Green Giant Saga Part 17 Teaser: Zaunite Traditions
Green Giant Saga Part 17: Gilded Judgement - First Chapter will release on Friday June 12th, 2026.
It occurred to me that I had never seen a real tree in the wild.
I mean, I’ve always seen them in comics and pictures. They’re always so peaceful.
It’s not like they don’t exist in Zaun either. Down in the upper entresol, they would have these spherical glass greenhouses called Cultivairs hosting all sorts of foreign plants, mostly for the private enjoyment of a special few, but some were public parks. I enjoyed sneaking into them, but it always felt more like a museum: all of these disparate pieces of fauna from across Runeterra brought here to a specialized place built for their preservation. Going to a Cultivair always felt like being teleported to another realm, a little bubble separate from everything else around it. There would always be some level of distance.
This is different.
The tree of the Firelight’s base stands tall and wide with bridges and painted houses across its branches. Its roots lay ingrained to the muddy soil, moist with the faint scent of Zaunite tap water. It’s surrounded by the large, mile high metal walls of an abandoned sewage chamber within a cylindrical pit with a trickle of sunlight leaking from above. It’s a miracle that this tree is even alive. It’s a bigger one that people could even live here.
Behind the tree, a large metal carried the weight of its thick trunk. The firelights painted a mural across its walls, revealing so many young faces of different races and colors, each with their own smile, their own pose, and their own eyes watching over the Firelight base. These aren’t Firelights hiding behind tribal masks; these are young adults showcasing their humanity.
Underneathsits a collection of candles still burning bright and flowers fresh in their little glass water vases. In Zaunite alleyways, it’s tradition to paint a mural for those that died. It would be a community effort to maintain it, with each neighbor keeping watch for vandalism, maybe putting new offerings to the dead for good measure. When someone finally dies, it’s a big ceremony: painting them with the others and everyone tearfully saying their goodbyes. I always avoided such events, because it always made me sad. No amount of “they lived a good life” would ever remove the void they left behind.
But now I look at the small empty spaces where I could paint, trying to imagine his face. What would I depict? One I remembered when he told me stories? The one when he goes to his little garden?
Or would it be when he begged me to escape through the ocean?
Can I even remember his face? His small orange mustache, his blue eyes, his long hair.
His slack jaw. His warm blood.
You couldn’t even save him.
I spin around in a panic. The small firelight kids watched me. The teenagers judged me. If mom knew about the Stillwater thing, they all knew.
“Sorry guys!” I announce with open hands, distancing myself from the tree. “I didn’t mean to mess with the mural. I-I just.. I’ll go!” I try to walk away, but someone grabs my hand.
“You didn’t disturb anything,” Angel says.
I force a chuckle. “Heh. Pretty brave of ya to be this close, ma’am.”
“It’s not bravery. I just know better, and they’ll know too.” She leads me closer to the mural. “You know the deal with these, right?”
“Yeah,” I answer. “I’ve seen them everywhere in Zaun.”
She pauses for a second. “Have you ever lost someone?” I look away in guilt, but catching a glimpse of that empty slot on the mural, that empty ghost, only makes it worse.
“Tell me about them,” she asks. “ Before this whole Green Giant mess. Back when you lived in that descender.”
I close my eyes. “Back then, we didn’t have much, so we made the best of it. Dad would have his little garden and water every day. He would sometimes teach me little tricks and fertilizer and composting and stuff. He would be so proud of the fruits and mushrooms he brought.”
“Sounds like a nerdy guy.”
“I think nerds can be cool. He even had this massive collection of comic books. You heard of Atomic Man?”
“Definitely a nerd.”
“Come on.”
“Hey. You said it. Nerds can be cool.”
“Well, they are.” I close my eyes. “Every week, he would come to my room with one issue and we would read them all together near the lantern. He would pretend that it was a new issue he got from the comic store but it’s really just from his collection. He would narrate and I would act it out, pretending to be Atomic Man. He’d always play along, using all sorts of funny voices. We’d laugh and cry and scream at it all. When we got through that last issue and I asked if there would be more, he told me that there would always be heroes out there, with big stories to tell. ‘If you don’t believe me, look at yourself. You’re one of them.”
I finally open my eyes, leaving my fond memories to the mural. The cold reality settles. “He’s the real hero,” I said. “And now he’s gone. It’s all my fault.”
Angeline reaches for my hand. “Then we can’t let that legacy die,” she says. “If he inspired you in any way, then we need to keep that inspiration alive. To do what would’ve saved him, to others. It’s why we’re here, isn’t it?”
