The Minish Cap: A unique form of identification

 A unique form of identification

Piece of Heart: Link can gather four pieces of heart to form a new heart container and increase his total life by one heart. They can be found as hidden treasure, given as rewards, and, of course, unlocked by fusing kinstones. 

This single crystal slipper is the only proof that the mysterious beauty from the ball even existed. Finding her has become a royal obsession, and every royal servant has been charged with finding out who this girl might be. What if the girl is a servant in the royal household, and doesn’t want to be found?

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I know that isn’t the classic story of Cinderella, but I’ve been through enough retellings of classic fairy tales to know you can change whatever you want, however you want.

I spend July clearing my backlog of unpublished art with Drewly, the art challenge all about celebrating yourself. I spend the rest of the year posting item cards I’ve drawn every Sunday.

Right now I am sharing item cards based on the items in The Minish Cap, and I’m drawing a set of item cards based on the items in The Phantom Hourglass. I don’t know what I’ll draw after I finish drawing all the items in every Zelda game, but I also don’t know how long it will take me to finish every Zelda game. Especially the items in Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom.

Come back next Sunday for another item fit for royalty.

How to support me:

Ko-fi: Pay What You Want links 

Patreon: Shop and sustaining support 

Red Bubble: Buy a sticker or magnet

See my latest releases on Linktree

Thank you for your support.

Be excellent to everyone.

-Ceph

The Minish Cap: A glass casket

 A glass casket

Heart Container: Link’s health increases a full heart and heals fully when he picks up a heart container in his travels. Generally, heart containers are only earned by defeating the boss monsters guarding the end of a dungeon, but there is only additional heart containers in the Minish Cap that can be earned through fusing Kin stones.

Returning from another day of toil, the mountain folk found their adoptee dead from a bite of poison apple. Unable to accept the loss of their young ward, the miners crafted a casket of glass and gold placed atop a block of marble scribed with runes that allow it to forestall any decay. The body will stay pristine for as long as the block is unbroken and the casket is left closed.

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Here July is Drewly, they rhyme, and Drewly is only 3 days away. Drewly is the month-long art challenge where you don’t make any new art. Just celebrate all the art you’ve already made, finished or not. Share whatever work you’d like, however you’d like to share. Celebrate yourself and others, and bask in the radiance of all the hard work.

If you participate in Drewly 2026, tag your posts #Drewly #Drewly2026 #Drewly26.

You can also join me posting on reddit at /r/Drewly

See all my Drewly posts here.

How to support me:

Ko-fi: Pay What You Want links 

Patreon: Shop and sustaining support 

Red Bubble: Buy a sticker or magnet

See my latest releases on Linktree

Thank you for your support.

Be excellent to everyone.

-Ceph

The Minish Cap: A heart of stone

 A heart of stone

Heart: Link gets hurt a lot while adventuring, at least he seems to when I am playing, and so he needs to heal those wounds with these hearts. He can find hearts just about anywhere, cutting long grass, digging a hole, breaking a pot, and anywhere else he might find a small bit of treasure.

Freeing a proud djinn from the thrall of a wicked sorcerer earned the warrior three wishes. Wishing for invulnerability from harm, the djinn made their body impervious to any injury and the warrior's heart hardened against any loss. But a heart that cannot break is a heart that cannot love, so the stoic warrior wanders eternally with their djinn companion who cannot convince the warrior to make their final wishes.

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I made my own booster packs! Check them out on my Patreon of Ko-Fi. The process of designing and making the boosters with randomly selected cards that I made was very satisfying.

Drewly is next month. It’s a month-long challenge to celebrate art you have already made. No need to rush to make a bunch of new art, just post your art as is. Finished or not, the act of creation is worth celebrating, so celebrate everything you have already done.

You can see posts of Drewly’s past here.

How to support me:

Ko-fi: Pay What You Want links 

Patreon: Shop and sustaining support 

Red Bubble: Buy a sticker or magnet

See my latest releases on Linktree

Thank you for your support.

