusion:

Bonny Butcher’s Cleaver: “An outsize butcher's cleaver used to dismember human bodies in the making of the great jars stored in the gaols.”

Hefty Cracked Pot: “The greater potentates of Bonny Village craft these and store them in a frozen gaol.”

From these items we learn that the jars are exclusively made at Bonny Village from dismembered shamans, are transported to the gaols, and stored there under freezing temperatures probably so the innards don’t spoil, like a giant fridge?? Then, we learn from the Belurat Gaol spirit that misbehaving prisoners are added to the shaman jars there, where their flesh “melds harmoniously” together. So the greater potentates only operate at Bonny Village, and I think it’s also implied that only Bonny Village natives are potentates:

“A record of crafting techniques of the greater potentate who roamed lands near and far. Haunted by the grotesque practice of his village of birth, he stuffed great pots with all manner of things.” (Greater Potentate Cookbooks)

It seems like being a greater potentate is kind of like, a family business, since the practice is strictly localized to the one village and this particular guy was basically born into the profession there even though he found it ghoulish. So I’m doubting that outsiders from other places became potentates?

If Hornsent is a potentate, he’d probably have to be from Bonny Village, or at the very least, live there… and like you said, I think the game is screaming that he’s from Belurat! Freyja has this to say about him:

“Do you know why the eternally dour fellow keeps his distance? He’s one of the tower’s Hornsent. I can only assume he fights for his own reasons, and carries his own burdens.”

I feel like this almost certainly means that Hornsent is from Belurat because Freyja specifically says “the tower.” Freyja and Hornsent are also standing right in front of the Belurat gate when you get this dialogue. There’s also the scorpion stew interaction with him:

Scorpion Stew: “Scorpion simmered in a black soup. Traditional meal of the hornsent. […] Once made with love by a certain elderly woman for the family table. Having long gone cold, this soup gives off a rank, sour smell.”

Hornsent says this when you give it to him:

“What’s this? Do you think me in need of alms? Ah… but this dish. Tis fare o’ the tower. I remember fondly this kin-clad scent. …Brings back memories I’d all but forgot. This, by my troth, is but a dismal copy. Indeed, I think it rather plain to see… things once broken can never be the same.”

So I don’t think scorpion stew is exclusive to Belurat by any means, since there’s many other Hornsent settlements, but I think it means something that Hornsent immediately thinks of the Tower when he sniffs the stew. I also think that him pondering this theme of “things once broken” makes the most sense in the context of Belurat… you can give Hornsent the stew only after traversing all of Belurat, beating Divine Beast, and talking to Hornsent Grandam, so you’ve seen Belurat’s ruins with your own eyes and learned that it was once a place where families cooked and ate scorpion stew together. That really resonates with Hornsent’s vengeance in the name of his murdered mother, wife, and child! Him having lived through what happened to Belurat personally just makes sense!

Ok so why does Hornsent wear the potentate mask??

I think you’re right that he’d only be wearing it for its ritual purposes:

Caterpillar Mask: “Grotesque mask constructed from countless solidified caterpillars. A ritual implement of the greater potentates of Bonny Village. Used to ward off thoughts of impurity, doubt, temptation, and other wickednesses one is vulnerable to while absorbed in divine ritual.”

Makes sense that potentates would want to banish any feelings of doubt or temptation or any other distractions when their job is to kill and dismember people… which is a sentiment that absolutely applies to Hornsent’s goals as a vengeance-seeker. Also, the jar-making is described as a “divine ritual,” and the act of seeking revenge also seems really ritualistic? Hornsent’s robe is created specifically for the purpose of vengeance:

Braided Cord Robe: “Ragged black cloth overlaid with braided cord. Attire of a vengeance-seeking hornsent. The braided cord ties together the vow of the revenger with the victims' grudges. It must never come undone. Enhances both watchful spirits and the vengeful spirits summoned by horned bairns.”

Does this not feel like a sort of ritualistic, divine invocation of revenge? Hornsent also forges new blades specifically for his vengeance, and repeats the phrase “In vengeance for the flames, my blade I wield” several times, like a mantra. Thematically, I think Hornsent wearing the potentate mask is drawing a link between the Bonny Village butchering, and the endless, bloody path of revenge that eventually leads Hornsent to ruin; both of these acts are in a way like ritually-sanctioned butchery. So while Hornsent might not literally be a potentate himself, the game wants us to THINK of the ritual violence that the potentates carry out when we look at Hornsent!

