#so guess who's going to be a wizard cowboy?

[utilitycaster]

if you're looking for any reason to write and/or procrastinate, i'd love to hear your alluded-to thoughts on people trying to shove already-extant blorbos into a ttrpg space? it's something i've tried to Strongly Discourage (if not outright ban) at my table and i've struggled putting into words why i dislike it so much. like obviously as a dm doing homebrew world stuff it's super discouraging to feel like your players don't want to engage with it, but even beyond that it feels like it doesn't Work and i'd love to hear if you have thoughts on Why That Is

Absolutely! The biggest reason is in fact the one you say: it's really discouraging as a DM, who is doing a lot more work than anyone else, to have someone not want to build a character informed by your world. This is collaborative storytelling, and they are not collaborating. Which isn't to say that player's preferences for the type of story shouldn't be considered, but there is something very different between, for example, Erika Ishii saying "hey Brennan, I would love to play a witch" in a setting everyone in the cast committed to building collaboratively, vs. coming to your table as a DM saying "hey, this is a world I've created, it is inspired by Norse mythology" and saying "cool this is my weird west cowboy OC, why isn't there a cowboy class."

I think the other reason, and here's where I might be guessing, but I think people can get uniquely rigid and protective of pre-existing OCs. I mean...I had a vague set of OCs inspired by a lot of the fantasy stories I read as a kid for literal years, and setting aside that they don't fit in neatly to a D&D system anyway, the thought of playing one and having them die at level 2 against some will-o-the-wisps is really not something I'm open to! When it comes to a lot of the games that have character progression and start relatively weak, like D&D, most people are thinking of a cool powerful mage, not a squishy L1 wizard with 2 spell slots! I think people are precious and impatient and rigid about a lot of their OCs, so they won't take the big swings that you need to make in order to have a good time in a TTRPG because they're too afraid of losing the character before they reach their final form - and, they have a final form in mind that they might be reluctant to deviate from. Sure, some people can get past this; but many people can't. They already have too much of a story in mind and aren't open to the one being told together at the table. They won't kill their darlings and so they're going to freak out every time Darling has to make a death save.

Finally: I personally think character creation is necessarily collaborative, in that party composition is important. To give an example: I have an idea of an Eldritch Knight who learned her magic from the eccentric wizard she guarded, who then died in a locked room mystery, and she was exonerated but considered suspect (and also felt guilty) and so is in need of employment and could easily fall into adventuring. This is a pretty flexible concept in most D&D settings because a lot of the specifics aren't at all filled in. However: let's say my friend says "hey, um, one of our players had a family emergency and needs to leave our game long-term. Do you want to join?" and I say "yes, absolutely" and they say "great, they were playing a bard and were our only healer, though we do have a warlock who can be the party face," I should not play the eldritch knight with no healing! It is in fact my responsibility to roll up with, say, a cleric!

So that's really why: you can and should bring vague concepts you want to explore to a table, but you really shouldn't pick from a fully fleshed out OC because that doesn't engage with the setting nor what the party needs.

[memekeymouse]

( @tophthedaydreamer ‘s tags in reference to this post)

I’M GLAD!!!! I’M SO HAPPY YOU LIKE MY FUCKED UP TOON LORE SO MUCH!!!! but oh god how do I explain the powers thing without it sounding cringe as hell

……..

FUCK IT. It’s my blog and I’m living my truth. Apologies in advance if it sounds completely incomprehensible though

So far, I’ve mentioned how fame and attention from humans is what basically runs all of Toonkind. Toons need that recognition in order to become corporeal and sentient; otherwise they remain as a nebulous concept forever without actually existing (unfortunately this is what happened to Felicity in my lore due to her incredibly minimal appearances in the comics; this was also Della’s fate until DT17 actually made her a full-fledged character that enough viewers grew attached to).

MY POINT IS: Humans’ attention is the life force of Toonkind, and they need a minimum of that life force in order to keep existing or else they’ll start wasting away until they’re completely forgotten. But what Toons learned later on is that going beyond that minimum can also make those select Toons stronger, and guess who was the first Toon to prove that theory due to his obscenely high popularity?

so yeah, the more famous a Toon is, the more power they have, and that power is shaped by their life, their career, their personality, etc. which means that no Toon has the exact same power.

In Mickey’s case, he’s had a lot of ‘identities’ due to all the different roles and jobs he’s played for all kinds of media: cartoons, comics, videogames, movies and so on. On top of that, Disney has made its identity center around magic and stars, and Mickey has been on the forefront of that as the mascot. As a result, Mickey’s ‘power’ is focused on those two aspects of his life as a Toon.

As a result, Mickey has the power of switching between his different roles and make use of all the abilities each role includes: musketeer, cowboy, wizard, etc. He also has the ability to ‘summon’ each of his ‘selves’ as separate entities, which are all connected to him because they’re, well, himself. I’ve dubbed this power ‘Mouse King’ as a reference to Rat Kings but also to Mickey’s elevated status…whether he wants it or not

Important to mention: even though these kinds of powers can make these Toons stand higher than less popular Toons, they still pose no threat to humans whatsoever. After all, the only influence Toons hold over humans is purely over their emotions; it’s humans who have control over the lives of Toons as their creators and source of their life force.

[heehoothefool]

Mmmm I'm bored and it's almost 6 am and I cannot sleep.

I'm gonna assign the Empires SMP s2 cast DnD classes for the fun of it.

Joel: He's a Sorcerer for sure, but idk if wild magic or blue draconic bloodline is more fitting. On one hand, he dipped into a magic fountain to become a God which is very wild magic leaning. On the other hand, blue dragon ancestry would give an obvious affinity to lightning, and an excuse for his obsession with gold and the common teal/blue themes of his Stratos builds. You also can get wings. Idk, I like both a lot here.

Fwhip: Have you seen those funky Redstone signs? This little guy is an artificer all the way. After he made that sick mace? I'm gonna say he'd run the battle smith archetype. Idk funny little goblin tinkerer is just fun to me.

Jimmy: Fighter, gunslinger archetype. He's a cowboy, look at him. What else could he possibly be? I know he doesn't have a gun (yet) but I think he deserves it with all the gunpowder. He's also Just Some Guy and sadly fighter is the most Just Some Guy class there is.

Pixlriffs: The archivist artificer subclass was literally made for this man. Tinkering around with insane redstone, litematica, the obsession with the past and knowing things he shouldn't necessarily know, like it's all there. It's perfect for him. I love him.

Sausage: Oath of Devotion paladin, for sure. He's the protector of Sanctuary, it's his duty to protect his friends and his people, to stay true to them no matter what. He will protect his people and those he cares about. Also you literally get access to the spell Sanctuary as part of the extended spell list. Come on.

Scott: Wild magic Sorcerer. If a wizard gives you a glass eye that is SO going to have random magical consequences, and with how often Owen goes between human and Llama I wouldn't be shocked if it was related. They're also charisma casters and look at him. Look at him.