Be excellent to everyone.

-Ceph

Four Swords Adventures: A unassuming weapon of mass devastation.

 A unassuming weapon of mass devastation.

Heart Container: As Four Swords Adventures has very little carrying over between levels, it shouldn’t surprise you to find that heart containers only increase Link’s total on during the level they were found. A heart container increases the Links’ total shared life bar by one heart and can be found hidden throughout each level.

This wide-mouthed vessel, somewhere between a cup and a bowl, is inlaid with an ancient script outlining the great sacrifice of blood needed to activate the device’s cataclysmic power. Blood from a hundred lines must be gathered into the bowl and then poured out onto the lands of one’s enemies. The land that the blood is poured upon will be cursed with terrible calamities for an age of mortal memory.

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The fourth and final full week of Drewly brings with it an obvious reference to the Golgothian Sylex of Magic: The Gathering’s lore. I remember reading about Urza unleashing the equivalent of a magical nuclear bomb as a kid and realizing how hard the lore for a card game could go.

What is Drewly?

Drewly is a month-long art challenge for July where you post art you have already made. No new art just for Drewly.

There are three rules:

-Only post art you have already made.

-Post as much or as little as you are comfortable with.

-Tag your posts with #drewly and #drewly2024

If you enjoy my work, please consider donating:

Make a one-time donation with Ko-Fi:  https://ko-fi.com/theeasyspeaker

Become a sustaining supporter on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ItemCardswithTheSpeakingSquid 

Thank you for your support.

Be excellent to everyone.

-Ceph

Wind Waker: An emergency life preserver.

 Wind Waker: An emergency life preserver.

Heart Container: One of these heart containers increases Link’s life total by one complete heart. Link can only earn complete heart containers by defeating the bosses at the end of each of Wind Waker’s dungeons. 

You know in they are a terrible person and the world would be a safer place without them in it. You also know that everyone has the capability of change and maybe this experience could change them. You are the only one who saw them fall in, do you throw them a lifesaver or do you just walk away?

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Can you imagine only getting the heart containers from bosses? I’d never play that way, but I guess you could just skip all the exploring and looking for pieces of hearts and other loot, relying only on dungeon items, main quest upgrades, and boss heart containers. I guess that’s speed running, but that is not the way I play Zelda games.

That is the final item card from the Wind Waker set. Next week we will come back with the collected card set. After that, we will be exploring the items from Four Swords Adventures. That is a relatively short list, at least compared to Wind Waker. 

Make a one-time donation with Ko-Fi:  https://ko-fi.com/theeasyspeaker

Become a sustaining supporter on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ItemCardswithTheSpeakingSquid 

Thank you for your support.

Be excellent to everyone.

-Ceph

Wind Waker: An emergency life jacket.

 Wind Waker: An emergency life jacket.

Piece of Heart: Pieces of Heart are often given as a reward for solving a puzzle or finding some hidden zone. Collecting four pieces of heart allows Link to increase his total hearts available by one. Wind Waker is kind enough to have many different charts and hints pointing Link to most of the locations of the 44 total pieces of heart hidden throughout the Great Sea.

In the event of an emergency, a life jacket can be the difference between drowning or staying afloat. Wearing a life jacket effectively staves off drowning, but it isn’t going to do anything to keep you from freezing to death in the arctic waters that stretch to the horizon in all directions. Damn that iceberg, damn that fool of a captain, and damn that designer for claiming this damned ship unskinkable.

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Always wear your life jacket when boating. You never know when you will be knocked overboard and have to fight to stay afloat.

Make a one-time donation with Ko-Fi:  https://ko-fi.com/theeasyspeaker

Become a sustaining supporter on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ItemCardswithTheSpeakingSquid 

Thank you for your support.

Be excellent to everyone.

-Ceph

Wind Waker: A belay pin for tying off life lines, or severing them.

