Not an artist: Five items from Oracle of Seasons needed to save the universe.

Five items from Oracle of Seasons needed to save the universe.

Ember Seed: Mystical seeds fill the place of the useful magical consumable. Each type of seed is unavailable to Link until he harvests them from a mystical tree for the first time. Ember Trees can be found in Horon Village, but only fruit during the Winter. Link cannot harvest the ember seeds until he has the seed satchel.

Ember seeds burst into an intense flame when cracked open. They can be used to light torches, clear brush, harm enemies, and burn the wrappings of mummies to reveal their skeletal forms. 

Each of the stones represents a different fundamental essence. This stone represents the essence of fire, and its true power can only be unleashed by touching it with flame. The powers of all stones must be unleashed together to stop the coming of the great calamity.

Holiday: Listen to me give thanks to all the healthcare workers

I’m celebrating American Thanksgiving with a stethoscope to honor the healthcare workers who have given so much of themselves this year.

Stethoscope: Use this to listen to heart sounds, breathing, or the tumblers in a safe.

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I am very uncomfortable with the candy coated narrative given for the U.S.’s first Thanksgiving. Only focusing on the picture perfect narrative of that day ignores the subsequent violence and trauma visited on Indigenous peoples by colonial powers. In an effort to distance my celebration from the problematic history, I chose to eschew the standard imagery and instead focus on what I am truly thankful for.

This year I am thankful for all the healthcare workers who are fighting to keep our world going.

We are in the middle of a global pandemic. The U.S. has not handled it well and it is putting a great strain on our healthcare system. Our healthcare workers are doing their best to pick up the slack for the increased load and deeply flawed system, but they can only do so much. I hope everyone can take great care to stall the spread of the virus so that our health care workers can eventually take a well deserved break. 

What are you thankful for?

Give the healthcare workers a break. Wear a mask, avoid gatherings, and see sacrifices as a way of taking care of the people you love.

Be excellent to everyone.

-Ceph

Not an artist: Four items from Oracle of Seasons carried by rival assassins.

Four items from Oracle of Seasons carried by rival assassins.

Slingshot: Link uses the slingshot to fling mystical seeds at enemies and triggers. Like the seed shooter in Labrynna, the slingshot uses different seeds to different effects, such as ember seeds being used for incendiary ammunition. Link finds the slingshot in the Dancing Dragon Dungeon atop the heights of Mt.Cucco. 

The freelance assassin known only as Svarta favors a set of short-range crossbows that can fire a volley of bolts in mere moments. Svarta has been hired to acquire the package by any means necessary. They have also been informed that other operatives have been contracted by rival agencies to acquire the same package, meaning the competition will be deadly.

Not an artist: Four items from Oracle of Seasons used to escape.

Four items from Oracle of Seasons used to escape.

Roc’s feather: Roc’s feather allows Link to leap incredible heights and over dangerous gaps. Link can obtain the feather in the Poison Moth’s Lair, the third dungeon he visits during his adventures through Holodrum.

Sharp eyes will notice the numbers on the two geta images are not sequential. I like to make various versions of items so that I have different options that are various levels of wondrous. As I was putting the final touches on the Oracle of Seasons items, I realized I only had winged sandals, so I quickly made a non-winged version for more mundane or non-flight related items.

These winged geta were made by a cobbler while they were imprisoned by a local lord for being the sibling of a great thief. The cobbler’s great skill and steadfast loyalty to their family so impressed the wind spirits that flitted about the cobbler’s tower prison that the spirits enchanted the sandals to walk on air as easily as a flat road. With their magic geta, the cobbler escaped the lord’s tower and took up a life of robbing the lord to punish them for their unjust treatment of the cobbler.