Joey: Gunslinger fighter again but this time with the pirate background specifically. He literally has a gun. What else could he be?

Oli: The man is literally a college of glamor bard. Like this isn't even a question. Come on now.

False: Oh an artificer all the way, look at the steampunk aesthetic going on here. I wanna give her artillerist because she definitely seems like the type to develop a flamethrower, but I think alchemist fits her lore (the whole amnesia potions thing) a bit better. Another one I'm a little torn on.

Gem: What else could she be but a light cleric? She is the princess of the sun and she started a church for the sun. Light cleric. Boom.

Katherine: Definitely barbarian, but the subclass isn't clear. I might need to homebrew a monster hunter subclass here because while that would normally be a ranger thing I guess, this isn't the first time I've wanted to build a monster hunter with a big sword or big axe. For now, I'll say wolf totem warrior.

Shelby: Wild magic Sorcerer with really bad luck who decided to multiclass into the actual alchemist class on the side, but not enough to pick an archetype. Her spells go wrong all the time, often on accident, she doesn't learn from a book, she's having a great time. Sorry you got polymorphed into a frog lol.

Lizzie: Another wild magic sorcerer except she stopped trying after she turned herself into a cat and decided to instead become an arcane trickster rogue. She is not a cat, she prommy. She totally will not steal from you the moment you aren't looking. She enchanted her mask to make her look human. She is human. Worry more about your chests. Don't ask about the amethyst. She has expertise in deception.

[chemicalarospec]

just remembered one of my earliest OCs was trans. awesome for him. I feel like I even wrote him LESS transphobically than I would write trans characters now? Because like I was able to forget he was trans. Johann (or Joshua? I forget) "Grizz" Gillum was the grizzled mentor of the group. He was a former soldier missing one leg. The setting was very D&D and the backdrop was entirely inspired by one (i think Protopetz?) post about how like. cowboys and motorcycle gangs both thrived after wars because of influx of vets with nothing to do and also relative lawlessness so that makes senses for D&D adventuring parties. The party was four people instead of the typical five to represent the destruction of war -- other three were Bitley, a gnome who used gnomish pronouns, Callahan (or Callum?), a human whose older sister had wanted to fight and died and older brother didn't want to fight but was conscripted and died (Callum's always had a GNC air about him, but I think I handwrote any character notes I had so Idk if I ever gave him a concrete non-cismale gender), and Lucy (... I have another OC named Lucy, I guess it's a favorite name of mine?), a pixie without wings. Lucy's brother Oban was also dead and supported to be the missing 5th member of the party, however telling chapters from the perspective of his ghost was severely impeded by my aversion to representation of any kind of afterlife whatsoever. The pixies inhabited the land inbetween the kingdoms that had fought the war -- Lucy and Oban's village had been burned and -- plot twist -- Grizz had participated in the burning. I actually had such elite backstory built up even though I didn't have a strong plot moving forward lol. Also such diverse characters? Impressed with myself. They all had relations to this guy named The Wartime Wizard (a performer) and there was going to be an evil wizard who had studied under the same wizard as the Wartime Wizard and thus wanted something of his he had passed onto the group. I was in my Death Obsession when I was working on it so I skipped to the end of the story and wrote all their deaths lmao.

[probablyahazard]

Tagged by @nuclear-cowboy my beloved to do 15 questions, 15 mutuals so here we go

Were you named after anyone? My first name is stolen from a dnd character and a podcast character. My middle name is veeeery technically from a kpop idol? (its an english name tho, latin origin) a friend called me by his name as a joke once. I proceeded to ignore the massive amount of gender euphoria it gave me for like a year in a half. But the name means lucky so I was like 'ha yeah I'll keep it'

When was the last time cried? Idk dude like 24 hours ago? will probably cry later tho. I cry a lot.

Do you have kids? Ha, fuck no. I'm a baby. Also for other......reasons.

Do you use sarcasm alot? Yes? I think? Enough that people used to comment on how sarcastic I was?

What’s the first thing you notice about people? Is it cheating if I just say vibes? idk if i had to hazard (ha) a guess I'd say like either the way they carry themselves or how much they speak.

What’s your eye colour? Brown but like deep brown almost black looking brown type shit.

Any special talents? I'm one of those bitches who's just super good at memorizing quotes. is it practically useful? no. But it's fun. I memorize whole movies for funsies.

Scary movies or happy endings? Both? It depends on my mood? As a kid i was very into scary movies but as I get older and the world happens I appreciate happy endings more which.....ahhh.... ya know?

Where were you born? Aotearoa

What are your hobbies? Reading (so much fucking reading), drawing, writing, dnd and dming (tho that actually happens once in a blue moon), imagining little scenarios. idk dude existing

Do you have any pets? Not currently, I used to have a cat.

What sports do you play/have played? I did fencing for like 5 years, that was my main thing. Idk not really a sports person. as a kid I did miniball, touch rugby, and gym but not of those ever stuck. I always wanted to play football (soccer not the other one) but eh.

How tall are you? short.... (*whispers* like 5'1)

Favourite subject in school? Classics my beloved <3333 also drama and english. and like in theory I liked the content for my art history class but I hated the way we were taught so

Dream job? I do not dream of labor. also I have a lot of fears about not being able to hold a full time job without destroying myself for...Reasons. But like hypothetically I'd love to be a classicist or a graphic designer. or an actor but like ahhhh no.

Tagging the mutuals, sorry. This is probably not like 15 and obviously you don’t have to do this, it’s chill if you just ignore this. anyways, ur all really cool and I hope ur having a good day <3

@ghostgrrll @badfaithbanana @raemae-15 @nightlynymph @watermelon-converse @coffeeshopghost @future-banned-book-recipient @confused-wizard @angelic-flower-universe @merriweather-underground

[ginevralinton]

@its-a-hare-pom-pom thank you for the tag!!

Favourite colour and why? blue - it reminds me of the sea, it feels calm and sad but happy too. I like the sound of the word. I also love pink, because it's a happy and bright.

Five comfort movies: i don't really watch movies...

Favourite season and why? winter! i like when it's cold and you can wrap up in blankets; i like those really cold mornings and cold nights and the frost and ice; less people are out when you go to parks/outdoor places; there are several things that can't happen in winter and those things give me anxiety; i have work and while it's stressful, it's not intense like other parts of the year

Favourite book(s): Villette by Charlotte Bronte, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte are my top three

favourite aesthetic(s)and why? I think 'cottagecore' is pretty cute, or like, space aesthetics or 'arty' ones - oh, and like, horribly gaudy rainbow ones. Idk all the proper names but those ones just appeal to me

Favourite genre and why? It depends on what it is, but I'll talk about books because TV tastes are just - random. With books, I like 'literary' fiction, classics, historical fiction and short stories too? I guess I like the analyse stuff when I read, to look at the layers and structures, and I find those genres lean more easily towards that.

