#quest route

[rookflower]

whichever one of us is a person first

[oderu]

long time no panic blooming

[jajatoc]

See this lil' thingie on my neck? It's a Steppe talisman... against maras like you!

Day 12, Amulet

[poyameows]

I want to play different routes on Disco Elysium but the idea of purposely being mean to characters and not trying to help everyone in the game makes me want to cry.

[nikysavi]

I understand why they're cutting out fighting in Bachelor's route. But I'll miss it

[sleepyorchidmonster]

You know, considering Nahida's and Rukkhadevata's self-sacrificing tendencies (I'll just use my power and turn into a twig no problem) alongside Deshret's often insane and reckless ideas (who makes an agreement for an ancient dragon to consume you after your death????) it's honestly a miracle that Rukkhadevata wasn't just perpetually aranara-sized during her time ruling alongside Deshret and Nabu Malikata.

I can just see Nabu Malikata returning from a business trip to Liyue or something, only to find a panicked Deshret sitting next to a potted plant that looks like a mini Irminsul.

Turns out Deshret got a little bit too silly with his last search for forbidden knowledge and Rukkhadevata had to use almost all of her power to stop the potential crisis. Now he's trying to find out how to care for a plant that's literally Irminsul while waiting for the Aranara to arrive.

Another time, Deshret came back and found Nabu Malikata babysitting Rukkhadevata, who had turned into a child.

And, while both gods know that they should probably ask the rainforest dwellers for help, they kind of don't trust the sages. Especially when the Grand Sage at the time suggested keeping Rukkhadevata locked up in the Sanctuary of Surasthana until she regained her powers..... So now there's an unspoken agreement that only the desert and Vanarana are safe places for a weakened Dendro Archon.

I would also like to point out that the (former) Grand Sage barely escaped with his life.

After that initial scare, Deshret would probably come up with a way to transfer dendro or knowledge to Rukkhadevata so she'd get her powers back, but the funniest option would be both him and Nabu Malikata having to do the whole Aranyaka quest to host the Festival Utsava.

People wonder where the Sumeru God Kings are, turns out they're organizing a festival for the Aranara (Deshret and Nabu are doing the preparations, Rukkhadevata is currently a child and is just playing with the Aranara).

[bumblebeehug]

What if nalu doesn't become canon during 100yq but at the end of the next spinoff-

Well I’ll first kill Mashima then kill myself I think.

[vigilskeep]

14 for minerva or keir?

14. your oc talking about your favourite quest

I have trained Warden recruits, but I have not prepared to train anyone so young. It cannot be done the way it was done to me. My son cannot be ignorant the way we were kept ignorant. If he is ever taken from me, and Harrowed, I will have failed him twice if he is blind.

Try to explain this in a way he’ll understand. What do children understand?

Once upon a time there was a mage who lived in a tower. She was powerful, and the templars fear nothing more than power. To test her will, she was sent into a world of strange horrors and strange wonders, the one you see each night in your dreams. She followed the path that the Fade set before her feet, and upon that path, she found a kindly mouse.

With the mouse at her side, she faced many dangers. A spirit of valour challenged her to a duel, and she defeated it. Wolves of the Fade bit at her heels, and she gathered the mouse in her hands to protect it from their fangs. She wished for the mouse to be stronger, for it was only a weak creature, and of little help to a talented mage. In exchange for answers to its riddles three, a demon of sloth taught the mouse to take the form of a mighty bear. Now they could face her test together. They could not fail.

That was her pride.

She thought she had passed the test, and returned to the world, leaving her tower to do great things. But true tests never end. When she came back to the tower, it was broken, and there were so few of the children left to cry. Her father The First Enchanter could not be found. The bodies were everywhere. Flesh bound the walls. A demon captured her, and sent her to the Fade once more. Her friends vanished, and in her despair, there came the mouse. He had been waiting. He had always known a day would come of greater need, when the mage’s own power would fail her. A better time to bargain.

