Holidays: A candy bucket for the scariest Halloween ever

Happy Halloween

Candy Bucket: This hundred year old candy bucket enjoyed ninety nine years of bountiful Halloweens in a row. On its 100th year, its spirit awoke to find itself filled with only dust and disappointment. Soured by the offensive offering, the spirit of the bucket became bitter. Now it makes anything put inside disappear, lost completely in a land of ghosts and shadows.

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Hope everyone is having a good Halloween. COVID has really put the breaks on any big Halloween celebrations I was going to have, and I hope it has also made your plans a little more intimate. A lot of people may be disappointed by a “missed” Halloween, but I think working to limit the spread of a pandemic is worth missing out on a fun holiday.

If you are eligible to vote in the United States, and you haven’t already, please go vote. Elections are important, especially in the state and local spheres. Too much is at stake for this election for people to stay silent.

Be excellent to everyone.

-Ceph

Not an artist: Five items from Oracle of Seasons used by the oracle.

Five items from Oracle of Seasons used by the oracle.

Rod of Seasons: This rod is the core item of the Oracle of Seasons. This rod allows Link to change the season in the nearby region. Unfortunately, when Link is given the rod in the Temple of Seasons, its power is mostly sealed. Link begins with the power to call winter and must struggle and earn each additional season. The spirits of the seasons are trapped in other parts of the temple inaccessible to Link until he has obtained specific items. Eventually, Link gains total control of the seasons and can call in whatever season is convenient from atop the tree stumps that dot all of Holodrum.

The oracle’s duty is to maintain nature’s balance and to ensure the regular progression of the seasons. The rod of seasons is passed from one oracle to the next, given to the inheritor in the winter of the last oracle’s life. This powerful artifact has the ability to force the seasons to change, but no oracle would ever use the rod’s great power unless the balance of nature had been upended.

Not an artist: Five items from Oracle of Seasons you can find on a long voyage

Five items from Oracle of Seasons you can find on a long voyage

Master Sword: Just like in Oracle of Ages, the master sword can only be obtained by passing a secret in a linked game. Link’s sword is upgraded upon passing the secret from King Zora of Labrynna to the Zora in the Hero’s Cave in Holodrum. If Link has not yet obtained the noble sword, he receives that and then sets up the finding of the master sword in the hazy lost woods at the conclusion of the trading quest.

I should note that this is obviously not a sword, and isn’t very reminiscent of the master sword in any obvious way. My inspiration was that the weapon’s sprite was blue and blue is often associated with water. With that in mind, I drew the first water weapon that occurred to me.

This harpoon belonged to the captain of a whaling ship that had become obsessed with slaying the greatest whale in the seas. The captain’s obsession doomed the ship and all of its crew, save one sole survivor. The harpoon was last seen buried in the flank of the behemoth whale as it pulled the captain and their ship down into the inky depths of the ocean.

Not an artist: The first six items from Oracle of Seasons wielded by zealots and crusaders.

The first six items from Oracle of Seasons wielded by zealots and crusaders.

Wooden Sword: In Oracle of Seasons, Link finds the wooden sword in the depths of the Hero’s Cave in the Western Coast of Holodrum. This means that the wooden sword is technically the first dungeon item in Oracle of Seasons. In a linked game where Link has already fought through the dangers threatening Labrynna, Link begins the game with the wooden sword and the Hero’s Cave becomes optional.

The theme I worked within for the items from Oracle of Seasons was the elements. I usually stuck with the four classical elements from western mysticism, but I didn’t follow that for every item in the set. With that in mind, the wooden sword was an earth element weapon, so I drew one of my favorite weapons from all of fantasy as it technically had a stone head.

The Hammers of the Bright Path are a rigid militaristic order founded to protect all from the influences of beings they refer to only as the Fallen Guides. The Hammers believe that once a being or place has been tainted by the Fallen Guides, it is irredeemable. With their crystal weapons channeling the light of the Bright Path, the Hammers utterly destroy anything they deem beyond saving.

Not an artist: Five more items from my campaign

Five more items from my home campaign.

Disturbance of the Peace

This +1 thundering warhammer can greatly amplify its wielder's voice. This can potentially increase the effective range for sound-based effects.

Oddly enough, my players dodged the whole encounter where this was supposed to come up. They have never seen it, but it seems like it could still come up in their adventures on the high seas.