TPA 39

I will have written 365 time for a little longer than a year. It's amazing how you realize that you've writte this much each day. Not every day was two thousand words. In fact, most of them were short paragraphs I put together while on break at work. These TPA are my attempts to write three pages everyday. I hope they help me out a bit.

I'm worried about what I have to do for my Cain story. It's easy to write like this and let the flow go, but with Cain I have to stop and think. This takes practice. A lot of practice. I try not to worry about how other writers are ahead of me or how I might not catch up or surpass Stephen King, but some days I can't help but go into a tailspin. It's not until I'm exhausted that I can pick myself up and shake off the dust. 

Right now I'm listening a mini documentary about King Louis XIV. He's likely my favorite king of France. They called him "The Sun King" because business would come and go with him as he woke up and slept. Nobles had the "honor" of watching or dressing him as he woke up. They would whisper that they needed funds or support while they dressed him. This feels like a report I'm writing for my college days. What's always facinated me about Louis is how he held grudges. According to my teacher, he would pass off an offence like it didn't bother him but he would keep a record of who had insulted or slighted him and stab them in the back when they weren't expecting it. He had the whole of the court wrapped around his finger and had enough affairs that he fathered dozens of children. Such an interesting character that you have to wonder what kind of charm he had over people. It's like you wanted to be his friend and he would subtly manipulate you while you thanked him for it. 

Moving on, right now I'm finishing up a game called "Promise Mascot Agency." I've spoken about it before but I don't think I've written how one of the characters has inpired one of my own. There's this mascot named Pinky who rides along with you as you drive in town. Her sassy personality has inspired my Lalisa character. That's not the only inspiration. She's also inspired by this interview I heard with Ke$ha on NPR years ago. Is that girl still popular? I rarely hear about her but I don't listen much to pop music gossip. I really, really want to make these characters into a story but I think I'm too imature to do it. That's why I'm working on my Cain story so much. For now, lets fill up the rest of the pages with my thoughts on the monsters from Koudelka.

Sheesh, editing this is harder than it looks. Let's try this.

That's better. This is the Apostle. He hangs upside down with a halo above his feet. This is likely a reference to how Peter the Apostle was likely crucified upside down. Since then, the upside down cross has become a symbol of the devil. The fact that he has wings and is pointing down makes me think he's flying to Hell. I havent played the game (I don't have three hundred dollars to spare) but the wiki tells me that the monster will gyrate and become immune to all attacks. You have to wait for the monster to stop moving to attack it. Sounds like a waste of time or a way to extend the gameplay a little longer. Either way it's a pain. 

The Black Cat reminds me of Lovecraft's character Delapor from "The Rats in the Walls" who had a cat named N-man. I'm not writing that word here. Lovecraft claims to have had a cat of the same name when he was a child that went missing when he was a teen. Delapor, haunted by bad dreams and rats in his inherited ancetoral home, discovers a city underneath the house that was used to raise quadrapedal cattle for their own food. I always wondered who the cattle were for. I guess I forgot that Delaporhad the cannibal family. I recall thinking that they were raising the cattle for some god or monster. That always made it scarier to me. The games' description gives it the usual story of the creature being a familiar of a witch and can curse a person for seven years of bad luck. It's strange that such an easy reference was relegated to such a simple description. 

I was hoping for more monsters to be on the Lovecraftian side of horror. This is but a giant bat called a Brute. There's barely a description of them besides their lust for blood. I know that this game only has a few fingers in Lovecraftian pies, but I was hoping for more inspiration.

Charolette's Wrath

This is a boss from the game that only appears later if you forget to find all of Sophia's letters or pray at Charolette D'Lota's grave before entering Charolette's cell. I find this monster particularly interesting because the protagonist, Koudelka, can save the girl's soul if you do as asked. It's a pivitol important moment in the game that helps Koudelka come to terms with who she is. I like it, and hate it, when games have missions or encounters that you don't know about unless you have due diligence. 

This guy is a Chikon. He's reminds me of a scorpion with an eye for a tail. Just a timid creature that seems more to be cannon fodder than a threat. Have I put too much faith in the Koudelka series?

The Chimera always reminds me of Alchemy. Probably from Full Metal Alchemist's fame. This is a little better. He's a mishmash of human and beastly attributes. The bestairy says that the three heads fight for control of the body. The game lists this guy as a boss. I was hoping to do the boss' last but I'll make an exception. 

The corpse hound. I know that this game was inspired and stylized by the Resident Evil series. I don't think Lovecraft had any corpse hounds in his stories. This might be closer to a ghoul in the Eldritch lore. I've already checkecd but there is a "ghoul" listed in the bestairy. I'm guessing they would function the same way that zombie hounds acted in the RE games.