WLC 2.7: Here We Glow

Here are even more sprites. In order Utsusemi and Hongou, Red Shadow (Hotarubi) and Chihiro, Matsumushi and Utamaru, and Suminagashi and Isohachi.

Now play spot the difference with these last two.

Character Select Face

On the right here, is the game's Story mode icon, which itself is a frame from the game's intro movie. Left to right: Gengoro, Jo, Kaun, Tatsumi, Mikado, Kannuki. Below are the Vs sprites for those five.

Due to a few characters' asymmetrical designs, they get two different vs screen sprites.

Showing Off

Every normal character in Bushido Blade 2 has a subweapon (except Isohachi who yells loud enough to be a weapon). Mikado has throwing knives.

Look at how Hongou, one of the strongest warriors, is kept pushed back from the strength of the shrine maiden.

Check out the sweet dodge I did by accident while recording Mikado's Skyward Strike.

WLC 3.9: BLOOD

"What do I do? What do I do? What do I do I do?" chants Gank, walking in place. The unconscious child on the floor continues to bleed from her arms in front of Gank. "Right, blood. I have to stop the blood," she says to herself.

Gank begins running around the room looking for anything that could help her situation. As she paces about, she licks the blood from her own claws.

J: I can see you struggling to keep your mouth shut, Mum. L: I wasn't saying anything.

"Where is it? Where is it? Where is it?" Gank searches frantically for the salve she knows is somewhere in this room. "I know ya keep it somewhere here; ya suck at healing, mom." She spots a box sitting beside a shelf, and throws it open. "Jackpot."

The box contains potions, powdered medical herbs, and other supplies. "I'm going to get caught the next time she checks this thing." She grabs the salve and a towel and races back to the bleeding child.

J: Why didn't you grab the potion? G: You were bleeding; I was panicking. L: She was, like, fourteen.

Gank slathers it over Jevoi's arms, desperately trying not to cut her further. She then wraps the towel around the limbs and pushes gently on them. She feels the slowing rhythm of Jevoi's heart.

"I think this was how it worked. How'ya feeling?" she asks and receives no answer. "Yeah. That makes sense." She looks at the blood drying on the floor and has an idea.

Dipping her claw in the blood, Gank begins painting a magic circle around Jevoi. "It's like this, and this," she says to herself. Her claws shaking, she manages to etch the runes she knows. "Okay, okay, okay." She slaps the circle, the spirits of the cave answer the call and pulse life through Jevoi's body.

"All I have to do now is..." Gank looks at the bloody evidence still around here. She sighs.

Gank begins licking the blood off the floo-

D&J: EUAGH L: Why? G: Ya don't have room to judge me. I know where ya put your tongue. J: No, eeegh.

To repeat: Gank begins licking the blood off the floor and a primal urge rises within her. The soft meat of a helpless animal is right there. It must taste so good. A rare cut from so far away.

"No, focus." Gank throws those thoughts away and keeps at the floor.

L: So, on the topic of rituals: outside we were blessing the land.

Is this what the kids call "drip"?

Pretty excited for tomorrow's The Gaslight District pilot episode :DD

WLC 6.5: Weapon Identification

"To what end are you traveling, Loomy and Bacon?" asks the radiant lady of the pond, looming above the water, staring down at them. The two speak over each other.

"Visiting my bunica," says Loomy.

"Searching for danger," says Bacon.

"Both of these things?" Ms. Aurocor tilts her head, "And nothing more?"

The duo look at each other for a moment, understanding the risky nature of their situation, then Loomy says, "Some kids are missing. Have you seen any come by?"

"No, I have not," says Ms. Aurocor, "But, alas, I have been here nary a week." She sits in midair, crossing her legs. "And of that time, my focus has been inward. Only these discarded blades have stolen my attention, cast into me by parties unknown."

"Can we see them?" asks Bacon.

"Verily," says the lady diving into the lake, "Mayhaps, you can identify their owners." She emerges four swords held awkwardly in her arms.

The iron sword is a straight short-sword with a typical elven hilt, somewhat fancy, but not overly so. This could belong to anyone who could afford a blade.

