#we've got Azu back at it

[thatoneaceinthecorner]

RQG Art Masterpost

Hey guys! So recently I've had a wave of notes on some of my old rqg art, and a few new followers. I got really nostalgic about rqg and decided I wanted an easier way to access my rqg-related art (other than the dumpster fire that is tumblr's tagging system), and I wanted other people who are just finding my art to have an easy way of looking at the rest, if they want to. So I dug through everything and made a masterpost! This post contains links to all the rqg art I've ever posted on tumblr, as well as a couple images that I couldn't find the original posts for, despite all the digging. It's loosely organized, emphasis on loosely, but I hope it should be fun to look through if anyone ever feels like it. Spoiler warning for the whole show, just in case anyone new isn’t done with their first listen. There's also stuff in here that's pretty old and that I don't necessarily love anymore, but seeing how my skills progressed over time is still pretty neat. This is a long post, so I've put all the links under the cut. Enjoy!

My top three pieces and why they're my favorites

General:

Shoin's sketch of London

RQG Inktober: Scars

Resurrection Ritual in the Ursan Village

Zolf Smith, cleric of what comes next (comic)

Alex's horrible Barret Monster with knife arms

Ada and Tesla in their lab with the Babbage brain

"Why didn't you do more" (it's all your fault comic)

Blue-veined arm in Other London

Zolf and Azu hear the hivemind

Sasha and Cicero leave Rome behind them

Apophis in human form

Party camping outside the Garden of Yerlik

Kantu!! Because I thought they were cute

Also these two drawings, the ones I couldn't find the original posts for. Azu giving Hamid a piggy-back, and a really old drawing of Azu in Carter's mind museum.

Sasha Racket:

Sasha hangs out with gargoyles (and sphinxes)

Sasha portrait

Goodbye, Brock

Goodbye, Grizzop

If Grizzop had lived and helped raised Sasha's kids

Sasha deserves bat wings, as a treat

"I so wish you could meet them"

My very first drawing of Sasha, post-Kafka fight

Wilde:

Wilde masterpost (yes he has his own)

"We're all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars"

His brain might've popped

Wilde looking pretty (plus bonus shitpost sketch)

"Oh Wilde, you must have been so scared"

Wilde with blue veins

Wilde gets his magic back (first time I ever drew him)

Zoscar:

Wild and Zolf in the rain, epilogue

"We've got this" "Yeah, we've got this" aka Parallels

Breath of Life

Wilde's first death

Peace and comfort (for once)

Actually some more peace and comfort

And a little more

Aaand back to some angst

RQG Zine Art:

The End of the World As We Know It

How Little He Matters

Rome Is Where the Heart Is

Animatics/Animations/Videos:

Hamimatic - Immature

Zolf is the sand guardian, guardian of the sand

Wilde and Zolf in the rain but animated this time

Sasha protecting Wilde in Paris

Time lapse of some of the "Breath of Life" drawing

Ben Meredith quoting Jenna Marbles (starring Toothbrush Zolf)

Doodles, sketches, and requests:

Messy busts of the whole party (plus Wilde, obviously)

Azu and Grizzop outfit/deity swap

Never wake a sleeping Barnes (comic)

Toothbrush Zolf

Azu caring for undead Sasha

Ada mourning Babbage AU

Fun sketch page of various PCs

Domestic Zolf and Wilde

Canon-compliant under-dressed Zolf (look he's posing like the coppertone baby from that one brand of sunscreen, i thought it was funny)

Sasha and Wilde bonding time

If Sasha and Cel met each other

Sasha and Zolf, amputee buddies

Wilde in a flower crown (Everyone Liked That)

More domestic Zolf and Wilde

Sasha playing with Hamid's twin brothers

Sasha looking after Grizzop's kids

Zolf and Wilde hugging

Sasha and Skraak, dynamic duo

Barnes and Carter hugging

Kobold in the kitchen with Zolf

Ada holding down the fort

Happy Hamid

Cel and Grag

Wilde and Hamid high-five

#rqg #rqg art #rqgaming #rqg fanart #rusty quill gaming #rqg spoilers #rqg art masterpost #my art #rqg sasha #sasha racket #zolf smith #rqg zolf #rqg azu #rqg hamid #hamid saleh haroun al tahan #rqg grizzop #rqg oscar wilde #grizzop drik acht amsterdam #rqg wilde #rqg cel #cel sidebottom #masterpost #for reference #cy does crimes

[oolathurman]

"Well, the kids are finally asleep," Leika'le exhaled as she fell into the couch. "Same with the birds and just about everyone but us, at this point."

