For Christmas this year I painted my Sylvari boy, Caoilfhionn! He is super excited about snow, considering it doesn’t snow in the Grove ever. Sure, he can conjure ice from his sword or dagger, but it’s not the same as a real Divinity’s Reach snowfall, is it?
IT’S DONE AT LONG LAST
This set of chapters is less polished than the others, but the inspiration that I had in the middle of summer dried up unfortunately. It’s really a pain about the [HoT spoilers] because I really just don’t have any interest in the game anymore after they did that. The story’s not bad in LW4, I’m just… there’s no point for me. If I had more inspiration, there would be more proper build-up for several of these plot points, particularly Trahearne’s progression between his different stages. It was already a delicate balance to try to strike with being true to his personality and to achieve the sort of alteration that I was looking for, without also bringing gradual changes into it as well. Though he’s probably going to go Reaver now; I know that him using a greatsword before wasn’t a preview of Reaver, since OG Caladbolg had its own moveset, but when you get Caladbolg Orchida you get to use your regular moveset. And the Reaver moves just sound cool.
This image was really cool, but obviously I didn’t go with that idea for this fic. Super epic, though.
I used Roar of Dominion for the Balthazar fight scene! Trahearne’s still listening to Aviators a lot – but I also dipped into the Necrodancer OST for his second fight and returned to Let There Be Fire for his third fight. When I needed to write Faren, I borrowed Incandescent (although Solaire is better at being a hero than Faren, he’s more humble. But I think Faren would like to be like Solaire if he could). Then I used God-Shattering Star for the Joko fight, because that seems like his kind of drama. : P And most importantly, Dive from Mystic Pop-up Bar is Caoilfhionn’s final reunion song – and kind of the theme for this whole story! It just fits so well! I didn’t plan it that way! Trahearne’s reunion song, by contrast, is Love Resembles Memories! Couple songs that didn’t really get used for anything specific would be the male version of Magnet (for the boys together) and Mark Knopfler’s Irish Boy (for Caoilfhionn).
I know Faren doesn’t have an official first name yet, and might never. If he gets one I’ll edit. He was also frustrating to write until I realized he’s Sain from FE7 lol.
Chapter contents:
– 1: On the Rocks
– 2: The Hero of Amnoon
– 3: The Necromancer’s Destiny
– 4: Mistakes Have Been Made
– 5: Faren’s Moment
– 6: Who We Are
1: On the Rocks
Caoilfhionn and the other members present of Dragon’s Watch – Rhyoll, Annhilda, Damara, and Rytlock – were returning to the Temple of Kormir a few days after they’d saved it from the Herald of Balthazar. While Caoilfhionn would have eagerly gone after the Herald, to track down Balthazar and Vlast right away, the Temple was still in danger and so they’d delayed a little to clear out some Forged camps. It served a dual purpose; while these people deserved to feel safe, it was also important to secure friendly territory for Amnoon. Continue reading
Do you like irritable Scottish warlocks? I like irritable Scottish warlocks! (also, boy, check out the difference between minimum effort and maximum effort lol) Given that I’ve run out of words to write on my Nanowrimo (Caoilfhionn will be finished, but I have to play more of the game and that’s a pain) I decided to use this time to try and check off things on my art to-do list, which is very long, and I started by drawing something that wasn’t even on the list. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ That’s pretty typical, isn’t it. I made my own reference picture for this, which is why the hands turned out so well. Basically everything except his hair? I’ve forgotten how to paint hair. Here’s to him figuring out what the deal is with his arcane focus in the near future! And here’s to me actually drawing something on my list next. XD Continue reading
I guess this is kind of the second half of LW3, but not really, because it has nothing to do with game plot. This chapter’s kind of a mess, but anyway I’m a little closer to the end and that’s all that matters. I mean, Trahearne’s kind of a mess, so it works thematically lol.
Caoilfhionn was listening to Enya again, and also a bunch of Christopher Tin music. (If Christopher Tin were the prime indication of where classical music was going in the 21st century I’d be totally okay with that.) Trahearne, however, has been listening to more Aviators music, even though it doesn’t quite fit as well as Let There Be Fire fit Trahearne during the Orr campaign. But anyway I needed something gloomy, and Tharash reminded me that this existed! Also Fear Not This Night needs more screentime, I miss it ingame.
Contents:
– 1: Cracks
– 2: New Horizons
Part 10: Putting the World Back Together
1: Cracks
He was warm, and naked, and relaxed, and was wrapped around something smooth and slowly breathing, and they were both wrapped up in thick fleshy leaves. He lifted his head and opened his eyes, and was surprised and pleased to find they both worked – though his left eye was blurry, like he’d gotten water in it. Before him, under his nose, were familiar green leaves shot with magenta luminescence, softly lit by diffuse dark green light soaking through the seedpod’s walls. Just over his head, the pod was slowly peeling open, and he could see a gentle blue sky that suggested it was late afternoon. Continue reading
A chapter entirely from the point of view of anyone but Caoilfhionn, because he’s taking a damn nap during LW3.