D: What's a short-sword? L: A big knife. A: Technically, not wrong. They're usually no longer than sixty centimeters and are built to be used with one hand.

The steel sword is a great-sword with a dwarven-style hilt, a weapon for a true warrior. Unfortunately, warriors are common to Rankedge, but someone who lost a blade this well-crafted would surely be searching for it.

D: What's a great-sword? L: Bigger sword. A: Unhelpful, but still not wrong. It'd would be longer than you are tall, Dalini.

Held carefully between the other weapons, so as to avoid direct contact with Ms. Aurocor, the silver sword is a horrifyingly serrated bastard-sword of crude goblin-make; more an instrument of torture than anything else. It is stained with hardened blood. The girls cannot identify its owner, nor would they care to meet them. Yet, still, this may prove useful.

D: What's a bastard-sword? L: It's a b*****d's sword. J: Mum, don't say that. L: What? This bloody bastard-sword belonged to a b****y b*****d. A: It's just a weapon of a very specific size; longer and heavier than one-handed weapons, but shorter and lighter than two-handers.

Finally, the gold sword is a not a sword at all. It is a wave-bladed dagger with an upturned spiked hilt. This weapon is easily recognizable.

A: Silver, I understand, but why gold? L: Gold's a good conductor. Mages are creative.

"That's the sheriff's Tei Zing dagger," says Bacon, "Who could have taken that?"

"Whose to say she didn't drop it?" asks Ms. Aurocor.

"No way the sheriff would've thrown his favorite weapon away," says Loomy.

"Oh, 'his'?" says the lady of the pond, "Then it can't have been; I've only heard two fellows around here. One I know is not your sheriff, and the other I should hope isn't."

"Who are these blokes?" asks Loomy.

"My friend has business around here; he's an educator, of sorts," says Ms. Aurocor, "The other is a svelte ne'er-do-'ell who comes forth, looming around at night. He leaves strange notes and letters on trees. Avoid him."

"Is he dangerous?" asks Bacon, "That sounds important."

"No, he's just... annoying," says the lady of the pond, she retreats, blade in tow, back into her aquatic home, "Good luck, honest travelers."

WLC 5.7: Free Shipping

Once again, the trio fell into a hole and, once again, they slammed into the ground one on top of the other: Tanglepork, Jevoi, and finally Luminița. The time, though, the floor is a hard wood.

"Get off," says Jevoi, pushing Luminița, "How did you end up on top again?"

"Why did you do that?" asks Luminița, climbing off of the gex, "You were safe. Why try to save me?"

"Don't get weird." Jevoi stands up. "I was only trying to save your hot a**e because you have my tome."

"What."

J: That is not what I said. G: That is exactly what you said.

"My book!" yells Jevoi, panic in her voice, "You have my book. Where is it?"

J: I was not panicking.

"...Back at the house," answers Luminița hesitantly.

"Excuse me," asks an until-now unnoticed woman a meter away, "Are you together?"

The duo finally pause long enough to take in their surroundings. They are in a boarding lounge of a large fancy vessel, polished clean and charmingly decorated. Standing here, in a sailor-esque suit, is a purple-skinned, tentacle-mawed biped holding a clipboard. She patiently awaits a response.

"Are we in Hell?" asks Luminița.

"Help me," mutters Tanglepork.

The woman raises a facial tendril in confusion. "No? What ever gave you that idea? You're aboard the finest interplanar cruise ship in the universe, a dream vessel of romance: the Love Craft. We'll soon be making another run, setting course for adventure." She takes a little bow. "I'm Lurentooz, your cruise director."

"That's... nice," says Jevoi, "How do we get back to Inner Glow?"

"We'll be stopping there in a few days," says Lurentooz, checking her board, "Kun, is it? We've been expecting you." Her eyes flash in realization. "Ling's daughter?"

"Of course..."

WLC 6.G: Magic Duel 3v3

L: The first rule of magic duels is don't get into magic duels. The second is to remain calm; if ya lose your s***e, ya soon won't have s***e left to lose.

The first to move is Tanglepork. Dodging an opportune swipe of Ioana's claws as she runs away, she reloads her gun. She quickly turns and fires, but her nerves betray her and the bullet barely misses the lycan's head.