Favourite clothes style: honestly shifts between girly dresses and fluffy coats to dungarees, oversized shirts and DMs

Favourite music genres: most of my favourite artists fit under the 'indie' category somewhere

Favourite artists: Florence and the Machine, The Killers, The Wombats, King Princess

Favourite song(s): King by Florence and the Machine and Battle Born by The Killers

Favourite fandoms: BBC Ghosts ❤

Hobbies: writing, drawing, reading, walking

Care language you give: acts of service, I guess? or being a willing listener? idk

Care language you like to receive: willing listeners?

Are you an introvert/extrovert/ambivert: introvert

Morning or night person? i'm less anxious in the morning but i'm also awake most of the night so...

City, country or suburbs and why? suburbs. basically, i like where i live, the balance between having green space but also having easy access to towns/shops/cities

Favourite time of day and why? between 8:30 and 9:30pm, because day anxiety is over and night anxiety hasn't fully begun

Do you have any religious beliefs(don’t have to answer if not comfortable)? not really

What does your ideal family look like to you? me, a gf and many many guinea pigs? maybe a daschund (if i get over the fear of dogs)? and friends too? (and ofc some of my actual family now)

Dream future: no idea, can't see a thing

Dream place to visit: I'd love to go to Geneva, Brussels or Iceland, but realistically, I'd just like to go back to Haworth or Lulworth (or, lbr, the Isle of Wight)

Favourite type of nature: I like flowers, the sea and cliff tops

Favourite habitat (eg jungle, desert, tundra etc): the ocean and forests

How would you describe yourself in 4 words: awkward, anxious, serious, creative?

If you could be another thing on earth what would it be: something inanimate, like a rock

Favourite type of weather: sunny but cool (or snow, but i feel bad for saying that 😁)

If you could travel anywhere right now where would it be: Haworth

Do you have any fears (serious or otherwise): everything? dogs, house fires, burglary, the future, people in those mascot costumes, social interactions etc.

Dream job: who knows

Would you be a pirate/vampire/cowboy/astronaut/werewolf/wizard/witch/knight/cryptid and why? cowboy, i guess. i like the hats

I'll tag @sonnet-of-anarchy @thelastplantagenet @thatgordongirl @breitzbachbea @athelstan-anglecyning if you want to do it

[arahith]

Rules

Post the names of the files of your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send you asks with the title that most intrigues them, and then post a little snippet or tell them something about it. If you want, tag as many people as you have WIPs.

Tagged by both @setsuntamew and @dragonofeternal so I guess I’m doing this!! I don’t have as much fanfic so I’m including the ttrpgs I’m working on too!

“Crew Info” - This is for chapter 3 of Bleeding Cowboys! I’m just trying to give us all a reference doc for what high school crew was like so we can all write it with a unified voice

“18 isn’t old enough for fireworks but neither is 180” - an unrelated 2000’s teenage Vashwood AU

“Religious angst snippet” - Tristamp Wolfwood having a bad time

“Bluuuuaaargh I am never gonna be able to find this later” - a very poorly titled bit of Vashwood angst with a happyish ending??

“You are not a train” - a Persona 4 Naoto centric Twine (interactive) fic about growing up and being an adult and gender still being complicated

“Pending” - A ttrpg/board game about being a bunch of newly graduated wizards who go in together on a fixer upper tower

“Murder Express” - A ttrpg about murder on a train

“Labyrinth” - A solo ttrpg about playing a haunted ps1 game

“This is not a pipe” - a solo journaling ttrpg about the physicality of a spell book/journal

“Title Here” - a so far unnamed game about being a bunch of kobolds building a dungeon on a shoestring budget

OK SO I MAY HAVE HAD MORE THAN I THOUGHT?? No one gets tagged because everyone I know already was tagged or sent it to me. (Unless you got something @tamayrs up your sleeve, then feel free!) Anyway, feel free to ask me about any of these, I’m happy to give you a snippet and a more in-depth overview!

[buckywiththegoodhair86]

I posted 202 times in 2022

26 posts created (13%)

176 posts reblogged (87%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@doctorhelena

@pegsccarter

@melliabee

@roboticonography

@usaonetwothree

I tagged 57 of my posts in 2022

#fics - 24 posts

#steggy - 18 posts

#ao3 - 16 posts

#steggy is canon - 11 posts

#steggy week - 9 posts

#steggy secret santa - 8 posts

#steggyweek2022 - 7 posts

#obi-wan kenobi - 6 posts

#doctorhelena - 6 posts

#star wars - 5 posts

Longest Tag: 63 characters

#especially because i know some of them have been tagged already

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

One more cover art! This one is from my Supernatural AU. Peggy is the hunter, Steve is the Man of Letters, they hunt monsters and fall in love and have a grand old time.

14 notes - Posted February 5, 2022

#4

Inspired by all the lovely cover arts my buddy @formerlyir has been making, I decided to try doing one of my own. So, ta-dah! Cover art for my Steggy AU story set in the Once Upon A Time universe.

18 notes - Posted January 30, 2022

#3

Here it is! My Steggy Secret Santa story for the lovely @doctorhelena! In which Steve and Peggy enjoy a Christmas party and reminisce a lot and be in love and just generally have a good time.

25 notes - Posted February 19, 2022

#2

I’ve made another cover art! This one is for my Medieval Steggy AU, where Peggy is the secret wizard living in the castle, and Steve is the prince.

27 notes - Posted February 4, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

I have written a little bonus gift for @doctorhelena based on a conversation we had about the chain of gas stations called Buc-ee’s. It’s very silly.

(Shout-out to @roboticonography who is the originator of the joke at the end!)

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“Is that—guys, I think we actually found him,” Clint said.

Steve turned to look at the man getting out of a battered pickup truck that Clint was pointing at. “Bucky?”

The man looked up. “Hey, Steve.”

“‘Hey, Steve,’ just like that?” Sam said.

“What?” Bucky asked, shrugging his shoulders. “We may be in Texas, but I’m not going to say ‘howdy’.”

Steve laughed at that. “Sounds like you’re glad to see us, then?”

“I am,” Bucky replied. “Figured you’d find me eventually.”

“I have to admit, when we got a tip you were in Paris, this wasn’t the Paris I was expecting. How long have you been hiding here?” Nat wondered.

“Since after D.C.,” Bucky said.

“You’ve been here for two years?” Clint asked.

“Yep.” Bucky reached into his pants pocket, pulling out a plastic name tag and pinning it to his shirt. “Can we continue this inside? I’m going to be late for my shift.”

“Your shift?” Sam glared at the name tag that had the name ‘Bucky’ printed on it. “You work here?”

“Yep.”

“You’ve been working under your own name at a Buc-ee’s gas station for two years while we’ve been running all over the world trying to find you?” Sam clarified.

“Yep.”

“I hate you so much.”

“Well, I had to work somewhere,” Bucky pointed out. “Super-soldier’s gotta eat.”

