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EvolutionsVoid — Grave Robbing
#creature #dryad #fairy #monster #temple #gargoyle #gargoyles
Published: 2018-08-27 19:23:23 +0000 UTC; Views: 1023; Favourites: 21; Downloads: 0
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Description
When it comes to exploring ancient temples or lost tombs, one of the best rules to follow is: "If it looks valuable, don't touch it." Any golden statue or giant jewel you come across is going to be rigged to some kind of booby trap nearly 100% of the time. Be it massive stone hammers falling from the ceiling, swinging blades, massive rolling boulders or some swarm of poisonous darts, it is definitely not going to be a fun time. This was a rule Merrill was quite familiar with, what with her years of travel and exploration. She also knew that Korgin was aware of this rule as well, which she assumed meant that everything was going to go smoothly. Unfortunately, she soon came to learn that while Korgin was aware of the "do not touch shiny" rule, it did not mean he actually followed it. Lo and behold, the second they came across some golden jewel-covered funeral urn, the greedy fairy nabbed it and made a dash to the exit. Merrill soon followed suit when she realized that this brazen theft released the gargoyles that had been hibernating in this ancient temple. It looks like Korgin is going to need a serious talking to after all this is done, assuming that they make it out alive...-------------------------------------------------
Goofing around with more stuff again. Nothing real significant here. Just having fun.
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Comments: 19
the gargoyles almost seem happy that they're able to chase them down
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They are happy to finally have some fresh meat! With a side of vegetables too!
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Te tiles of the tomb remind me of something of a bee's nest. I'm also wondering whose ashes are in that urn... maybe when opened, the ashes will form into an ash wraith and annoy the heck out of Korgin for taking him away from his home.
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Yeah, they do have a honeycomb look to them. I wanted the temple to look rather strange and alien, so I figured geometric shapes would do the trick!
And who knows! Perhaps the ashes still hold some type of memory, or perhaps they are cursed! Korgin might have wanted to think about that before he nabbed them!
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Insects can appear quite alien indeed. I've thought about creating alien, somewhat eldritch architecture myself relating to Fulkrost, and i've thought of stuff like seashells and other sea stuff, but also lots of bones and even elements and materials that look like sinew and spider legs.
You never know with the objects in the world of the Knights. Unless you're a member of the Shaid family, i guess.
Normally i'm all for the "leave no stone unturned" tactic, but there are certain things one needs to take into consideration when going treasure hunting or exploring temples. Korgin should get that through that thick skull of his.
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Sea stuff is definitely the stuff to look at for designing alien architecture. I think things like spiny sea shells and coral would inspire some cool looking buildings! Bones too, if you focused on rib cages and vertebrate!
Yeah, it would be best to avoid temple traps and other nefarious things, but to Korgin, that stuff is only installed if there is something worth stealing nearby.
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There's still so much in the sea that man doesn't know of yet. I've heard a few times that we know more about the moon than we do about our seas...
I've once thought about creating a creature with limbs that look like they are made out of ribcages, when i saw a Suffering in Darksiders II. Its neck was basically a long ribcage, and its forehead was a cluster of skulls.
I think vertebrate would be very interesting to put in some sort of spiraling pillar for towers and such.
Alternatively, those traps are to keep idiot treasure hunters, insane necromancers or the average otherworldly inexperienced Orc and experienced Bloody Dryad that happened to stumble upon it out if the artifact being protected is particularly dangerous.
Speaking of which, i might have to bring that ancient king's skull back to its tomb. His crown was just so cool but it wouldn't come off!
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The ocean is a strange and wonderful place! It is always neat to see what we discover next down there!
Ribcage limbs would look rather rad! It would fit well with an armored or insectile creature!
Funny enough, with the amount of times ancient relics or cursed objects get stolen, those traps aren't really working out too well. Crown of ancient king, eh? You may want to be careful with that, as that most definitely will have some kind of curse or spell laid on it. Dead royalty are the type that always mess with that kind of stuff!