Ioana's fierce gaze remains locked on her prey as she commands the air to twist around her. It becomes like a miniature tornado as she chases after the gnome.

Gudrun locks eyes with the minotaur. "Obey me," she says, her eyes alight.

L: The third rule of magic duels is to know what your opponent can do and prepare to counter it.

"Not this time, b***h," says Honeycrisp, shaking off the force trying to insert itself into his mind.

Gudrun pulls out a silver wand. "Fine."

Honeycrisp focuses and magic courses through his body, accelerating him. Sparks dance upon his horns.

L: Corollary: Know what your opponent knows ya can do and don't do it.

Ling raises a wall of ribs, splitting a third of the room away, isolating the lycan and the deputy from the rest of them. The massive ribs connecting ceiling to floor have gaps too small for most of the room's occupants. "This way, Porky," commands Ling, as she positions herself by the passage to the portal room.

J: How many wall of bones spells do there really need to be?

"Ling," whines Zingiber, "You're supposed to be fighting me." She releases a blast of glittery fire into Ling's face, but the gex licks her eyes clean.

Tanglepork takes a liking to the idea of people not seeing things and turns invisible, then attempts to sneak around Ioana to reach the bone wall. Her steps are calculated to match the rhythm of the other fighters.

Ioana sniffs about and detonates a burst of fire where she believes the gnome to be hiding, but by some gnomish trickery (possibly breakdancing), the deputy remains unharmed.

Gudrun fires a purple beam from her wand, but Honeycrisp defects it with his horn. "S***e," she says, calmly. Foreseeing the sheriff's next move, she conjures a shield in front of her.

Honeycrisp charges forward, his horns smash open the shield. While his target is unharmed by that, the hook to her face makes quite the impact, knocking free a tooth, which explodes. The shrapnel then defies physics and embed themselves in the dwarf's neck.

Ling conjures a facsimile of a dryad -a type of tree nymph- that wraps her arms around the elf. "Hey there, cutie," says the dryad with a wink.

L: Preventing your opponent from casting at all is the strongest option. A lot of magic requires somantics.

Zingiber forces an arm free. "Getting off on this, Dr. Ling?" She gestures wildly. "Then check this!"

Unfortunately for Zingiber, her spell fails for multiple reasons: Tanglepork is out of the area, Honeycrisp (bull) and the dryad (plant) don't have the targeted anatomy, and Ling, because of her experiences in Wizard School, always begins the day with protective spells like Genital Mirror Shield. Thus, the caster herself is the only affected person.

Zingiber clutches her guts as her Ovarian Explosion nearly rips apart her insides. "Mistake."

J: Who even crafted that? Why make that?

"Serves ya right," shouts Ling.

Invisible, Tanglepork sneaks up to the ribs while quietly reloading her weapon and squeezes through. Aiming back through, she takes another shot breaking her disguise. The bullet, buffeted by the wind, glances the lycan's shoulder. "Oh, come on," the deputy grumbles.

If Ioana were the beast she looked like, she'd just run up to the ribs and try to smash through, but the witch is smarter than that. The bones form a fence she can cast through and, with the wind making her a difficult target, she's free to do so. She condenses a suffocating cloud around the gnome. "You can't escape," she growls.

"Help me," demands Gudrun to Zingiber, taking a defensive step away. She locks eyes with Ling and a mental bomb causes her to recoil in pain.

J: How many counters do you have? L: One more than I think I'll need.

"Time to put you b***hes in your place," says Honeycrisp.

"Can you shut your f**king mouth for five b****y minutes!" yells Ling.

"Great idea!" Honeycrisp forms a zone of silence around himself and lunges headfirst into Gudrun, impaling her on his horns and lifting her off the ground.

L: A lot of magic requires incantations too.

Now unable to hear, the false dryad looks to Ling for instruction. Ling gestures for her to keep Zingiber in that area close to the sheriff. Ling then condenses the cloud around the deputy into a shield of water.

Zingiber punches and knees the dryad, bashing onto bark-coated flesh. Breaking free, she scrambles out of the inaudible zone.

