The Minish Cap: Pipe of the Irresistible Melody

 Pipe of the Irresistible Melody

Ocarina of Wind: Link must climb to the top of the Fortress of Winds and defeat the golem guardian to earn the ocarina. When Link plays the instrument, a bird is summoned that can quickly carry him across the land to safe landing places Link has previously discovered.

We had a rat problem in this town, worse than any you could imagine. After years of suffering, a piper came and claimed they could rid the town of all the rats in a single night, but it would cost every coin from every person in town. When the time came to pay, the tight-pursed lord refused to pay, and now all the children are missing. Can you please help us?

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The Pied Piper came to Hamelin and offered to catch all their rats by luring them into the river to drown, but when the city didn’t pay, he lured all the city’s children into the river.

Dark fairy tales aside, I was in American public schools in the 90’s and 00’s so I have nostalgic memories of learning three blind mice on the recorder.

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Be excellent to everyone.

-Ceph

The Minish Cap: Jar of Gales

 Jar of Gales

Gust Jar: This jar can be used to suck air like a vacuum or blow gusts of air. Link can use the wind to grab enemies, suck up items, push things, and sail around small watercraft. Prolonged use increases the jar's strength, so a quick push or pull might off-balance an enemy but an extended wind could yank an enemy across a room or send an object flying. The jar is earned as the dungeon item in Minish Cap’s first dungeon the Deepwood Shrine.

In a foolish rage, the north wind once destroyed a potter’s workshop by mistake. As an apology, the wind left a mote of power in the only unbroken vessel remaining. Now the potter uses the power of the wind to dry pots, turn windmills, and even sail small craft.

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While I am very aware that many of fantasy’s best ideas are lifted from myths and legends, I only recently found out that Odysseus had the old bottle of wind that probably inspired most other fantasy depictions. For the record, I did not learn this from Percy Jackson as I have never read the books and don’t trust films and TV to be too authentic.

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Be excellent to everyone.

-Ceph

Wind Waker: A fairy’s cello, or a fine fiddle, depending on who you ask.

 Wind Waker: A fairy’s cello, or a fine fiddle, depending on who you ask.

Wind God's Aria: The Wind God’s Aria is learned from a monument hidden on Gale Island. This song is used to awaken the new Wind Sage, destroy obstacles in the Wind Temple, and fix signs that Link has slashed to pieces. I did not know about that last one when I played through Wind Waker. 

When a young farmhand heard music playing from the grove of trees beyond the field they didn’t expect to find a lone fairy so lost in their music as to be totally unaware of the mortal’s approach. Having taken a fairy by surprise, the child could have wished for whatever they wanted, but they only wished for the friendship of the fairy. The kind open heart of the child was rewarded as the fairy taught the young one to play the fiddle better than anyone living or dead, mortal or divine.

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There is the common idea of “be careful what you wish for” in fiction, but I would love to see more instances of “wishing for selfless things being rewarded.” Maybe if we had a large body of shared fiction where people used the near limitless power of wishing to improve the lives of others we all might try to improve the lives of others. 

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Be excellent to each other.

-Ceph

Wind Waker: A highlands bagpipe.

Wind Waker: A highlands bagpipe.

Wind's Requiem: The instructions for this critical song are inscribed on a shrine to another of the Wind Gods that call the Great Sea home. After visiting Zyphos’ shrine on Dragon Roost Island Link can conduct the Wind’s Requiem to change the direction of the wind. This is especially useful when sailing because Link can call up the desired wind and be on his way.

The call of bagpipes can be heard echoing through the mountains for leagues. Hearing a far-off bagpipe to an outlander might be a novelty, but native highlanders know to listen to the song for news. Some songs are dirges for the dead, others celebrations of marriage or birth, but the most dire songs are warnings of coming invaders and calls to gather for war.

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Growing up there was a bagpipe player who lived about a mile away from my house. I could always hear him playing those bagpipes, and wherever I did I was consistently shocked by just how loud they could get.

