The Speaking Squid

Thank you for your support.

Be excellent to everyone.

-Ceph

Friday, October 24, 2025

Cursed Relic: Blair Witch Stick Man

Blair Witch Stick Man

Twanas: The depths of the woods are marked with the Witch’s stickmen. When you start to see them, it's already too late.

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This was going to be my Halloween drawing last year, but I really didn’t enjoy the process, so I stalled and didn’t finish until it was too late.

Cursed Relics is a lower-stakes Inktober response challenge started by Alba BG. Check their work out.

How to support me:

Thank you for your support.

Be excellent to everyone.

-Ceph

Sunday, October 19, 2025

The Minish Cap: Grandma’s glasses

Grandma’s glasses

Dog Food: Link can sneak behind the counter at Stockwell’s shop to find this bottle of dog food. When confronted about taking the merchandise, the shop owner says Link can keep the bottle if he can just feed the man’s dog. Feeding the dog opens up a new empty bottle to help Link on his adventure.

“Oh, Grandma, what big eyes you have.”

“All the better to see you with, my dear.”

“But your glasses are on the table, how can you see me Grandma?…Grandma?”

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Grandma got eaten by the wolf. She was food for a dog. That’s how we got dog food being glasses. Don’t feed your dog glasses.

How to support me:

Thank you for your support.

Be excellent to everyone.

-Ceph

Friday, October 17, 2025

Cursed Relic: Journal 3

Journal 3

The Third Journal: The final journal contains an encyclopedia of information concerning the creatures and beings that live in and about Gravity Falls.

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Getting all three journals together is usually the first step to having a pretty bad time, so collectors beware.

Cursed Relics is a lower-stakes Inktober response challenge started by Alba BG. Check their work out.

How to support me:

Thank you for your support.

Be excellent to everyone.

-Ceph

Wednesday, October 15, 2025

WHEL, 66.6 THE BEAST

WHEL, 66.6 THE BEAST.

It’s Damn Good Radio

I drew real merch for a fake radio station.

Get stickers, magnets, shirts, etc here.

How to support me:

Thank you for your support.

Be excellent to everyone.

-Ceph

Sunday, October 12, 2025

The Minish Cap: An enchanting enchanted harp

An enchanting enchanted harp

Graveyard Key: Link needs to visit the royal tomb inside the locked graveyard. Getting the graveyard key is as simple as asking the grave keeper for the key, but the key is promptly stolen from Link by a thriving bird and hidden in one of the trees in the area. Once Link sprints face-first into the right tree, he can reclaim the key and enter the royal tomb.

In the morning, this enchanted harp plays a hopeful song that energizes all who hear. At dusk, it plays a calming melody that relaxes the body, mind, and soul. Late at night, all alone, the harp plays a song full of longing and despair, grieving some great loss forgotten by all, save the forlorn harp.

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How the heck is a harp the key to a graveyard? Classical Greek myth references, that’s how. Orpheus wanted to bring his love back from the dead, so he went into the underworld to lead her out. To pacify Cerberus, the three-headed guard dog of the underworld, he played his harp so finely that the dog was lulled into a deep sleep.

I also wanted to finish the set of items from the golden goose section of Jack and the Beanstalk, so I needed a magic harp.

How to support me:

Thank you for your support.

Be excellent to everyone.

-Ceph

Friday, October 10, 2025

Cursed Relic: Journal 2

Journal 2

The Second Journal: The second mysterious journal catalogs many of the impossible objects that can be found in Gravity Falls, as well as spells and magic that could be used to unravel the fabric of reality. It is unfortunate that children are the primary owners of this journal.

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If you know anything about Gravity Falls, you know we are missing a piece of the puzzle. Stay tuned.

Cursed Relics is a lower-stakes Inktober response challenge started by Alba BG. Check their work out.

How to support me:

Thank you for your support.

Be excellent to everyone.

-Ceph

Wednesday, October 8, 2025

The Alethiometer, a zine by The Speaking Squid

I made a system-agnostic RPG add-on to include the Golden Compass in your next session or campaign. The whole supplement fits in this pocket-sized zine.

The Alethiometer is a device that reads the fundamental particles of the multiverse to accurately answer any question posed to it. It was created by Philip Pullman in the amazing His Dark Materials trilogy.

Save this post to never lose such a powerful tool and download the printable zine here:

Ko-Fi Pay what you want

Patreon $3 purchase

This is a fan work inspired by Philip Pullman’s Golden Compass.

How to support me:

Thank you for your support.

Be excellent to everyone.