Tanglepork peers around the shield (reloading) and focuses on that first bullet, the one that's still in the back of the lycan's skull. The tiny piece of lead becomes hotter, burning its way into the witch's brain.

Screeching with pain, Ioana draws in through the floor as much spiritual energy as she can. The sheriff cannot avoid having part of his soul drained and the dryad wilts, while Tanglepork's fidgeting about causes her to be less effected and Ling avoids it entirely by hopping onto the wall, taking note that Zingiber is casually unaffected.

Gudrun thrashes about, desperately trying to free herself from the horns. Her punches and kicks are not enough, however.

A bright light flashes the room as Honeycrisp channels electricity through his horns and Gudrun's body. He then charges at Zingiber slapping her across the room with her dwarven cohort's charred, but still living body.

L: Anything is a weapon. Everything is a weapon.

Ling takes a moment to think. Two of these witches should be dead now; why aren't they? It must be that contract. She commands the weakened dryad to grab the elf again (which she does). Ling yells, "Porky, we need to leave."

Zingiber once again forces her arms free to aim another spell and then shoves the dryad away. The sheriff collapses as his muscles detach themselves from his bones. Ling recognizes her own spell, Tendon Tearer.

As Tanglepork continues to burn a hole through Ioana's head, she yells to Ling, "How?" She takes another shot from the other side of the shield, sinking a bullet into the lycan's chest. "Eat that!"

Ioana retreats to the entrance door, as if daring her enemies to try to get through her. She stomps on the ground, causing the already misshapen cubes of the room to twist around becoming a series of crude pyramids. Now even just standing here is an issue.

Gudrun pries her body off of the sheriff's horns and pathetically crawls away. Her bleeding, burnt body struggling to cross the threshold of sound due to the floor's sudden shift.

Honeycrisp sends a message via vibration directly through the floor and wall to Ling's ear bones. While she doesn't know the exact meaning, it isn't hard to guess the intent.

J: Why would you keep saving him? L: Because it's the right thing to do. A: Meat shield.

Ling restores the sheriff's ability to move -his muscles reattaching themselves- and orders the dryad to muzzle the elf; the dryad's solution is to shove her hand into Zingiber's mouth.

Zingiber bites the hand and pulls a brown jewel out of her robe. She stabs it into the dryad's ear and detonates it. The dryad's mostly headless body dissipates.

Tanglepork pulls a glass bottle out of her pocket and lodges it into the barrel of her gun. The special bottle is launched by the force of her shot and explodes on impact with the lycan, whose whirling winds erupt into flame. "Give up already!"

Ioana quickly draws the moisture in the air (and the water shield) onto her person, suffocating the fire. Realizing her wind had burned away, she conjures a shield to deflect further gunfire.

Gudrun crawls further from the sheriff and attempts to scramble his brain, but cannot tell what effect she actually has.

Honeycrisp leaps with intent to crush the elf, but his vision is blurred and wobbly like a drunkard, and he smashes his fist centimeters away from her head. She weaves around the following blows.

Ling continues to rack her brain. She kicks off a burst of mental energy, accelerating her thoughts. Zingiber mentioned several construction-related spells and this lair is blatantly artificial, that entity needs mortals to interact with this world, and the witches seemed to have thought that sacrificing children into the portal was the point. ...Maybe they built the portal? So, having them harm it would break the contract?

"Porky, this way," she yells as she forms an arrow of light pointing to herself in front of Honeycrisp, "Pull back!" Ling hopes that the witches will follow after them.

While Honeycrisp is distracted, Zingiber sees an opportunity. The sheriff's horns are covered in her friend's blood. Reaching up and grabbing them, the elf drives the blood like knives into his skin and rips his face off.

A: I like this woman. Obviously became a demon.

"You f**king b***h!" Tanglepork's rage cannot penetrate the muted bubble the elf remains in, but her bullet can, barely grazing Zingiber's nose.

"Time to end this," says Ioana, teleporting right behind the deputy. A swipe of her claw slices open the gnome's backside.

"Help me," calls out Gudrun, putting pressure on her bleeding wounds. She tries to lock eyes with the deputy, but the gnome is too wrought with emotion.