Only his aid could free her form to change as he did, to slip through the gaps and escape this prison. His aid, and her blood, to bind them forever. The mage agreed The mage failed The world needed The mage knew it would be worth it if

Enough. This is too much for him to know. Try again. There’s still time.

[Personal notes found in Warden-Commander Minerva Surana’s grimoire. Written in her customary cipher for illicit or experimental spellwork. Several lesson plans for a young mage follow, written with devotion and care. Some are annotated critically by another hand, offering a sharp Dalish perspective in green ink. Many are stained with small, inky fingerprints, as though they saw use and were briefly left unattended. This page, however, remains pristine.]

[absolutely-not-my-main-blog]

[everybody-loves-purdy]

I feel like changing skies may include the Erins’ attempt to combat the “warrior cats is ableist” views most of the fandom have.

I also feel that they are going to mostly succeed and people will be pleasantly surprised with a few minor issues, or this is going to be some of the most ableist stuff in all of warriors and there is going to be no in-between.

[moonchild-in-blue]

So, sometimes while playing botw/totk, I like to take out my horses and do long journeys across Hyrule, to take a break from fast travelling and completing quests.

Since I just got a new horse way down south (her name's Urania!), it seemed like the perfect excuse to take the long way to Link's house. Usually I map out the way before hand, so I know which route to take, and what stables/towns we are stopping at. Because I wanna feel like Aragorn I suppose.

This was the completed route, starting in Highland Stable, Faron, towards Link's House in Akkala:

It took us about 2.5 days to make the journey, with 3 stable stops in Dueling Peaks, Woodlands, and finally Foothill, with a short stop in Kakariko Village to get some supplies and food.

I realise now I could've continued north towards Riverside Stable, instead of east Dueling Peaks but. Oh well. It was a very pleasant trip either way!

(pics and deets below):

So, we took off from Highland Stable and headed east, around Lake Hylia. Crossing the Hylia bridge would be easier, but there's a fire gleeok there and I'm very scared 😌💙

It wasn't easy to cross Farosh hills on horse, but we made it! Took us a day's worth.

(I forgot the Big Twin bridge wasn't in use, so I did try my best to find a different way for Urania to cross, but no deal. I had to cheat a little and use the stable boarding function 🥺)

Then next day we took off early and stopped by Kakariko to buy some more arrows for me and carrots for the horsie 🥹🥕

Left the village by 9:30, passed by Wetland stable, and continued north to Woodland stable.

We spent the night, and I left Urania there while I took care of some nearby affairs (aka a shrine and a couple other things). She behaved super well so I mafe sure to give her some extra apples before we took off again 🥹

We only had a few hours of daylight left, so we only went around Trilby Valley, and stopped at Foothill for the night (horse girlie needs to rest and also I didn't wanna be arsed with all the stalkoblins and such 🙃).

Next morning we left early once again, and after some very annoying storms and rain, we at last reached home 🥹💙

It was Urania's first journey EVER, and she did wonderfully 🥹💙🐎

[penguino713]

Pathologic Fest Day 21: Blood against Blood

“Nevertheless, the microscope is immune to magic. It sees through all charm and deception.”

[thepastisalreadywritten]

12 June 2024

Wreck hunters have found the ship on which the famous polar explorer Ernest Shackleton made his final voyage.

The vessel, called "Quest," has been located on the seafloor off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada.

Shackleton suffered a fatal heart attack on board on 5 January 1922 while trying to reach the Antarctic.

And although Quest continued in service until it sank in 1962, the earlier link with the explorer gives it great historic significance.

The British-Irish adventurer is celebrated for his exploits in Antarctica at a time when very few people had visited the frozen wilderness.

"His final voyage kind of ended that Heroic Age of Exploration, of polar exploration, certainly in the south," said renowned shipwreck hunter David Mearns, who directed the successful search operation.

"Afterwards, it was what you would call the scientific age. In the pantheon of polar ships, Quest is definitely an icon," he told BBC News.

The remains of the ship, a 38m-long schooner-rigged steamship, were discovered at the bottom of the Labrador Sea on Sunday by a team led by The Royal Canadian Geographical Society (RCGS).

