Was Not Expecting Someone To Draw A Creature Close To My Heart As A Heart.

WLC 6.7: House Call

The shady little lady suddenly grew twice as large. Her outfit pulls apart as she returns to her natural size, exposing scaly limbs and belly. The dark cloak is barely a cape now. The gex licks her own eyes. "G'day, mate," she says, "This do?"

Dr. Ling puts her claw on the fake lycan, whose image fades away, leaving only a blonde gnome guardswoman behind.

"Sorry for wearing your daughter's face, Ma'am," says Tanglepork, "But we had to make sure the trail was safe."

"Why wouldn't it be?" Ioana squints her eyes.

"Chil-"

"Claims of a strange svelte man lurking out here," says Ling, "Leaving messages about."

"Oh, him," says Ioana, opening her door wide, thus allowing to see her fully. An elderly lycan, her fur is greying in numerous places. She is clad in a thick pastel floral-print nightgown. "Come in, dears."

They do.

The old cabin is decorated in many old furs, hunting trophies, and small bookcases. It is divided into three rooms a simple kitchen, a comfy bedroom, and the main room with a rocking chair and a stool by a fireplace.

The elderly lycan sits in the rocking chair as Ling closes the door behind her. "Come, sit," she says.

Tanglepork sits on the stool, while Ling manifests a bone chair.

"Now, what's this about that night creeper?" asks Ioana, "What has he done?"

"We're not certain yet," says Tanglepork, "But we suspect him of the kidnapping, or worse, of several children."

"Ya wouldn't have seen any kids of late, right?" asks Ling.

"No, only my little Loomy," says Ioana, rocking, "Last week exactly."

"How long has Note-boy been out here?" asks Ling.

"And what's he look like?" asks Tanglepork.

"Less than a week," says Ioana, "He's a tall elvenoid — twice an elf, in fact — in a fancy suit, like from the old cities, but his face: it's wrong." She rubs her paws on her face. "He looks like you- er, like whoever is looking at him."

Ling leans to the side and asks, "So ya've spoken to someone who's seen him too?"

Ioana face droops. "Y-yes, a few neighbors."

"Can you tell us where these neighbors live?" asks Tanglepork, "The woods are pre~tty~ big."

"Of course, I can, dears," says Ioana, eyeing them with a sigh, "But it's so lonely being so far out here. Could you stay a while longer?"

J: Mum, tell me you didn't. L: Does it really surprise ya...

Current Wizard Lizard Chronicles Ideas:

Here's just a collection of thoughts about what kind of stories Ling has to tell. Orc War will be Chapter 8.

The Orc War: a dark story about the brutality of war, people's capacity for cruelty, and what happens when you push a good woman too far.

Cultural Transitions: "Be gay, do crimes" dominoes into two societies' revolutions. Big focus on the how the Vrow became less xenophobic.

The Godmother, or "Jevoi, We Have to Cook": Jevoi attempts to join the Mafeya.

Mother Fearest: Meet Ning; master assassin, Social Darwinist, overbearing mom.

Wizard Lizard and the Lizard Wizard: spelling errors drag Ling into her neighbor's own perilous life.

How I Met My Step-mother: Ning meets the love of her life due to her wild daughter's social strife.

Hara Kiri is Haram: Back in wizard school, Ling helped a suicidal samurai avenge her family.

Are You There, Goddess? It's Me, Jevoi: What's worse than puberty? DIVINE PUBERTY.

Succ You Bi: Young Ling is offered demon summoning powers in exchange for representing Hell in a debate and Ling learns her mother's darkest secret.

The Day the Sun Died: What drove Jevoi to ruin the world?

WLC 3.4: Up to Gank

Gash leads Jevoi up the stairs to the safest part of the tower, behind the shell of the Tarasque. Feeling her bitterness of being led away, he asks, "Who is your 'nana'?"

"You really want to know?" Jevoi's voice is sudden and loud. "Nana Ning's the coolest. She's super-fast and has all of the knives."

"Is that so?" asks Gash, looking over his shoulder, "What can she do with them?"

"She's a super sneaky acrobat and kills bad guys," says Jevoi running ahead of Gash, "I want to be just like her!" She turns back toward him. "But Mum hates Nana, she'll never let me."

"Yeah, I get it," says Gash, "My ma was against me learning magic." He manifests and twirls a knife before banishing it.

"But you did anyway?" asks Jevoi looking up into his eyes, "How did ya do it?"

