Lia's BK tweets archive - 2020-12-07: Celestial Alps

Lia @liareplaysbk · 10:06 PM · Dec 07, 2020 Permalink

Tonight we’re off to the Celestial Alps! It’d be a lovely place if not for the double-redo of a certain triple-boss battle. Yay!
In unrelated news I’m finally going to class up to 5 because that 5-limit on combos is getting old.

Lia @liareplaysbk · 10:42 PM · Dec 07, 2020 Permalink

... Oh, right, THAT’s a long lore dump. Trimming that for tweeting will be fun.

Lia @liareplaysbk · 11:34 PM · Dec 07, 2020 Permalink

Okay, let’s do this while I let the frikkin’ shampoo timer run for a bit.
“It shouldn’t take long” UNLIKE THIS UPCOMING THREAD

Gibari: “I’m sure this is private business. We’ll be waiting out here.”

Kalas: “Thanks. It shouldn’t take long.”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 11:38 PM · Dec 07, 2020 Permalink

We first get reminders of what we learned in Alfard: Georg and Larikush were colleagues, born in Azha, recruited to make military stuff like the Iron Beetles and Battleship Goldoba we’ve been destroying.
We then to straight into... core worldbuilding concepts, WOO.

Larikush: “We were recruited by the Empire around twenty years ago, and began working on military research.”

Larikush: “But there was also another project we were assigned to, one that was kept strictly confidential.”

Larikush: “What you know today as the Magna Essence is a technology originally established ages ago by the [cont]”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 11:38 PM · Dec 07, 2020 Permalink

(I wonder if the “warlocks of old” and “ancient wizards” are the same, and localization made them diverge, or if we got ourselves two different groups)

Lia @liareplaysbk · 11:41 PM · Dec 07, 2020 Permalink

Okay that makes sense- waitaminute don’t we have a live rooster in our Magnus inventory

Larikush: “It consists of encoding and storing the essence of matter, [cont]”

Larikush: “[cont] and decoding it later on to restore the material to its original form.”

Larikush: “Yet, it was said to be impossible to encode a living creature into a Magnus. Since quite some time ago, [cont]”

Larikush: “[cont] this type of research has been strictly prohibited.”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 11:43 PM · Dec 07, 2020 Permalink

I guess the poor rooster isn’t okay and that every other “living” foodstuff thing we get is actually dead.
This also prompts anew the question of where the heck we are keeping our growing zoo until we turn it in.

Larikush: “Creatures casted into a Magnus would end up distorted and defective when later invoked.”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 11:46 PM · Dec 07, 2020 Permalink

This conversation ties up a LOT of loose ends that didn’t necessarily need it, such as “Why is the Trio so powerful and unhinged”.
Along with things that’ll happen soon, this is why Ayme and Folon end up relatively sympathetic in the grand scheme of things.

Larikush: “At first we planned to make use of the power sealed deep within the Lava Caves.”

Larikush: “Giacomo, Ayme and Folon were the results of those initial experiments.”

Larikush: “But with the End Magnus sealed away, that was the best we could do.”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 11:47 PM · Dec 07, 2020 Permalink

(Also this means Georg experimented on his own son? Since the engineer in Azha said Georg had Giacomo before being snatched up by the Empire. Urgh, research ethics, amarite)

Lia @liareplaysbk · 11:50 PM · Dec 07, 2020 Permalink

Since putting living things in cards is a bad idea, let’s just mess with a card until it starts being alive? Sure.

Larikush: “Instead of encoding extracted Magna Essence, [cont]”

Larikush: “[cont] he began working on modifying an existing, working Magnus to create a living creature...”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 11:54 PM · Dec 07, 2020 Permalink

DING DING DING MAJOR REVEAL. Not only is Kalas an ass, he’s... basically artificial.

Larikush: “His experiment was successful. Several months later, a new life was created.”

Kalas, looking shocked: “That’s... That’s impossible...”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 11:57 PM · Dec 07, 2020 Permalink

We skip over the resulting existential questioning for now, the story’s not over. I’d argue the singular wing is the least of Kalas’ flaws.
This displeased the Emperor, and we add “eugenism” to our Alfard Fascism Bingo.

Larikush: “Born from a Magnus, you were... how should I put it... excessively human.”

Larikush: “You had too many of the flaws present in human beings, and you were born with just one wing.”

