#narellus

[sepublic]

Art Fight

An art gifting game

Finally created an Art Fight account and these are the current OCs up for attack! You have the Council of Warlocks…

And on the side: Tamara, Shogaken, and Fipik! I plan to add some more but Tumblr only allows ten images per post.

[sepublic]

Another thing I want to do with the Warlocks is having a moment where each one of them doubles down, they commit, and any second guesses they have are eliminated, which makes it hit way harder when it finally does fall apart at the end.

Majikus murders Spelaris, her own sister: In spite of what guilt and what meagre gestures she made to make up for what happened way back when, in the end she has not learned anything and is ignoring her sister’s wishes to make this about how she has been berated and let down. When her niece Kita attempts to stand up to her, she beats Kita within an inch of her life until Kita, terrified, relents and surrenders.

I’ve already explained Narellus and Hydrownus: Narellus was always Ride or Die for Majikus because she’s amoral and she’s looking for anything that will make her feel powerful and important and like she’s actually having an effect on the world. But when Majikus admits that she intentionally paired Narellus and Hydrownus together under the hopes that they’d vibe, and they finally have… Narellus has this awestruck moment of just how amazing Majikus is, that she devoted herself to this rando and was rewarded with this position, and now someone who understands, and she’s like. I’ll never doubt you again. Your brilliance is everything. I’d die for you. I’d kill for you!

Hydrownus is when he kills the last of Narellus’ coworkers from when she was a maid. He sees that coworker has become a mother with her own little boy and when Narellus realizes what the comparison is and begins to do it for Hyd to spare him, he doubles down by slaughtering the mother and child for her to spare Narellus, and commit himself to this. The past is dead, this is his life now; He’s with the warlocks, he’s with Narellus, and even before he regained his memories he chose this. It’s meant to be him having hope that he can move on and finally be productive and build for once, not be an inherent mistake.

Megarus… I’m not entirely certain, but I kinda like to think it’s like that bit from The Boys where The Deep kills his octopus girlfriend and spaces out overnight only to snap to it when receiving an unheard order from his megalomaniacal boss as he doubles down to doing whatever ruthless thing he must, there’s no turning back now! It might be a bit funny is what I’m saying. The point being in that Meg finally comes to terms, after doing something reprehensible for the warlocks, that this IS what he chose, that he cannot run away from it, that this is who he is and he just has to live with it now. He’s someone who ultimately does think of himself as a nice dude and is realizing he isn’t really that nice when he’s a warlock at the same time.

Viracious is definitely going to be a lot more sobering. I’ve already mentioned that Majikus murders Spelaris, her sister: After stating before that she’d never make the others do something she herself would not, and reiterating this when Viracious suggests hypocrisy in Majikus presenting Thanasia as a potential liability to eliminate… She really truly proves it when Spelaris admits she helped set up the barrier spell that cut off the warlocks from one another so the Monster Realmers and their allies could successfully divide and conquer the council during the attack on the mansion.

The warlocks initially prepare themselves to take on Spelaris when the truth is revealed, but Majikus reiterates her point, looking at Viracious especially, when she holds them aside and makes the move to face Spelaris on her own, and wins. Afterwards as she regroups with the warlocks, a spiritually crushed Viracious admits to Majikus that yeah, her will IS superior. When Thanasia confronts him separately and admits her visit was to set up the nodes for Spelaris’ barrier spell, she more blatantly begs Vir to stop this; Let’s run away, just the two of us together, like in the good old days! She appeals to his reactionary nature.

But a defeated Viracious can’t even meet her eyes as he admits… Sometimes, the best thing you can do… is just look away and let it happen.

I realize I generally prefer to not spell things out if I can avoid it and let ideas be shown and not told. In this case, I really want to convey the idea that Viracious began to secretly regret turning in that reactionary terrorist group. I initially planned to do so with that shot of him just silently glancing down at some reminder of them; But maybe this is all that’s necessary.

Either way, Viracious is kicking himself. He realizes he had the perfect way to get the society he wanted, that his father wanted, without bloodying his own hands, and all he had to do was look the other way; In an even more ideal world, he’d have never met them, never found out, and thus never been responsible nor liable for looking the other way.

The point being: It’s happening again. He is NOT repeating his mistake and doing this shit all over again, he’s trying to change things… Which is funny, given the warlocks’ fates are about being cyclical. Though in Viracious’ case he actually breaks the cycle, or might not; I may or may not change things so he remains stagnant like the rest.

