Sunday, November 24, 2024

Four Swords Adventures: Alchemist’s Fire

 Alchemist’s Fire



Red Royal Jewel: The third royal jewel needed to open the way to the Palace of Winds is guarded by a bone knight in the Desert of Doubt. Defeating the knight is the only way to recover the jewel.

These delicate pots of alchemist's fire have revolutionized the safety of the incendiary devices industry. These pots must be primed before they will self-ignite. Gone are the days of spontaneous detonation during storage or transit. At least that is what the Guild of Arsonists claims.

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A guild dedicated to flammable devices seems ridiculous but so does an organized thieves guild that has total interoperability between all major cities of a country. Go with it because it's cool and figure out how to make it work once it is running.

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Be excellent to everyone.
-Ceph

Sunday, November 17, 2024

Four Swords Adventures: Lightning in a Bottle

 Lightning in a Bottle



Green Royal Jewel: The second of the royal gems needed to open a path to the Palace of Winds is guarded by a bone knight in the dark world reflection of Kakariko Village. Upon defeating the knight, the Links are rewarded with the jewel.

These glass orbs have been scavenged from the great Silver Tower that rises high above the Scarlands. Whoever made the tower had great power indeed as throwing these orbs releases lightning captured in a glass bottle. No one knows who built the great tower but it is filled with strange devices whose quality is unequaled the world over. 

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The lightning in a bottle sketch from Key and Peele is one of my favorites. If you haven’t seen it, you should check it out right now.

I am also riffing on a long history of fantasy creators dropping an unexplained spaceship in their fantasy world-building. I can’t say I always love it, but when I’m in the mood for kitchen-sink fantasy, I welcome the weird it offers.

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Be excellent to everyone.
-Ceph

Sunday, November 10, 2024

Four Swords Adventures: A fine bottle of oil and vinegar.

 A fine bottle of oil and vinegar.


Blue Royal Jewel: The four royal jewels possess the power to open a path to the Palace of Winds when brought together. Each of the jewels was guarded by a knight of Hyrule before Ganon conquered the land and infused it with his darkness. Now the four jewels are guarded by ghastly knights in the dark realm. Link can recover the blue royal jewel by defeating the transformed knight in The Field.

Round-bottom flasks are a sign of wealth at dinner parties as propriety dictates an attendant must be always present to hold them when not in use. Double-walled vessels are another display of wealth at parties because only master glass blowers are skilled enough to make such vessels perfectly and most are used for alchemical pursuits instead of tableware. This elegant bottle of oil and vinegar casually offered to guests at dinner is a statement to be sure for this no-name merchant on the rise.

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This drawing isn’t perfect, but I remember feeling really good about how well this drawing came out working from reference. A great piece of advice I ignored for too long was to look at pictures of the thing you want to draw to draw it better. Look at the pictures the whole time too, not just the preliminary sketches.

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Be excellent to everyone.
-Ceph

Sunday, November 3, 2024

Four Swords Adventures: Two powerful orbs

 Two powerful orbs


Crystal Ball: Crystal balls act as gashapon pods of Four Swords Adventures. Throwing a crystal ball on the ground shatters the ball, dropping a random item or treasure.

One orb makes all your dreams come true, often in a way you couldn’t even imagine. The other is a seeing stone, one of eight that were made and left connected so as to always be able to reach any other bearer of a stone. Both have been lost, and that's probably for the best.

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The Mirrari storyline introduced me to the wonderful lore of Magic: The Gathering. I still think about Chainer, Kahmal, Jeska, Balthor, and all the other important people running around Dominaria in the Odyssey block.

The Palantir and other seeing spheres are hard to draw in a very compelling way, but I hope I did an okay job with this one.

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Be excellent to everyone.
-Ceph