Not an artist: Four items from Oracle of Seasons that are both keys and weapons.

Four items from Oracle of Seasons that are both keys and weapons.

Gnarled Key: The first key Link obtains in his travels through Holodrum is given to him by the Great Maku Tree after Link rudely wakes him up after winning the sword from the Hero’s Cave. The key opens the first dungeon, the Gnarled Root Dungeon, just north of Horon Village and Impa’s hut.

This weapon is a root of the world tree that grew around a rare piece of the world that was before. With the primal energies stored in the wood and stone, this weapon can bend and warp itself to match the users any whim, and it is the only offering the great bramble witch will accept to visit her well of knowledge. It is either part with the root, or raise it in violence.

Floodgate Key: The floodgates need to be lowered to drain the basin hiding the entrance to the Poison Moth’s lair. Unfortunately, the floodgates are locked and the keeper of the floodgate has misplaced the key. Link has to rummage around the gatekeeper’s house to find the missing key but is rewarded with keeping the key after he finds it.

The oversized adamantium crank key can be swung with deadly efficiency as a mace, but its true purpose is far less mundane. A captive mage was forced to create a hidden demi-plane where the important and influential elite of a failing empire could hide and wait out the calamitous end, only to emerge and reassert their control when events were calmer. Knowing they were not to be invited into the safety of the bunker, the mage purposely built the stasis incorrectly, so only the bodies would be held in perfect stasis, leaving the minds to be aware and impotent for centuries. 

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This is when I lean into being heavily inspired by other people's ideas for these drawings. While neither is exactly the item it was inspired by, the gnarled key items are based on Adventure time’s root sword, and the floodgate key is based on Paizo’s Runecarved Key from a special two-part Pathfinder Society convention module.

I don’t want anyone to think that I avoid giving credit to my sources of inspiration when they see my drawings. Sometimes I don’t remember exactly what I was consuming at the time I drew the items, but usually, I made a direct or indirect nod. If you notice one of my drawings reminds you of something from a show, movie, game, etc. you are probably right and I probably was jamming on that trying to create an honorable drawing based on that idea.

Depending on where you are, this week starts to mark the one-year anniversary of going into COVID lockdown. This has been an extremely difficult year for so many reasons I hope you are all finding ways to kindle some joy into your lives.

The threat is still real from COVID, so please wear a mask and follow all the CDC and WHO guidelines.

Be excellent to everyone.

-Ceph