Gash hesitates, but decides to answer, "My sister and I ran away from home."

L: I'ma kill him.

"But you shouldn't."

"Why not?" whines Jevoi.

"Your ma's a wizard; she'll catch you," he leans down and whispers, "So you should study all her tricks first; that way she can't catch you." He stands up and continues on as roaring and explosions occur in the distance.

L: Death threat rescinded.

Jevoi gasps, "You're really smart, Mr. Gash!"

Gash laughs, "That's why Boss Mel trusts me. Now right through here is Gank."

"Who's she?" asks Jevoi, as further explosions sound from outside.

"Why don't you ask her yourself?" He opens a door, and says, "Hey, Gank, got someone for you to meet."

The bedroom's walls are decorated with stars and crescents. The plum bed is almost as big as Ling's. Lying on the bed, idly kicking her feet and reading a large tome is a teenage reptilian with a spiky armored body and four clawed arms. She's wearing a black wig with a magenta stripe in its bangs and tiny black trunks.

D: Is that why you wear that wig? J: It looks great, right?

Jevoi hides behind Gash's leg, too nervous to approach.

"What d'ya want, old man?" asks Gank. She looks up from her book. "Need me to babysit for ya?"

As a big fan of Bushido Blade (1 and 2), how is it that I only found out about the secret Versus mode inside of the Story mode today?

Curious design for Keiya. Is that Himika's face?

Evil Zone fan redesigns! This took a while, decided to wait just post them all at once. Enjoy!

WLC 5.5: Twister Shot

The whirling dust around Ioana approaches Jevoi and Tanglepork. "I shall have vengeance!" howls the glowing counter-silhouette.

Jevoi takes off running. "Tell you what," she says, "After you kill her, I can take to my mum; you can kill her too."

L: Love ya, too.

"Don't leave me here!" yells Tanglepork, scrambling to her feet. "Give me my gun back!"

"Why would I ever?" yells Jevoi, trying to figure out the mechanisms of the gun. The odd rotating piece in the center confuses her. It would be easier for her to study it, if she weren't running toward darkness.

"Don't come at me!" Luminița yells at the other women, "I'm not involved in this!"

"AND I AM?" yells Jevoi, running with Tanglepork and Ioana hot behind her, "I don't even know this woman!"

"I'm going to rip you limb from limb, Ling!" yells Ioana. The light emanating off of her continues offer a view of what the mortals begin realizing may be an infinite plane.

"Love the enthusiasm, Madam!" says Jevoi, "Wrong target!" Jevoi thinks, 'Gank, do something, please!'

'Like what?' asks Gank in Jevoi's brain, 'Ya want me to fight her?'

'You're the only one who can,' thinks Jevoi.

'I have an idea,' thinks Gank, 'Keep her distracted.' She sinks into the ground, invisible.

"Just shoot her," yells Luminița, running further ahead.

"She's a ghost, you drongo!" yells Jevoi.

"Not my bunica, idiot!" the lycan yells back, "Tanglepork!"

Jevoi aims the gun backward and pulls the trigger, but the weapon does not fire. It doesn't even CLICK.

Tanglepork laughs and throws a bone off the floor. It hits the gun causing Jevoi to drop it. She scoops it up as the gun and pulls the hammer back. She eyes Jevoi and rubs her hand along the barrel; sparkles enter the weapon. She puts both hands on the grip, turns toward the advancing dust-storm (while running backward now), and fires a glowing shot into it. A silvery explosion distorts the cyclone.

"That's how you do it, kiddo!" laughs Tanglepork, turning away.

Ioana howls in shock and the bones on the floor rattle. They rattle and shake and bounce into the air. Each begins flying in the direction of the closest mortal.

"Mamaia!" yells Luminița, "How did you screw that up, Jevoi?

L: How did ya screw that up?

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 2.B: Trip Trap Trope

The party enters a massive sandy chamber, they stand atop a slope above the black desert. The fossilized remains of a massive spike-shelled creature lies atop a fortress, thirty stories tall, sculpted from the caverns themselves to fit the creature's silhouette.

"Hiding, shhe iss not," says Kalyani, "It lookss familiar, thhough."

"You'd think someone calling herself 'The Shadow Queen' would live somewhere more... subtle," says Maraja, "Any ideas, wizard?"