Azukni smiled softly, pulling Leika'le's head into her lap. "Thank you, my love," she said quietly, kissing her on the forehead. The kiffar offered a lazy grin before turning her attention to whatever Azukni was watching. Some wedding dress show that used to be extremely popular a few years back and became Azukni's special interest and comfort show. Azukni wasn't the most fashionable person, and stuck primarily to pale jedi robes she could easily bleach (in case of kid stains and tears), but she still loved the show -- despite the predictable formatting.

Leika'le looked up at Azukni, the lights from the holo playing with her smile, the frazzled but still mostly kept hair, the little golden bands on her horns...

"Azukni, would you ever want to get married?"

Azukni turned to her, confused. "Aren't we?"

"No, I don't think we are. Not officially, at any rate."

"I-- Are you sure? Wasn't there that one date at the waterfall--"

"Where we got interrupted by your old master and we cut the date short? It definitely wasn't a wedding, at any rate. Wait, did you think we were actually legally and lawfully married?" Leika'le chuckled, sitting up to face her.

Azukni's face scrunched up when she thought, and it appeared that she was thinking extra hard now. "But... we've been calling each other 'wife' for years, haven't we?"

"Azu, we never had a ceremony for it."

Azukni looked down into her lap, back up at her wife-not-wife, back into her lap, and back up at her not-wife again. "But we have kids, and then there were all the times we were invited to things and we were each other's plus-ones, and--" Azukni began rambling, hands waving in the air as she pulled out memories to place them in front of her, and at one point, she froze. "... Lei-lei? Are you sure we're not legally married?"

"Yes, I'm sure. Why?"

Azukni slowly turned to Leika'le, horror in her face. "... Lei-lei, I've been reporting us as married on our taxes since before we had the kids... I-- Have I been committing tax fraud?"

#azukni #leika'le #swtor #other people's ocs #my stuff #in my defense i also thought you two were married azu

[shy-magpie]

RQG 164

Airship time! Shifting alliances! Character development! Hints that the Kobolds are ready to be known as individuals rather than hiding behind a generic front with Hamid! Possible peril in the form of storms, crashes in unknown territory, and Wild Magic! An actual new woman NPC!

"Let's Talk?" they're going to talk!

Nice quick intros and the table is happy about the downtime.

Everyone pushes back when Alex tries to say it was awkward.

Alex is so begrudging about giving the party credit for learning their new jobs; kinda nice after all the stories where the main character takes a week to be regarded as the equal of people who made their career on ships for years.

Aw Cel is visiting Azu, who is sun bathing in the crows nest, about time these two got a private conversation. Oh they're offering to make the Crow's Nest more comfortable for Azu. Ship incoming!

Cloud watching just turned into a perception check

Siggif? What are you up to? Good point Cel isn't going to drop everything for

Nice to hear Cel reaching out

Azu is homesick, being sunny & high up

Cel left home at 25-30, made other homes

Another perception check, not giving us the results.

Azu asks Cel for a hug, they hug!

All the new crew members have snuck off, Zolf spots it & seeks them out to get them back to work.

Cargo hold is fuller than it should be, Lyd thinks a hidden room has been made. He finds it and hears the voices of the missing new crew members.

Zolf pokes his head in, its a poker den? Tell me they didn't sneak off to play cards. They did? Or is it a cover?

Really going with "morale exercise"?

Zolf just asked them if they were thinking about a mutany.