“I guess,” I said unconvincingly.
She reaches into her pocket and takes out a crumpled piece of paper. “You know.. We have another tradition down here. When someone dies, we write a small letter: our true final words to them. Our regrets, our hopes, our petty little insults, anything you can think of, you write them down. Then we fold them up and we burn them on a fire. The winds will take the letter to them in the form of ashes and smoke.” She places the paper and a pen in my lap. “A nice way to say goodbye.”
“Have you lost someone?”
“I’m not even sure,” she mumbles. “I just hope everyone’s ok, and sometimes just writing that helps.” She stands up. “This stuff’s personal, big guy. I’ll give you some space.” She walks away, leaving me with my thoughts.
I knew what to write. I wrote the words as if the pen had a mind of its own and with one lookover, I felt satisfied with my work, well, satisfied as I could be I guess. I walk over to the candles and put the letter in, watching the paper catch flames. I follow the smoke as it flies off to the sky. I hope you’re happy Dad. I hope you can forgive me.
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The First Chapter of Part 17: "Gilded Judgement" will come out Friday June 12th
If you want to read more of Zac and Twitch’s adventures in Zaun. Check out the entire saga!
Heya folks! I've actually finished Brok the Investigator last week!
When I got this game, I thought it would just be "Chaotix Casefiles: The Video Game", a hybrid of a point-and-click adventure game and a beat-em-up staring a broke croc as a detective with his charming little group of friends to solve a wider mystery that spans the entire game.
And... yeah I got that, but it was also a narrative about the class division with the slumers versus the drumers (very Zaun versus Piltover), a narrative about a strained parent-child relationship caused by the massive class division, and also time shenanigans? For a game that would clock 10 hours in a normal playthrough, it is deceptively ambitious for a narrative. While I do like the characters and some of the themes well, I don't think it stuck the landing for everything it's trying to do.
To get the gameplay out of the way, it's fun! The game switches between two modes: investigator mode and combat mode. The combat itself is a classic arcade style beat-em up where you play as mostly Brok or even his son Graff in some sections and I like how both play differently: Brok is way more weightier while Graff is a lot more faster. The enemy variety is good enough to span the 10 hours. I think the boss at the very end is a bit of a disappointment with how much of a damage sponge he ends up feeling without any good variance in his attacks. I would also argue that sometimes its hard to gauge depth for me? I would think I was going to punch an enemy only to find that I punched right behind the enemy.
I also really like the puzzles in investigator mode. A lot of the puzzles feel natural where I feel like I can figure out the solution if I put some thought in it. In the few times that didn't, there's a good hint system. Though sometimes the hint system can feel like its a few steps behind where I actually am. And the interrogation sections are thrilling as we peel off the mystery bit by bit to figure out what's going on! My favorite section in the game is the murder mystery in the very middle (what would be the third case of an Ace Attorney game) where you're just figuring out what happened while also learning about the lives of these drumers you're investigating.
Now in terms of story, it primarily focuses on Brok and his stepson Graff. In the midst of a tragedy that took away Brok's wife, Brok and Graff had to move to the slums and, ever since that tragedy, Brok has blamed himself for it ever since. Because Brok has to work multiple long jobs to pay rent, Graff never sees him and feels resentment for that and the tragedy that forced him into the Slums. Hoping to make a better future for himself, he enrolled in a school where he would take a citizenship test when he reaches 16 where he can be an official Drumer that lives in the dome.
The main story's split into two plots: Brok with his job as an investigator and Graff with his citizenship test from going from Slumer to a Drumer in the span of 3 days. At the end of each day, Brok and Graff come back to their apartment, usually having some dramatic fall out scene that's ultimately caused more by circumstances from the systems in place rather than any character choices, but very rarely is it seen as that by the other characters. At first, it's usually attributed in some way to Brok's nature.
In fact, the way we ignore broader systems that lead people to make the choices they do and just attribute them to the nature of their character is a massive theme: from the personal relationship between Brok and Graff to the Squealers banishment for starting a coup for their survival, and the villain's ultimate plan. This overall theme ties the strained parent-son relationship and the class divide really well and, in execution, it explores it decently, though there are moments where it feels like the dialogue was designed for one canonical route instead of feeling natural for all routes (Graff can feel pretty naggy). This is pretty solid so far.
And then we have the time aspects of it which I believe should've been cut...