“You chose Buc-ee’s on purpose, though, didn’t you?” Steve guessed.

Bucky smirked. “Yep.”

Steve laughed again. “You’re such a punk.”

“That’s my line,” Bucky replied.

“Hey, guys did you—whoa, we found him?” Scott exclaimed, bursting through the door of the gas station.

“Yes, we found him, and what in the world is that on your head?” Nat asked.

Scott reached up a hand to touch the brim of his new Stetson. “A cowboy hat.”

“You’re not so much with the stealth, are you?” Clint asked.

“I think we blend in a lot better than you guys do,” Scott countered, slinging an arm over Wanda’s shoulder. She had come out a few steps behind him, wearing a pink cowboy hat with a rhinestone band.

“I don’t know who this guy is, but he’s right,” Bucky agreed. He nodded to the rest of them in their sunglasses and baseball caps. “Did you guys come from a baseball game or something?”

See the full post

42 notes - Posted February 20, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[late-to-the-magnus-archives]

God of Cowboys and Fools - Chapter Four

“I can just keep up.”

“No, you can’t. You don’t know your body’s limitations yet, clearly, but you damn near hit them today.”

I scowl. “I am a god.”

“Part of a god. In a body you cobbled together from spit and spite. Shut up and let me get you a horse.” He walks out and leaves me with the fanged, red-eyed, mouth-breathing freak.

Bella the horse looks at me. I don’t feel like she’s impressed.

Written for the @malevolentmadnessmixup event! Art by @futuresoon.

>>> READ ON AO3 OR BELOW <<<

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

Chapter Four

I stay quiet all the way up the ladder and through the creaky wooden hut and through the desert and back into town and through the swinging doors of Jack’s Bar (which looks a lot better than it should, given the dark magic that undoubtedly flew during our battle, but maybe Arthur repaired it).

I stay quiet as we pass all these dirty humans who just stare at us, who (foolishly) are more wary of him than they are of me, and Arthur nods and mutters to the man behind the bar and leaves a handful of coins and just heads out the door.

We go toward the other end of town, the opposite of the way I came in. There, it seems he has a horse.

It’s a weird horse. This thing is poltergeist gray, with weird red eyes, and its edges don’t seem… solid. It stomps, snorting, and pants through its mouth (some memory from this brain tells me horses can’t do that), revealing fucking fangs that I am damned sure don’t grow in horses.

“There, there,” Arthur the wizard says, patting it (Her? Yep, that’s a lady horse) down. “I know, he’s pretty scary, but he’s a good guy now. Aren’t you, Little John?”

Uh. “I don’t know.”

He rolls his eyes at me.

I think the horse just did, too. What the fuck? “They can’t breathe through their mouths.”

“Bella can. Yes you can, can’t you, old girl? Fuck, we’re going to need you to get a horse. No fucking way she’ll let you ride her.”

Oh. “I can just keep up.”

“No, you can’t. You don’t know your body’s limitations yet, clearly, but you damn near hit them today.”

I scowl. “I am a god.”

“Part of a god. In a body you cobbled together from spit and spite. Shut up and let me get you a horse.” He walks out and leaves me with the fanged, red-eyed, mouth-breathing freak.

Bella the horse looks at me. I don’t feel like she’s impressed.

I bare my teeth.

She bares hers.

Hers are longer. Why the fuck did I bother to keep mine human sized, anyway? “Are you immortal, too?”

She snorts at me. Steam or smoke or something comes out of her nose.

I peer closer. “Are you a summoned being, or something? What are you?”

“Are you talking to my horse?” teases Arthur Lester, who got another horse so fast that I almost think he stole it.

“Yeah. She’s not a horse.”

“On that, you’re partly correct.” He pulls out a saddle and begins rigging her up. “She was a horse. She was a very good horse, and served me well. When she got old, I was sad, because I didn’t want to lose her; she wanted to stay with me, too, so we made a deal.”

This sounds very relevant to my situation. “She’s immortal?”

“She’s tied to me and to one other, between life and death. As long as she wants to be mine, she will be. When she’s done, she’ll join the Wild Hunt forever.” He looks at me. “Do you know how to saddle your new horse?”

I look at my horse. Bay, a gelding. Kind of boring after Bella. “I think so.”

“Do it.” He’s watching me for some reason.

I get the saddle he points me to. Guess we “bought” that, too. Carefully, I apply it to my new horse.

It takes me a few minutes. Each step, I have to search my stolen memories for, and it’s a pain because they don’t match up. Different methods. I frown.

“Problem?” he says, still watching me.

“No,” I snap at him, and choose a method. A few moments later, my new horse is saddled. “Good boy, Boring,” I tell him.

Arthur sort of coughs. “You named him Boring?”

“Yep.”

“I think his name is supposed to be Jed.”

I scoff. “Jed! That’s a stupid name. You’re Boring, aren’t you?”

My horse sort of makes a whuffing sound at me and nods. Ha!

Arthur shakes his head.

“Did you steal him?” I ask just because I’m curious.

“No. I was owed. Let’s go, Little John. They will fucking catch us if we dick around any longer.”

“Who are they?”

“On the road.” He swings into the saddle with a grace I find very interesting all of a sudden, and I stare at him.

“What?” he says.

“That was a beautiful movement.” I peer at him. “You aren’t unseemly for a human, are you?”

He rolls his eyes again.

Whatever. It takes me a moment to remember how to mount, and I’m heavier than Arthur Lester is, but Boring handles it just fine.

Arthur shakes his head and trots Bella out the door.

I follow. Fortunately, Boring knows what to do better than I do. “You’re a good horse,” I tell him.

He whickers at me again.

We have an understanding, he and I. Take that, weird not-horse Bella. Take that.

#

It’s so fucking hot out here. I decide I don’t like it. It must not have been this hot where I came from before. Wherever that was.

The Dreamlands, my Lord, says the voice, who’s been quiet for a while. Which you ruled at your whim.

Did I? It definitely wasn’t hot, then.

“So,” says Arthur after a while, as we bounce along and our horses make noises and our saddles make noises and it’s a weirdly pleasant leather-jingle cacophony. “I really would like to know how you found me.”

“I already answered that,” I say.

“Not quite,” he says. “Here’s the thing, Little John—”

“Just John.” I have decided.

A pause. “Sure. Here’s the thing, Just John: the protections I’ve had in place for the past three hundred years are missing. Just plain gone. Something blew them away like wind on cobwebs—and that something definitely happened in the last several hours.”

I’m not stupid. “You’re blaming me?”

“I didn’t say that,” said Arthur. “It may not be you. It may have been whatever shattered the King in Yellow. That was… that was a big aetheric explosion.” He shudders, closing his eyes for a moment. “The whole world felt it, John. It didn’t feel good.”

I swallow. “I don’t remember what happened. Just waking up.”

“And knowing you had to find me.”

