The Witch’s cottage
My latest in a series of RPG game isometrics I’ve been working on.
Including examples of alternate tiles, breakdowns of key elements or closeup details.
Observant: Due to her time in the House, she’s grown used to looking at everything in a room carefully before entering, and is able to notice even the slightest movement or change. In battle this is useful, but in everyday life it makes her slow to act, and causes her to be a bit of an over-thinker.
Intelligent: Her father taught her many practical skills, such as first-aide and a bit about mechanics. Although she never received proper education about history, science, or maths, she has an overall logical mind and a knack for puzzles and spacial-reasoning.
Confident: She takes on challenges that many would say she couldn’t handle, and is reassured about her capabilities enough that she perhaps tries to bite off more than she can chew. She has the easy-going, gentle kind of pride in herself that doesn’t come off as cocky.
Optimistic: She truly is hopeful in most respects, and she’s unlikely to give up or tell others to. Though not in the traditional “happy pollyanna” sense, she takes whatever the world throws at her in stride, and moves on with a chip on her shoulder.
Negative Traits (at least 3):
Morbid: She tends to talk about death, abandonment, and other “dark” subjects plainly, to the point where it makes others uncomfortable. She’ll talk about her own experiences and anxiety with little worry too, and is often told she has no filter. Her sense of humour is very dark too.
Snarky: She has sass out the wazoo, and has a very sarcastic sense of humour. If she dislikes you, prepare to have many jokes made at your expense. Her sense of respect for superiors has dulled a bit too, and if she feels like she’s being ordered around by a stranger, she backtalks to no end. But she’s actually quite funny overall.
Anxious: She’s naturally a worrier, her free time was consumed by thinking of the future and her own problems even before she entered the House. Now, she has intense anxiety; the slightest hint of being followed can set her off for days. On good days, she can put aside her paranoia and fear to get through the day with little problems if nothing too triggering happens. On bad days, however, the slightest reminders of the house can cause panic attacks, small noises make her jump out of her seat, and if you touch her she’ll react violently (sometimes at herself).
A…people pleaser? (Idk the word ;-;) : Though this would normally be seen as a good thing, her need to please others and help them often hurts herself and those involved. She’s quick to idolise someone/thing, and will do things such as change her appearance and style of speech to impress them or to appeal to them.
Skills/Abilities:
Magic: Defensive magic is her main ability, she can cast shields and in some cases even deflect things back at her opponent. She knows only a few offensive spells, however, and those she does know she tends to avoid using.
Fighting Style: Gabrielle tends to be very defensive in battle, using shield magic and blocking her opponent’s attacks while she comes up with a strategy. She’s very light on her feet, and will usually opt for one powerful strike and then return to defense, tiring out her opponent and chipping away at them slowly.
Final Smash: “Le Livre de Mort” Is an incantation that leaves the victim bleeding out of their ears, eyes, nose, gums, and sometimes even nails. It isn’t fatal to them, though; it’s mainly just an excess of blood rather than removing them of it.
Backstory (at least two paragraphs):
—
Gabrielle was sent to a monastery as a child, no father or last name to define her. She was educated by the nuns and a grandfatherly monseigneur, and until she was old enough to work she simply was the errand girl; her main job was to deliver medicine to a peculiar family in the woods.
The heir of the family was a young bedridden girl, who aside from a black cat roaming the grounds seemed to be the only living thing for miles. Gabrielle never met the girl’s parents, so she pitied the younger girl and began to keep her company outside of work. Ellen, the girl, even discussed hiring her as permanent help.
One of the days she was invited to the House, Ellen made a proposition: Let her use Gabrielle’s body for one day before she died.
She said she had the means to do so, and that she promised to give Gabrielle her body back after she was done. Gabrielle reluctantly agreed.
And then the world went black.
She “woke up” back in her own body, in a clearing in the woods, next to a black cat. The only thing on her other than her clothing was a letter from the monseigneur.
The black cat following her, she ventured through the woods to a garden, and through the garden to the House. Inside, as she took her first steps, she saw a pool of blood. She stepped in it, unintentionally, and then woke up in a clearing
in the woods
next to a black cat.
Frightened, she sat there in a panic before making her way back into the house, where she finally got past the room with the blood, only to find that she couldn’t return back the way she came. An hour of walking back and forth, talking to the cat, and cutting of bear limbs later, she found herself being chased.
Until she woke up in a hallway inside the house, now trapped and unable to return even if she took the most extreme measures.
