Lia's BK tweets archive - 2021-05-08: Azha

Lia @liareplaysbk · 10:10 PM · May 07, 2021 Permalink

Well, between trademarks excitement (what an oxymoron) and spending a chunk of my evening doing an activism by way of translating a Swedish petition I GUESS (you can find that on main if you really want to)...
Off to Azha, which I’m sure will “perk me right up.”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 10:27 PM · May 07, 2021 Permalink

The music is happy (a Nashira remix), people are joyful? This can’t be right.
Also Guillo’s lying, they were having the time of their life with the orphanage kids.

A sandswept village with a whole lot of people and children around. Title card: “The Mining Village of Azha”

Sagi, looking happy: “What a bustling village! Their excitement’s contagious.”

Guillo, looking away: “So many kids... I hate the little worms, too.”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 10:29 PM · May 07, 2021 Permalink

Shed a tear for Guillo, having a very very hard day.

Child, climbing on Guillo along with three others: “Look, it’s a giant puppet! Everybody grab it!”

Guillo, eyes blazing red: “Blasted parasites! Get off me if you don’t want to be eaten!”

Guillo, looking away: “Sagi, have you made up your mind yet? I’m outnumbered...”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 10:31 PM · May 07, 2021 Permalink

I’ll take “foreshadowing” for 500G thanks

Empire Soldier 1: “If these lazy cretins don’t pull their weight, flame ice shipments to the capital will fall behind.”

Empire Soldier 1: “I think it’s time they were put in their place.”

Empire Soldier 2: “Monitoring the people I was supposed to protect... Is this really the work I dreamed of doing?”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 11:10 PM · May 07, 2021 Permalink

Second Greythorne. There are so few of them around... but now I can’t recall how widespread they were in Alfard to begin with.
I like that they get portraits. Priorities.

Lia @liareplaysbk · 11:12 PM · May 07, 2021 Permalink

Such a happy cheerful place, where the kids are singing mining songs- er wait a second

Child 1: “Today we’re mining, kaboom KABOOM!”

Child 2: “Gonna blow away the stupid Empire!”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 11:15 PM · May 07, 2021 Permalink

Oh hey, don’t we know you? Though between the portrait and the voice, she seems a LOT younger than she’d be to have aged that much in EW.
Also Milly calls her Alma? Suspicious.
I am also beyond tired of that plot subthread - there’s no chemistry, just friendliness! - but oh well.

Milly: “This is Almarde. She invited me for tea.”

Almarde: “That’s right. I hope your boyfriend doesn’t mind me hogging all your time.”

Sagi, looking shocked: “Milly, you don’t... We’re not... What??”

Milly: “Ahh, ahh, ALMA! You never finished telling me about the flame ice!”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 11:17 PM · May 07, 2021 Permalink

(Also Alma is not a remotely innocent nickname to be using. “Alma mater”, it’s Latin again, often used to discuss the place where you studied these days but originally religious)

Lia @liareplaysbk · 11:20 PM · May 07, 2021 Permalink

These kind of lines are fun because they’re very natural in conversation, but also seem to quietly take the piss of RPGs stating the obvious about their setting?
By now we’ve seen several NPCs hauling flame ice and gotten a pile of flavor text about flame ice mining.

Milly: “Hey, Sagi, Alma says this village thrives ok flame ice mining!”

Sagi: “Yeah, you can tell just by looking around. It’s such a cheerful place.”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 11:22 PM · May 07, 2021 Permalink

Minor lore dump time!
Though I regret to say it disagrees with the definitely-very-canon novelization.

Almarde: “They say Azha started as a haven for people living in the Nihal Desert.”

Almarde: “After the settlers struck flame ice, more and more people flocked to the village.”

Almarde: “and before long, it turned into the bustling place you see today.”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 11:28 PM · May 07, 2021 Permalink

Add all of this to the “what do Alfard people eat” file

Inspection text: “Rock caterpillars uncovered during the mining process have been left writhing in this bucket.”

Sagi: “I wonder what they do with these things... Don’t tel me...dinner...?”

Inspection text: “These are stores of Nihal millet, a staple of the Azhani.”

Inspection text: “These fresh fruits and vegetables must have been bought in Mintaka with money from the flame ice.”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 11:32 PM · May 07, 2021 Permalink

This is all because Sagi needs “time to think” about Verus’ proposal btw, except he eventually goes into a corridor to tells us he’s planned to agree from the start, but processing being asked to save the world is a lot.
That’s pretty good! That’s interesting!