So overall I don’t think any of these arguments can like, 100% definitively prove that Hornsent wasn’t a potentate because there’s a few assumptions I made that teeeechnically might not be true (like that only Bonny Village natives are greater potentates, or that “the tower” always specifically refers to Belurat), but I now think that it makes the most sense if he isn’t a potentate!

[nerdkiller]

Can I ask what you took out of Clara’s ending? I have a hard time viewing it in a more positive light

I can understand why people feel that way about Clara's ending. There is, of course, the issue of the "human sacrifice" that the Humble ending seemingly requires, which is the main thing I think turns people off to it. I am curious about how Pathologic 3 and the future (fingers crossed) Changeling route sequel, as they've continued to lean into this question, just in a different way. I say this because I think that perhaps the underdevelopment of the Changeling route leads to many people not seeing the beauty in it. People are generally not convinced by IPL's portrayal of this ending as the final, conclusive statement of their game.

From what I've seen of fandom, it's easier to argue in favor of the Termite ending than the Utopian ending, so in my argument in favor of the Humble ending/Clara's solution, I spend most of my time countering that one instead. Besides the fact that Clara's solution as a better solution than what we get out of the Termite ending, Clara's ending also responds to Pathologic Classic HD's thematic issue of agency and how it can exist in a scripted universe.

The main argument *against* the Termite ending is that 1) Artemy becomes a false Warden like Oyun and is destined to be overthrown by Notkin, according to Capella's plan. Remember that the Kin/Bos Turokh do not recognize Artemy as legitimate (which is probably why Taya suggests he won't immediately rise to power) unless he makes the correct, proportional sacrifice—this is outright stated in his entry for the Final Proceedings on Day 12. This is because he fails to sacrifice Aglaya by choosing either the Utopian or Humble plan, who, despite claiming to want to stop the Sand Pest, is actually on its side in a way—Aglaya is there to administer a return to following the Law, the path of logic, the Law of Inevitability, and the Sand Pest is wrought out as a consequence of those Laws' existing (see the Day 7 Pantomime). And the Law, by the way, is what dehumanizes everyone in the game including the player, and forces us to make these sacrifices to survive from the moment we start to the final day in the Cathedral. The Law tricks the player, who is the only figure in the game that actually has agency, to fear the Sand Pest, because of the magic circle (by which I mean Huizinga's)—the suspension of disbelief we have to do to participate in the game, which attempts to dehumanize us, to turn us into its puppets. Clara recognizes that the world she is in, the character that she is, all of that isn't real. Only the player is real.

2)There's no guarantee that the outbreak won't return. He thinks it could and expresses as much to the Bachelor during the Bachelor's Day 12, but assumes there will be enough panacea to stop it. If we understand solving the problem of the Sand Pest in the town as not just a problem of creating panaceas or vaccines but rather a problem of not, as a player, recognizing the power of our own agency, then Artemy condemns himself to be a puppet for the fantasy that his Bound can become real Humans and make the settlement into something new. He's a content puppet, perhaps. It's not a terrible ending, but it is ultimately futile. You, as the player, never can actually see these Termites grow up, never see what they do with the Town. And they aren't real either, making it effectively pointless. Pathologic deliberately calls attention to this fact—you have only 12 days in this world, and the world does not truly exist beyond or before you arrive. Remember that this town was built for you as a puzzle to solve.

Finally, Clara's solution seems horrible because of the sacrifice of the Humbles, but because the world doesn't exist past Day 12, I like to argue that the Humbles never truly do get sacrificed. There are several hints to this conclusion. First of all, when Block asks Clara for her solution in the Cathedral, she can either tell him that she's "giving Simon back to this town," referring to the Humbles' sacrifice in metaphor, but even then, when she poses the question, "Would you like to know how I'm going to do it?" he doesn't care to hear her response. Or, when he prompts her to explain if she "really know[s] a way to preserve this town," she can respond, "What if I said no?" to which he still replies that he'll just have to deal with it and will still make the choice to retreat.