SPOILERS AHEAD
So the above photo is Brok stopping the squealer chief all those years ago, except.. he couldn't have been there so many years ago. Brok got his hat after he got kicked out of the dome. Brok doesn't remember doing any of this to the Squealers, and yet this very moment is the reason why the Squealers wanted to get some semblance of revenge when they abducted Graff for an unrelated scheme.
In the meantime, Shay, who is Graff's best friend, is working on something really important. She's a cool character that could've been a great smart foil to Brok is a lot more optimistic than the snarky, cynical Graff, but throughout the entire game she's just relegated to working on this machine.
Which by the end, reveals itself to be time travel! And that she's been doing time travel stuff to keep Brok alive. In the canonical ending when everything's desperate, she disappears because of... time stuff and Brok can now use this time machine to fix the mistakes he made.
So the reason why he beat the squealers back then in that photo? He time traveled! I don't know why he time traveled back there. I don't what this has to do with his mistakes. He just time traveled, I guess. I dunno. This brings up more questions than answers to me.
If you're wondering what this time travel stuff have to do with the themes of systemic oppression versus the nature of humanity described before, I don't know! Thematically it just feels a bit tacked on, despite the fact that, plot-wise, its extremely crucial. This is a motivation for one of the antagonists and an important factor for a lot of the endings (Diary and Until the End of Time specifically).
It feels like it takes away thematic focus from the more connected story of Graff, Brok and the setting of Drumers and Slumers while adding a lot of plot confusion that's just hard to parse out.
More importantly, it feels like Shay got completely shafted because she was just shoved in a corner to work on her time machine, far away from the rest of the characters. What could've been a cool, optimistic, intelligent character that can work off of the cast just builds the machine and talks in riddles likes she's Verso from Expedition 33 Act 2.
Despite that major criticism, I do still like the characters and I am invested in the world. I know that this has been a pretty big passion project for Cowcat (the main developer of this game) and I really like what I played. I recommend the game if you're into point-and-click adventure stories like Phoenix Wright and Layton and you have some experience with action.
As for the Squealer game coming out that Cowcat's making, I'm really excited on how the themes of class conflict scale from a single family of two to an entire clan. It also has really cool looking rats as the protagonists which is always cool to see for me, a rat.
Hopefully there's no time travel aspect in Celsius Strays to derail the story this time around. Hopefully.
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Don't know if I'll do reviews like this for every game I played, but this was nice to write. I just had a lot of thoughts on this one since this was a lot more narrative focused and the themes of Slumer/Drumer are very similar to what I explore with Piltover-Zaun in my stories.
The way adult fandom people hold indie online creators and cartoons to a much higher standard than their actual local politicians. You could be putting that energy into terrorizing and protesting conservatives at your town hall and actually make a good material impact on the world but instead you're background checking everything the trans woman who made the amazing digital circus has ever said
It's been a while since I last updated you on the Green Giant Saga, a little more than a month since I posted The Great Stillwater Escape, and I didn't want to leave you guys hanging.
The State of Green Giant Saga Episode 17
I'll be honest, this has been the hardest episode to write. Given everything that happened in the previous episode, it makes sense that everything's super tense and this episode represents a major breaking point for the cast. It's an extremely important episode to get right.
My actual job has also been exhausting recently with AI zealotry and upcoming deadlines with too much work on everyone's plate. It's been burning me out a few times.
Currently, I only finished the first scene in Act 2 of the story just yesterday in my first draft, so there's way more to go and I know that act 1 will definitely have some rewrites in it. This means that the initial goal of late May will have to be delayed to early June for this one, so I'm deeply sorry for the longer delay between stories this time around.
I'll also point out that once Episode 17 is posted, I'll be taking a longer break than usual because I'll be moving out of my current apartment in late June, so I would need to start packing for that move which means less time on the future episodes. Speaking of...
The future after Episode 17
The goal is still the same for this series: 20 short stories in the saga building up to a satisfying conclusion that gives Twitch and Zac a story they can call their own while also talking of themes of systemic oppression and our internalization of such systems, including how we define "heroism" within them.
As mentioned episode 17 will be a huge episode that represents a breaking point for the entire series. After a breaking point like that, episode 18 and 19 will be much smaller scale episodes that delve closer to our favorite rat and blob in the midst of the aftermath, eventually building up to the final episode, still dubbed "For the Greater Good".
After 16 stories, Zac has seen what Piltover-Zaun truly is, far from the depictions of comic books or glimpses of happiness on the surface. Twitch is slowly learning that there could be more to the world than just his brutal sewer kingdom. These two will be tested, and the ending will change how the hero and king see the world.