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Who knows, one day it might turn out that R'lyeh or something like it actually exists, or that certain animals have an intelligence similar or even beyond that of humans, like octopuses.
Or maybe just cool fishies and plants.
It really would! I might consider giving an incarnation of Fulkrost bracelets for his limbs that are practically just ribcages, or decide that they're practically molded into them as some sort of extra protection. Closest currently idea for an Incarnation i could give such things would be Pebru, an incarnation of Fulkrost who had his body stolen by some powerful necromancer guy and now as a wraith/specter thing has to work together with another Incarnation called Sucellus (named after an old Gaul god of death from around Julius Caesar times) who has granted Pebru the ability to inhabit any other dead body for as long as he sees fit to get to the body-stealing Necromancer and get Pebru's body back as well as absorbing all of the Necromancer's power.
Well who in the actual root entwinement created those traps then? And what amount of play testing did they do on those traps?
I get the idea that one has to be careful with pretty much anything in the world of the Knights. And i also get the idea that dead royalty aren't the only types to use curses.
Speaking of which, i get the idea that this skull is cursed in such a way that it attracts things that the thief/thieves might find very annoying. Ever since i got this thing, IT HAS ONLY BEEN SUNNY WEATHER!
Now i hope there aren't any succubi in the world of the knights, especially since they are probably most definitely a unique more monstrous and cruel variant that breaks all the archetypes of pop culture knowing you.
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Would his body inhabiting abilities only apply to one single corpse, or could he make a patchwork body from several bodies and parts? That would make for some interesting forms!
Perhaps the reason the traps aren't that great is because they couldn't find good volunteers to test them? Sure you could throw some prisoners into them and see what happens, but that doesn't really simulate how an explorer or fleeing thief would go through things. Cursing things is a bit more reliable, thought that does require for your sacred relic to get stolen in the first place.
Nothing but sunny weather, eh? I am sure Thelma is having fun with that dilemma. Probably has herself drenched cap to root with her sunscreen just to avoid a nasty sunburn. If that kind of weather keeps up, you may want to see if she can spare some sunscreen for you!
I haven't thought about succubi before, but that would be an interesting creature to figure out. And yeah, they would probably be something monstrous and horrible. They have to be!
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At first it would only apply to a single corpse, and Pebru gets to use all of the abilities the former owner of the body had. like great strength, more speed and acrobatics, possibly even fire breathing or magic using as the dead corpses don't have the same rules for using magic as the bodies of Fulkrost has (due to Fulkrost's unworldly nature, he is not capable of naturally summoning magic from worlds. He needs to rely on consumption of whatever objects as well as absorption of energy with his gauntlet to gain energy, but he is capable of releasing magic naturally. His body is designed to give but he only seeks to take, so to speak). But i imagine that for the final fight Pebru would mold many bodies together to create a hulking undead abomination as a satisfying way of breaking through the defenses of the Necromancer's hideout and finally getting his body back after everything he put him through. He'd probably also fight a skeleton or zombie dragon or something.
Fair enough, though i imagine they could've said to those prisoners something like "if you survive, you're free and you can keep some of the stuff you find". Reminds me of an old punishing method we had around here: a prisoner would (willingly) go into a mine with a long torch to find and explode mining gas. If there's not much gas, they come free with the shock and are now free, but if there was much gas they would explode.
Yeah, Thelma's getting pretty angry and i'm not happy with it myself. Sunlight makes Orcs slower and kind of drowsy, not to mention moody. Best to get that thing back immediately.
The mildest design for a succubus that you would create that i would think of would be a big mouth on the midriff or something, and for something more daring i'd say something with a lot of chains.
Or maybe it could be a hideous creature that is capable of making a flesh puppet of an attractive female so to say that it can manipulate using psychic powers like the Trapjaw Goblin (that was its name, right?) and then attacks from behind, afterwards taking the flesh puppet with it and reforming it if too many people know that the puppet is part of the Succubus.
