Previously, on Instant Balls Z: Hubert and company have been unwittingly-ish sent on a fool's errand by one (1) Mason Oswell, whom they are unaware is an Oswell but about whom Cheria has some vague suspicions that something's Not Quite Right about him.
I've put away my work things at a reasonable time two days in a row and I'm tired but I want to make progress on at least the Rockgagong part of the HV script.
CHERIA: Sophie won't eat anything I've made today! Hubert, can't you talk some sense into her? HUBERT: Um, h-hey, Sophie... You should try to eat a wide variety of foods. It's healthier for you that way. Plus, you can't always eat what you want, you know?
...actually, now that I think about it, maybe I should just have the Somnosphere be the thing that Mason gives to the party to deal with the Rockgagong.
My main regret so far is that I haven't been able to do an equivalent of the "Sophie is a picky eater" running joke that was in canon for this sequence.
And then when Garrett was all like "your brother didn't respond to your letter because he forgot about you" maybe he threw it away but then changed his mind and rescued it from the trash before the maids could bring it all out.
My feeling is that the canon sequence of the party running around talking to people in town re: finding out the reason behind Strahta's cryas shortage could be condensed, which should give me some room to fit in more Oswell shenanigans.
The other part of it is that I was thinking that they'd be intercepted by Garrett's goons so they could be dragged off for a "warning" again meddling in Oswell schemes.
I think I'm going to do an endgame side scene/inn request involving Cheria and Raymond referencing/remembering a conversation they had back when Raymond was still asshole-in-charge in Lhant.
Something along the lines of Raymond being like "hey so not to bring up bad times but I was thinking about a thing you said to me back and I was super pissed but now I realize you were right" or something along those lines.
It's a threefer. I get to do a flashback of Cheria verbally kicking the ass of pre-party member Raymond, a serious character dev moment for Raymond, and a moment between him and Cheria that's not (...completely?) creeptastic.
Hell, it might actually reference what happened right after Hubert got exiled from Lhant, where Cheria is like "when I get a chance to speak with Lieutenant Oswell I'm going to give him a piece of my mind!!"
Thinking again a little about cryas because I'm going through my gossip notes from L&L...if cryas is artificial ore but also can be mined/dug up, makes me wonder how the Amarcians introduced it to Ephinea.
Last night I found myself wondering about HV Cheria's reaction to Raymond, now that I have an actual draft for the Windor arc in place and all of the associated changes with it.
It'd be kind of interesting if Cheria played the skeptic role that Canonbert occupied during the Fendel arc, but I have to see how it all intersects with everything else going on.
Despite a very early concept of how Raymond was going to be relevant in the Fendel arc, in writing this script I find myself wondering about alternatives.
One part of me is like "dude he's been the antagonist for long enough, start beating him up with friendship" and another part of me is like "no he still needs more antagonist time!! so Hubert can get pissed and punch him in the face"
The general idea was always that Raymond was pissed about how things turned out in Lhant and so was petty/vengeful about it during Fendel until he got more sense knocked into him, but in the current version of things he finds out from Paradine at the end of the Strahta arc that Marian still pleaded leniency for him even after everything he did.
Actually I was just gonna say that even outside of the anthology dramas there's something about JPN Raymond's tone that's like...he's a try-hard like Hubert but with a completely different effect.
Granted I came into the game dramas right when Raymond was pulling his blackmail shit with Cheria and didn't catch him in any earlier dialogue where he might have been less /gestures vaguely
But also his voice, he just sounds like he's up to something sneaky-sneaky and perhaps not as brilliant as he thinks it is. tbh I kept expecting his voice to crack at some point AHAHA
I could always just mention it in her appendix (because there's going to be one to HV when it's posted, haaaaa), but it would be nice to have it as a written sidequest or something.
Also I did a pencil sketch of an updated design for sequel Pascal and an initial concept for sequel Sophie but I wanted to sit down and refine them digitally before posting.
I experimented with giving sequel Cheria those fantastic lolita-style hooker boots but I don't know if I want to officially go through with them — would need to see how it stacks up against the rest of the sequel designs.
Anyway that leaves sequel Richard to figure out something for (well, Malik to a certain extent too, but I have the beginnings of something for him, whereas with Richard I'm drawing a blank).
In addition to transcribing some flavor text I took pictures of some of the various weapons and gear you can get to see if I can steal anything for HV.
...........I'm thinking about this because what if in HV the reason it's malfunctioning is that Garrett had enough gall to have someone(s) on his payroll sabotage Duplemar enough as part of his plan to invade Lhant for cryas
Focus, everyone. This isn't the time to get distracted. We've got a Rockgagong to tame.CHERIA: Sophie won't eat anything I've made today! Hubert, can't you talk some sense into her?HUBERT: Um, h-hey, Sophie... You should try to eat a wide variety of foods. It's healthier for you that way. Plus, you can't always eat what you want, you know?
SOPHIE: But all you eat are rice omelettes.HUBERT: !!!
SOPHIE: And Cheria never complains about that.
PASCAL: Nope, I can tell. The eleth inside is confecting juuuust a little bit.
MALIK: Confecting? Wait, but that never happens to cryas with eleth in them.
RESEARCHER: ...There is a path down below that leads deeper into the tower, but it requires using a door that we can't open.
MALIK: Aha. And if you pass through the door...
HUBERT: AAAH!
[Everyone looks to see Hubert hiding behind Cheria.]
CHERIA: H-hey! What're you hiding behind me for? I'm just as freaked out as you!
HUBERT: ...S-Sorry.
CHERIA: Ugh, gross! What is that stuff?
PASCAL: Well, if we're in the stomach, it's probably some kind of horribly toxic acid.
MALIK: I'd say it's more like the remnants of what was digested by the acid.
CHERIA: Look, whatever it is, we need to get out of here so we can be far, far away from it!
PASCAL: No problem! We just have to find the head so we can crawl out the nose.
CHERIA: Ew, no!
PASCAL: Otherwise we'll have to go out the butt.
CHERIA: That's even grosser! I can't believe you!
RESEARCHER: I've compiled the reports you wanted, Mason.
MASON: Yeah, whatever. I mean, thanks. Hey, now that the road's clear, I need you to pop on over to Yu Liberte for me.
RESEARCHER: What? But I have to run those tests with the convection coils today...
MASON: No one cares about those.
so Hubert can get pissed and punch him in the face"But also his voice, he just sounds like he's up to something sneaky-sneaky and perhaps not as brilliant as he thinks it is.tbh I kept expecting his voice to crack at some point AHAHAI should give Pascal boots like these for her HV2 outfit
and bananas.wreck the party, Marian-chanwhat if I gave her garters or something garter-esque instead ahahaha