Change in Distribution
For episode 17, I'm also looking to change how I distribute the story. I know, its really late to be doing stuff like this, but I believe this will be for the better. Usually with these stories, I just release the entire short story in one go. However, this leads to less updates on the stories over the time with a huge gap between. It's also a big wall of text each time I release one that just keeps getting bigger (I'm sorry!).
So, I plan going forward that once I finish a story, I'll be posting the chapters weekly on Friday. At the end of a story, there will be, at least, a gap of 1 week before the next story. For example, if I finish a story with 6 chapters, it will be 1 chapter each week for 6 weeks. In that gap, I will be working on the next story. If I finish the story by the time those 6 weeks end, then expect the next story to be 2 weeks after.
If not, then I'll continue working on the story and release it when it's ready. Once it's ready, we begin this weekly cycle yet again.
I believe that this will be better for readers that don't have to wait for eternity for me to get stuff done and puts less pressure on me to get a story out the door because there's less of that gap.
I'll try this out with the next story and I'll be curious as to how this distribution system will go.
But that's all the updates I have for this saga. If you're still reading this and this series I put so much of my time in, thank you for reading. It really means a lot to find people who care about Twitch and Zac as much as I do.
---------------------------
If you want to read more of Zac and Twitch’s adventures in Zaun. Check out the entire saga!
It's been a while since I last updated you on the Green Giant Saga, a little more than a month since I posted The Great Stillwater Escape, and I didn't want to leave you guys hanging.
The State of Green Giant Saga Episode 17
I'll be honest, this has been the hardest episode to write. Given everything that happened in the previous episode, it makes sense that everything's super tense and this episode represents a major breaking point for the cast. It's an extremely important episode to get right.
My actual job has also been exhausting recently with AI zealotry and upcoming deadlines with too much work on everyone's plate. It's been burning me out a few times.
Currently, I only finished the first scene in Act 2 of the story just yesterday in my first draft, so there's way more to go and I know that act 1 will definitely have some rewrites in it. This means that the initial goal of late May will have to be delayed to early June for this one, so I'm deeply sorry for the longer delay between stories this time around.
I'll also point out that once Episode 17 is posted, I'll be taking a longer break than usual because I'll be moving out of my current apartment in late June, so I would need to start packing for that move which means less time on the future episodes. Speaking of...
The future after Episode 17
The goal is still the same for this series: 20 short stories in the saga building up to a satisfying conclusion that gives Twitch and Zac a story they can call their own while also talking of themes of systemic oppression and our internalization of such systems, including how we define "heroism" within them.
As mentioned episode 17 will be a huge episode that represents a breaking point for the entire series. After a breaking point like that, episode 18 and 19 will be much smaller scale episodes that delve closer to our favorite rat and blob in the midst of the aftermath, eventually building up to the final episode, still dubbed "For the Greater Good".
After 16 stories, Zac has seen what Piltover-Zaun truly is, far from the depictions of comic books or glimpses of happiness on the surface. Twitch is slowly learning that there could be more to the world than just his brutal sewer kingdom. These two will be tested, and the ending will change how the hero and king see the world.
Change in Distribution
For episode 17, I'm also looking to change how I distribute the story. I know, its really late to be doing stuff like this, but I believe this will be for the better. Usually with these stories, I just release the entire short story in one go. However, this leads to less updates on the stories over the time with a huge gap between. It's also a big wall of text each time I release one that just keeps getting bigger (I'm sorry!).
So, I plan going forward that once I finish a story, I'll be posting the chapters weekly on Friday. At the end of a story, there will be, at least, a gap of 1 week before the next story. For example, if I finish a story with 6 chapters, it will be 1 chapter each week for 6 weeks. In that gap, I will be working on the next story. If I finish the story by the time those 6 weeks end, then expect the next story to be 2 weeks after.
If not, then I'll continue working on the story and release it when it's ready. Once it's ready, we begin this weekly cycle yet again.
I believe that this will be better for readers that don't have to wait for eternity for me to get stuff done and puts less pressure on me to get a story out the door because there's less of that gap.
I'll try this out with the next story and I'll be curious as to how this distribution system will go.
But that's all the updates I have for this saga. If you're still reading this and this series I put so much of my time in, thank you for reading. It really means a lot to find people who care about Twitch and Zac as much as I do.
---------------------------
If you want to read more of Zac and Twitch’s adventures in Zaun. Check out the entire saga!