Let him know what? Speak up Siggif

Siggif "fancies the orc and wants to know if she is available"

Out of the 3 of them, Alex picks the smelly old man as the romance option?

Zolf bursts out laughing in relief, then tells him to do as he pleases

Zolf gives a masterful speech that works out to "do you want us to explode? No then don't shirk the jobs that prevent us from exploding"

Card counting? Or is the accusation of cheating just standard "I don't like losing" stuff"

Kiko asks Zolf to go back to the bit about mutany.

Zolf makes it sound like he is worried that someone might take advantage of Earhardt "going through a hard time" and that a mutany would endanger everyone's lives unnecessarily.

"I've considered a mutany in the past, we've all been in that position". Is Zolf using his lousy charisma to his advantage? Because he really sounds like a teacher who has been ordered to ask about a rumour going around the school.

Zolf tells them to play poker on their own time, offers to org a club, and suggests if Siggif plays poker with Azu he might get to know her. Siggif can't seem to wrap his head around "talk to Azu directly" and that show an interest in her interests means while talking to her, not trying to get her friends to give you tips. I despair of straight men sometimes.

The Kobolds are happy so Hamid seeks out Wilde, in his quarters.

Wilde assumes there must be something wrong if someone wants to talk to him.

Hamid uses his first name nearly every sentence, which is not subtle as "I am attempting to win you over" tells go. In this case Hamid is trying to win him over because he legit wants to be friends, combined with the usual need to charm people who out rank him. Something by way of parallel to the Cohort there, but I am probably projecting.

"I'm fine, you need to stop asking". Hamid calls him on it and the cuffs.

Oh that was aimed at those of us who know history. Ow.

Hamid gets that losing magic has to hurt, tells him its "okay to not be okay".

Okay I saw parallels but this could be a proper ship.

Hamid is good at this, Oscar is touching his scar again.

He calls Hamid digging "his best & worst quality" then Alex takes a break because he is like that.

"There is no winning this, you know that right?"

Did Hamid miss that on purpose so Wilde would have to go into more detail? Or did he really think he meant the conversation? Because having to manually teach yourself that conversations aren't adversarial goes with the need to charm people who out rank you.

Wilde admits that about a quarter of their conversations are about winning, so he knows he plays that game. Interesting a lot of people don't seem to be, but then he strikes me as having similar issues to Hamid.

Oscar sees this as a time buying measure and doesn't see a win scenario.

God Hamid uses sincerity like a weapon.

Oh are we going to learn what the Harlequins are actually doing

Oh nice pivot Hamid, "its about defending whats here not getting back what we lost".

Oh so the mission is barely permitted by the Harlequins, not the priority I thought.

Ouch Oscar thinks they see him as a joke.

Hamid is good at this.

Alex actually puts it in text Wilde is reminding him of his dad, and Bryn's reaction is "Hamid shudders". So yeah don't tell me Hamid wasn't emotionally abused.

Oh that just made a lot of world building canon.

Hamid thinks this is winnable because they only need to get a good attack on the center not take out the whole of it.

Wilde retreated to innuendo so Hamid must have gotten to him

Wilde knows he uses humor like that, good to know, a lot of people don't seem to be aware they do that.

Could a person change enough to break an arcane link? Interesting.

"maybe 4/10 conversations, but that's as high as I'm going"

Consensus is Hamid won that conversation.

Thank you! Pacific Rim needed to be referenced.

Oh second hand embarrassment time. Siggif is hitting on Azu by offering chewing tobacco. Azu accepts because she is too polite for her own good. He's a friken hipster with flavored tobacco.

Siggif backstory time, oh ow, started when they were be calmed and needed an appetite suppressant.

Azu politely brushes him off after he puts his arm around her.

They discuss the age gap, and that Azu was never frightened or intimidated because its obvious she could stop him physically if needed. Oh and he backed all the way off as soon as she turned him down.

Well I'll be, a show actually handled someone hitting on a woman when it isn't wanted without making it feel creepy or like sexual harassment. I have a pretty low threshold for creepy, so good work.