Then there's this branch of dialogue between Rubin and the Changeling (I think either Day 10 or Day 12) on that which further suggests that the Humble sacrifice may be a farce:

15. Stanislav Rubin: I don't think once will be enough [referring to Clara laying on her hands]. And you'll have to do it in public, to avoid rumours and speculations. At any rate, I'll make the extracts and see what happens. We'll try this and that. 16.Changeling: Ugh! That sounds a bit too… mechanical, for lack of a better word… 17.Stanislav Rubin: Your role in this is a mechanical one. Ask the masked Executors. They're already excitedly sharing details with each other. 18.Changeling: What's that supposed to mean? My 'role'? What role? 18.Changeling: I'd like to avoid that. Miracles and mechanics don't mix very well, do they? 19.Stanislav Rubin: I don't know. That's up to you. 20.Changeling: Yes, it's up to me… And that points my thoughts in a certain direction… 20.Changeling: …So we've gone full circle?

Which I also like to consider in context of this conversation between Saburov and Clara on Day 12:

9.Alexander Saburov: They will not let us build our life the way it was intended. The brittle magic of our community will be trampled underfoot. Our erstwhile blissful existence will be irrevocably gone. Everything will be completely different. New people will arrive, and the deadening power of the state will lay down its own Law here! Do not let that happen… as we didn't let it happen before. 10.Changeling: Will I be able to do it? 11.Alexander Saburov: You'll do fine! You'll devote yourself to other things; you'll be spinning your yarn… While your chosen regent must be cunning. He must learn to mislead them… to mask our distinctiveness… he must not let them redevelop the North-East Line any further east than the Gorkhon estuary… He must be cautious! 12.Changeling: I understand, father. You're tired. You need some rest now. 12.Changeling: I know what to do. Those who favour hard logic and direct action are bound to be misguided. But I can work miracles. And my hands are untied.

The last line from Clara, of course, is from the Theater prologue. What both Saburov and Rubin have in common is that they both fail to see beyond the veil; Saburov, the administrator, is too wrapped up in his life's work of managing this fictional town. He imagines Clara adopting a role a Mistress and finding a husband and Ruler, following the same societal structure he is familiar with, in order to maintain the precarious position the town is in, in limbo between the Law and miracles.

Rubin is similarly convinced: though he notes the Executor's laughter, he doesn't understand their irony. He expects her to play a particular "role," "mechanical" in nature, but in the end has to concede that it's "up to [Clara]." She then can signal to her audience that that "points [her] thoughts in a certain direction," suggesting that she knows a possible alternative to Rubin's explanation.

Characters who are more aware, such as the self-professed "criminal" Yulia (Day 12, Changeling Route) note the distinctive lack of people in the street (and for that matter, the plague) on Day 12, telling her, "Didn't you see everyone disappear? You won't see anything but raw vectors now, lines along which your effort may be applied."

Lastly, the Humble ending animation has just 3 sacrifices, all the generic, male, wandering NPCs, all bowing to the sandbox and dying. Sure, one can believe this is because we get to choose which of our Bound are sacrificed, and rather than animate all possible options, Ice Pick Lodge decided to represent them with just the puppet-faced NPCs. I'm of the belief that such shortcuts are also thematically relevant and meaningful regardless, whether they were intended by Ice Pick Lodge or not, as truth does not lie solely with the creator.

So, if Clara's Humbles never get sacrificed, then what is still the point? It still doesn't feel good to make the choice to sacrifice them. I would say that at least these choices are made with willing participants, whatever their reasons are, whatever their "will" means, rather than making the choice of sacrificing the Polyhedron and knowing that will entrench the town's fate in the Law with no escape. And really, the choice to sacrifice the Polyhedron, the settlement, or neither of those things/just the Humbles is less about the effect these choices have on the world, but the effect these have on us, the player. What kind of person do you become when you choose to sacrifice the Polyhedron, or the settlement, or the third option?

Now, does this lead to viewing the Humble ending in a "positive light," as you say? Maybe not, so I am sorry to disappoint. In fandom, we like to play with our toys; they are beloved to us and we want them to live forever. This interpretation of Clara's Humble ending makes it very difficult to entertain ourselves in that way. The Termite ending is not a terrible ending, but it's an ending where we ultimately live with the lie, in my opinion. In Clara's ending, there is victory in being embroiled in this world, with its devastating rules and conditions, and yet still retain our sense of Humanity and agency.