Sonar equipment found it in 390m (1,280ft) of water. The wreck is sitting almost upright on a seafloor that has been scoured at some point in the past by the passing of icebergs.

The main mast is broken and hanging over the port side, but otherwise, the ship appears to be broadly intact.

Quest was being used by Norwegian sealers in its last days. Its sinking was caused by thick sea-ice, which pierced the hull and sent it to the deep.

The irony, of course, is this was the exact same damage inflicted on Shackleton's Endurance - the ship he used on his ill-fated Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914–1917.

Fortunately, the crews of both Endurance, in 1915, and Quest, in 1962, survived.

Indeed, many of the men who escaped the Endurance sinking signed up for Shackleton's last polar mission in 1921-1922, using Quest.

His original plan had been to explore the Arctic, north of Alaska, but when the Canadian government withdrew financial support, the expedition headed south in Quest to the Antarctic.

The new goal was to map Antarctic islands, collect specimens and look for places to install infrastructure, such as weather stations.

Shackleton never made it, however, struck down by heart failure in the Port of Grytviken on the British Overseas Territory of South Georgia, the last stop before reaching the White Continent. He was just 47 years old.

After his death, Quest was involved in other important expeditions, including the 1930-31 British Arctic Air Route Expedition led by British explorer Gino Watkins, who himself tragically died aged 25 while exploring Greenland.

Quest was also employed in Arctic rescues and served in the Royal Canadian Navy during WWII, before being turned over to the sealers.

The RCGS team members carried out extensive research to find Quest's last resting place.

Information was gathered from ship's logs, navigation records, photographs, and documents from the inquiry into her loss.

The calculated sinking location in the Labrador Sea was pretty much spot on, although the exact co-ordinates are being held back for the time being.

A second visit to the wreck, possibly later this year, will do a more complete investigation.

"Right now, we don't intend to touch the wreck. It actually lies in an already protected area for wildlife, so nobody should be touching it," associate search director Antoine Normandin said.

"But we do hope to go back and photograph it with a remotely operated vehicle, to really understand its state."

Alexandra Shackleton is the explorer's granddaughter and was patron to the RCGS survey.

"I was thrilled, really excited to hear the news; I have relief and happiness and a huge admiration for the members of the team," she told BBC News.

"For me, this represents the last discovery in the Shackleton story. It completes the circle."

The explorer continues to spark interest more than a century after his death.

Hundreds of people visit his grave on South Georgia every year to pay their respects to the man known by his crews simply as "The Boss."

"Shackleton will live forever as one of the greatest explorers of all time, not just because of what he achieved in exploration but for the way he did it, and the way he looked after his men," said David Mearns.

"His story is timeless and will be told again and again; and I'm just one of many disciples who'll keep telling it for as long as I can."

—

Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton CVO OBE FRGS FRSGS (15 February 1874 – 5 January 1922) was an Anglo-Irish Antarctic explorer who led three British expeditions to the Antarctic.

He was one of the principal figures of the period known as the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration.

[sun-marie]

datv spoilers but

-

i think emmrich's quest decision might be the single most difficult one in the whole game for me and it's driving me mad

bc in the lich route, emmrich achieves the thing he's wanted his entire life, he confronts his fear (of dying in the ritual) in a legitimately extremely cool scene, his armor is undoubtedly superior, and i ADORE the ensemble scene where he reveals himself to the rest of the team SO MUCH

but on the other hand, i can't get the line he says in manfred's route where he's like "i wouldn't trade this for anything" (paraphrase) out of my head. bc he loves manfred!! and, as someone who relates a lot to his intense fear of death, i just think it's a lot healthier and more powerful to have him accept his mortality? it's something that literally every living thing on the planet has to go through one day, and i think it's more powerful that he creates meaning with those he loves with the time he has left, and finds the courage to face his own eventual mortality. and I get what he (and the game) are saying in his lich route, that manfred willingly sacrificed himself and it wouldn't be right to bring him back bc that's disrespecting the order of things, but a) i think the fact that manfred is a spirit is a meaningful difference, and b) if bringing someone back from the dead is disrupting the natural order then so is bypassing death by way of lichdom.