 Wind Waker: A belay pin for tying off lifelines, or severing them.

Heart: Hearts are Link’s measure of health. Picking up a heart restores up to one complete heart in his health bar. Found in freshly cut grass, broken pots, or defeated enemies Link must quickly pick up a heart or it will fade away to nothingness.

In the roil of the stormy sea, every sailor must have their lifelines tied to the mast or risk being lost at sea. When the overbearing first officer orders the fool cabin boy to check the lifelines, you see your opportunity. What a shame it would be if that very officer’s lifeline somehow came untied during the storm and sent the officer to their watery grave.

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Belay pins are the wooden rods that sailors used to tie down lines to the mast and other secure attachment points throughout a ship. Lifelines were literal ropes tied around a sailor’s waist and secured to the ship with a knot around a belay pin.

If you haven’t experienced Treasure Island in some form go read the book or watch one of the many movie adaptations. I am particularly partial to Muppet Treasure Island or Treasure Planet, but there are many wonderful adaptations to enjoy.

Make a one-time donation with Ko-Fi:  https://ko-fi.com/theeasyspeaker

Become a sustaining supporter on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ItemCardswithTheSpeakingSquid 

Thank you for your support.

Be excellent to everyone.

-Ceph

Four Swords: A locket from Four Swords.

 A locket from Four Swords.

Heart Container: In Four Swords heart containers are similar to and different from their counterparts in the main branch of the Zelda franchise. This is mostly due to the procedural nature of the game. In Four Swords, heart containers increase the total health max for all Links by one when found. Each stage has between two and four heart containers to find, but the added health is lost between stages.

Last Christmas they gave you their heart, the very next day you gave it away. This year, you’ll be in tears. ‘Cause they are coming to get you. 

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Big thank you to George Michael and Wham! For inspiring my Christmas music horror-themed post this day after Christmas.

Christmas can be an extremely stressful time for many for a lot of different reasons. Make sure the people you love and care about know that and hear that love in a way that makes sense to them.

Let’s spend more time worrying about making other people feel special and less time worrying about what new things we’d all like to own. That idea is the basic moral of so many Christmas movies you’d think we’d have gotten the message by now.

Be excellent to everyone.

-Ceph

Four Swords: A tablet of ancient power from Four Swords.

A tablet of ancient power from Four Swords.

Heart: As both the measure of Link’s vitality and the primary means of restoring it, hearts are a precious resource while adventuring. Especially if you are a jump first look later sort of player such as myself. Hearts can be found all over levels in Four Swords, but most often by defeating enemies, cutting grass, or breaking the right breakables.

In searching for anything that would cure their child’s illness, parent and archaeologist Dr. Evelyn Weisz has left the boundaries of traditional medicine and turned to the occult. While they studied at university they wrote a thesis on mystical healing practices in the ancient world, but that was just intellectual curiosity then. Now, with an ancient tablet in hand, they are attempting to call up a spirit to cure their child no matter the price.

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I won’t say that most of the text that appears in my drawings actually says something, but this tablet definitely says something. The problem is I actually forgot what I made it say.

The world is a crazy and difficult place. You don't need ancient magic to make it easier for others.

Be excellent to everyone.

-Ceph

I'm not an artist: The last five from The Adventure of Link

Here are the last five items from The Adventure of Link.

Candle: The candle is used to star fires and burn away barriers to secret areas. This is a handheld candle based flame thrower. It needs an accelerant and candles or another flame to function. I would rule that each candle would only have 1 - 3 uses before being burnt down to a nub and there would be no more than six shots of flame in the jar. The heat shield around the flame also functions as a focusing mirror that directs most of the candles light forward similar to the bullseye lantern.

I'm not an artist: Five items from The Legend of Zelda.

These are five drawings inspired by items from the 1984 game The Legend of Zelda.

Heart: I imagined this strange pulsing fungal pod growing out of a dead body. It could be harvested for its healing properties.