On a final note, I will say that Pathologic is one of those games where I am never done mining it for its mysteries, so I try to keep an open mind regarding details I have missed or not considered in light of other details, so I welcome discussion on this topic

[aquaquadrant]

Why do I feel like Etho and Patho would actually really get along well. Like there'd be a minute of "oh shit" then they'd be making some weird machine together.

Also any chance you would be willing to share the story about Patho's clock and maybe info on Hels Bdubs?

(honestly? true. patho isn’t bothered enough w the concept of being a doppelgänger so he’d be chill w etho if etho was chill with him. and etho’s like. always chill. anyway idk if this’ll answer ur questions but here’s uhhhh something)

~*~

patho pauses at the top of the netherrack hill, boots hissing briefly as he shifts off a magma block.

xyz: -12,485.167 / 67.09835 / 253,295.942

the coordinates ever-present within his field of view tell him he should be another hundred or so blocks away in the z axis, but he can already see the jungle’s grown since his last visit. it’s been slowly overtaking the neighboring nether waste biome for a couple decades, now. rate of growth has held constant, unchanging. that's something, at least.

patho slowly scans the horizon. words and numbers flash across the left half of his vision as his cybernetic eye rapidly processes new information based on visual input: netherrack, netherrack, crimson nylium, grass, jungle wood, jungle wood, jungle leaves, weeping vine. light level 3, 3, 3, 2, 1, 2, 3, 4. there's a lava pool eleven blocks over in the x axis; light level 15.

he starts walking again.

153 fps t: inf fancy-clouds b: 15x15 3 tx 3 rx c: 695/41672 (s) d: 16, pc: 000, pu: 00, ab: 42 e: 23/109, b: 0, sd: 9 p: 18 t: 109 error fc:0 xyz: -12,487.331 / 65.21091 / 253,375.987 block: -12,487 65 253,375 chunk: -780 15 7,835 facing: south (towards positive z)(1.5/5) client light: 5 (0 sky, 5 block) biome: error:nether waste local difficulty: 6.75//0.00 (day error404 not found) sounds: 5/247 + 0/8

the data shifts with every step. he's learned to tune most of it out by now, only paying attention to the biome indicator as he crosses the chunk threshold.

biome: error:crimson jungle

particles and sounds immediately jump up a couple degrees. glowing red specks dance slowly in the air, mingling with the ambient noises; hoglins rooting around in the brush, parrots calling unseen from the canopy above, lava bubbling in a pool nearby.

p: 35 sounds: 23/247

the temperature is warmer here. patho shrugs off his jacket, letting it hang at his elbows as he picks his way through the jungle. he doesn't even need to think about where he's going, coordinates left ignored at the edge of his vision. he's taken this path many times before, and he never has to wander very long.

his boots crunch softly on the nylium and grass terrain. jungle leaves and crimson fungus alike brush at his shoulders as he ducks underneath branches, taking care not to get tangled in weeping vines.

this is his favorite jungle. it's not the only crimson jungle he's ever come across- not to mention the warped jungles- but out of all the biomes he's seen, it's the one with the greenest leaves. something about this jungle sustains the normal trees just as well as it does the fungi, allowing the grass and leaves to stay bright and full instead growing in wilted and brown. it makes a lovely contrast with the blood red fungi.

not for the first time, he's thankful that the jungle is far enough away from spawn to be left alone. if other players knew about this place, with its well-sustained passive mob spawning and greenery, they'd destroy it for resources for sure. but he never worries too much about that possibility, because no mob or player sets foot in this jungle without permission from-

a weeping vine suddenly sprouts from the ground and lashes around patho's leg.

it's quickly joined by several more, snaking out from the undergrowth to wrap around his other limbs. before he can blink, he's lifted off the ground and pulled up into the trees. he doesn't struggle, doesn't panic- this is nothing new to him. the vines string him up among the highest branches, where a familiar figure is crouched in front of him, nothing but a pair of glowing red eyes beneath a heap of moss.

<player>dat -7063fdce-39ac-4a12-d836-a990c45b2bb0

"hey, dbubs," patho says casually.

the figure straightens up, hood falling back to reveal his face. his huge red eyes are sparkling with excitement, despite the dark circles lining them, and his mouth falls open in a wide, sharp-toothed grin. vines of varying shapes and sizes curl lazily around his body, small tendrils sprouting from the mossy cloak he wears. a couple veins of red discolor his skin, crawling up his neck and across his face. his messy hair is a bit whiter than the last time patho saw him, tinged red at the roots. a clock hangs around his neck, to match the one hanging from patho's hip.