Everybody always so bold when dunking from the other parallel dimension 😔
"Redraw tumblr post" time of the year again, based on this one specifically that i found weeks ago but I needed to do something with it hfgjdh (with the original post being on tiktok). I just love canon Blaze being absolutely ass at cooking💜
Green Giant Saga Part 16: The Great Stillwater Escape
Synopsis: After taking Chump's vaccine for the Cytovenom, Zac knocks out for 10 hours. In that time, the Wardens have found their location and attacked Chump's warehouse, taking both Chump and the unconscious Zac to Piltover's greatest prison: Stillwater Hold. It's up to Twitch, Harold (Zac's Dad) and an unlikely ally to rescue the both of them.
(Note: This story is a lot bigger than the others. The size of two episodes. oops. The next episodes will try not to be this length.)
Story Link
----------------------
If you want to read more of Zac and Twitch’s adventures in Zaun. Check out the entire saga!
Green Giant Saga Part 16: The Great Stillwater Escape
Synopsis: After taking Chump's vaccine for the Cytovenom, Zac knocks out for 10 hours. In that time, the Wardens have found their location and attacked Chump's warehouse, taking both Chump and the unconscious Zac to Piltover's greatest prison: Stillwater Hold. It's up to Twitch, Harold (Zac's Dad) and an unlikely ally to rescue the both of them.
(Note: This story is a lot bigger than the others. The size of two episodes. oops. The next episodes will try not to be this length.)
Story Link
----------------------
If you want to read more of Zac and Twitch’s adventures in Zaun. Check out the entire saga!
Green Giant Saga Part 16: The Great Stillwater Escape
Synopsis: After taking Chump's vaccine for the Cytovenom, Zac knocks out for 10 hours. In that time, the Wardens have found their location and attacked Chump's warehouse, taking both Chump and the unconscious Zac to Piltover's greatest prison: Stillwater Hold. It's up to Twitch, Harold (Zac's Dad) and an unlikely ally to rescue the both of them.
(Note: This story is a lot bigger than the others. The size of two episodes. oops. The next episodes will try not to be this length.)
Story Link
----------------------
If you want to read more of Zac and Twitch’s adventures in Zaun. Check out the entire saga!
Green Giant Saga Part 16 Teaser: A Kingdom's First Impression
Part 16 will Come out March 29th, 2026
So far, so good.
Ever since he came here, he’s been staying put in that little storeroom that I granted. He only inspects the wares we brought from his broken home. He ties his long orange hair in a bun and keeps his gas mask pressed across his mouth. My humble roaches and fleas have told me that he hasn’t strayed from my orders to not leave this room, but I had to be sure of it. You could never know with humans like these. Even if I was this surface dweller’s savior, they could always find a reason to be ungrateful. The Goopy One has already taught me that much.
He shows disinterest in the great kingdom around him and the bountiful stash it holds. On the one hand, I’m glad he doesn’t have the urge to steal from a monarch like myself, but on another, how could someone not be interested. This could be a trick, but given Zac’s reaction to my collection, it could just not be. It’s puzzling how a survivor of the sumps could live this long without any sense of taste.
“Hello!” I shout, barging in with a small bowl in my hand.
Harold jolts up, back against his bags of belongings.
“Heh. I wasn’t even trying to ambush you this time,” I laugh. “Welcome to my humble sewer kingdom. Making yourself comfortable, yes?”
“O-Oh Twitch. I.. I suppose I am making myself comfortable. It’s quite the… the…”
“Stinkiest? Grubbiest? Richest of cuisines?”
He blinks. “Uhhh.. all 3?”
“Excellent! I thought I sensed an appreciation of the finer things. Not everyone likes food laying in every corner,” I said, glancing at a piece of mold on a pipe. “Since you are a man of culture, I brought you some fine sustenance: homemade stew by yours truly!” I reveal the small bowl in my hand containing no more than three drops of the finest maggots and the ripest of eggs floating along green slime.
The man looks at my cuisine with trepidation, leaning further away from its scrumptious smell.
“Come on!” I shout, pushing the bowl onto him. “Guess I was wrong. Zac did warn me of this, but it’s never too late to become cultured.”
“Did Zac become ‘cultured’? Have you been feeding him this stuff?”
“Of course! Though he resisted for quite a while, through persistence, he’s grown to appreciate it. He’d eat slowly and carefully to savor each bite, and you could do the same! Eat! Your king commands it, can’t have the Goopy One’s special special creator dying of starvation, yes?” I place the bowl on the floor. “But no rush!”
The man still gazes at the stew like a sworn enemy.