so like in my head i def prefer manfred's route. but i cannot deny the sheer Vibes of lich!emmrich, and i can't emphasize enough how much i love the team reacting to his lichdom, and there isn't really a compelling version of that in Manfred's route. pros and cons 😩

[casual-praxis]

Imagine a villainess isekai, but with a vidow twist

Got your attention? Great! So picture this, the plot of the Four Swords manga, but it's some dating sim-type game that's blown up in the modern world. In theory, you'd be playing as Zelda who managed to avoid capture and travel with the colors which are presumably still Link split into pieces.

Of course, you'd have your typical romance routes with each of them, on top of the neutral route which is more of a "power of friendship saves the day" type deal (as well as a "harem" ending that has them fuse back into Link by the end of it), all while dealing with Shadow as a recurring villain, our technical "villainess" in this scenario.

But here's the twist: Vio is the one who got isekai'd.

Instead of becoming the villain, he's become one of the four* love interests for the protagonist--although he's completely uninterested in her or any of the others. He'd actually only played through the game once in his previous life, and even then he didn't really remember if he managed to romance anyone, never mind finish the game.

He was pretty confused when he suddenly awakened his memories while standing in the Four Sword Sanctuary, having just successfully driven off Shadow for the first time with the others. And with that revelation came several thoughts in quick succession.

Namely, "Oh, that's why I never beat the game."

The villain, who had several moments of introspection and a fully fleshed-out character arc, hadn't been a romance option. Not even a dlc or secret route. Which in Vio's (totally not dramatic) opinion, made the game basically unplayable.

So of course he was going to have to fix that himself. Plot be damned, he was going to end up with Shadow or die trying.

Cue up the fourth-wall-breaking shenanigans and hilarity that ensues from someone not at all trying to blend in with the world around them. Vio quickly goes from being the "smart one" to the "unhinged one" as he mumbles to himself about event flags and route points.

He's got a whole notebook dedicated to the most nonsensical gibberish such as "how many times I've talked to x person" and "how long until chapter 4." When prompted about the tallies on the first page, Vio merely shrugs and says he's keeping track of their shadow. Whatever that means.

I like to think the forest scene would be pretty much reversed from the manga canon and instead have Vio be the pursuer. Like, he's just shaking Shadow by the shoulders and rambling. Something like, "I know everything about you and I will kill anyone you want me to. Please allow me to join you."

Shadow, of course, doesn't know whether to be flustered or freaked out, so he settles on the happy middle ground of "lowkey kinda into it."

Within the dating sim's original story, anyone Zelda was on the route for would be the one to meet with Shadow, and she would show up last minute to help fight him off (so no betrayal scene would ever occur). Meanwhile here, Vio takes the first chance he gets to bail on the narrative and begin his plans of total Shadow domination (take that as you will).

Vio ends up being more of a threat than Shadow, on account of his vague story knowledge and general lack of care towards anyone that isn't Shadow (if he's going to be put into a game's world, he's going to treat it as such). He's totally down for overthrowing the big bads, murdering anyone in his way, and ruling the ruined world at Shadow's side. But luckily, Shadow does still have his character development arc, and manages to negate the worst of the damage before it's unfixable.

Whether or not they switch sides or just keep doing what they're doing on a slightly less destructive scale is anyone's guess, I haven't thought that far ahead. This may or may not have been completely incomprehensible, Grammerly has lit the whole thing up in yellow (orange?).

Unrepentantly unhinged Vio is a good flavor. It pairs nicely with "somehow has the moral compass" Shadow. They're an odd pair, but as time goes on, it becomes pretty apparent that they're equally obsessed with each other. This can only end well.

[guiltycorp]

oh the immediate panicked switch to first-name basis lmao

and Artemy refusing to return the favor of course...