"patho!" dbubs practically shouts, throwing his arms out.

sounds: 24/247

before dbubs can say anything else, patho asks his usual question. “what’s your name?”

“what’s my-” dbubs blinks, works his jaw for a second. “GODSLAYER666,” he proclaims loudly, puffing his chest out. then he pauses, frowns. “wait, no, i- i don’t know why i just said that. uh…”

it’s somewhere in the middle, then. not as bad as his worst days- at least he’s aware he’s lying, even if he has no control over it. and patho has to admit, that's one of the most entertaining responses dbubs has ever given to his little test.

"uh huh." patho shifts in the web of vines. they're holding a bit tighter than normal. of course, he could still easily break out of them. if he wanted to. "did you miss me, dbubs?" he asks instead, his voice teasing.

dbubs throws his head back to let out a sharp laugh, sending a shower of red particles fluttering through the air. "what?" he demands incredulously, his eyes blown wide. "miss you? i d- eugh, n'you stupid- i- i didn't even notice you were gone!"

patho hums with amusement. "then you don't wanna, like, kiss me or anything?"

"no," dbubs insists stubbornly, even as he comes closer. he steps boldly into patho's space, hands coming up to grab his face. "no, no of course not, i don't..." his long eyelashes flutter as he looks patho up and down. he smells like moss; like old vegetation and decay. there's soil and dried blood caked under his fingernails. "why would i- you ha- you have a lotta nerve..." dbubs tugs at the left strap of patho's mask, tilting his head. "do i- uh, do i get to see ya?" he asks, expression suddenly eager.

"yeah," patho chuckles.

dbubs grins widely, pulling patho's mask down. for a moment, he just looks at him. his calloused hand scuffs along the metal parts of patho's face- the entire ramus of his left mandible and most of his cheekbone, lost in the explosion that took his eye. the remaining skin is rough with scar tissue. dbubs strokes his thumb along that, too.

"i lo- um, i- i hate your stupid face," dbubs mumbles before he finally kisses patho. he seems to process his words a second later, breaking away with a small gasp of "oh! i d-", but patho simply leans in again, reclaiming his lips.

he knows what dbubs meant.

~*~

dbubs spares patho the trouble of walking, simply having the vines carry him to the hideaway. it's a difficult base to categorize: part tree house, part nest, part garden. in some places the floor is made of wood- in others, just a thick layer of leaves. there are potted plants and hanging vines everywhere, interspersed among stacks of barrels and moldy bookcases. little red mushrooms sprout from walls made of thatch and tree trunks. a couple of shroomlights provide gentle lighting as glittery particles drift through the open air; red, from the biome itself, and green from the spore blossom that patho brought him last year.

the vines unceremoniously drop patho onto the makeshift bed- a mat of moss and old, shredded banners. he's barely gotten settled, pulling his mask up and pulling his jacket off, before dbubs flops onto him with a heavy wuff.

"so!" dbubs starts loudly, propping his elbows up on patho's stomach. "what brings ya to see ol' dbubs today, huh?"

patho huffs a laugh. "what, i can't just stop by to say hi?"

"oh sure, okay." dbubs rolls his eyes, one of his vines flicking through the air dismissively. "you j- yeah, okay, be all secretive, then! see if i care." his haughty demeanor doesn't last long, though, as he shimmies up a little further, arms folded on patho's chest. "d'you- uh, do you wanna hear what i've been doin'?"

patho sighs good-naturedly, shifting so he can tuck his arms behind his head and lean back against the wall. "alright, go ahead."

dbubs beams at him and immediately starts telling lies. he tells patho about all the amazing things he's built (the jungle looks the same), all the incredible battles he's fought (no one's entered the jungle in years), all the wonderful places he's gone (he can't leave the jungle).

but patho doesn't mind that it's all lies. he's content to listen anyways.

they carry on like this until dbubs suddenly pauses, scrambling for his clock. "uh oh! gotta schreep."

patho glances at his own clock; dbubs is right on time, as always. that's one thing he never lies about. "okay, okay," he says, pushing dbubs off- he hits the moss with a soft thump. "lemme get my anchor."