Fredrick tells Azu not to worry about it. Fredrick is really stunningly bad at reassuring Azu Siggif will be fine without actually pressuring Azu to date Siggif. Cel finally rescues Azu from being comforted.

Is that my ship again?

Phrasing Cel

Thank you, Cel confirmed to have "had relationships across genders and species".

Ah Kiko checks in with Azu too. Is that another ship? "come find me if you want a conversation that isn't awkward".

"is it the incense? I don't, that's twice in half an hour" Aw Cel encourages Azu to take her up on it. Not a ship killer as good people encourage those they are interested in to do what is right for them.

Probably not going canon since Lydia is concerned about the age gap between Azu and humans, which is so much bigger for Cel. Personally I say with different species that species age of maturity is what matters, like Azu wouldn't persue a human teenager. As to Cel, I've never been that good at wrapping my mind around nuance of character ages: Azu feels adult but like college or fresh out? Cel feels closer to Zolf level maturity than Hamid but that could be lived experience rather than "age". I'd put Azu & Hamid at about the same "adult but still getting a hang of it" stage.

End of episode

#RQG 164 #rusty quill gaming #rqg spoilers #live blog thingy

[yuiswaifus]

SatoAzu is the word once again as Azus@ttack6 is now out! It's been over five years since the last proper release that was 5, during which time we got a bullshit recolour and an out-of-character remake, but we've finally come back to the series proper. The English translation has also come out two weeks after the original release, the timeliest we've seen so far.

I've wanted to see their affair discovered at some point down the line; in this issue, Mio appears to get an idea of what they are doing when she asks Mugi where Azusa is. How would she know? Well, my theory is that Mio had a fling with Satoshi before he met Azusa; the artist of this series did a doujin of this (also featuring Ritsu) before starting this series. It's going down the right track and I hope this plot point gets developed more in future releases.

The artstyle goes back to that of 4 after 5 was criticised for Azusa looking smaller and like a figurine with how oversaturated she looked. Speaking of 4, the artist also reuses a punchline from said release. This release takes place during a training camp which is a nice change from the indoor shenanigans of previous releases.

Like the 60th Anniversary Specials were for Doctor Who, Azus@ttack6 was a return to form for the series after the format was tarnished with an irregular release and unnecessary remakes. These, however, pale in comparison to the Timeless Child retcon and later, the retroactive bi-generation, which have completely ruined Doctor Who beyond repair for me.

-Azuma

Artist: myj

#azusa nakano #azuma yeonchi #中野梓 #梓馬根音地

[firebirdsdaughter]

Wow, though…

… I was having trouble w/ the scrolling so I couldn’t get a good look at the scene before, but… Horobi does visibly turn his head to look down at Jin as he says ‘a dream of my own’… Like, what I thought at first was that it was just one of his ‘downcast eyes’ looks he does when he’s ‘uncertain’ or ‘emotional,’ like, where he just looks down w/ his eyes, but no, he fully moved his head from looking straight ahead to looking down…

I really, really hope that it is them leaning into the family angle in his ultimate, core/personal goal being to make a world for his son, and through a sequence of events largely beyond his control (and if by some miracle my theory did prove correct, even predating the Ark) he’s come to believe the only way to do that is if humans are gone. That’s the only way Jin and other HumaGear can ever truly be safe, that the danger and malice of humans is too great to risk just bc two might be okay.

If they’re gonna do all the other stuff to me, they can at least do that.