Sagi: “Of course. He promised to clear my name and help the orphanage. Why would I say no?”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 11:36 PM · May 07, 2021 Permalink

A miner hears Sagi talking to himself and comes, er, pour his heart out about Imperial bullshit.
Just like EW: high quotas, low rates.
It seems a bit odd for the village to put on such a cheerful appearance if things are so dire.

Man: “Who am I? I’m Bein. A miner here in Azha.”

Bein: “What do you want from us? You don’t look like the other watchdogs they send.”

Bein: “And those soldiers walk off with all the village’s flame ice.”

Bein: “Practically. Promachination has bumped up the demand for flame ice. Their machina get really hot,[...]”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 11:38 PM · May 07, 2021 Permalink

Very, very dire.
I guess clavé pigeons are yet another in-universe species we haven’t gotten a full name for, those in EW were just pigeons.

Bein: “So now we’re forced to deliver outrageous amounts of the stuff each day.”

Bein: “The work’s got us using explosives near the lava. Accidents happen all the time.”

Bein: “And we do it for a clavé pigeon’s song.”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 11:41 PM · May 07, 2021 Permalink

Sagi goes back to thinking out loud, resulting in an actually extremely good line that we should all take to heart

Sagi: “Saving the world may not be in my cards, but if I can change a little at a time, it’s a start.”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 11:43 PM · May 07, 2021 Permalink

The explosives are local production, btw. There’s a minor sidequest to go find the artificer’s assistant, nothing too interesting.
This is all seriously pointing at “HEY MAYBE THE BOMBER WAS AZHANI” with not much subtlety.

Villager: “They use these explosives in the Lava Caves.”

Villager: “Making this stuff is an art, and Mallo over there is an expert at the craft.”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 11:44 PM · May 07, 2021 Permalink

We’re denied access to the Lava Caves even if there’s treasure right there. Very rude. Guess we’ll be back.

Juwar: “Outsiders are a nuisance and a liability down here! Clear out, kid!”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 11:47 PM · May 07, 2021 Permalink

VERY subtle, future puzzle mechanic.

Researcher: “This aromatic oil is harvested from insects called rockflies that dwell within the Lava Caves.”

Researcher: “By burning the oil in censers within the Lava Caves, one can draw rockflies out of hiding.”

Researcher: “Alternatively, rockflies can be lured to hot spots where their corpses can be used.”

Researcher: “This may be of use to you at some point, so try to keep it in mind.”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 11:49 PM · May 07, 2021 Permalink

Look Milly since your name more or less means “Billion” I already suspected you were somewhat bougie but you don’t have to make it THIS obvious

Milly: “The Azhani are all really nice, but they couldn’t pay me to live here.”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 11:50 PM · May 07, 2021 Permalink

Sagi announces his decision to accept Verus’ offer, and actually voices how stressful it is (!) to sympathy from Milly, and this EXTREMELY enviable attitude from Guillo.

Lia @liareplaysbk · 11:52 PM · May 07, 2021 Permalink

Also there are baby birds all over the village, that flock towards you if you approach them. That’s more subtle scripting than I’d have expected.

Lia @liareplaysbk · 12:07 AM · May 08, 2021 Permalink

Back to Mintaka we go, except first we go back to the desert because there’s flame ice to deliver to the other end.
“Just use the island map”, except no, because the ice needs to softened by the special strong sun in the middle of the desert. Nicely done, game.

Lia @liareplaysbk · 12:08 AM · May 08, 2021 Permalink

The two snow sellers also inform you that just carrying flame ice lets you walk and dash normally but that if word spreads they’ll go out of business. Capitalism is efficient.

Lia @liareplaysbk · 12:10 AM · May 08, 2021 Permalink

Anyway I also reorganized my deck and laughed pretty hard at this.
This exact item served as the “cooking pot” for the rice combos in EW.

Deck Editor, focused on the Power Helmet. “Not as protective as it ought to be for its ungainly weight. Its one-size-fits-all nature is tough on big-headed folk. And why are there grains of rice stuck to it?”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 12:12 AM · May 08, 2021 Permalink

Next time: back to Verus. I expect drama.
Still not liking the pacing, TBH. It’s very “And then. And then. And then.” without that strong a drive to go forward. The mystery’s just not quite compelling or urgent enough yet?