"well, hurry up already!" dbubs shouts impatiently, vines swatting at patho's arm as he pops down his ender chest.

after placing the anchor and setting his spawn, patho reaches up and presses his finger directly into the center of his left eye, shutting it off.

he doesn’t regret putting a data processor into his cybernetic eye; the information it’s given him is invaluable. but every now and then, he needs a break from it. even when his eyes are closed, the display is still active, showing blank values on the back of his eyelid. turning the eye off is the only way to make it go away- of course, at the price of half his vision. so he only does it if he’s sleeping somewhere fully secure, and if he’s alone.

the jungle is an exception. dbubs has full domain out here- no mob or player can come close to his home without him allowing it.

"finally," dbubs huffs as patho settles back down. he's quick to cling with both his arms and assorted vines.

patho can't help but chuckle. "what's that you said about not missing me?"

"oh, shut up!"

~*~

patho abruptly reenters consciousness, emerging from a deep, dreamless sleep. with a soft groan, he fumbles to turn on his cybernetic eye, wincing at the sudden influx of data.

149 fps t: inf fancy-clouds b: 15x15 3 tx 3 rx c: 695/41672 (s) d: 16, pc: 000, pu: 00, ab: 42 e: 1/109, b: 0, sd: 9 p: 52 t: 109 error fc:0 xyz: -12,587.412 / 96.77253 / 253,401.623 block: -12,587 96 253,401 chunk: -783 15 7,845 facing: north (towards negative z)(1.5/5) client light: 7 (0 sky, 7 block) biome: error:crimson jungle local difficulty: 6.75//0.00 (day error404 not found) sounds: 27/247 + 0/8

"goooood morning!" dbubs calls, over on the other side of the little nook. he's busy rummaging through barrels, perhaps trying to find some breakfast. it’s unlikely he has any food stored; when he’s hungry, he hunts, and the jungle always provides.

"mornin'," patho says, rubbing his face. he sits up- and then pauses. there are weeping vines wrapped tightly around his legs. he sighs. “dbubs, you’re doing it again.”

“what?" dbubs manages to sound surprised. "no! no, i’m not, i’m- i’m just over here, minding my own business, crafting a loom.”

“a loom,” patho repeats flatly.

“yes! for um, for banners.”

“do you even have any wool?”

“do i ha- uh, of course! yes, of course i do.”

“can i see it?”

“no. no, i- i just ate it, actually. um-”

“you ate it?”

“yeah. sorry.”

patho sighs again. he kicks the weeping vines away. "i uh, i didn't mean to be gone for so long," he says, rising to his feet. "but, you know, i- i got held up with a job."

"a job?" dbubs glances over his shoulder at patho, squinting. "what kinda job?"

patho stretches his arms above his head, hearing both his natural and mechanical shoulder joints pop. "some guys out west are tryin' to make a portal out of hels."

"a portal?" dbubs's mouth falls open. "oh, for goodness sakes- and you call me a liar!"

patho knows better than to take offense. "it's true. they've got a player who came here from another world."

"uh huh." dbubs scoffs, but he can't quite hide the anxious shimmer in his eyes. "yeah, yeah, sure... so- i mean, did you do it, then? make them a portal?"

"basically." patho shrugs. "i uh, i told them everything they needed to know, to make one."

"right. you told th- okay." dbubs nods, bites his lip. "um- you didn't stay? to see the portal? or, uh…”

patho chuckles, crossing the distance to put his arms around dbubs's waist. "nah. i mean, come on, you know me, dbubs. i'm a- i'm a hels player, through and through. what's the rest of the universe got that's better than this place, right?"

dbubs grins at that, slotting his arms through patho's. "oh, you- you're such an idiot! y'know, i uh, i've been outside'a hels before and i- um, let me tell ya, you're missing out!"

"mhmm." patho smiles even though his mask is on. he knows dbubs can tell.

"yeah! "dbubs nods vigorously. "and, uh, there's- i got a whole world that's just mine!"

"is that right?" patho rests his chin on the top of dbubs's head. "tell me about it."

"it's a beautiful world, of course. my perfect builds, i ha-"

"of course."

"- uh, hey! quit interruptin'!"

"sorry, sorry."