“I… I knew I was mortal. And I can’t be mortal. It’ll destroy me. Then I knew you were immortal, and… I knew I had to find you.”

Arthur Lester looks at me. “You knew that.”

“I knew that.”

His face… I can’t understand what I’m seeing there. It’s pain of some kind, loss, grief, anger? I don’t know. It’s a lot, and doesn’t look pleasant. “You knew your name and that you had to find me.”

Oh. “No. I knew I had to find you. And I… don’t know how I knew to make the body.”

“You knew me but not your name?”

“That’s what I said.” I huff like Boring. It feels pretty good.

“Then how did you learn your name?”

Don’t you dare.

I need his help more than yours, voice. “There’s a voice in my head.”

He looks really spooked now. “What?”

You idiot!

“I don’t know who he is,” I say. “He’s very bossy. But he knew who I was, and told me.”

Arthur frowns, his silver-blue eyes moving as he “sees” all around me, for whatever value of that word. “I don’t see any connective… how the heck…”

You fool!

“He’s insulting me now,” I say. “He swings between that and calling me lord and god and glorious, so I don’t know what to do with him.”

There is a sigh in my head.

Arthur’s frowning. “To be fair, I don’t know what to do with you, either.”

“You have to take me with you,” I remind him.

“Sure, but I could bind you, or something.”

I gasp. “You wouldn’t!”

“I might. If you’re trouble.”

“I’m not trouble!” I bare my teeth.

Bella bares hers sort of at me sideways.

“It’s okay, girl,” says Arthur, patting her neck. “He’s a baby.”

“I am not a baby.”

“From what I can tell, you’re six hours old.”

“I am eternal!”

“You’re mortal, and you came into existence six hours ago. Shut up.”

This man! Infuriating! How dare!

I did tell you not to put your trust in him, my Lord, drawls the voice.

Except that I know I can. Damn it, voice. Listen to me. I know I can.

And I know you can’t.

We’re getting nowhere. “I don’t know what happened to your protections. Sorry.”

“I’m not holding you accountable,” he says, which is weird phrasing that feels like it goes beyond its literal meaning somehow, and I think it’s important. “I’m just… you remembered me. That’s weird, John.”

“Remembered you?” I gasp. “We met before?”

“You and I did not.”

“But you said… Oh! When I was whole.”

“Yes.”

He remembers. But I don’t? “When? How?”

The voice laughs softly. He will never answer that, oh great one. Never in a million years.

I want to know! “Answer me.”

“I’m not ready to talk about it,” he says so primly that I laugh.

“No tea to go with that delivery? Pinky out?”

“What?” Then he laughs. “I get it. No, I think my tone conveyed my high-class disdain just fine.”

We both laugh because that was very silly.

I like Arthur the wizard.

“Six hours,” Arthur murmurs to himself. “Do you feel like you know more or less than you did when you woke?”

“I don't know how to answer that.”

“Do you remember anything of your past? Where you came from? Who you were?”

I scowl. “No.”

“But more… human things.”

“Yes.”

“That may not be good,” he says. “So when you put your body together, what did you use?”

“Cultists.”

He pulls Bella up to a stop. “Did you use any of the King?”

“There were only humans.”

“There should have been something left. Shit. Shit.” He rubs his forehead.

Bella makes a questioning sound.

“What?” I say.

He’s silent for a long moment. “So the pro is they won’t expect us to go back in that direction. The con is they’re definitely coming from that way, so we could be walking into them.”

“Into who?”

“The King’s servants. Fuck.”

I stare at him. “The people chasing you to kill you are my servants?”

“Sort of. They think they're trying to protect him.”

“Protect him? Me? From you?” Boring must be able to feel the awfulness moving through me, like bad blood. He prances in place, uneasy.

Arthur sighs. “I have something. He… gave me something. But they were convinced I stole it.”

What is going on here? “What?” Silence. “What is it? What do you have?”

“I promise I’ll tell you,” says Arthur, “if we survive the night.”

I could tell you, my Lord.

I swallow. I need to know. “You promise you’ll tell me?”

“I give you my word.”

Then no, voice. I want it from him.

He’s a thief and a liar!

Yeah? Really? Funny that you didn’t mention any of what he’s saying, voice. Not one word of it, not all those hours we were talking and walking across the burning sand. Funny how that happened!

You weren’t ready.

I’m so mad at the voice I can barely think. “You better keep your word, Arthur Lester.”

“I will,” he says. And he turns his horse around.

[chapter five] [masterpost]

[sergioguymanproust]

What do you do when cows are no more? When the government is no longer responsible for your means of existence? What do you do if you are a cowboy?We are seeing the slow but steady disappearance of an iconic figure of the American west.They did it to the American Indian,well the aka Native Americans ,slowly exterminating them by drugs and alcohol,later by psychosis and now by the steady infiltration of government goons posing as intermediaries pretending to be historians and friends of the nations.Well, the farming communities in the US are almost gone,and the Chinese,and billionaires are grabbing and buying the land and even ghost towns,but the government is going along because they say ,got nothing to lose! So ,to fool the current reality they again take out their trump card ,no pun intended and the great threat are no more the aliens ,but illegal aliens ,so I ask you who will the legal farmers of America use as peons to collect the fruits and vegetables during harvest times? Will the elephants and the donkeys as the American fable goes will break their backs in the hot summer months and collect the aliment to feed we the people? Nope! I don’t think so, well as a prophecy,we will have cyborgs and robots or we will snare millions of legal Chinese peasant and let them become the next wave of farmers ,let’s ask the landowners like Billy the goat Gates. Well, enough of daydreaming. Once the cowboy is gone ,who will replace him? We killed the Marlboro man, Uncle Sam is already in a convalescent home ,Smokey the bear has gone fishing for salmon in Alaska,and Palin is still shooting grizzlies from her helicopter or was it moose? My guess is we are indeed running out of time and the narrative has gone through the grinder way too many times,now don’t get me wrong I love America but the clowns and the circus already bit the proverbial dust !We are in desperate need of a rejuvenated Wizard of Oz! Words by Sergio GuymanProust.

markmaggiori 

[topknotstrunk]

Review Everything 17 - Fairy Tale by Stephen King

Review Contains Spoilers:

