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

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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-Ceph

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

Four Swords Adventures: A tri-color carrot medley

 A tri-color carrot medley

Carrot: Picking up a carrot causes the horse Link is riding to gallop faster. What happens when you pick up a carrot when you aren’t riding a horse? A horse is of course instantly summoned to you. As carrots are horse specific items in Four Swords Adventures, they only appear in levels and mini-games designed around horses being involved.

Let’s be honest, did you know that carrots came in all sorts of colors? Did you know that a turnip and a carrot can be the same color? Did you know that a purple carrot is even an option? Probably not because of the gastronomical mono-culture enforced by big-vegetable.

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That ranty blurb is brought to you by watching too many Brendan Lee Mulligan videos.

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Be excellent to everyone.

-Ceph

Four Swords Adventures: A strange double key to an even stranger factory

 A strange double key to an even stranger factory

Big Key: Like small keys, big keys must be carried from where they were discovered to the big chest they unlock. Unlike most other big keys, these keys do not unlock the path to a boss, but instead unlock big chests which contain lots of treasure.

A contest was held that offered the rare chance to visit the fabled factory. What the participants didn’t realize was they were being assessed to possibly take over the factory. All the greedy little children failed the test and so the key was thrown into the ocean and whoever can swim down and make it back with the key will be the new owner.

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If the adventure idea wasn’t enough of a clue, this is the key to Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory. That scene where Wonka lays into Charlie is still really hard for me to watch.

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Be excellent to everyone.

-Ceph

Four Swords Adventures: Those keys you were looking for.

 Those keys you were looking for.

Small Key: Small keys unlock regular locked doors in Four Swords Adventures. That is pretty normal, but what makes these keys more unique is the fact that a Link must carry the key from wherever it was found to the locked door above their head like a pot. If the Link is hurt, the key drops, and if the key drops into a pit, the key returns to its initial location.

Have you seen my keys? You know the ones to the car with the pocket knife? What do you mean they are on the Internet? How the heck did they get there?

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Dropping these keys in a standard fantasy game as a joke only to have the players change their entire quest to discover the minivan that this key unlocks would be something that would happen at my table.

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Be excellent to everyone.

-Ceph

Four Swords Adventures: Dual dueling pistols for pistol duels

 Dual dueling pistols for pistol duels

Slingshot: The slingshot fires deku nuts that stun enemies. Charging up a shot before firing increases the shot's distance. These are the last of the pedestal items from Four Swords Adventures. If you don’t know by now, pedestal items can be found on pedestals throughout each level, but a Link can only carry one pedestal item at a time.

With the criminalization of pistol dueling came the advent of discreet pistol duels. Using small pistols that fire such an insignificant round as to rarely kill a person quickly, these duels gained popularity among the aristocratic youth. They are perfect for those ill-advised honor duels seen by young elites as exhilarating instead of foolish.

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That idea about dueling above is based on the real pre-World War I fad of sword dueling at university fencing clubs and proudly wearing facial scars earned in the duels.

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Be excellent to everyone.

-Ceph

Four Swords Adventures: A ceremonial monk’s spade

 A ceremonial monk’s spade

Shovel: Shovels allow a Link to dig into soft soil with the hopes of finding hearts, treasure, or secret passages. Shovels are pedestal items so they must take up your pedestal item slot. Is prospecting for treasure worth missing out on an additional weapon?

This ornately crafted weapon was commissioned to celebrate the life and work of a famous wandering monk who was set to visit the valley soon. The monk found the bright colors charming, but the ostentatious display of gold and silver was off-putting to the monk’s simple values. The monk requested that the weapon be stripped of all extravagance and that the gold and silver be shared equally among all those who lived in the valley.

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This monk’s spade was inspired by the Monkey King’s amazing staff that can resize itself at its master’s whim and even fight on its own when commanded. You could quickly employ that in a game by using some monk npc stats and just saying that it is a dancing weapon.

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Be excellent to everyone.

-Ceph

Swordtember: Skeksis Dueling Blade

Skeksis Dueling Blade

Skeksis Dueling Blade: Skeksis were much too cowardly to duel each other with blades. Instead, they take turns striking a great stone until the stone or a blade shatters.

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I routinely revisit the Dark Crystal and I always find some new prop or piece of set dressing that I've never noticed before. What a delightful film.

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Be excellent to everyone.

-Ceph

Swordtember: Buster Sword

Buster Sword

Buster Sword: Cloud's iconic blade from Final Fantasy VII.

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I have never played a 3D Final Fantasy game. My only experience with anything Final Fantasy was the handheld releases on the Gameboy systems, especially Final Fantasy Tactics Advanced.

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Be excellent to everyone.

-Ceph

Four Swords Adventures: A barbaric spiked shield

 A barbaric spiked shield

Shield: The shield is a passive upgrade that automatically blocks some types of attacks. A Link that has picked up a shield will block on their own unless they are focusing on a task like chagrin up a whirlwind slash or a magic hammer shockwave.

A barbaric shield covered in spikes created by the barbaric warriors of the Highpeak Mountains. Some truly brash warriors have been seen wading into battle with a spiked shield in each hand as a contemptuous display of comfort fighting opponents deemed unworthy to bloody their blades. Perhaps such stories are all rumors spread by shrewd warriors unwilling to leave themselves unprotected in battle.

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That is based on the Diablo II spiked shield model. The game weapon has more curved intimidating spikes, but the straight spikes in perspective were enough of a challenge for me when I drew this.

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Be excellent to everyone.

-Ceph