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Thank you for your support.

Be excellent to everyone.

-Ceph

Wind Waker: A well-loved accordion.

Wind Waker: A well-loved accordion.

Ballad of Gales: The Ballad of the Gales allows Link to summon up a cyclone that will lift Link and his ship up and deposit them throughout the Great Sea. To earn this fast travel, Link must be lifted up in one of the Wind God’s cyclones and then successfully shoot an arrow at the god before being unceremoniously flung away by the uncaring deity.

When sailing the high seas, one learns many songs. Songs to work, songs to play, songs to dance, songs to drink, songs for weal, and songs woe. These songs are often sung to the many music of accordions, concertinas, and other small hand-held organs that allow the player to claim to be productive without having to toil at backbreaking work. 

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This is easily one of my favorite drawings from this set. I enjoyed the drawing the entire time I was drawing it which is rare as most drawings have a rather protracted ass phase where I hate most things about the drawing. I hope you enjoy it even half as much as I do.

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Thank you for your support.

Be excellent to everyone.

-Ceph

Wind Waker: A delightful pinwheel.

 A delightful pinwheel.

Pinwheel: With an exotic flower in hand, Link can travel around until finding a merchant that is willing to trade a pinwheel for his flower. Link can either trade with a pinwheel to get a flag or place a pinwheel on a joyous pedestal on Windfall Island.

Most pinwheels entertain children by catching the wind to spin. Some rare few pinwheels actually make the wind instead. Spinning this pinwheel changes the direction of the wind, which makes it a horribly irresponsible toy to give children.

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Here’s an animated GIF of the pinwheel spinning.

This was a surprisingly difficult animation to pull off. Made me respect animators even more for the work they do.

Be excellent to everyone.

-Ceph

#Drewly: Loot from a Storm Samurai

Loot from a Storm Samurai

Oda’s Hat: The samurai rarely needed to keep the sun out of their eyes since they were always being chased by stormy skies.

Lightning Blade: Oda could change the steel of their blade into a bolt of lightning when facing foes worthy of their skill.

Squall: Mighty winds chase the arrows shot from this bow. They are strong enough to knock over even heavily armored foes.

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Here are three items dropped by a storm-themed samurai my players defeated at great personal cost.

I will be posting a lot of work from my backlog that I haven’t gotten around to posting for the new art “challenge” Drewly. Drewly rhymes with July, if you say it JOO-lye,  and is for posting art you already have sitting around. It can be unfinished, finished, new, reposts, whatever. Just don’t make anything new for Drewly. Don’t forget to tag your drewly posts with #drewly.

I’m hoping to get a bunch of work out from my unpublished folder this month so look for a new post every single day.

Happy Drewly. See you tomorrow.

If you appreciate my effort, consider a donation at my ko-fi.

Be excellent to everyone.

-Ceph

Wind Waker: A magical leaf

A magical leaf

Deku Leaf: This is one of the Great Deku Tree’s own leaves, given to Link as a gift to help him on his adventures. Link can use the leaf as a magical fan or as a glider. The fan directs forceful wind powerful enough to knock down enemies, push objects, or clear dust and debris. As a glider, Link can safely descend from tall jumps and cross wide gaps. The leaf relies on Link’s magical energy to be effective. If Link is out of magic, the leaf appears wilted and will not function.

The splits in monstera leaves are formally called fenestrations, which means windows in lay speech. The monstera that grew this frond is a vast sprawling thing sitting deep in a swamp that marks the confluence of multiple lines of power. Every fenestration in its leaves are little windows that open to places all over the multiverse.

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I haven’t really talked about it much because of various reasons, but the gun violence epidemic in the United States of America is horrifying. I wake up regularly to new instances of harm and death because America can’t get its shit figured out on restricting access to weapons of personal destruction.

Be excellent to everyone.

-Ceph