A magical pulse emits from Ling's location; as it moves forward, an invisible runic wall shimmers briefly ahead of the group. "I know that symbol," says Ling, "That's a 'false ward' alarm... ward."

L: I know it's a dumb name.

At Kalyani's insistence, Ling continues, "This ward does exactly one thing: alert its creator to any change. Unwelcome intruder? Alarm. Attempt to disable? Alarm. Warp past it? Alarm. Actually disable it? Ya guessed it: alarm. But," Ling raises her finger, "That's ALL it can do."

D: I don't get it. Why's it special? L: How do I put this? On top of alerting their creator, most wards try to do something to whoever trips them. J: Mindjack, teleport, incinerate. L: They're intended to go unnoticed until it's too late. J: They're meant to catch dumb thieves and animals. D: So, why use this one? J: Paranoia.

"Asssuming it'ss a perfect ssphere, whichh iss likely," says Kalyani, "Thhey will know we're coming, no matter what."

"Maraja," says Ling, stretching, "You stay here and, when you see your chance, get in that building. Save your mate."

"I'm not leaving you out here," says Maraja, "You have no idea who or what will come out of there."

"Hang back, dear," says Kalyani, "Make that call after they come forth."

Maraja nods her watery head and steps back into the tunnel; Ling and Kalyani race down the slope. Ling feels the hot sand between her toes and Kalyani carves a trail with her tail.

"A late realizzation," says Kalyani, "But iss thhat a tarrassque?"

"Trying not to think about that," says Ling.

"Do you thhink it died reccently?"

"Trying not to think about that."

"HALT!" calls out a raspy woman, when the duo are about a hundred meters from the tower.

"CEASE!" call out a gravelly man, immediately after.

Standing in a second floor, a pair of heavily armored bipeds. They're too far away for Ling to identify who or what they are.

"HOW'S YA GOING?" yells Ling, "WE'RE AS LOST AS A EUNUCH'S BALLS!"

"WHAT?" yells the woman wearing her shield on her right, "WE'RE NOT HOLDING ANY BALLS."

"WAIT," yells the man wearing his shield on his left. He then speaks to the woman beside him.

D: What did he say? L: I don't know; I wasn't going to cast spells where they could see me.

The two jump down, slowing down before landing. They then pose together. Ling can now clearly see the mace and scimitar the man and woman respectfully carry.

SPINNING WITH A BIG SWORD

Whether you're a dark knight...

Or a pretty princess...

This feeling is unmatched.

WLC 6.3: Clueless

"I assume ya've checked with the few dwarves in town already?" asks Ling, pulling a pair of chairs out of the ground.

"Yeah," says Tanglepork, "None of them were hiring kobold kids for anything." She sits down. "So, it doesn't help."

"It does," says Ling, "At minimum, this dwarf comes near town every couple days. Likely lives nearby."

"That could still mean anything," says Tanglepork, annoyed, "Woodsman, hunter, bandit, merchant."

"So who'd hire a pair of schoolgirls?" asks Ling, "And for what?"

"Why are you so focused on this one?"

"If we know where this dwarf is, then we have a direction to start looking," says Ling, rubbing her temples, "Those two are the only clue ya've given me."

"We can't even confirm if this dwarf is real, Ling," says the deputy, shaking her head, "We've narrowed it down to only one possibility: the kids walked out of town. No magic residue, no un-alibi-ed adults, no signs of violence, nothing."

A: What's the point of this? If the wolf was killing kids, just say that. L: Who said she did? J: The story of us meeting on an eldritch cruise started with me doing a drug deal in the woods; give her a chance to set this up right.

"So why'ren't ya searching the bush then," asks Ling, "Why is the most secure exit being blamed? Something magical obvy happened to those kids, we just need to find where."

"We've already asked all of the parents," says Tanglepork as she sets her notes aside, "And none of the other kids are saying anything either. The only thing we could do is search blindly."

The two sit in silence for a moment.

"What if the culprit came to us?" asks Ling. As Tanglepork's eyebrow raises, Ling asks, "Any other kids leave town on the regular?"

"Tanglepork flips through her notes. "There's a little lycan who visits her grandmother every week," she says, "But we've told her parents not to let her while we're investigating."

J: Why would the sheriff bother if you're being blamed? L: Because if she went missing in the woods, that would mean... J: Understood, not the Underdank. Town would force the sheriff's hand. L: Town would've the sheriff's head.

"Does Nana Lycan know?"

"...no..."

"Then I've an idea."