But yeah, in a way Viracious admires Majikus for this. He has his doubts he won’t speak to her face (most of the time), he’s a cocky snobby idiot. But in the end he craves a certain strength of will to do what needs to be done but can’t, so he tried to work around it by carving out a reactionary space where others outside of his society lived. And now here’s Majikus, who proves she has the will to do anything, even beat her own niece within an inch of her life and murder her if Kita hadn’t given up. Viracious needs someone like that because he can’t do the same.

That leaves Kisonus and Editaurus, whose moments I have yet to devise. Kisonus is meant to be a goofier evil so I’m not sure how necessary it is, while Ed… I’ll figure it out. It might be some variation of Screw the Haters but I fear that’s redundant with her backstory. But for now, we have what we have.

[sepublic]

Btw here’s some concept art for the Warlocks. In particular there’s a sketch showing how Kisonus’ jaws open up that I’m fond of.

[sepublic]

            I want for there to be an episode dedicated to Thanasia, Viracious’ sister, as well as his general childhood and backstory that leads up to the flashback in which he first meets Majikus:

            Basically the episode starts with Viracious tutoring Kita. He’s uncharacteristically chipper, esp given his mentorship of Kita is something he’s taken on as more of an obligation than anything else. He makes it clear pretty fast; His sister Thanasia is coming over to visit! After all these years since the funeral in which he necromanced their father to rest.

            Vir talks hot shit about how they were best friends growing up under their father and he always looked out for her, she looked up to him, etc. He muses on what she’s been up to, and even explores the possibility that she’s settled down and had kids! He’d love to be an uncle, Viracious brags; He’s quite sure he’d be good at it.

            Kita nods along, deciding it’d be presumptive to comment on the irony of saying this to her, who he could already fulfill that role towards if he wasn’t so traditionalist, as Viracious then resumes the lesson.

            The Council of Warlocks are outside their mansion as Vir takes a brief cut from the happiness to warn Kisonus firmly not to try any shit; He’s trying not to let his arch-nemesis undercut the mood but there’s still the edge. Kisonus can’t be bothered this time.

            The warlocks welcome Thanasia as she arrives in her carriage. Viracious is overconfident about how their reunion will turn out; He happily welcomes “Than” as she emerges and she seems nice enough, but not as joyous as Vir would’ve described to everyone. Majikus welcomes the family of a councilmember and proudly states that she is always welcome and appreciated for her support in her brother.

            Thanasia is uneasy but obliges. Viracious takes Thanasia on a tour, possibly with Maj since she is his boss and she has reason to want to get to know Than. The other warlocks dip, and I imagine this is where Megarus and Editaurus exit the story, since I don’t have anything in mind for them at the moment, and that’s assuming they’ll even be there and aren’t busy on some adventure offscreen involving the Monster Realmers.

            Narellus is fascinated in a mischievous little way, speculating on Thanasia; Hydrownus is the straight man to her dynamic as she muses about getting to know a fellow warlock’s sister more. As the episode plays along, Viracious shows off the fruits of the Warlocks’ conquests, their logistics such as Chimera production and lines of supply. There’s the elaborate kitchen, where Kisonus is going for one helluva snack run after being away on a mission for a while; It’s a horrific mess and Viracious groans, advising his sister not to mind as she quickly understands that Viracious hates this gal. Kis is too apathetic and hungry to care. Viracious almost offers to show battle plans he has drafted and is quite proud of in the campaign room, but Majikus sternly reminds him those are confidential, which Vir mostly takes in stride.

            We get the flashbacks on his end; Growing up with Thanasia and their father. Their mother passed away and their father had a good relationship with Viracious. His daughter on the other hand, he sometimes made cry with his overly stern expectations. It’s mostly from Viracious’ POV so he doesn’t see much of it, but he’s always there to reassure his little sister, be her warrior and fighter, her hero essentially.

            One time Than cries in the garden that Father hates her, possibly after the Napkin story, but Viracious promises otherwise. Another time Father discusses a memory of his own childhood with his own father, who was a lot more physical and harsh with him and his brother; He tells them to be grateful he’s soft on them, and Viracious expresses wholehearted gratitude. Viracious and Thanasia’s uncle passed away when him and Father fought as enlisted soldiers a war against those “savages.”