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I see! There can be a lot of fun with that idea!
That is an interesting and efficient punishment method! Having people act as the canaries in the coal mine!
I feel that if I were to create a succubi, I would go for some really monstrous and weird. The flesh puppet lure may be an interesting idea. The other thing I may incorporate into their design is the folklore stating that they appear in dreams and that sort of thing. That could lead to some interesting results.
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sure can! honestly the idea's kind of a rip-off from Legacy of Kain: Defiance's mechanic with Raziel, who can only enter the material world by entering a corpse. However, he only appeared as himself in the corpses, and i thought that it could be interesting expanding upon that idea. I've got an idea for a little puzzle involving Pebru's corpse-entering ability, in which he needs to be a spirit and jump through the bars of a suspended gibbet with a corpse in it, after which he inhabits the corpse and swings the gibbet around as if it were a wrecking ball in order to break a wall, after which the gibbet breaks loose and can then be used to roll around for other puzzle goals.
Indeed. i kind of want to make a story for Sammy in which she is accused for some crimes by a right jerk in the nobility, who has done everything to make sure that she will enter a corridor with much gas by having a servant advice a friend of Sammy's to tell her that she should enter the left corridor when coming across a fork in the road. And as that friend is rather trustworthy in actuality, that's going to drive a bit of a wedge inbetween their friendship. The only way Sammy would escape is thanks to Savornin, her imp companion, as he is capable of seeing in the darkness.
You always go for monstrous and weird (even with some Dryads), and i'm not expecting anything else. I've never heard of tales about succubi appearing in dreams, to be honest. then again, the first time i've heard of succubi was in a manga coloring book.
But indeed, the dreams part can provide some very interesting results.
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Huh. Never heard of that game, though that does sound neat!
Yeah, you should give that a write sometime! Even if it is just a simple scene, writing stuff like that is good practice!
From what I have read, the dream-entering powers is something that goes back to more ancient folklore, while more modern interpretations focus more on the seducing part. Pop culture has pretty much turned them into busty ladies that have wings or horns and just seduce men. It seems back then the succubus was a more horrible looking creature and had some more powers.
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I think the Legacy of Kain series would be right up your alley! Gothic medieval world with lotsa monsters and lore, a grand story and utterly superb voice acting. Your experiences with each of the five games will certainly vary, though. Blood Omen 2 is seen as the black sheep of the series, the original Blood Omen was more of a top-down isometric RPG from what i remember, in Soul reaver (PS1) they started going 3D, Soul Reaver II looks and probably feels nicer too (spare for the combat), and Defiance has probably the best combat out of all of them and varies between the two protagonists Kain and Raziel but the camera is changed to a fixed angle.
Also there's one of the best interpretations of an Eldritch God i've ever seen, voiced by Tony Jay. And all the games give a little summary of events of past games though you will need to do some digging to get all the details, and the soundtracks are very unique. I recommend you give The Ruined City of Dumahim, The Pillars and the Sarafan Stronghold a listen!
I certainly want to, but there's quite a bit of blanks for Sammy's adventures i need to fill in. Maybe they will come as i write when i start doing so...
I'm also kind of tempted to write it in Dutch first as i want the gothic land she's stuck in to be for a big part based around the Netherlands from medieval times mixed with lather periods as well, with folklore characters like Ellert and Brammert (two giants who had a hidden network of wires and bells in their territory as an alarm system to alert them of victims to rob and kill) or the Buckriders (bandits who rode around on flying goats provided to them by Satan). Also i lately found out the Flying Dutchman isn't really a Dutch legend at all: it was made up by a German composer for a song from what i remember. We are seriously lacking in the original myths and folklore department.