Bleeding profusely, Honeycrisp slams his fists into the elf's guts, sparks passing through her organs with each strike.

"Can't get near the k**bhead," Ling grumbles. She calls upon the sheriff's flesh to mend itself, stealing pieces of Zingiber's hands in the process.

Zingiber dodges another swing as she rolls out of the silent bubble and does a wild swinging display spraying her own blood about into floating runes that drive themselves into the sheriff. On contact, the pieces of herself stuck in his face explode, taking his head with them.

Screaming with rage and grief, Tanglepork races toward Ling across the crooked, spiky floor and tries to shoot the blood-dancing elf. The bullet comes nowhere close.

Ioana chases after and commands pieces of the stone floor to erupt as a cage around the gnome, but the agile deputy leaps to freedom.

"Stop," demands Gudrun, but the deputy refuses.

L: But the most important rule of a magic duel is:

"We're getting the kids," yells Ling, ostensibly to Tanglepork, "And then we're getting the f**k out of here." She conjures a massive potato to block the lycan's path.

"No, you're not," yells Zingiber forming further runes. With a great forceful push, the corpse of the sheriff is launched at the doctor, who dives out of the way. The body tumbles into the corridor and explodes, collapsing the tunnel.

L: Never forget why you're fighting.

"Zingiber, you fool!" yells Ioana, but it is too late.

"The final line has been crossed," announces a booming voice, "No simple task was beneath your ability to fail. The violation of the contract has ceded all boons I have blessed upon you."

From the liquid metal in Ioana's brain and the burnt, ruptured organs in Gudrun's body, the two die with no fanfare.

"What?" Zingiber staggers forward in confusion, the blood-loss killing her slowly. "That's not fair."

Tanglepork stops running. Ling and she carefully walk toward Zingiber. "You killed my boss," says Tanglepork, out of breath.

"Whatever," says Zingiber, focusing on Ling, "Going to kill me, Ling? Plenty of ways to make me suffer. You could sta-"

"I'm talking to you," says the deputy.

"I don't want y-"

BANG

The deputy helps Zingiber paint the ceiling a delightful new shade of pink.

"Bl'ell, Porky," mutters Ling, "You didn't-"

"It's over." Tanglepork sits down.

Ling turns to the collapsed passage. "I'll get the kids..." She looks around at the bloody mess that was once three witches. "...And ya... deal with this?"

I can give you this design sketch of Katze, but you've probably already seen it.

curse of favourite character being from an obscure game with no fanart from years ago that no one plays

WLC 6.E: Bull-headed

"Listen fast," says Ling to the still dazed minotaur, "The kids are alive, there's one witch coming, and the second's getting the third. I've infily'ed their coven and ya're brainwashed. Play along."

Sheriff Honeycrisp has several questions. Unfortunately for him, Zingiber footsteps were slowly growing louder. He lies back into the junk pile, feigning unconsciousness.

"Water for the lady." Zingiber presents a chalice to Ling as if it contained wine or nectar.

"Thanks, mate." Ling chugs it immediately.

"Ready to see my work?" Zingiber sways with glee. "My latest I call Marrow Radiance."

"Can ya make him do stuff?" Ling puts the empty cup down.

"Oh," says Zingiber, deflating, "Like what?"

"I was just wondering if ya knew mind s***e."

"That's Gudrun's thing."

"So, she had him blame someone in town, then?"

Zingiber giggles, "Sort of. She let him just pick someone who'd fit."

"Really now." Ling resists the negative urges rising in the back of her mind. 'Think of the kids, Ling,' she thinks to herself.

"Sheriff, walk to the main room," Zingiber commands, "Any ideas, Dr.?"

Honeycrisp rises and stumbles his way out, quietly grumbling all the while.

As the ladies follow him, Ling asks, "I thought coven's shared magic. Are ya all studying extra things?"

"Yeah, the coven stuff is mostly utility: reshaping land, portals, material conversion."

"Sounds like your boss wants a construction crew," says Ling, carefully navigating the misshaped hall, "Any idea why?"

Zingiber shrugs. It wasn't going to be that easy.