“Speaking of creators, I wanted to ask you something rather important.” I reach into my cloak and take out a small leather journal, pages yellowed with time and stained with a wilting cover. I flip through it, gazing upon the many notes taken in rough green crayon. “You’re a scientist? Zac spoke of you and the other creator specializing in alchemy work. I am an alchemist myself,” I said, gesturing to the vials strapped on my back. “It’s how I survived down here for so long. I’ve made so many diverse weapons, but I always failed to make a particular concoction: a sentience potion that could give sentience to a rat like me. I always wanted subjects of my own. I tried and tried, but every attempt failed. Since you’re successful with your creation, I wanted your advice.” I stopped at a familiar page. “I believe this one to be the closest! The little rat in my hand’s skull grew three times its body. Must’ve been growing in brain power! Oh! And this one! The rat's hands reached out to me before falling limp. I’m sure they were going through their metamorphosis, but how to ensure their survival….” I rip the pages from the journal and place them in front of Harold with all of the ingredients and the stick figure depictions of what happened.
The more he read the list, the more his eyes widened.
“What do you think, surface dweller?” I ask in anticipation.
He glances up from the notes, skeleton stick hands squirming out from the cauldron. “Didn’t you say that Zac came out of one of these sentience experiments?” he asks slowly.
“He did,” I said “and I thought he was my first creation for a while, but he wasn’t. Guess I should’ve known from his behavior, but now it’s a new future. Tell me! What do I need!?”
Harold turns away, looking back to his own stash. “I-I think I need to look over my stuff. Gotta make sure nothing’s missing, y’know?”
I grip his hand tight. “You’ve been looking over your stash ever since you got here. Help your sewer king out, will you, human? This is important! There might not be enough time before yo-”
“Heya folks! I got some good takeout!” Zac shouts from behind me with a small white box and some chopsticks in his left hand. He plops it on the floor next to the bowl. “Uh Twitchy? Can you help me out with something, I think a mutant is trying to get in here.”
“Someone’s trying to get in!? They must be after my stash.” I shout. “Stupid roaches. Why didn’t they alert me? Show me the way!”
I follow Zac out into the sewer tunnels and once we’re far enough away, he suddenly stops and turns around. He bends down to my level, so that I can see his glossy yellow eyes and tight nervous brow. “What did you tell him?” He finally asks.
“What does that matter, knight?” I ask. “Someone’s invading. Go!”
“I-I was lying Twitch,” he says, glancing away from my gaze.
“You lie? But you’re a terrible liar.”
“Guess I’m getting better. What did you tell him?”
I summarize my little conversation with him. With each word I utter, his brows grow less tight and his shoulders relax themselves. “So you didn’t mention him moving out?”
“No I didn’t, but why would that matter? He already knows, right?”
Zac doesn’t answer.
“He knows, right?” I repeat.
“I maaaaaaaaay have not told him yet?”
“Zac!”
“I need to wait for the perfect time and the perfect place and the perfect words! I’m scared that he wouldn’t want to go through with it. I… I don’t know what I’d do if he doesn’t want to do it.” He places a hand on my shoulder, a pressing weight. “Please don’t tell him?”
I place a hand on his. They’re shaking. I suppose it is a possibility. “We could always just shove him in the portal.”
“Let’s not go that far, pal. Let’s just pretend that you, Twitch the great sewer king, slayer of mutants, goes out there to face the threat head on, and I just check up on him. Ok?”
“Fine,” I mutter.
“Thanks pal, I owe ya.” Zac smiles before standing up and walking past me back to the storeroom. As his footsteps grow faint, I go invisible and follow his lead. Zac walks into the room as Harold just stares at the recipes on the floor while eating Ionian noodles from his little white box. I stay by the door, keeping my ears raised.
“Heya Dad!” He starts. “I just got back from a warehouse from a friend of mine. He said it was okay to move all of the stuff there. I promise it will be a lot cleaner than here. My friend has something special for me too, something to deal with that purple stuff Takeda’s goons keep using on me.”
“Heh. Look at you finding friends in weird places.”
“Guess I’m lucky.”
“I think you just have that Zac charm personally.”
“Heh. Yeah. Um. Once we get Mom from the Firelights, it will all be smooth sailing. No need to worry about anything.”
“I’m not worried about her. If she’s not in Takeda’s clutches, then I think she’ll be fine. She’s a strong woman” He looks up from the recipes. “What about you? Are you okay?”
“Well, I’m better than ever, now that I found you! I hope you feel the same.”