Despite that, i'd like to give her stories some unique monsters as well, from a petrified Demon that can lay down his will upon anyone and anything that looks him in the eyes (not the same as mind control, though) and forces Sammy to help release him upon the world after which he turns her into a painting, to an Eldritch God that curses Sammy to transform into a monster version of herself, with pulsating urchin-like growths on her back, crab-like mandibles, a big upper arm that ends in four long nails and a vertebrate-like tail, with horrific symptoms appearing as the transformation proceeds, starting with vomiting up live fish.
I don't like making her suffer, but the thing with gothic stories is is that pain, melancholy and suffering are quite a prominent part, if i remember it right. And the negative parts often make for the most interesting kinds of stories.
going back to the source, eh? Sounds like succubi are much more interesting than i initially thought! Funny to hear that the succubus actually started out like a real monsters. That's the kind of trivia i love! I'm sure almost nobody in this day and age would be known with the true origins of succubi!
If you get around to creating your own variant of one, i wish you a lot of good luck with creating them!
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They certainly sound interesting, though I probably won't have the opportunity to play them. I already got a long list of games that are waiting in the line up, and I don't have much time to play them. May look up some screenshots though to see what it's all about!
Doing some writing may indeed help fill in the blanks, and even then, you could just write up a little stand alone thing to help get the creative juices flowing. Nothing too big and crazy, just a fun little tale of some quest or job. As for Netherlands folklore, I can't really help there. I have no idea what beasts or myths exist in those parts, but I am sure there are some neat things if one digs deep enough! And if that fails, you can also populate the world with your own beasts, like that demon and god-beast.
It does sound like she gets into quite the spot of trouble. The fish vomiting part sounds quite unpleasant! Just make sure such pain and melancholy pays off somewhere in the story. Misery for the sakes of misery doesn't make for a good tale, it has to build up to something! But from the sounds of her multiple adventures, it does sound like she will make it out in the end!
Yeah, modern interpretations have pretty much drowned out the original design and intent of succubi. As many monster go, they have roots in something! Some other cultures have beasts that act much like a succubus, so they too can help come up with a design.
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dang, sounds like you've got some big games! I must say that the final game, Defiance, is around 12 to 14 hours long, so it's not of ridiculous length.
I think you'll love the designs of the Devolved vampire brothers, though!
hmm, then i'd need to think a bit about something simpler as a story for her. May need to think about that for a bit, to be honest. Maybe a little story about the contents of the mysterious book that transported her to the gothic world she's stuck in.
Well, the story of one of the most unknown ones, the Glowin' Ghost Horse i think i already told you about. However, i remember having read a comic that's pretty popular here and in Belgium, in which a flaming haycart full of burning skeletons that were supposed to represent sinners rode through the skies one night a year, though i'm pretty sure that ghostly appearance was made up for convenience. I also remember a water devil called Kludde, but my memory of that is very foggy. But i'll try my best with my own made-up gothic antagonists!
Aye, the fish vomiting idea was thanks to the second POTC movie, in which the stomach of one of Davy Jones' crewman was cut through only for live fish to fall out instead of guts. As for the buildup after the misery, i'm planning to have Sammy come back at the Eldritch god for having turned her into a monster, though i'm not sure as how. The closest thing i can think of is that she would use her deformed left arm to try and claw at the god, but after that... I don't really have an idea as to what it would lead up to. Maybe she'd team up with Fulkrost's incarnation in that world, known as Isidoor the Seer, in order to get her close to him and absorb all of his energy and incapacitate him with combined efforts. Though that feels too easy and bland.
Oh, and there'll also be an interesting plot twist which happens after Sammy's managed to gather most of the pages of the book and lets Isidoor read it...
i know of at least one succubus-like monster, but you know of that one as well. It's the Manananggal.
Sometimes it's nice to go back to the roots and look back on what there already is before moving on.
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Not likely, especially since putting it back isn't going to call off the gargoyles. I mean, if they go through all that trouble to survive that encounter, it would be a waste if they made him put it back! He earned it!
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