            They grow up and Viracious goes through a lot of tutors and impresses all of them. He trains under the basilisks thanks to his father’s connection with them; He does the typical journey up the mountain, gets a bit cocky but learns his lesson and really grows to appreciate his teachers, who discuss the power of sight via the Basilisk Eyes. Viracious leaves home to study on his own, but returns every now and then to check up on dad, who is aging. His father lets him know he’s so proud of his son. Viracious inquires about Thanasia, who was also sent to study abroad and his father kinda waves the subject aside.

            Viracious is a respectful young man, old-fashioned but courteous to the servants, valuing the head servant and even slapping a child for speaking disrespect towards the women of the household. Everyone likes him and his father jokes that he’s soft, alluding to the stories of how his own father was much harsher.

            Viracious is learning many things, and among them is work as a Funerary Necromancer; It’s an age-old tradition and as his father praises the progress his son has been making (though he has not yet done an actual funeral yet), he also complains about how the youth have been degrading this culture and are rejecting this tradition. Viracious wholeheartedly agrees, making snide remarks about how they probably have no loved ones they can trust to represent them properly post-mortem! His father laughs.

            Some of this is juxtaposed with Thanasia’s recollection of events, where her father was much harsher. She always existed on the periphery of his love, watching her brother’s relationship from afar. She feels sometimes like her father hates her, that he’s even taking her brother from her. Viracious is her only friend and Father forbid the servants from interacting with her, insistingly it was not comely of a noble lady. Their father’s tone is much harsher and berating. Thanasia is sometimes caught reminiscing at random spots in the mansion during the present.

            Viracious’ father finally passes away and Viracious is in mourning. He takes it upon himself the inherited role of Funerary Necromancer; He technically shouldn’t be ready but it’s his own damn father, he’s not gonna let anyone else do it. Thanasia is there and we have a quiet moment in which Vir, in grief, struggles to raise the staff and channel its power; But he wills himself, concentrates, and creates one hell of a performance as his father reanimates and puts on a show of bows and graceful gestures. Viracious proudly has his father bow to Thanasia, who’s been very quiet the entire time; We don’t see her face, but it’s his nod to his sister how Father always loved her, and he’s helping him clarify one final time what he’s always meant.

            Viracious lays his father to rest, and thus marks the start of a proud career. Thanasia dips to continue her studies abroad as Viracious begins a career with good reviews… But the times are changing and many families have begun to reject this practice, to Viracious’ chagrin. Worst of all, he catches wind that Thanasia is interacting with some progressives, and doesn’t know how to feel about it. He argues with her about it one time, noting she’s changed since Father died, become a lot more uneasy around him. Vir understands her grief, but this is too much. Than struggles to meet his eyes; Vir can’t bring himself to be angry with her. It’s the last time he saw Thanasia and while Viracious wrote letters to her, she didn’t answer.

            As he feels frustration at the rhetoric against the tradition, feels insult that he somehow did his father a disservice and now these people are feeding into his sister’s paranoia, his father’s friends from the funeral contact Viracious. They take him under their wings, invite him into a traditionalist group that aims to “preserve” the sanctity of their degrading culture.

            In the meantime, the Narellus and Hydrownus B-plot continues; While Kisonus is content to go back to snacking, Narellus eavesdrops on social media, using her connections and spy network to learn more about Thanasia as Hyd watches. She’s delighted by the scandalous revelation that Thanasia has essentially what is a Monster Realm OnlyFans, and it’s some explicit stuff; She shows her mirror to Hydrownus, who exasperatedly averts his gaze upwards.

            Narellus muses telling Viracious about this; For once, Hydrownus steps in and advises her not to, suggesting that maybe they shouldn’t do things that threaten the unity of the council. Narellus is satisfied with this answer, since she finally elicited a response; Not the drama she initially aimed for but she likes Hyd’s attention better anyway.

            Viracious trusts these men who knew his father, but eventually discovers they intend to organize a terrorist attack against the progressives of their culture, railing against modernity. Viracious feels conflicted, knowing his sister might be among them. He considers warning her, but also…

            We cut to a secretive meeting held by this group, who wonder where Viracious is. Cue a bust as the police rush in. The masked members are caught and exposed, their tools of destruction confiscated. Viracious himself emerges and helps subdue a few. His father’s friends scorn him, but Viracious scoffs, agreeing that the progressives are traitors to the culture; But these men are even greater traitors for inflicting harm, and they shall not go unpunished for it. Clearly they lied to his father about who they were.