Contents:
– 1: Putting the World Back Together
– 2: Four Moms and a Dragon
– 3: Sassafrass
1: Putting the World Back Together
Damara sighed contently over her hot chocolate in Salma’s Mug. It was so good to be back home! And the world would take care of itself for at least a few weeks – at least, it had better, because she didn’t want to go anywhere for a bit. And she knew everyone else in Hope’s Legacy felt the same. Continue reading
The good end is here! Caoilfhionn’s last fight is soundtracked to This Game from No Game No Life! I really like the piano arrangement by Animenz, better than the original song actually. Really short chapter, because the story actually continues from here. And in fact we’re starting to head towards the end of the fic? I’ve still got story arcs for the boys to go through but from this point on the game story started to interest me less so you’ll see less of it. I’m still loving the areas in PoF, and exploring them, but the plot still hasn’t quite grabbed me yet. It would help if I could figure out whether I’m shipping Damara with Faren or Canach… or both, one after the other… and if Faren had more screen-time to make that sort of feasible. But anyway.
Btw, I’m not having Trahearne be giant-sized in this story. I’ve seen some really nice art of ‘Trahearne post-HoT’ and I really like that idea, but I’m going a different route.
Part 9: The Strength to Fight
He woke to find himself lying upon damp earthen ground, and sucked in a heaving gasp of air. How sweet it was, after such exertion! Even down here, where it smelled of decaying plant matter. He had truly pushed himself to the brink and it was good to wake and rest.
But Trahearne! He sat up, a little woozily as his sap took a moment to adjust its flow, and then pushed himself shakily to his feet. Continue reading
Okay! The ‘bad end’ is here, with all the drama and suffering that entails. What, I cried myself to sleep for a week after I found out how HoT ends, I’m not gonna waste that emotion even if I’m going to fix it in the ‘good end’! I may have gone too far in the future since I don’t even know how PoF ends but I couldn’t let my poor boy be shattered forever. If you’re not here for sadness, then skip to the next chapter! : )
Caoilfhionn’s catharsis gets soundtracked to Petrichor by The Rise Undaunted and also to Answer by Bump of Chicken.
Contents:
– 1: Tiachren
– 2: Caladbolg
– 3: Canach
Part 8: The Strength to Live
1: Tiachren
He woke to find himself lying upon damp earthen ground, and sucked in a heaving gasp of air. How sweet it was, after such exertion! Even down here, where it smelled of decaying plant matter. He had truly pushed himself to the brink and it was good to wake and rest.
But Trahearne! He sat up, a little woozily as his sap took a moment to adjust its flow, and then pushed himself shakily to his feet. Continue reading
The rest of HoT up to the final battle, but not the final moment. I’m writing two endings, a ‘bad end’ because I don’t want to miss out on the delicious drama that comes with it, and a ‘good end’ where Caoilfhionn overcomes even the final obstacle preventing him from being able to earn a happy ending. Schrödinger’s Trahearne, if you will. : P
Soundtrack for the Mordremoth fight is Between Heaven and Earth, both Rain and Thunder (although I think it’s actually the Storm track, not Thunder as it says in the video), though the only YouTube source I can find that has both also has Blue Skies and a Battle mixed in because they’re variants of each other. It’s all good!
Contents:
– 1: Farewell to Ruadhan
– 2: The Final March
– 3: Hearts and Minds
Part 7: Hearts and Minds
1: Farewell to Ruadhan
The Exalted allowed the Pact to rest at their city, and the army came in gratefully, eager to catch a bit of rest and a couple good nights of unstressed sleep after more than three weeks of constant fighting. The quartermasters and cooks got together to prepare a veritable feast, and morale was as high as it had been since they left Camp Resolve. The Priory members, naturally, rambled the city, asking questions of every Exalted they came across, and Annhilda had to caution them not to be annoying. Continue reading
The first half of HoT, because doing the entire thing in one go was 45+ pages long and that’s a bit much even for me. (After editing it’s come down to closer to 40 pages but still splitting it up is probably nice.)
I did not kill off Eir, because she’s too cool to kill off like that; she deserved better even in-game. Can’t believe she couldn’t fight back even a little. I’ve been getting further into LW3 and I realize this is going to change Braham’s storyline drastically, but I don’t see a real problem with that yet. I guess it gets labelled ‘canon-divergent’ at that point.
Another canon-divergent bit: Malyck. I was disappointed not to see him again. But if he does come back in future story updates, I can always edit!
Contents:
– 1: The Agony of Hope
– 2: What a Lark This Is!
– 3: Eir
– 4: The Golden City
Part 6: The Agony of Hope
1: The Agony of Hope
He was numb as he knelt helplessly on the clifftop; before him flickered an endless sea of leaves and flames. His sap was frozen within his veins, his breath choked off in his lungs, and there were tears in his eyes. All he could do was stare in disbelief and fear. The Glory of Tyria was impaled in three places, held aloft by vines of the same girth as the Pale Tree, her lovely dragonfly wings shattered. She was lying on her side, no sign of movement on her decks, and the fire still burning within suggested that there were no survivors on her now. Continue reading
Got roped into another DnD game, needed an avatar for my sarcastic vaguely-Scottish human warlock boi Reid. He has freckles!!