This is my favorite author, writing in my favorite genre, fantasy. And up until Charlie descends into the well it had the potential to be one of my favorite books by Stephen King. Stranger in a strange land is my absolute favorite trope of all time. And then it turned into a weak pastiche of classic fairy stories and homage to cosmic horror. Which is very weird because King is good at both fairy stories [Dark Tower, Duma Key, and Lisey's Story] and cosmic horror [It, the Langoliers, and Ur] when he is writing his own stories. It's not like none of what he's written before this has lacked references to other works. Hell, Dark Tower is a retelling of the King Author myth, and has references to many things within it, strongest of which in my mind are The Wizard of Oz, the great American cowboy myth, Harry Potter, and Shardik. The difference, I think, between those and Fairy Tale is that I can buy into the internal logic of books like those of the Dark Tower series, or Boo'ya Moon. It all fits. With Fairy Tale I could feel two very strong and very opposing elements tugging me in two directions the entire time I read the book. The first direction of "I have no idea whats going to happen next" element of King's writing I so treasure. Rarely are his stories predicable, but when you do encounter a zag the place it takes you makes you think "of course, makes sense". It's one of King's greatest talents, that he can toss the most buck wild story elements at you over the course of a book and no matter how unexpected the element was it fits in with the rest of the book, and is often the only thing that could happen that does make sense. The second was "I know how fairy tales work and I know exactly what's happening next". And, once in Empis and beyond the gates of the city, the former shrunk to almost nothing and the latter had me guessing the entire back third of the book without many misses. I think a lot of fantasy readers get lost in the sauce of world building and think that because a world is explained to be well constructed in a novel that means that it is. I like a book with strong internal logic, especially a fantasy one. I don't want the characters to sit down and have a conversation about the politics of the last two hundred years, the laws of the land, and how the Magic system works, but I do want characters to act a certain way because of the politics. I want someone to find what the law of the land is by breaking it, getting punished, or getting off with a warning. I want to know how the Magic system works as the Magic user learns it, with all the mistakes and triumphs along the way. I want that internal logic, that feeling that through the novel doesn't contain a dissertation on what the world building is that the author knows everything important about the world they built. I got that from The Dark Tower, that there were things the characters didn't know, but that King did. I got that from Lisey's Story, from 11/22/63, from every other book of his I've read. With Fairy Tale though? Absolutely not. It felt like the book was being made up as it went along, like the rules for Magic [or maybe not, it's never really confirmed if that's a thing in Empis or not] were whatever the plot needed them to be. Why does The Snab have the ability to psychically speak to most creatures, including Humans, but never told Peterkins to fuck off? Who made the sundial? Is there more than one mermaid? Was she a person, who agreed to come and live where she did, or was she a fish in a tank who didn't know any better? Why are there no dogs in Empis, if there are wolfies? What the fuck are The Night Guards? They share no thematic similarities Gogmagog so where did their abilities come from? Are they electrical in nature because Adrien introduced electricity to Empis? Don't dictate the rules to me, but do put them naturally into the story! It's so frustrating having Charlie say "well I didn't know so neither did you" and have it left at that. Part of this problem is due to pacing. Until Charlie goes to Empis the book is striding along at normal book pace, then then it hurdles from well dissension to dungeon time, and then crawls through dungeon time, and then limps along over the finish line. If we'd had more of Charlie preparing, more time to spend in and develop this world, then the time spent in Deep Malleen would have felt like less of a slog. I get that part of the homage to other fantasy stories is that there was a tight deadline that Charlie was working on, but just make it less tight. Show me more of Empis and its people. Make me care about more than Charlie, Radar, and Leah. The reason I didn't like the book, ultimately, is that it comes down to what King was trying to accomplish. It reads like he wanted a fantasy book in the vein of Hans Christian Andersen with H.P. Lovecraft cosmic horror elements, instead of a Stephen King fantasy story with Stephen King cosmic horror elements. I come to King's books for King's writing. Unfortunately, he got what it seems he wanted, and Fairy Tale just doesn't read like a Stephen King book, at least to me. [Goodreads specific closing.] Before Charlie went down the well I would have given the book a 5 star rating. For everything that happens after the sundial, I would have given it a 2. By the end of the book it middles out to a 3. If Good Reads would let me grade this on a 10 point scale Fairy Tale would get a 5, as a perfectly average book. Too bad King is not usually a perfectly average writer, and Fairy Tale slides down to the very bottom in the ranking of all of his stories I've read. This Constant Reader is very interested to see where their favorite author goes from here.

In Summary: An average novel from a writer who normally makes books that are far from average, somehow using my favorite trope and my two favorite genres to make a book that was merely fine.

Overall: 5/10

[space-ayce]

So I created Cad Bane in Miitopia for the Switch....this game has been a curse yet a blessing.

[st-just]

dnd sci-fi anon here! Thanks for the answer, you hit the nail on the head.

As someone who tries to make the best game i can for my players I'm always trying to be aware of where I'm in the wrong about how I run my games, so with so many "it is impossible to do sci-fi in dnd, just play starfinder or lancer" posts I sometimes worry I misstepped by sticking with dnd overall, but I think what it comes down to in the end is that my players directly asked for a dnd campaign in space, with magic-powered tech and space elves and bringing swords to a gunfight, and we all prefer 5e over Starfinder (which would also be a good system for the kind of campaign we all wanted). I had someone who went "I want to play a wizard space cowboy" so I think this was a good pick for the campaign we all wanted.

But i did want to make sure I wasnt just being stupid about it. I agree with you and I think I just run into so many people online who don't see it that way, and that ends up making me second guess and worry that my view on it is just wrong and im being pigheaded by sticking with 5e in the end. I shopped around for a bunch of systems when i first considered this campaign but it came down to "why learn a new system when my players quite literally asked for dnd in space?"

I feel more sure about that decision after hearing from someone I dont know personally who has little reason to worry making me feel bad by telling me if I'm wrong, but also explains thoughts thoroughly enough to convince me if I am. You were more likely to give me a more detailed explanation than the people who just go "there is NOTHING dnd is good for, just play another game" and if i had just asked someone I knew would agree with me it wouldnt do much to help me feel like I made the right choice.

re:

I mean, like, 'your players are comfortable and enjoy D&D and don't want to learn another system' is a perfectly legitimate reason to stick with it! (Certainly the reason I mostly have).

Anyways, I'm super not an authority on TTRPGs at all (I can recommend Legacy and Blades In The Dark and Delta Green as all variously a lot of fun with the right group and Unknown Armies 3e has my favorite session 0/campaign creation chapter ever, but that's about it), but I can absolutely say that you should absolutely positively never take people vitriolically hating something on the internet as being the final word on its quality. Like, about anything.

[scint]

Krogan Ties

"Hey, Shepard! Great party," Wrex cheered over the roaring music. He held up his ryncol in a toast. "Pretty tame by krogan standards but a good time to relax and unwind."

"Thanks, Wrex," she replied as their glasses clinked together. They each took turns taking long pulls from them before she continued. "I think everybody needed this, you know?"

"Yeah. I mean, just look at them flailing around like that." He shook his head as Kaidan aimed a round of finger guns at him. "That's some desperate dancing if I've ever seen it."

"Are you saying krogan dancing is any more dignified than that?"

"I'm too old to make a fool of myself at parties, Shepard. Junior, on the other hand - where is he, anyway?"

They turned in place, glancing at both levels in view. No sign of the silver armor and thick, orange hide.

"Huh. He was just complaining about how hungry he was. Maybe he found a bite to eat and snuck off so he wouldn't have to share."

Shepard turned to stare at her old friend and shook her head in disbelief.