            The men are hauled off and Viracious is congratulated. The servants cheer him on back home. He feels good.

            …But then time passes and the times keep changing. Viracious struggles to find work as a Funerary Necromancer. He is a witch of many talents of course, but this profession specifically means a lot to him. As he passes through a street and sees a display of modern vulgarity, he looks down at a badge of membership from the traditionalist club or a photo of them with his father, one he never threw away, and thinks.

            He makes up his mind and there’s now a scene in which Viracious gathers the servants and tells them he plans to relinquish his father’s estate to all of them. The head servant of course gets the highest spoils, and she graciously thanks Viracious for everything and vice-versa; The servants plan to turn the mansion into a communal household for their families.

            Viracious prepares the largest sum of their father’s finances to send to Thanasia and writes to his sister with it his plans; He imagines she might not fully agree, but basically he feels that he disagrees with the way progressives have ruined their society. It will never be enough to inflict violence upon them, but he knows there are many like-minded traditionalists who deserve their own space. Thus, he plans to go out into the lands beyond their culture and start a name for himself as a warlord, doing mercenary work and building up an undead army and riches from pillaging other societies. With his resources, Viracious will set aside his own kingdom from which he can dictate the rules and invite like-minded people to make their own society.

            It’s another letter sent that’s never been answered back. Viracious boards his steed and rides out to begin his conquests and accrue a collection.

            Events culminate in the present when Thanasia finally musters the will to confront Viracious about what he’s done; It’s immoral. He’s pillaging and slaughtering innocents across the Monster Realm, and for what? His dream? What happened to Viracious stating that the murder was worse than any cultural degradation? Viracious scoffs it aside like it’s obvious, unfazed; Those are different cultures. They are not his own so he is not beholden to them, and it’s what all their ancestors did. It’s what other cultures do, actually!

            After a lot of time showing a nicer, kinder, mature side to Viracious… Oh boy the ugliness of him comes out when he reveals just how casually, confidently he is dismissive of these things, it’s as obvious to him as breathing. Thanasia is horrified but deep down not surprised as she interrogates Viracious further about the kind of people he’s thrown his lot in with, perhaps alluding to the infamy of his fellow warlocks. As a minor gag Viracious shrugs and agrees he finds some of his coworkers. Questionable. But they’re all united under a greater cause. But to Thanasia, Majikus is a mad butcher, and he might judge Hydrownus but he morally agrees with him in the end, doesn’t he?

            Viracious gets more heated as Thanasia confronts him over his own capacity for harm. He insists he’s a good man, he’s not like those traitors; He turned them in! He saved lives! They were liars who hid their true nature from Father. Thanasia’s tone is pleading as she begins to break; He did know them. He knew exactly who they were, and you know it!

            It’s implied from her words that Viracious felt shame and regret for betraying people he knew his father agreed with, but couldn’t reconcile that his father would believe these things. Likewise he couldn’t reconcile his morals against others of their kind. But on some level, maybe he did regret turning those men in, after seeing what their culture had become, something that would disgrace his father… And would it make Viracious a disgrace to have let it become so?

            So Viracious reconciled all of these things; He would give his father the traditionalist society he wanted without hurting anyone of the new generation by just… shedding the blood of some other group completely outside the scope and thus expendable. To “restore” society required some sacrifice, so let it be these people.

            Thanasia finally admits it; The reason she broke contact with Viracious wasn’t grief over their father. It’s because when Viracious made Father show love and affection to her, it only made her feel empty. We flashback to her perspective and her distraught expression. The moment felt so hollow and uncanny, and it truly laid out for Thanasia the truth that her father would never do that, and he never loved her. Viracious is betrayed that he represented his father wrong, and insists she didn’t know him as well as he did. She didn’t know his kindness. Thanasia retorts the opposite, that Viracious never saw his true side. She could at least see how he treated his son, but Viracious never quite saw how he treated his daughter; It’s a line that hearkens to wisdom about vision that Vir’s Basilisk mentors taught him.

            But at least Viracious was there for him, he wasn’t whoring himself out to degenerates; He was there the longest when they grew up, he visited the most!

            Thanasia is hurt, badly. She storms off. Viracious feels terrible. He doesn’t know what to do.