Carrying on in this way, solving puzzles and talking to invisible people, she made her way through the house to try and find her friend in her room. Two years after first waking up, she’s still been unable to enter her friend’s room or leave the house.
She thinks she knows the truth, but to herself even, she won’t admit it.
Writing Sample (at least two paragraphs):
—
Gabrielle set the bottle on top of the dresser, the thick layer of dust flying into the air and dancing in the weak light. She hoped this was the right drawer, she couldn’t quite remember if it was this or the one next to it that contained what she needed.
Her hand wrapped around something smooth and cool, and she tensed. This was the pipe, for sure, but she remembered what would happen as soon as she removed it. She would have to be ready to move when the statues came. Screwing her eyes shut, she yanked the pipe out and grabbed the bottle of glowing water off the dresser and turned on her heel.
The light emanating from the bottle of water was too weak to illuminate the entire hall, and only the outlines of the two dressers next to her and some dark, unknown stains contrasting with the stone walls were visible.
She blinked, and there was the bust of a man at the end of a row of dressers. She took a tense breath, and set off at a careful pace; with the bottle in her hand being the only source of light she was afraid to spill even a drop of the glowing water.
Or, god forbid, break it.
She walked past the statue, turning sharply and the end of the hall to turn down a corridor that seemed much narrower than before. The sound of stone rubbing against stone for a brief second startled a gasp out of her, freezing as she felt something hard and cold touch her back.
Gabrielle took in a shaking breath and continued, trying to focus on the grounding noise of her footsteps and not the row of stone men that had replaced some more storage. Turning down another hallway - god she hoped she wasn’t lost - she cut off her own scream when dark, inky handprints slammed onto the wall next to her with a sick, squelching noise. Her hands shook violently at the sudden sound and she flinched, a bit of the water splashing out from the neck of the bottle as she once again was petrified.
The light dimmed too much for only losing that little water, or maybe the hall just got impossibly darker as she forced herself to continue at the threshold of running. She forced herself not to pay attention to the streaks of something red dragged across the stone walls before she tried to open a door with shaking hands. She knew she was full-on panicking, and it took her three tries to reach the doorknob as the sound of someone chipping away at marble echoed from somewhere.
She pushed it open, breathing heavily, and the room was worse than the dark hall. The statues that had been there before were now missing their heads, ink dripping onto the floor loudly and creating large puddles at her feet while she marched on.
Taking twists and turns and ignoring the sound of shifting marble she finally got to a familiar red stain on the wall.
How sick that blood had become a landmark.
She turned once again into a narrow hall, dust and ink smeared across the walls. The sound of something being pushed, or pushing itself down the hall began to slowly creep up on her, and she was sure that this hallway hadn’t been this long before. Picking up her pace, she only found herself getting tired and even more panicked as she continued to stumble down the hall.
A very sudden increase in volume startled her, making her flinch mid-stride and-
A shatter was heard before she felt herself let loose of the bottle, and then the world went dark.
Very dark.
It felt as though she had been transported to another world, where the air was so thick you had to swallow it and there was nothing for miles. Reaching out her arms on either side, she found herself unable to feel along a wall. She took a deep breath, feeling dread pool in her stomach as she began to panic.
Breathing on the border of hyperventilation, she forced herself to continue, walking slowly with her hands extended outward, eyes screwed shut. The noise had never stopped, and was only getting louder and louder as she walked, until it was hurting her ears.
“Please,” She breathed, staggering a bit.
She didn’t know what she was asking for, but when she whispered the words someone seemed to listen to her. Some benevolent force let her hands find a door in front of her, and she practically forced her way out of the corridor just as she felt stone against her back.
Breathing heavily, she blinked as the light hit her, even though the room she entered was still poorly lit.
“Tsk,” Someone said, and Gabrielle looked up to see one of the yellow flowers angled at her. “What’s got you all fluttered? Here, take a seat.”
Still breathing heavily, Gabrielle nodded silently and walked forward, slumping down in a chair. The other flowers tsked and shook their petals until she straightened up, reaching for a tea cake on a lace doily.
“Now, dear thing, what’s got you upset? Such an expression isn’t fit for polite conversation.”
Gabrielle tilted her head, chewing on the cake thoughtfully.
I NEED YOU GUYS. Okay first I'll be flying home very very soon and there is the possibility of my flight being delayed due to snow so I'm trying to find stuff to do on my laptop in case that happens.
Know the games like Ib, Witch's house, and mad father? Im looking or more of those. Any help?