"i di- thank you. so i um, i built a big ol' crastle, with a- hyeugh, a sorta um, horse course... y'know, with th- with the fastest horses anyone ever saw, one-stick horses, and- and uh, everyone was really impressed…”

this won’t last forever. it’ll only be a matter of weeks, months if they’re lucky, before patho won’t be able to ignore the itch to wander again. before the comfort and familiarity of the jungle becomes unbearable. before dbubs grows so used to his presence that the jungle itself tries to overtake him, the way it has dbubs- vines and veins of red.

he’ll leave without warning in the middle of the night, while dbubs is sleeping, because trying to leave while dbubs is awake never ends well. he’ll leave without a word and try not to think about the frantic whispers he knows dbubs sends him on lonely nights, despite knowing patho will never receive them (it’s the only time he regrets fusing his communicator with his arm- but how was he supposed to know he’d hear it in his mind? how was he supposed to know that disabling the chat was the only way not to lose himself completely to the endless flood of data?)

he’ll stay away long enough for dbubs to shatter apart, losing himself to the wildness of the jungle, and come back together. he’ll wait until dbubs has recovered from his grief, so that the next time dbubs sees him there will only be joy. because no matter how many times patho hurts him, dbubs always forgets it eventually.

“… so, you see, ol’ dbubs been workin' on a new technique, using the uh. grade- uh, gradient? block palettes... to create depth. ah hah! so- so listen, now, to teacher! it all starts with the color scheme..."

this won’t last forever. so for now, patho closes his eyes and listens.

error fps t: b: tx rx c: (s) d: , pc: , pu: , ab: e: , b: , sd: p: t: error fc: xyz: / / block: chunk: facing: ( )( / ) client light: ( sky, block) biome: error: local difficulty: // (day error404 not found) sounds: 1/247 + 0/8

~*~

[thegoldenduckie]

For your mlp au,,, maybe Patton giving cookies to Janus?

This was so cute, thanks for the request i love them!

[thanatika]

yeah i agree with your point about survival mechanics and i feel the same way about the lack of combat mechanics. "why would an educated city doctor need a weapon" because shit is hitting the fan in every way impossible and pretty much everyone is walking around armed... also why am i supposed to believe the the fact that he's a man of intellect will somehow provide him with food? i don't think anyone is going to be too eager to share food during an outbreak intellectual or not...

+ follow up for the previous ask but actually my favorite quest from the original pathologic is the day 11 bachelor quest that involves shooting down soldiers. i think it really drives the point home about how this random fuckass guy who is supposed to be battling a plague doesn't even have the time to do that anymore because the people in charge are asking completely irrelevant things of him now and he's at a position where he cannot refuse what is being asked of him. like i think it was good storytelling that even as the guy who lowkey wants to deal with the plague and solve its mystery you still have other, more pressing, less interesting and or pleasant tasks to complete

i agree! honestly, i feel this way about the combat mechanics even more than i do about the physical survival (food, health, illness, sleep) mechanics. because sure, i can see how it makes sense for daniil's position of authority to mean that his basic needs are somewhat provided for -- although i don't think it makes more sense than what we got in the original game. i've never seen anyone bring up "isn't it kind of unrealistic that the bachelor isn't given lots of food during a massive food shortage?" as a plothole that needed to be resolved. the townspeople generally don't like him much, and most of the people with power don't either, except for the kains. sure, maybe it's kind of weird that you can go see the kains while broke and on the verge of keeling over from hunger, and they won't do anything to help you, but... the kains are pretty self-centered, and they're so goddamn weird that maybe they forget that you need to eat food to live anyway. and it's half-implied that the powers that be are ultimately giving daniil this role as a convenient way to kill him, so it makes sense that they would put no pressure on the town authorities to keep him alive.

(and honestly, artemy is taken under the olgimsky's auspices as much as the kains take daniil's under theirs! which is to say, selfishly, with ulterior motives that are more important to them than the well-being of their healer, but... the olgimskys are set up as the wealthiest of the 3 families financially, as well as the ones with the most access to food, given their control over the meat industry. so if anything it's "weirder" that artemy isn't more materially provided for, though to be clear i don't think there's an actual plothole there either way.)

but anyway, you could handwave it and say that daniil's position of privilege and authority gives him more perks than he got in the original game, but the amount of fighting you have to do to get through town is... kind of an unavoidable physical reality? like you're given so many sidequests that you often wind up walking around town after dark, and that's when the bandits come out. is the idea that the bandits would be too scared to attack him because he's so important? because that doesn't make a lot of sense to me, and even pathologic 2 establishes that he's seen as a valuable target by the bandits:

and then there's the quests where combat plays a more direct role in the story itself, like getting involved in saving andrey from the firing squad, or killing guards to break artemy out of prison, or the quest where you have to kill var in attempt to stop the arsonists (which i include on the same tier as the other ones because i really like the quest journal entry he has if you complete it where he blames himself for willow's death. it's a good character moment.)