“Has Twitch been treating you right?”
Zac pauses. He sits down, eye level to his creator. “It was a bit rough at first, but I’ve really warmed up to him. He’s good, Dad. If it wasn’t for him, I don’t think I would’ve made it this far.”
“Still,” he looks at the bowl of untouched stew. “This is no place for someone like you. It’s too unsafe and unsanitary. Once we find Mom, let’s get out of here and find a new home together.” He places a hand on his. He grips it tightly to savor that starved touch. \
Zac contemplates telling the truth before stretching a forced smile across his face.
“Yeah,” he mutters without looking at him. “I’m just glad you’re here.”
I turn away from the sight. If I stayed, my cover would’ve been blown.
He didn’t really mean it. It’s all just an act.
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Part 15 will come out Sunday March 29th, 2026
If you want to read more of Zac and Twitch’s adventures in Zaun. Check out the entire saga!
Green Giant Saga Part 16 Teaser: A Kingdom's First Impression
Part 16 will Come out March 29th, 2026
So far, so good.
Ever since he came here, he’s been staying put in that little storeroom that I granted. He only inspects the wares we brought from his broken home. He ties his long orange hair in a bun and keeps his gas mask pressed across his mouth. My humble roaches and fleas have told me that he hasn’t strayed from my orders to not leave this room, but I had to be sure of it. You could never know with humans like these. Even if I was this surface dweller’s savior, they could always find a reason to be ungrateful. The Goopy One has already taught me that much.
He shows disinterest in the great kingdom around him and the bountiful stash it holds. On the one hand, I’m glad he doesn’t have the urge to steal from a monarch like myself, but on another, how could someone not be interested. This could be a trick, but given Zac’s reaction to my collection, it could just not be. It’s puzzling how a survivor of the sumps could live this long without any sense of taste.
“Hello!” I shout, barging in with a small bowl in my hand.
Harold jolts up, back against his bags of belongings.
“Heh. I wasn’t even trying to ambush you this time,” I laugh. “Welcome to my humble sewer kingdom. Making yourself comfortable, yes?”
“O-Oh Twitch. I.. I suppose I am making myself comfortable. It’s quite the… the…”
“Stinkiest? Grubbiest? Richest of cuisines?”
He blinks. “Uhhh.. all 3?”
“Excellent! I thought I sensed an appreciation of the finer things. Not everyone likes food laying in every corner,” I said, glancing at a piece of mold on a pipe. “Since you are a man of culture, I brought you some fine sustenance: homemade stew by yours truly!” I reveal the small bowl in my hand containing no more than three drops of the finest maggots and the ripest of eggs floating along green slime.
The man looks at my cuisine with trepidation, leaning further away from its scrumptious smell.
“Come on!” I shout, pushing the bowl onto him. “Guess I was wrong. Zac did warn me of this, but it’s never too late to become cultured.”
“Did Zac become ‘cultured’? Have you been feeding him this stuff?”
“Of course! Though he resisted for quite a while, through persistence, he’s grown to appreciate it. He’d eat slowly and carefully to savor each bite, and you could do the same! Eat! Your king commands it, can’t have the Goopy One’s special special creator dying of starvation, yes?” I place the bowl on the floor. “But no rush!”
The man still gazes at the stew like a sworn enemy.
“Speaking of creators, I wanted to ask you something rather important.” I reach into my cloak and take out a small leather journal, pages yellowed with time and stained with a wilting cover. I flip through it, gazing upon the many notes taken in rough green crayon. “You’re a scientist? Zac spoke of you and the other creator specializing in alchemy work. I am an alchemist myself,” I said, gesturing to the vials strapped on my back. “It’s how I survived down here for so long. I’ve made so many diverse weapons, but I always failed to make a particular concoction: a sentience potion that could give sentience to a rat like me. I always wanted subjects of my own. I tried and tried, but every attempt failed. Since you’re successful with your creation, I wanted your advice.” I stopped at a familiar page. “I believe this one to be the closest! The little rat in my hand’s skull grew three times its body. Must’ve been growing in brain power! Oh! And this one! The rat's hands reached out to me before falling limp. I’m sure they were going through their metamorphosis, but how to ensure their survival….” I rip the pages from the journal and place them in front of Harold with all of the ingredients and the stick figure depictions of what happened.
The more he read the list, the more his eyes widened.
“What do you think, surface dweller?” I ask in anticipation.
He glances up from the notes, skeleton stick hands squirming out from the cauldron. “Didn’t you say that Zac came out of one of these sentience experiments?” he asks slowly.