Larikush: “Geldoblame was unsatisfied with the results of that experiment. What he wanted was a pure, perfect [cont]”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 12:00 AM · Dec 08, 2020 Permalink

“Divine Child” has a nicer ring to it than “Übermensch” I guess.
No but seriously, fantasy wrapping aside, this is a core obsession of many flavors of fascism. Improving the human race, culling the weak, strengthening the strong, aiming for “perfection”. Eugenics.

Larikush: “His intention was to study the Magnus of such a life form, and to unlock the secret of eternal life.”

Larikush: “He would call this hypothetical life form the “Divine Child”...”

Larikush: “Since around that time, Geldoblame became obsessed with overcoming the limitations of human beings.”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 12:06 AM · Dec 08, 2020 Permalink

As we have established a while back, Kalas did not put many points in INT and it shows.
Fee was Version 2, with fewer bugs.

Larikush: “Georg furthered his studies based on your Magnus, making improvements until, several years [cont]”

Larikush: “[cont] later, another life was born.”

Larikush: “A child born of a true, living Magnus.”

Kalas: “So you’re trying to tell me that Fee... He was created, too?”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 12:09 AM · Dec 08, 2020 Permalink

Now we get some existential questioning, complete with a very good comparison. It’s dragged on too long (there’s a dozen textboxes of it), but it’s excellent.

Kalas: “But, Kodelle... one of the witches, said she didn’t feel any Magnus within me...”

Larikush: “Suppose you brought in a creature with blue blood instead of red, and asked someone to study its blood.”

Larikush: “Many would shake their heads and say it’s not possible, as the creature has no blood at all...”

Larikush: “A similar thing could be said about your Magnus.”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 12:10 AM · Dec 08, 2020 Permalink

Connective tissue to start talking about how they ran away...

Larikush: “After Fee was born, Georg was a man redeemed...”

Larikush: “Eventually, twelve years ago, we decided to escape from the Empire.”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 12:13 AM · Dec 08, 2020 Permalink

Apparently Georg mostly had a crisis of conscience, Larikush was being more pragmatic.

Georg: “We succeeded in creating life from a Magnus...”

Georg: “But for what purpose? Is it worth anything at all?”

Larikush: “Georg, we have other things to think about right now. We need to make a decision.”

Larikush: “After all, we’re their “parents”. It’s our responsibility to do the right thing and protect them.”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 12:16 AM · Dec 08, 2020 Permalink

Probably not the best place to state a plan out loud, but sure.
Insert quip about queerness, found family and unusual households here, with that last bit from Georg.

Georg: “Yes... let’s destroy this lab with explosives, so that no records or samples can be recovered.”

Larikush: “We’ll feign our deaths in the explosion, and leave the Empire in secret...”

Georg: “Even if they find out we set up the explosion, being in Mira should buy us some time.”

Georg: “The four of us will live in peace. You, I, Kalas and Fee...”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 12:22 AM · Dec 08, 2020 Permalink

Also in the flashback: Giacomo being A Villain. Note the pronouns for Fee: “its” from Giacomo, “his” from Larikush.

Giacomo: “I came to confirm tomorrow’s schedule for the Holomaton experiments.”

Giacomo: “How is your analysis of its Magnus coming along?”

Larikush: “We need to account for fluctuations related to his growth patterns.”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 12:25 AM · Dec 08, 2020 Permalink

The escape plan was none too soon, too, since Kalas-the-defective-sample was wanted gone by the Emperor.

Giacomo: “Also, you have orders to dispose of the defective sample tomorrow.”

Giacomo: “It’s no longer of any use to us. No need to keep it alive.”

Larikush: “This experiment we are working on... the Emperor’s plans... Don’t they bother you at all?”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 12:28 AM · Dec 08, 2020 Permalink

“I AM A VILLAIN”.
Also ongoing game theme: even when, like Georg and Larikush, you’ve done some pretty fucked-up things, you are allowed to change, and only a cartoon villain would say otherwise.

Giacomo: “I’m not like you, or my father. Thanks to your experiments, I now wield a power no mundane human [cont]”

Giacomo: “Besides, you started all this in the first place. Now is not the time for regrets.”

Giacomo, exiting and laughing ominously: “Ha ha ha! Ha ha ha ha!”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 12:29 AM · Dec 08, 2020 Permalink

We get a shot of the burning lab, and so the flashback section ends.

Giacomo: “Emperor! The laboratory is in flames!”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 12:32 AM · Dec 08, 2020 Permalink

Larikush finishes up the loose ends: Kalas somehow lost his memory during the escale, Fee was too young to remember anything, and so we end up back in the present.