#Firebird Personal #Spoilers #I'm not tagging the show #bc I know my outbursts are gonna get flack #'why are you so upset about Horobi he's a ~villain~ you should sad for Izu!' #look #I don't think we should be maybe killing Izu at all #I don't think it's necessary at this point #we know how high the stakes are already bc we already knew the Ark wasn't gone #we've got the situation w/ Horobi #we've got Azu back at it #we don't need to be blowing up Izu for the stakes to feel high and dramatic #and while I've never been that fond of Izu #mostly bc of writing choices not things the character did #in fact I could have been fond of her Noa made her very endearing #but there were choices made that made me just… have issues w/ how she was characterised #when I say it's hard to care… #I don't mean I'm happy she's 'dying' or that I think she should #it's more that I'm tired of repeated attempts to paint Horobi as 'evil mean bad guy' while also reminding us constantly he's brainwashed #it's that I'm tired of the attitude the show has towards a HumaGear wanting to put HumaGear first #that they have to show us how 'wrong and evil' that character is by having him 'kill' the 'cute little angel' #this just feels the same as Izu getting stabbed by Jin #needless ~drama~ to try and forcibly make one side seem 'bad' #just contrived ~drama~ to make Aruto seem ~righteously furious~ #and it's bull and I'm tired #THAT'S why it's hard to care #THAT'S why I'm more worried about Horobi #also he's INCREDIBLY important to me so kindly fuck off not in the mood tonight

[immortalcowboy]

fake rqg screencaps — airship one, prague, cairo

(other) london, dover, paris

damascus, rome, okinoshima

shōin institute, hiroshima, airship two

id under the 'keep reading'

[ID: Three digital drawings of various scenes from Rusty Quill Gaming, made to look like screencaps of a tv show.

The first drawing is of Earhart on her ship in the Aeroport. Earhart is a white gnome with short ginger hair. She is wearing a blue jacket and a matching pilot's cap with a peacock feather sticking out the side. She has yellow goggles on her forehead. She is wearing a grey jumper and dark grey trousers. She has a blue holster and a sword attached to it. She has a lobe piercing in each ear and one helix piercing in her left ear. She is standing with her hands on her hips and is smiling. Behind her the sun is rising. The text underneath is 'Captain: Looks like we've got some passengers, then!'

The second drawing is of Grizzop carrying Hamid after he had the feeble-minded spell casted on him. Grizzop is a bald grey goblin with glowing red eyes. He is wearing a green coat underneath a silver cuirass and dark green work trousers. He has a gold helix piercing in his ear that is showing. He has a leather holster for his bow around his waist. Over his shoulder, Hamid is unconscious. Hamid is an Egyptian Halfling with short curly brown hair. He is wearing purple and green pants. He is covered in orange and yellow scales and has spikes of the same colour running down his back. His hands and feet have turned into orange claws. On his left arm, he has a spiral scar from his shoulder to his wrist. He has a golden lobe piercing in his ear that is showing. His wrists and ankles have been tied up with rope. He has a golden ring on one of his claws. They are on the roof of the opera house, which is made of grey stone and has a metal fence around the edge as a barrier. It is night and is raining heavily. The text underneath is 'Grizzop: Oh, for a small bugger you sure are heavy.'

The third drawing is of Azu and Grizzop searching for Sasha in Cairo. Grizzop, who is dressed the same way in the previous picture, is sat on Azu's shoulders and shouting with his hands cupped around his mouth and a worried expression on his face. Azu is a black orc with a shaved head. She is wearing glowing pink armour and has matching gages with small hearts in the centre. In her ear that is showing, she has a gold heart-shaped helix piercing. She is looking off to the side and looks worried. In the background is the Al-Tahan Mansion with sand dunes behind it. It is night. The text underneath is 'Grizzop: SASHAAA!' Sasha's name is written in italics.

End ID.]

#rqg earhart #hamid saleh haroun al tahan #grizzop drik acht amsterdam #azu #rqg #rusty quill gaming #rqg spoilers #also when i was looking at photo refs for earhart's hat i was like. wait how do the ear flaps work for gnomes #so ive decided she's mostly wearing it for the aesthetic lmao

[sleepymorningmumbles]

Collection of some character quotes that I love very much.