“He did,” I said “and I thought he was my first creation for a while, but he wasn’t. Guess I should’ve known from his behavior, but now it’s a new future. Tell me! What do I need!?”
Harold turns away, looking back to his own stash. “I-I think I need to look over my stuff. Gotta make sure nothing’s missing, y’know?”
I grip his hand tight. “You’ve been looking over your stash ever since you got here. Help your sewer king out, will you, human? This is important! There might not be enough time before yo-”
“Heya folks! I got some good takeout!” Zac shouts from behind me with a small white box and some chopsticks in his left hand. He plops it on the floor next to the bowl. “Uh Twitchy? Can you help me out with something, I think a mutant is trying to get in here.”
“Someone’s trying to get in!? They must be after my stash.” I shout. “Stupid roaches. Why didn’t they alert me? Show me the way!”
I follow Zac out into the sewer tunnels and once we’re far enough away, he suddenly stops and turns around. He bends down to my level, so that I can see his glossy yellow eyes and tight nervous brow. “What did you tell him?” He finally asks.
“What does that matter, knight?” I ask. “Someone’s invading. Go!”
“I-I was lying Twitch,” he says, glancing away from my gaze.
“You lie? But you’re a terrible liar.”
“Guess I’m getting better. What did you tell him?”
I summarize my little conversation with him. With each word I utter, his brows grow less tight and his shoulders relax themselves. “So you didn’t mention him moving out?”
“No I didn’t, but why would that matter? He already knows, right?”
Zac doesn’t answer.
“He knows, right?” I repeat.
“I maaaaaaaaay have not told him yet?”
“Zac!”
“I need to wait for the perfect time and the perfect place and the perfect words! I’m scared that he wouldn’t want to go through with it. I… I don’t know what I’d do if he doesn’t want to do it.” He places a hand on my shoulder, a pressing weight. “Please don’t tell him?”
I place a hand on his. They’re shaking. I suppose it is a possibility. “We could always just shove him in the portal.”
“Let’s not go that far, pal. Let’s just pretend that you, Twitch the great sewer king, slayer of mutants, goes out there to face the threat head on, and I just check up on him. Ok?”
“Fine,” I mutter.
“Thanks pal, I owe ya.” Zac smiles before standing up and walking past me back to the storeroom. As his footsteps grow faint, I go invisible and follow his lead. Zac walks into the room as Harold just stares at the recipes on the floor while eating Ionian noodles from his little white box. I stay by the door, keeping my ears raised.
“Heya Dad!” He starts. “I just got back from a warehouse from a friend of mine. He said it was okay to move all of the stuff there. I promise it will be a lot cleaner than here. My friend has something special for me too, something to deal with that purple stuff Takeda’s goons keep using on me.”
“Heh. Look at you finding friends in weird places.”
“Guess I’m lucky.”
“I think you just have that Zac charm personally.”
“Heh. Yeah. Um. Once we get Mom from the Firelights, it will all be smooth sailing. No need to worry about anything.”
“I’m not worried about her. If she’s not in Takeda’s clutches, then I think she’ll be fine. She’s a strong woman” He looks up from the recipes. “What about you? Are you okay?”
“Well, I’m better than ever, now that I found you! I hope you feel the same.”
“Has Twitch been treating you right?”
Zac pauses. He sits down, eye level to his creator. “It was a bit rough at first, but I’ve really warmed up to him. He’s good, Dad. If it wasn’t for him, I don’t think I would’ve made it this far.”
“Still,” he looks at the bowl of untouched stew. “This is no place for someone like you. It’s too unsafe and unsanitary. Once we find Mom, let’s get out of here and find a new home together.” He places a hand on his. He grips it tightly to savor that starved touch. \
Zac contemplates telling the truth before stretching a forced smile across his face.
“Yeah,” he mutters without looking at him. “I’m just glad you’re here.”
I turn away from the sight. If I stayed, my cover would’ve been blown.
He didn’t really mean it. It’s all just an act.
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Part 15 will come out Sunday March 29th, 2026
If you want to read more of Zac and Twitch’s adventures in Zaun. Check out the entire saga!
I think this is one of my favorite 3D platformer games. The presentation is a bit unpolished but the movement is the best I’ve felt. That and the checkpoint system makes the game feels so free to experiment and explore. This will be a fun game to speedrun and I can’t wait to see what speedrunners can do with this moveset
I highly, highly recommend the game if you’re a fan of 3D platformers