hell, even in pathologic 2 itself, one of the biggest Bachelor Moments is on day 11, when you have that big dramatic convo with him after he killed a soldier for the papers he was delivering. plus one of bad grief's idle dialogues in patho 2 is commentary on the bachelor being "quick on the draw" and that he "already shot someone". like he just straight up is not living a combat-free existence. and overall, combat isn't just a good tool from a mechanical perspective, heightening the stakes and placing pressure on the player (though it is), it's also pretty important for him on a thematic level imo, almost as important as artemy and his "rivers of blood". in patho classic, daniil has this early interaction with the inquisitor:

which, thinking about it from a doylist perspective, was probably the writers' attempt to make it sound more plausible that this random medical researcher from the big city was competent with multiple types of guns. and i appreciate them coming up with that hint of backstory to cover their bases a bit, but with those bases covered, i think the fact that daniil ultimately spends more time shooting people than he does prescribing medicines for them actually does a lot for him thematically? i mean, if his whole thing is that he's this "tempted destroyer", someone who frames his career as a combative battle with death rather than a quest to save people's lives, whose "default" solution is to raze the town with artillery because he's too limited by his rationalist worldview and military upbringing (and bitterness over being manipulated and sabotaged) to come up with a solution that saves the any remaining infected survivors on his own. plus the way that clara frames artemy and daniil as two sides of the same coin in being violent destroyers and killers, who without player intervention will immediately devolve to running around chasing each other down in what's either an insanely dedicated tom and jerry LARP or some really elaborate foreplay. imo, that whole dichotomy (which is pretty core to the game, as the idea of dichotomies are core to it in general) works so much better with the way they're both presented in classic, stalking around with gun/scalpel in hand. hell, not to mention the effect that spending 12 in-game days trying not to starve and getting killed by bandits or guards or worms or soldiers every day would have on the player, and the way it would make them feel about the town and their natural projection of those feelings onto dankovsky, who is a perfectly fitting vessel for them as the avatar actually undergoing those virtual experiences.

ultimately i think they are mainly going this direction out of a desire to do something more creative and original, which is fine... it just seems a bit silly to me that they keep saying "well obviously that doesn't really work for the bachelor's scenario", when, well... even as recently as patho 2 in 2019, they seemed to think it fit his narrative pretty well! i'm also guessing that a lack of combat won't be that bandits are just no longer roaming the streets at night. it sounds more like pathologic 3 is set to be more of a nonlinear experience, where you'll probably fast travel from place to place instead of having to walk across town so much? so you'll be avoiding bandits just in the sense that the gameplay will be avoiding them. i guess i'm hoping that at the very least, there's still the implication of the crunch of not getting enough sleep or food and the threat of being stabbed to death while trying to get through town occurring to dankovsky in the background, even if those mechanics are deemphasized in favor of more macro-level town resource management, time control, and sherlock holmes fruit ninja or whatever the hell they were on about back in 2022 lmao.

[carcasscounty]

I'm curious about the doctor Glass obsession, but right now, I'm more interested in Dr Kain.

This is apparently Dr Kain, why?

Unironically one of my favorite doctors

[pathologicy]

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Just saw this .. a bit late but MERRY CHRISTMAS < 3

[domovzy]

No lover’s as sweet as the silence of sleep.

[rathologic]

lore accurate classic hd mod where using/giving someone a shmowder will either a) heal them! yay! b) do nothing or c) actually kill them fr this time

I'M WORKING ON THIS I've had half eaten scraps of assembly for Risky Shmowders (variable percentage chance for different outcomes when the player consumes a shmowder) laying around for a bit... dealing with NPCs, especially Actually Killing them, is harder for many reasons (variables + events have to be handled to set someone as "dead", and the randomness would need to be implanted into the existing Executor item-handoff script). but the player version is the relatively simple "learn to write p1 assembly from scratch" task I've been putting off for ages

[meirimerens]

moving and heartwarming. gay couple discovers new and innovative concept of "existence", and "being".