"Can ya make the sheriff do cartwheels?"

"Yeah, but why?" asks Zingiber, "I can do soooo much worse."

"Gotta start small, mate," says Ling as they enter the main room again. "If ya do your big evil s***e now, how do ya top it?"

"Point taken," sings Zingiber, "Alright, moo-man, do s-"

"Zinj, I need to talk to ya," says Gudrun, standing by another door. She scowls at Ling. "In private." She looks to the sheriff. "Watch the doctor," she commands.

"Sure, what's up?" Zingiber dances across the room and follows her coven-mate into the darkness.

"Cartwheels, really?" angrily whispers Honeycrisp.

"Ya want her to pull your skeleton out your a**e?" whispers back Ling, "That one's a loon."

"All you b***hes are loons," says Honeycrisp, "Chaotic w***es the lot of you."

"Ya got a f**king problem, mate?"

"Yeah, c**ts like you!" shouts the sheriff.

"Of course, they do, b*****d," shouts back Ling, "They wouldn't hate ya if ya'd stop being a sack of s***e!"

"You diseased s**t!" Honeycrisp steps forward, his figure towering Ling. "Just here to bang the kidnappers."

"B****y f**kwit!" Ling stands as tall as can, glaring into his eyes. "Just mad ya've been saved by a woman; ya hate us so much."

"You barely count as a woman, p***y-sucking lizard."

"Says the cuckold farm animal!"

"What is this language?" asks Ioana, who had slipped into the room unseen.

"Wow," mutters the diminutive deputy behind her.

WLC 5.6: Baba, You're Going Down!

The skeletal remains whirl through the air. Jevoi covers her head with her arms and tries to keep running straight, Tanglepork attempts to evade by zigzaging, and Luminița attempts to swat the flying bones out of the air.

Gank emerges from the ground and slides back into Jevoi. 'Turn around,' she thinks, 'We have to keep her in place.'

'What are we doing?' asks Jevoi, skittering to a stop, 'What's the rest of the plan?'

'Run at her,' thinks Gank, 'Don't stop.'

With a frustrated groan, Jevoi abouts-face. 'Better be a good plan.'

Tanglepork runs past her without a word, but a look that says, 'You're gonna do something stupid, ain't ya?'

'We're sending Grammy back to Hell,' thinks Gank, bringing a subdue soulsight back into Jevoi's eyes, 'When you've got her in the circle, slap that b***h!'

Jevoi can now see Ioana's silhouette in the dust storm and the runes glowing inside the ground, now several meters behind the lycan. "Alright, you old biddy," yells Jevoi, running around along the storm's spin, "You want Ling? Well, I'm at least half Ling."

Ioana howls again. "LING! VENGEANCE!" She twists to pursue Jevoi.

D: Did she anything else? G: Most ghosts form from one extreme desire; they're actually really boring people. D: What was your desire? G: I guess, not die? I'm a special case.

Jevoi stops at the edge of the runic circle and turns toward the storm. She spreads her arms apart, low. "Come on, you broken clock."

The storm escalates in intensity and speed.

Jevoi holds her ground as Ioana approaches, Tanglepork and Luminița far away in the dark, then just as the ghost hovers inside the circle, she slaps it. "Go to Hell, fur-hag!"

The magic of the runes opens a gate under the ghost and forms a barrier around Jevoi. The gate begins sucking with far greater force than Ioana's storms, pulling her in. So too are the bones dropped like water in a drain. But the gate doesn't close; it keeps sucking. Tanglepork and Luminița are pulled into it.

Luminița digs her claws into the ground, clutching desperately to survive. Tanglepork snags the lycan's leg; her screams inaudible over the rushing wind.

Jevoi hops out of the bubble protecting her and grabs Luminița's arm.

'What are ya doing?' thinks Gank.

'She has my tome,' thinks Jevoi, 'The whole reason we're here!"

"I've got you," Jevoi attempts to say, but her voice is sucked away by the wind. Jevoi, unfortunately, would not be strong enough to lift Luminița in normal conditions, nor combat the vortex, so attempting both only has one reasonable outcome: down the drain.