Occam’s Razor, bishies!
Also daddy issues. Damn.
May edit minor things.
Part 8: An Arrogant Worm
He walked only part of the way back to Sundari before he ran into an Imperial patrol. “Oi! You there!”
“Lord Murlesson!” At least they recognized him. “You’re alive! Lord Aristheron feared the worst!” Continue reading
Okay, so I get that the whole ‘colicoid serum’ thing (which sounds like it’s going to give you an STD, or maybe tuberculosis, honestly) is supposed to be for Inquisitor players who want to be mad scientists. But this is even more ridiculous than giving us magic rocks. C’mon BioWare! I’m still thinking over the final solution (with friends, irl, because the more brains on this the better).
Despite all this, there’s a lot of interesting stuff in this chapter that I’m really looking forward to!
Part 7: Tears of the Devil
He stepped out of the spaceport and was met with the smell of smoke. Looking around, one thing was abundantly clear. Whatever Balmorra had been thousands of years ago, the city of Sobrik was a poverty-stricken war-torn Imperial military mudhole today. And his artifact this time was in an untouched Sith sanctum… under a busted toxic waste disposal facility. He glared at the orange-tinted dawn sky in dissatisfaction with his lot. Continue reading
Hope I didn’t mess up Aristheron’s bit in this one! Had some fun here, gave Murlesson some initiative, indirectly introduced a new side character, poked fun at the fact that the final boss battle cutscene is all like “YOU CAN’T USE THE FORCE” and then you can totally use the Force in the actual fight. And the one and only time Murlesson will fall on his silly face and has to get picked up by someone not directly working for him.
Cult leader Murlesson uses Aviators: Angel of the Dark as background music.
EDIT: fixing Sabran’s pronouns to something more standard.
Part 6: How to Start a Cult
He walked through the dark places of the planet, the deepest slums on Nar Shaddaa – not the deepest accessible locations, no, there were things deeper and far worse somewhere below. But this was pretty far down, the farthest down sentient life had been squeezed. He was alone – no sense in Khem terrifying those he wanted to recruit. Continue reading
Trigger warning for a bit of discussion about religion; Murlesson is a die-hard atheist if you didn’t gather that already.
Ambiance for the tomb is Corpse Party: Underground Maze.
Part 4: Mud, Blood, and Artifacts
Part 5: Sins of the Father
He woke up in his room. “How… what…”
<The little Sith is a great fool,> Khem Val grumbled from the other side of the room. <I had to carry you back to Kaas City before your plan failed.>
“Ah,” Murlesson said, rubbing his head. He might have overdone it with the ‘drunk on power’ reaction. Not that he’d had a choice at the time. He’d have to keep a tighter hold on that. It wouldn’t happen again. Continue reading
I know there’s a lot of Aristheron in this chapter, but he and Murlesson are inextricably linked in their paths and destinies, eheheheh. Also, level-grinding montage! Murlesson (despite being a classic warlock) would totally play bard in DnD: put points in random stuff and be ready for anything!
Now, I know why Bioware wrote the Skotia fight the way they did. The Trandoshan tablet relic was supposed to be indicative of the Inquisitor’s interest in objects of power; however, probably the real failing was that Zash just exposits at you what it is and what it’s for. I know she was the one doing the planning “for years”, but if the Inquisitor had been the one to find it, and find out what it was for, it would have been far more satisfying, given a feel that s/he’s smart, and, well, inquisitive, rather than a sassy meathead that just does as s/he’s told. So that’s what happens here, even if I decided not to get too deep into it (it’s only used for this one quest, after all). It does make Zash a bit less knowledgeable, and it still feels stupid, and Murlesson lampshades that it feels stupid, but it’s worse in the game imo.
Crazy Sith break-down music: 8D
EDIT: added when he gets his tattoos; he didn’t have any before this.
Part 4: Mud, Blood, and Artifacts
“How lovely to see you, apprentice!” Zash greeted him cordially when he arrived in her little office in the overwhelmingly massive Sith Sanctum. “How was your journey?”
“It was fine,” Murlesson brushed off the inquiry. “Are you acquainted with a big ugly half-machine Dark Lord? He had a message for you. Several, actually.” Continue reading
Oh hei, it’s a chapter of emo-pants-boy. I wasn’t going to go into detail about the first optional dungeon, and then Tharash had the suggestion that it might be the place for Murlesson to win Aristheron’s interest, and then when I actually started getting into it I was like “look at all the potential for character development!” so that’s why I’m actually including a dungeon : O Also I’m trying to give myself permission to do the opposite of what I normally do – normally I try to be as concise as possible, but then I miss out on a lot of internal character stuff, a lot of scene-setting, so hey, this one’s going to be a little more laid-back and rambly than my normal fics. I also went back and edited some things in the first two chapters to be more in line with the new concept. This fic has been branching out like a tree in the last couple weeks, and there’s lots of stuff I’m excited about! It bears less and less resemblance to the Bioware story all the time, but that’s not a bad thing in my eyes. >.>
Jonathan Young’s cover of Unravel is so perfect for Sith Inquisitor (with hints of SI/Ashara) I can’t even. It’s not specifically for this chapter – in fact, I probably won’t officially ‘use’ it until near the end of the story, but since I discovered its applicability I wanna let people know!
Someone’s been champing at the bit to get back to playing with Achiyo, though, so I’m gonna have to keep going with FFXIV after this.
Part 3: Alliance Continue reading
Couldn’t sleep, took a look at this chapter, discovered it was nearly complete, completed it.
Part 2: First Step
He stood alone in the darkness, trembling, waiting for the nightmare to find him. It was out there, he knew, somehow he knew, looking for him. And it knew exactly where he was. Continue reading
Here’s the beginning of my attempt to think like a super-villain! The story of a complicated, talented, slightly-unhinged teenage boy and his struggle to survive and maybe, maybe find a better life. And more importantly, the story of a writer frustrated with the lack of agency and deviousness in BioWare’s SWTOR Inquisitor storyline, which could have been a really cool story if they didn’t make the main character wander blindly in the direction the last person told them to, falling in all the traps and being saved not by their intellect and skill but by random people who don’t really have a reason to. Not to mention the ghost-eating and the DNA rebuilding and the magic rocks. >.>
EDIT: I forgot the chapter boss battle theme! Also, the soundtrack for basically this whole story is the Corpse Party soundtrack. : D
minor edit: going through and trying to make holocrons less like “just a different type of book”
Part 1: The Old Machinations
A tall, lanky figure shuffled down the steel-grey corridor, head down, silver shock collar gleaming on the back of its neck, heavily laden with scrubbers and cleaning solution. Perfect posture, neatly dressed in pale grey, because even a slave had to be presentable if they worked in the house, didn’t they? Guards marched past the figure, not giving it even a second glance; it kept its shaved red-scalped head down and shuffled on. Continue reading