"What?"

"Nothing. Let's take a look around," she advised, stepping towards the nearest set of stairs.

"Come on, Shepard. Let the boy be. He'll come out when he's ready. Hell, you can't miss him with a head that big."

"Quit whining and go the other way. I'll meet you in the middle," she called over her shoulder.

After a few minutes of searching and walking in on a few of her squadmates in varyingly precarious senarios, she met Wrex outside of one if the guest bathrooms. She heard the shower running inside and decided it would best to leave whoever it was to finish before checking to see if they'd seen the young krogan.

"Well? Any luck?" Wrex asked.

"No, you?"

He shook his massive head at her and turning back the way he'd came. "That's it. I'm grabbing a refill and then I'll start checking surveillance footage and call the hospital. He'd better be-"

"Are you a wizard?"

"Pst! Hey! Wrex!" Shepard waved him over back to the bathroom door. She could see steam starting to spill out from under the crack in the door.

"What?" he demanded.

"Listen."

Both of them placed an ear to the door, listening intently until-

"Who's a space cowboy? Me!"

Grunt.

"What the..."

Shepard slowly swung the door open so as not to alert him; she didn't need a panicked krogan in a confined space. Stepping inside, she saw him crumbled on the shower floor, water pouring over his massive listless frame.

"Now I've seen everything," she muttered.

She was rewarded with another quip. "Damn your lettuce!"

"Well, he's plastered. Poor boy hasn't developed a tolerance for the drink yet. Guess I shouldn't have been feeding them to him all night."

"Wrex!" Shepard scolded.

"What? He keeps bragging about being a 'pure krogan,'" he exclaimed with air quotes. "Guess I thought he'd be up to the task."

"Next time, don't get the toddler drunk, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah... You know what, though? This is nice. Our little family that we've fought for."

"You mean Grunt?"

"Yeah, sure. You're his battle master, the first person he laid eyes on after being released from that tank. And I took him in, gave him the rite, made him an honorary member of Clan Urdnot. We both adopted him, took him under our wing. Look how well he's doing for it!"

She glanced down at his soaking wet form, questioning Wrex's vision. "Uh-huh."

"I'm serious! We did good," he gushed proudly, beaming down as Grunt began to mutter again.

"Gimme more..."

"What?"

"Gimme more, gimme more..."

"What's he saying?" Wrex asked, eyeballing Shepard who shrugged in response.

"Fishdog Food Shack!"

"See? Told you he was hungry," Wrex nodded knowingly.

"Then get him a snack and put him to bed, Dad." Shepard nudged one if his massive arms and stalked off.

"Dammit! C'mon, Junior," she heard him heave.

"I am the law!"

#MERweek2021 Day 5: We are family.

[1ddiscourseoftheday]

🍄Mon 21 Dec ‘20🎉

Liam says he just finished his last thing of the year- CONGRATS BUD I know you were stressed about getting it all done!!- and issues a formal thank you to a faithful helper: his laptop, which “has seen more zooms than I've had dinners, thank you... you can rest now.” That last thing he did was an interview about the wizarding world thing, not yet posted, although he then comes back one more time to post a santa-hat bedtime selfie captioned 'merry christmas you filthy animals'. He's leaving us with plenty of prerecorded content to keep the updates going during his break though; for example he and Roman Kemp have something coming on the 27th, which makes sense what with it being a day ending in a Y and all, it's something about a naughty or nice list, I guess we'll see. And in their fourth to last alarm today, the final round of christmas cracker jokes-- bringing it up to date with an “elf isolation” punchline, nice! I mean not in the sense of being funny but like, timely, also Liam is actually back on the alarm so cheers to that.

They could have hit up Louis for jokes-- he's famous for them! Apparently! A museum exhibition in Baltimore (viewable virtually) quotes him as the author of a vaguely science-y joke-- (“why did the mushroom go to the party? because he's a fungi!”). He definitely isn't the originator of it but me as the curator who was like 'well he said this once and any excuse to write Louis' name on this wall, LET'S DO IT'. Everyone but you is out here telling bad jokes Harry, come reclaim your crown sir!

Niall puts on a cowboy accent for the dramatic unboxing of a Diplo promo package (LP, hankie- “very sexy!”, t-shirt, USB stick- “jeez haven't seen one of these in a while”), it's for a country album with features from Julia Michaels, Cam, Orville Peck, and more that came out back in May, and he knocks off some official sponcon unboxing as well, looking cozy in the promotional knitwear.

Aaaand the Clarks are at it again! First grandma Ruth said Louis was in LA with Freddie until two days ago (she also said he was going to spend xmas with him, pick one lady, but anyway) and everyone put on their thinking caps and were like okaaaay he COULD have flown to LA the day after his show and been there the 13th-18th but that seems crazy and would mean NO quarantine on either end (definitely not allowed in either place), but there's a rumor that Harry is back in London maybe Louis went to LA and got him or something?? But just when they almost had us, enter Brett to try to oversell and screw it all up- in response to a fan pointing out how ridiculous that was, Brett said 'no it's not, Louis was there for two whole weeks his livestream was just prerecorded' LMAO. This is pretty epic since your options are now: you can believe that Louis pulled a conspiracy of moon landing level complexity to pretend that a show that had been recorded previously was live, enlisting not just Veeps but also dozens of people also pretending it was happening at that time, many of them on their obscure official business accounts, without a single slip up, for NO REASON (he could have just visited the kid at... any other time, or had the show at a different time, or been like here's a prerecorded show), OR you can believe that Brett and his family are, hmmm, giant liars! Wild notion!! Sooo anyway guys tell me again how YOU don't believe in wacky conspiracy theories like us crazypants larries... I'm waiting...

[salty-dracon]

More Octopath 2. All the Chapter 4s, minus the character whose story end was Chapter 3.

Partitio Chapter 4:

I was wondering what that brick smokestack covered city in the trailer could be... turns out it's AN ENTIRE ISLAND run by THE GOD OF CAPITALISM HIMSELF

This entire factory would probably get thousands of citations from Fantasy OSHA.

Oh. That's the loophole. Roque called it the Neo Steam Engine. Partitio is getting the rights to the original, which cannot be mass-produced. Clever, clever...

Oh. Okay. Not the loophole I was expecting.

HAHAHAHAHA THEY ACTUALLY GIVE YOU EIGHTY BILLION LEAVES-

*train whistle* Oh cool so in Octopath 3 we'll have trains.

Local cowboy face skids into the cobblestones.

Yeah!!! He said it!!! He said capitalism!!!

The fact that we're fighting a giant train, and it does the Octopath Final Boss thing where the part sprites look like they're pieces of the boss itself fucks so hard.

As someone who keeps collecting little doodads, I totally get it.

And so, we hired the bad guy to work for our new company where we use steam power to bring the world closer together! Up until climate change kicks in, that is.

I have no clue how one guy and his scent of commerce could possibly tie into the final boss.