            As Than storms off, crying, she begins to calm down when she runs into Kisonus, who’s busy munching on a huge lump of meat. She gets an idea, inquiring that Kis is her brother’s beloathed partner. Kisonus irreverently confirms.

            Let’s fuck each other, Thanasia suggests. To fuck with him.

            Kisonus thinks for a solid second without a twitch in expression and shrugs. Okay. Then gets pulled in violently by Thanasia.

            Viracious vents to his bone puppets and/or taxidermied undead about how Than’s different, she’s changed, it’s all because of those progressives and what does she know! Can’t she tell he cares? He feels sad and bummed out. Those damn bleeding hearts… He eventually comes across and is confronted by a triumphant Thanasia and Kisonus, who is looking very deliriously happy. Than reveals the truth: She fucked her brother’s hated coworker.

            Viracious freaks but barely even gets time to when Majikus enters the scene. Viracious restrains himself, because nobody wants to act improper around the boss. Maj asks what’s going on as Vir stammers out the situation, Than nodding in confirmation as Kisonus hiccups a stupid giddy one-liner or two.

            Majikus stares blankly and lays it out as such; So you’re telling me that your sister and Kiosnus both agreed to do something they enjoyed, something that has not done anything to sabotage the Warlock effort. They consented. And you’re telling me… You’re upset.

            Maj’s tone begins to develop an edge. She’s kind of a hypocrite in the end, but at the same time she can respect and advocate for women’s autonomy with their bodies. Viracious realizes his boss is disapproving and very begrudgingly, and then defeatedly, concedes… No…

            The high of spiting her brother has worn off by now, and Majikus addresses Thanasia, thanking her for her time while observing that Than’s carriage is outside. Thanasia hesitates and thanks her back, remembering what she said earlier. She leaves, as does Kisonus. Viracious feels humiliated and on top of that, Majikus then quietly confronts him; If his sister ever turns these thoughts of opposition into action… He knows what to do, right?

            Vir puts it together fast and gets angry. Maybe Majikus shouldn’t be so quick to talk given she has her own sister, and a niece on top of that! He retorts. He might feel more obliged to listen to such advice if Maj could follow through on it. Majikus calmly confirms that she would never ask her warlocks to do something she herself would not. From behind a corner, Kita listens, uncomfortable.

            Thanasia heads down a hallway by herself, comes across Narellus. Narellus acknowledges Thanasia, observing what a poor, hurt sister she is… Her brother must’ve really let her down. As she says it, she reaches out a hand towards Thanasia’s face. Than leans into it, taking a moment to savor the touch.

            But then she opens her eyes as she clarifies that she appreciates Nare’s sympathy. But she really has to get going. She passes right through an intangible Narellus who drops her hand, perhaps a little disappointed, and looks back. Thanasia heads out. Kisonus walks up as Narellus casually asks what it was like; Kis shrugs, conceding that it was a great time. But there was a moment where Kisonus was straight plowing Thanasia sideways and she realized that if she squinted her eyes and turned her head sideways, it looked like she was fucking Viracious and that of course got weird. Narellus chuckles as does Kisonus in vulgar fashion when her mind fades to the rest of that night.

            Poor Thanasia; Neither of those two really care. Nobody does. She descends the steps and enters the carriage, which turns out to be a glorified uber; She rejected the money from their father’s estate that Viracious had sent her, donating it to good causes. As she throws herself into the backseat and curls up, hugging her knees and looking out the window with tears down her eyes, the carriage moves as the sun sets its light upon her. She flashes back to a familiar moment as a child where she was curled up away behind some bush the exact same way, before her brother entered and reassured Than that he’d always be there for her.

[sepublic]

The original poster turned off reblogs dammit so I had to make this edit. Because it describes exactly Narellus’ obsession with Hydrownus because while she does play with offering herself as a romantic and/or sexual partner to Hyd, by the end of the day it doesn’t necessarily have to be that. All she really wants is to be important to him while he is important to her. She could be his mother or daughter or sister figure dammit! As long as he sees her too.

[sepublic]

HOLY SHIT IT THEM!!!!! IT THEM!!!!! I got a donation request done by @pespillo for Narellus (on the shoulder) and Hydrownus (the shoulder)!!! The steam, the bubbling water textures, the flourishes of Narellus’ outfit… I even got both sides of her asymmetrical mask! It’s everything and I ref recommend checking the artist out!