(Mostly consists of season 4 because that’s when I started actively taking notes)

“Sometimes you have to try.” - Brock 50

“I don’t think I’m powerful I think I’m powerless!” - Zolf 54

“If you expect me to fear death you’re going to be sorely disappointed.” - Zolf 61

“I’m not undead. I’m just, vitally challenged.” - Sasha 73

“... this is not a great time for vague threats, how about you make an explicit one.” - Hamid 86

“You can’t clean something up in the darkness, you have to bring it into the light, you have to face it. You have to tell someone, you have to let people help you.” - Hamid 90

“You are more important than a thing!” - Grizzop 112

“I think I broke Apollo.” - Edd 120

(season 4 under the cut because it ended up being very very long)

“I don’t want to get used to losing people.” - Hamid 129

“There are very few problems that explosions cannot sort.” - Cel 131

“I’m very good at building one-use machines. Two-use machines, much harder.” - Cel 131

“I’m saving my panic for later” - Azu 145

“PRONOUNS ARE THEY THEM!” - Cel 151

“I’ll always have faith, I just don’t always know what to do with it.” - Zolf 152

“If you're mates with mercenaries, you go to alo- well, you don't go to a lot of funerals, usually, cause there isn't much to bury, but you got to a lot of memorial services..." - Cel 152

"Y'know, I just want you to know that whenever I refer to you as "Little Buddy" I'm not referring to the size of your heart" - Cel 152

"It wasn't a good choice but I  think it was the right one"  - Zolf 153

"Sometimes you can't save the world, but you can save a person."  - Sasha 156

"I did not try to kill you... I, enabled the means for you to die."  - Shoin 156

"Being in charge doesn't mean that life gets easier cause you have more people to help you, it means that life gets harder because you've got more people to help" - Skraak 157

"Just um, when I open this door, I might be shot. Don't worry about it." - Zolf 159

"I'm not going to tell you that grief gets better but, like Zolf said, it gets different." - Azu 160

"We all make mistakes, and choices that don't go very well. But there's always the opportunity to make better ones,..." - Azu 160

"This isn't about getting back what's lost, it's about defending what's here… We're not getting back what we've lost, but there is still a world to save, Oscar" - Hamid 164

"Some of those losses you live with, and you grieve, and some of them are just happy lessons, and like, it's up to you to decide what kind of relationships you are open to" - Cel 165

"I'm not trying to die Zolf I'm trying to live" - Wilde 166

"By kobold standards you're a terrible tailor… A pocket without a button is a broken shelf" - Skraak 170

"It's okay to not be okay right now" - Azu 174

"I know I'm not always gonna be the strong one, but right now I can be" - Azu 174

"Healing and patience are often as one." - Aphrodite 175

"I'm saying, that right now, you can depend on me to protect you, and I'd quite like to see you stand up." - Azu 177

"Sometimes things don't get finished, and that's okay." - Cel 177

"I don't remember our conversation, but I remember what it meant." - Wilde 179

"Do not seek lessons where there are none." - Sumutnyerl 182

"Yeah we live or die together we ain't leaving anyone behind." - Zolf 185

"My turn." - Hamid 187

"If you're trying to guilt trip me you gotta up your game." - Zolf 188

"Because you gotta try." "Why?" ['Feryn'] "I mean, I don't think you actually need a reason. Because you do. Because that's what people do. Because if you don't try, things can't get better. For you, or for the people that come after." - Zolf 189

"You're not so much a "man on the floor" as a petty little dictator with a, sort of,  kink for obfuscation." - Wilde 193

"Well, if I had to pick a group of people who I'd end up, y'know, facing the end of the world with, you are who I would choose." - Wilde 194

Why would I kill him. He wouldn't know how angry I am if he was dead." - Sumutneryl 195

"Solitude is not always punishment" - Sumutneryl 205

"I think a lot of people do very terrible things thinking that they're doing good... - people think that they're doing the right thing, that can do the most harm, driven by riotous zeal" - Cel 205

"Not leaving you!" - Cel 207

"Get the others out of here and stay safe… right it's your turn now" - Zolf 207

"You don't belong in the next world" - Zolf 210

"To absent friends. To the best people I have ever known. To a world that doesn't yet deserve, the caliber of heroism we're about to bring it." - Wilde 212

"To what comes next." - Hamid 212

#rqg #sasha rackett #zolf smith #hamid saleh haroun al tahan #grizzop drik acht amsterdam #rqg azu #rqg wilde #skraak #rqg sumutnyerl #rqg quotes #rusty quill gaming

[rosered2018]

Rusty Quill Gaming - Japan Arc

So, I got to the Japan arc in RQG, and here's my take.