Larikush: “Everything went as planned. We managed to reach Mira under the guide of travelers.”

Larikush: “Soon after, I left Mira, and came to live here.”

Larikush: “Georg and I had lived separate lives.”

Larikush: “Imagine how surprised I was when seeing you brought to this village.”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 12:33 AM · Dec 08, 2020 Permalink

Is that so indeed.

Kalas: “Giacomo died, in the Imperial capital...”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 12:35 AM · Dec 08, 2020 Permalink

One last bit of (not unhealthy!) philosophizing...

Kalas, looking down: “So I was born of a Magnus?”

Larikush: “Either way, you are yourself. That’s what counts.”

Larikush: “We simply realize, one day, that we’re here... That we exist...”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 12:38 AM · Dec 08, 2020 Permalink

Quest pointer ahoy.
Also squinting at that “built it together”, see aforementioned quip.

Larikush: “When we had settled down in Mira, Georg told me he intended to leave something for you.”

Larikush: “I don’t know what it is, but you’ll find it in a cabin up in the Celestial Alps.”

Larikush: “Yes. There’s a cabin near the mountaintop. Georg and I built it, after we left the Empire.”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 12:42 AM · Dec 08, 2020 Permalink

JUST ONE MORE LOOSE END.
(It means “party” in Swedish, so, er, not this ancient language or the Latin-to-German this descended from I guess)

Kalas: “Doctor, I need to ask you one last thing... Who gave me my name?”

Larikush: “... The Emperor, Geldoblame.”

Larikush: “Hearing you were not the perfect being he had envisioned, he called you an ill omen, a cursed [cont]”

Larikush: “[cont] premonition of things to come. He named you Kalas, which means Raven in a long-lost language.”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 12:44 AM · Dec 08, 2020 Permalink

After ALL THAT, we finally rejoin the rest of the party.

Kalas: “I’m fine. Would you all come with me to the Celestial Alps?”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 12:48 AM · Dec 08, 2020 Permalink

At this point of the game the non-lead-four have a pattern of chiming in in-character and not much else. Bit of a shame, but understandable.
(If only poor Lyude knew that among said things left to do is a hell of a bad day for him)

Gibari, laughing: “I don’t know what went on in there between you and the Doc, but cheer up kid.”

Lyude, smiling: “Yes, we have so much left to do. We need you in high spirits.”

Great Mizuti: “Up your cheer, Kalas! The Great Mizuti be with you!”

Savyna, smiling: “You’ll have plenty of time for reflection once it’s over... Survival is priority one, right?”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 12:50 AM · Dec 08, 2020 Permalink

New area!
I kinda love this place? It’s very green, it fluffs up the world a fair bit, it’s nice.

World map, focused on the Celestial Alps.

A lush mountainous area. Title card: “Celestial Alps”

Lia @liareplaysbk · 12:52 AM · Dec 08, 2020 Permalink

The light puzzle mechanic this time is that weird bugs sink they trunk so deep into the ground that it creates path-blocking tentacles. SURE.
By the third one Kalas just shrugs in annoyance rather than act surprised and I kind of love it.

Kalas, shocked, facing a tentacle that just emerged from the ground: “What was that?”

Kalas facing a strange bug with its trunk buried into the ground.

Kalas shrugging in front of yet another tentacle blocking the path to a treasure chest.

Lia @liareplaysbk · 12:56 AM · Dec 08, 2020 Permalink

SHEEP WITH WINGS, SHEEP WITH WINGS, SHEEP WITH-
Kalas this is one of those cases when not saying anything is in fact much better than whatever the hell is going on here. Also, DO NOT STEAL LIVESTOCK OH MY GOD.
Note the black-wool cutie on the side. Daww.

Kalas standing in the middle of a flock of adorable winged sheep.

Kalas, looking devious: “Yeah. We don’t want to kill it. We just want to take it, all right?”

Kalas standing next to a black sheep on the side.

Lia @liareplaysbk · 12:57 AM · Dec 08, 2020 Permalink

With all that, it’s 2 goddamn AM so the boss waiting inside is going to be NEXT TIME. I recall it also coming with a pile of dialog so that’ll be another long thread.

Lia @liareplaysbk · 01:42 AM · Dec 08, 2020 Permalink

Sharing the sheep screenshot while mentioning that I’m about to do a murder in the cabin got me a “I’m sad the shepherds are about to be murdered”, and can someone PLEASE write the Trio herding sheep while licking their Goldoba-crash wounds in the Celestial Alps?
Thanks.