Osvald Chapter 4:

Oh, hey. A mention of D'arqest. The one who opened a portal to attack people around Crackridge, fought back by a man named Kal.

The fact that Osvald is canonically a math guy trying to use math to understand the world of magic makes him a man after my own heart. The fact that he is good enough to teach it to a child is also amazing. I'm a math guy myself, and people treat me like a wizard because of it. Plus, doing math feels like magic to me sometimes and is how Western style magic is supposed to feel.

And Harvey is a biology guy. Less exacting, but respectable, I guess.

... Wow. There's even lore behind Soulstones! They're the dried and crystallized blood of monsters.

I haven't been talking much about the banter but it's so good.

Like what if he extracted blood from the creatures on Ochette's island. The goopy ones. Or the Scarlet Moon ones.

I'm just saying, this thing looks suspiciously like the Scarlet Moon monsters......

THAT'S HIS WIFE?! Is this a Graham Crossford scenario where Osvald's wife's bloodline is tied to a god?

Yes, in fact.

OH NO. OH NO

Osvald, get his ass.

Agnea Chapter 4:

That little kid's going to know so much dance by the time Agnea's done with her.

Aww, her mother came to this town and the grandparents remembered!

Oh. Cuani inspired Dolcinaea, then.

With the persistent theme of the Moon, I wonder if the Moonstep has anything to do with it.

Why is this rich Italian girl personally attacking the poor slums lol

So cringe that they give every female boss the craziest boob physics.

Get her ass, Agnea

Hikari Chapter 4:

The Seventh Source has to be the darkness in human souls or some shit, right? "The Shadow"? Null, as the Room series called it? Because it's in that sword.

Talk about broken bridges!

Awwwww.

Hikari's backstory is obviously pretty much entirely based on feudal Japan including all of its social issues, and those are coming out a lot here.

Hikari: And that's how, at the tender age of 12, I acquired my very own shadow demon.

The other seven : WTF?!?!?!

And in perfect protagonist fashion, the story important guy Hikari killed brought it all on himself.

the fucking banter where Osvald would have rather pulled the frigit isle prison break than have someone else just unlock the door for him. or use magic.

Rai Mei I love you but I was under the impression you wore cool armor, not a boob plate and leggings.

Throne Chapter 4:

Her real bio father probably wrote that message on Pirro's grave.

Oh yeah, that door. But wouldn't the team have realized that it was locked while scouting?

Why is there a big valley under the sprawling metropolis of New Delsta?

Moon symbolism. Seriously, what the shit? Why does there just happen to be a cable car system under New Delsta, and wouldn't anyone know it's there just by looking up? Unless it's because they're over the Pit of Darkness or Pit of Shadows or whatever.

This is starting to feel like a weird semi-steampunk fairy tale in a half-forgotten dream.

Solistia, and moon symbolism for evil. I wonder if the two kingdoms are the light and darkness worlds. Maybe Osvald's wife and daughter and also Kal are descended from the Light lover, and there are others like D'arqest descended from the Darkness.

The Nameless Village? Which does, in fact, have a name.

This is like, Minecraft Ancient City levels of scary.

... What. The fuck. You're telling me that random ass kid in Oresrush- what the fuck is happening. If the Elden Ring x Cold Vein castle didn't turn my brain into mush already, this did.

What. The. Fuck.

Having like 200 kids and putting them all in one big organization so you can have the world's most powerful child. Hashtag immortal people things.

Throne... Get his ass and render it dead.

Castlevania looking asshole. (OP loves making fun of vampires)

Woooooooow. Woooooooooooooooooow.

Okay bravo, the ending was amazing, that shitty dad of hers is dead, and Throne gets a cute doggy to hang out with.

Temenos Chapter 4:

I was like "Kaldena" has "Kal" in front, so that can't be it. But yeah, they didn't overlook it. Her name was Dena.

Oh right the Nameless Village is in Toto'haha.

D'arqest came here, tried to call Shadow, yup yup... WHAT. So the Beastlings' ancestors were humans warped by The Shadow.

More moon symbolism on the ground. So combining this information with that from the end of Ochette's route, this Shadow is pretty much what attacks during the Night of the Scarlet Moon when the barrier between planes is broken.

I am not immune to hot lady knight.

Oh. She's a Dark Souls boss now.

Right, there's a leader of the Moonshade Order somewhere responsible for a massacre thirty years prior. Auuuuuugh I need a proper timeline of events! Too much stuff going on!

Castti Chapter 4:

Castti's a disaster relief apothecary, and I like her for that. I can't wait to see how she disaster relieves a COVID-er, purple rain coronation.

The fact that she saved all of their lives is crazy. And the fact that the townspeople listened is crazier.

Nooooooo I don't wanna fight a plague doctor. Where is his face. Please tell me I get to beat up a guy with a face.

Watching people die over and over is enough to drive one mad. But who exactly did he listen to in the first place, who made him this way? They must have a name. Is it D'arqest or Claude or someone else?

Bitch do NOT make me cry by having Castti formally put her friends to rest

And I'm crying at the ending image now. Poor baby.

Reactions so far to Octopath 2 chapters:

Agnea Chapter 2: I adored it! Agnea's story is pretty lighthearted compared to Primrose's, but I like how it's building up to the Artificial Silk Girl scenario we'll run into later. I like the villains overall, but this guy is partially why. He doesn't have Evil Disease, he just hates poor people. Also, so much good music so far.

Ochette Cateracta Chapter: Love seeing her clashes with places as deeply human as port towns. Love the important side character too. And I can't wait to meet the final boss. There's going to be lots of big monsters in this one... The ending scene where Alpione cries has beautiful music.

Temenos Chapter 2: I LOVE book based murder. It drives me insane I love it. And I love him and his himbo and the mysteries. Although evil knights clad in red = LOL.

I find it hilarious how when you get information out of a person, there's sometimes some funny shit, and sometimes some mind-blowing information rendered in normal text. And sometimes there's glitches.

HER SISTER?!

A DUNGEON AS COMPACT AS A SHIP????

I cannot wait to see what your cool boss sprite looks like with all it's moves-nooooooo moonlight judgment nooooooooooooo

Castti Sai Chapter: She's the one whose story I'm most interested in, since she seems like such a cool character to me. Also I love how the desert is explicitly the Gobi Desert- I feel like we don't get to see that sort of setting that often.

More glitchies!

Edmund, who looks like THAT: A man's gotta be a provider! Me: Got it, he's sexist, racist, and classist.

Stop killing people, Edmund. (10 minutes later) Good on you for whatever you did, Edmund, but fuck you still.

I can't be the only one who was really excited to see a sand lion and ended up disappointed when it was actually just a giant real-world bug. Called a sand lion.

Whoever voicing the Purple Rain guy is doing great. And I'm terrified for what he did to the Apothecaries and that town. Perhaps that's like Octopath's Ruins of Hornburg.