First off, Sasha and Grizzop's fates were both heartbreaking and hopeful. Grizzop died as a paladin, protecting Sasha and going out the way he probably wanted. With Sasha, she ended up living a long life and she did a lot of good within that life.

Secondly, Zolf's back. Honestly, I could have cheered when that happened. Even with his temper, it's good to have him back as a part of the team. I love seeing the change in the dynamic between him and Hamid and their vastly different leadership styles, on top of the differences that were already between them.

I know someone said that his reunion with the L.O.L.O.M.G. would have been different if Sasha had been there, and I can believe it. During his argument with Hamid, his grief was just so raw that it's easy to understand why. My personal theory is that he loved Sasha. Not romantically, but there was a kind of an older brother-younger sister sort of vibe there, and he definitely missed her.

At this point it is blindingly clear that Zolf does not like himself much, and that he has been through a lot of shit in the eighteen months since he left the party and none of it has helped. I know Azu said she thought he was heading for a breakdown, and it will be interesting to see what happens with that. I have a feeling it's going to be at least as bad as the last one was.

On the subject of Azu, she is a treasure. She always comes from a place of love, and even though half the party are literal strangers to her, she still makes it clear that she cares about them. Also, I love her relationship with Hamid. It's just very sweet the way they seemed to adopt each other, and I've noticed that when something bad happens, if it's possible, they inevitably end up holding hands.

On the subject of Cel, it's kind of neat that they're a half-elf. Until we met Eldarion, there hadn't been any elves in the game and I had been curious about how they'd be portrayed. The fact that they're American is particularly interesting, since they're the only one who doesn't have a connection to the European power structures (and before you remind me, yes, I know that Azu is from Kenya, but she is a paladin of Aphrodite). On a separate note, Lydia Nicholas's American accent is not great, but considering that Cel has lived all over the place and probably been gone from America for a long time, it makes sense that they've started to lose their accent.

With Hamid, it's interesting to see just how far he's come from when we first met him. We've seen him go from being the playboy with no real idea what he wants to do with his life to the leader of a mercenary group that's trying to save the world. We've seen him trying to keep his people alive and together while dealing with the losses of a friend and his sister, the aftermath of his expulsion from uni, and with his family and his heritage. He's grown up a lot, and it will be interesting to see what happens to him.

On the subject of one of our favorite NPCs, Wilde is broken. He's gone from being the flirtatious pain in the mercenaries' collective ass to a shadow of himself. He's obviously lost enough friends and loved ones that he's reluctant to trust anyone. The only good thing that can probably be said about his life at this point is that he's at least getting a good night's sleep without needing the magical equivalent of a Faraday cage.

Coming back around to Sasha, I liked how they ended her story. She survived the fall of Rome, adopted half a dozen kids and passed on her skills as a rogue. And I don't know if anyone else picked up on it, but she also founded the temple of Aphrodite. When Wilde told them about the letter she'd left, he said it was under the seal of the temple's founder, Ava Iskanda. Sasha said in her letter that her grandkids called her Ava, and Iskanda is, I think, the feminine version of the name Iskander, or Alexander. And Sasha is a nickname for Alexandra. Essentially, the name of the founder of the temple of Aphrodite translated to Grandma Sasha.

And, if you remember, WIlde did say that he thought that Sasha was technically his boss. I have to wonder when/if anyone else is going to put it together.

At this point, I can't wait to see what happens next, and I already know it's going to be a wild ride.

#rusty quill gaming #rqg #rqg spoilers #zolf smith #sasha rackett #hamid al tahan #hamid saleh haroun al tahan #azu #cel sidebottom #oscar wilde #grizzop drik acht amsterdam