[sepublic]

Basically Narellus would see their dynamic as “He’s going to fix me!!!! 🥰” while Hydrownus resignedly thinks to himself, “She’s making me worse.”

Though I guess it’s unfair to ignore Majikus as part of the equation, as someone Hyd feels indebted to, who did explain that his role was the executioner, something Hyd chose to take to heart in that crucial moment!

[sepublic]

            I do consider Hydrownus a bit of a tragic character, probably the most tragic of the warlocks alongside Megarus.

            But at the same time he still did all that. He still killed all of those people. He can’t treat himself as some victim. In the end, men would rather be the most violent murderers imaginable (or even just run away from it all) than get therapy.

            What I’m getting at here is that after Narellus and Hydrownus reach an understanding, there’s that cute little moment where he offers, of his own brilliant volition, to help Nare murder her old coworkers… They’re out doing a typical massacre or whatever. I dunno if they already got to that part, if Narellus politely declined but still appreciated the sentiment, if they were saving it for later and that potentially saved those colleagues of Nare’s.

            Either way life seems like it should be great! Hydrownus has his memories back, he’s beginning to welcome Narellus into his life, Majikus the nice lady really has helped him be more than just a destroyer!

            He’s entering a building all menacing and brooding, ready to slaughter a bunch of poor defenseless civilians and then it happens. A little kid cries out for his mama, and the mother cries out as she runs over, forgoing any fear of Hydrownus, to embrace and shield her child from the beast.

            And Hydrownus has a whole episode. His memories are back, he can’t pretend he doesn’t see the reflection here; His mother died, trying to protect him. He was spurred into wrath by the grief of losing his mother’s love. And yet here he is, facing a child sheltered by their mother. He raged at the injustice of being torn from his mother, over his mother’s mistreatment and separation from the child she looked forward to, well what he’s gonna do this to this kid, to this mother? He is now the monster who tore him and his mother apart, the monster he raged about, who he suffered from and was defined by.

            Hydrownus hesitates and has an internal crisis. At that same moment, Narellus floats in, casual and expecting things to be going smoothly as always, chit-chatting when she notices. She can be borderline oblivious in how out-of-touch she can be with what a normal person is like but even she can immediately pick up the dilemma Hyd is facing here.

            She figures out her solution fast; She addresses Hyd, who notices her. Narellus begins to offer to take over for him, to do it for him, to spare him the pain if he’s willing to spare her the pain of murdering her old colleagues (she wouldn’t actually feel anything but it’s the thought from Hydrownus that counts)-

            And then Hyd snaps, realizes what’s also happening here, and he commits. He doubles down. He swings his snowflake hatchet and butchers the mother and child to pieces.

            Narellus stares in surprise and then concern, but Hydrownus, surprisingly calmly, reassures her. Don’t worry about it, he says. My mother… she died a long time ago.

            That’s not his mother. And that’s not him. And anyhow, he may or may not this out loud, and how much of it I don’t know; Hydrownus’ mother died with her final wish being for her child to be happy.

            Perhaps this is happiness; His role among the warlocks. And so to sabotage his duties as a warlock is to sabotage his belonging and contribution and thus happiness among them. And so to preserve his role as the executioner as Majikus taught him, to preserve his happiness, to preserve his mother’s wish, Hyd will just have to do what he’s always done.

            She never would’ve forced him to do it. But that just makes it all the more important that he did.

            Is he better for this? Moving on, finally? Or is he just getting worse. Did he betray his mother? Is he letting go of the excuse to cause pain and thus maturing, owning up, or has he just replaced it for a new one? Maybe Hydrownus is a kid who needs to grow up and replace his mother with a wife who’s on equal terms and not some mere caretaker, because he can care for himself. Does it matter what Hyd has done to his mother when he has someone who’s actually alive and needs him to be her executioner? His mother isn’t getting any deader. Narellus very much can, and she has things she wants outside of her life too.

            God, what a Freudian freak. Narellus isn’t actually the only one thinking about being his “new mommy” and in that sense they’re kinda made for each other. Which makes it all the more tragic when the conviction that comes with this backfires on Hydrownus when it haunts him in a vulnerable moment, where otherwise he may not have made a decision if that were not there to haunt and chase him out of that cave in a way Narellus the ghost could only dream of.