-Ceph

Sunday, October 5, 2025

The Minish Cap: A fairy tale

A fairy tale

Legend of Picori: Another of the missing library books Link must recover, Legend of the Picori was checked out by Dr.Left. Dr.Left is obsessed with researching the Picori, the secretive Minish, but is unaware that he shares his home with some of the very Minish he is studying. With the help of the Minish living in Dr.Left’s home, Link can find the misplaced book and return it to the Royal Hyrule Library. Once all three books are returned, Link can finally meet the retired Minish adventurer who knows the secret of entering the Temple of Droplets.

The Complete Tome of Legends, Myths, Tales, and Stories is constantly adding its limitless contents. While the book's indexing is arcane and its numbering esoteric, with luck and persistence, one might find their own story unfolding in the pages of the tome. Most readers fail to find their story and instead discover a tale that the inscrutable intelligence of the book believes will be enlightening or helpful.

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If you are going to use the Neverending Story Book in your world, you need to be ready to answer the question, “What happens when I write in the book with what I want to happen?” I can’t answer that for you, but be ready, because people love messing with fate.

How to support me:

Thank you for your support.

Be excellent to everyone.

-Ceph

Friday, October 3, 2025

Cursed Relic: Journal 1

Journal 1

The First Journal: A journal filled with observations of the strange and unexplainable things that happen in and about Gravity Falls, Oregon.

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I love Gravity Falls. We do not need more Gravity Falls; we need more things that end well.

Inktober is a daily drawing challenge to draw something in ink every day of October. The intense and amazing art that came out of Inktober set the bar so high that it now stresses people out. All that stress means there are chiller response challenges for October that ask a lot less of you to participate.

Cursed Relics is one of those response challenges started by Alba BG, an amazing artist with an evocative style.

I don’t have anything new drawn for Curse Relics, but I do have a few odds and ends floating around that are waiting to get shared.

How to support me:

See my newest releases on Linktree

Thank you for your support.

Be excellent to everyone.

-Ceph

Wednesday, October 1, 2025

The Alethiometer: The complete Golden Compass system

The Alethiometer is a tool for finding accurate and truthful answers to important questions. Philip Pullman created the Alethiometer for his novel The Golden Compass, primarily released as Northern Lights, the first book of the His Dark Materials trilogy.

This system-agnostic TTRPG supplement allows you to add The Golden Compass, a device that is used to answer questions accurately, to your next TTRPG session or campaign. In the kit, you will find a set of print-ready cards that can be used to randomly determine the Golden Compass’ response, a print-ready zine to use the Golden Compass without the cards, a user manual in print-ready and mobile-friendly formats, and zine folding instructions if you’ve never made a zine before.

You can find the zine and the complete kit here:

Ko-Fi Pay what you want

Patreon $3 purchase

The version in my Ko-Fi store is pay what you want, so feel free to try before you buy, and then come back and give what you can.

This is a fan work inspired by Philip Pullman’s Golden Compass.

How to support me:

Thank you for your support.

Be excellent to everyone.

-Ceph

Tuesday, September 30, 2025

Swordtember: Forgotten sword in the stone

Forgotten sword in the stone

Sword in the Stone: You have got to wonder how much it would cost to get that sword out of that stone.

This is an alt art of an item card from the Minish Cap set that I haven’t actually posted yet.

Swordtember is a month-long sword-themed art challenge created by Faith Schaffer.

How to support me:

Thank you for your support.

Be excellent to everyone.

-Ceph

Sunday, September 28, 2025

The Minish Cap: A collection of three journals

A collection of three journals

A History of Masks: Another of the three overdue library books, A History of Masks was checked out by the mayor of Hyrule Town. It has been left at his lakeside cabin near Lake Hylia where the mayor goes to relax while making masks surrounded by natural beauty. Link must retrieve the book and return it to the Royal Hyrule Library if he has any hope of meeting the retired Minish adventurer who knows the secret of entering the Temple of Droplets.

Thank you for visiting the Eternal Archive. The following three memoirs or journals were selected to best assist you with your recent request for information.

Compounding trauma in repeated catastrophe: A time loop case study - Paranormal Psychology Clock Town University

Is it better to have loved and lost? - Connor MacLeod

Am I truly the Hero of Ages? - Alendi

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I am a book lover and a reluctant reader. A quote that helps me stay excited about books even when I’m struggling to motivate myself to sit down and read is as follows:

“My dear,

We need to make books cool again. If you go home with somebody and they don’t have books, don’t fuck them. Don’t let them explore you until they’ve explored the secret universes of books. Don’t let them connect with you until they’ve walked between the lines on the pages.

Books are cool, if you have to withhold yourself from someone for a bit in order for them to realize this then do so.

Truly yours,

John Samuel Waters”

How to support me: