Annotated 5-5
Ah, Ardaic. His was the only design I believe we lifted directly from World of Warcraft, as a tribute to a player friend of Phil’s who ran with the Sentinels group. His moral arc took a long time for us to develop or even recognize: at this point he’s simply there to let Phil do a friend a solid. But that “duty to country above all else” vibe was there from the start.
You can still see the original Ardaic’s character sheet here, though it’s probably changed by now from the source material Erica once used to design him.
Erica tweak I: Phil suggested a bit more pomp and circumstance around these barracks: Gastonian flags flying, stabled horses– though these were suggestions, not essentials. Erica kept the outdoors simple but added wallpaper and hunting trophies indoors, making this feel more like Ardaic’s own property, which would suit a later retcon.
Erica tweak II: Phil had Bandit picking the locks of her manacles while she was listening to the conversation. This is probably an improvement: if she’s hearing something of interest and confident she can escape any time, it makes more sense to wait.
Erica tweak III: Phil had all the panels wide here. No question: keeping the first shot of Ardaic squarish is a MUCH better choice.
It never occurred to me that Bandit was picking the locks on her manacles.
Uh, what? Bandit isn’t picking the locks of her manacles; the whole point of T’s explanation is that Erica didn’t draw Bandit doing that.
Hard to imagine Syr as a military grunt but she was really into it at the time.
She didn’t have much else besides home life in her backstory. She probably leaned into it a bit more when relating to humans: Individual soldiers tend to be more accepting than most, when you’re one of the.
*GASP* the deer is Best’s alt!
I am now imagining the final boss battle with a floating, mounted deer head in Best’s place.
A floating, mounted deer head shooting laser beams from its eyes. Because of course.
Deer are bad news.
Keep biting your tongue, Frygg. Just keeeeeep biting it…
It’s weird to see this version of Ardaic. I don’t remember him looking like this.