Cdn Walter-Woby main: magic & pentagrams & lore, skills, boss duo idea, and ammo

[BrixGoBrrr]

Less polished but I think it all makes enough sense to finally share: magic & pentagrams & lore, skills, a strange boss duo idea, and ammo!

(Same idea as my other recent posts: Some of the following is original ideas as a Canadian former camp counsellor, and a forever Walter-Woby main, combined with a lot of other ppl's ideas. 
I've no intent to take credit from anyone, but I've lost track of which ideas were whose!)

Random Woby question, why did Woby growl at Walter when they first met? (Constant Companion Animated Short)
.. I think she was hangry! and I think she should growl & bark any time she's still big but has 5 (or less) of her max 50 Hunger remaning 

- - >> Pentagrams & Magic & Lore << - - 

> Stagehand < 
Always spawns surrounded by 5 roses, and I really want this star/pentagram of roses to mean something, like, 
- the location is part of a giant pentagram we build, or 
- it's a hint about creating a pentagram somewhere else like at Charlie's Stage, or 
- we make a certain pentagram around a certain fire, then extinguish the fire (like the Stagehand does) for whatever the magical outcome is 

> Woby < 
We know Woby can't die, and she becomes big and fast from Monster foods, so tbh .. I think she's already Shadow-aligned! 
-> The Boneward Bound Animated Short shows us, Woby & Shadow Watcher seem like buds, definitely not enemies, but Woby is so so deflated and sad the moment Shadow Watcher leaves.. 

So... I think her origin story is deeply dark in many ways, including settlers/colonizers/pioneers culling arctic sled dogs in real life, and how very real those efforts to eliminate every last arctic sled dog were.. 
.. but Woby always was destined to survive, by Shadow or by Moonlight, and the Shadows got to her first. She always had two paths after the culling, but both leading her to the Constant:

Quote

(Animated Short narrator / Tales from the Constant style)
Woe Be to Woby, The Last Of Her Pack:

Our dear Woby certainly is lost, just like Walter thought, but he doesn't realize returning Woby home won't be simple or easy... 
Alone now, Woby once had a Pack and a People, she always had her Pack and her People, 
When everywhere was Home and Home was everything, 
Such a perfectly exciting life travelling the trails, always in the fastest sleds - the fastest sleds are her favourite - dreaming of the days she'll be big enough and fast enough to run these trails too!
These trails where she gets to learn from her Pack, to some day run with, some day lead, the best and the fastest Pack any little Pup could dream up, 
Where everywhere was Home, and Home was everywhere, 
But so much is gone now.. the Pioneers didn't care a LICK about respecting the Land and honouring its ways, didn't care about Woby, her Pack and her People...  

[lunar path]
Woe be, Woby, Dearest Little One Who Survives, 
Hiding inside your People's ice fishing palace, Brilliant! 
Shaking the whole shack with your trembling, forgetting how brave you truly are, 
Follow the trails you know, follow the sky you know, and you'll find a way Home 

[shadow path]
.. But the depth of destruction was too much, the World broke open in the darkness, 
Woe be, then, to our dear little Woby, hiding and trembling, 
so alone in the deep dark brokenness, taking the Shadow Queen's deal: 
Follow my Shadows, and we'll find you a Home, a Pack, and People

 

WOBY LUNAR/CRYSTAL FORM 
Under a Full Moon, Combine Deerclops Eyeball and a Guardian's Horn or 2, store with Woby or maybe feed to her, she transforms into: 
Lunated Woby, now with a third-eye dual-horn Shootius 
-> Would this sort of form require resurrection? If so, Woby would have to give up her Shadow-invincibility, and then perish, to be able to ressurect! 

WOBY SHADOW VOID FORM 
Based on all-black Newfoundlander dogs, can teleport anywhere in the shadows 
Ancient Gateway / New Moon ceremony, push Shadow magic through the MoonStone during a New Moon to darken a doggo 

> Walter < 
1> His first look of the Constant was of the starry sky, and bc he has early 1900s mapmaking & navigation skills, he knows if this is the same sky he's seen from his part of Earth or not! 
But we don't know... so, when and how does Walter realize he can't get home? 

2> The Sanity boost Walter has near 5 or more trees, i want to take this further, that trees & land & pentagrams are ways Walter accesses magic 

3> His Ascot is so neatly and perfectly knotted, it really is a pentagon/pentagram! 
And I think an elder/mentor type had knotted it for him, helped him prep his uniform before a special occaision or event, and there's been a small something in that pentagram-knot all along.. From that elder/mentor, boosting Walter's bravery, something like a: 
-> Family Heirloom, with magic bc it's in the Constant, or maybe the item and/or Walter's family has magical roots separate from the Constant, 
-> Magical item from the Constant, a shard of an iridescent gem, thulecite fragment, moon shard, etc 
-> Pinetree Pioneer Badge, maybe a star/pentagram too, something with lore implications,

So regardless of the specifics .. Finding the item confirms for Walter that a hidden secret Pinetree Pioneer history IS real, that the story everyone's told about the Founder of the Pinetree Pioneers is a fake, a cover-up, so now Walter's asking new questions: 
Who was the real first Pinetree Pioneer? Why is it a secret? 
And who is the "Founder" he saw that picture of? And what did that man Found, if not the Pinetree Pioneers? 
So why and how is he/Walter here, wherever here even is? (Will his Pinetree Pioneer troop search for him? Can they even come to this place?) 
How is it possible that Woby's bag looks so much like Walter's Pinetree Pioneer gear? [Answer for this one: Some of Woby's People's ]
Have Pinetree Pioneers been here? Are any still here? 
.. And if anyone Walter meets here is a Pinetree Pioneer, would they tell him? Is it weird, or risky, to ask around? .. So many questions ...

(Which brings us to ...) 

> Woodie < 
Bc of the new Woodie lore details from 2024, Walter's Werebeaver story: 

Quote

"Did I ever tell you the tale of the Werebeaver?
I went looking for him myself, you know.
They say he was once the owner of a big lumber company, who gave the order to clear-cut an entire forest against the wishes of the people who lived there.
For this, they say he was cursed... 
If he or his company cut one tree too many, he would turn into a hulking, hairy beast, with axe-sharp front teeth. 
He lost everything, and hid himself away in a small cabin, deep in the heart of the woods. 
But it was not enough to satisfy the curse. 
People say he's still there, roaming the wilderness, gnashing his long, fearsome teeth! 
...
Well, that was the story I heard anyway.
Mr. Woodie's never told me if it's actually true..."
( Werebeaver story reference here: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/wIDE9cjhknQ )

.. I REALLY like the idea that Woodie always was the first Pinetree Pioneer: 

Quote

 

(I picture starting with Maxwell here, in his chair by the roaring fireplace from "Inevitable" telling us another 'Tale from the Constant')

"You know, Woodie earned himself a nickname along with that curse -- he was not the only Pioneer around, he was simply the Pioneer who was destroying the Pinetree forest -- the Pinetree Pioneer. 
There were others, Pioneers, scarring the Plains, culling the Packs.. So much orchestrated destruction... 
But Woodie.. really does not know much about any of that, about all of what happened and had become in the time since his seclusion deep in the heart of the woods. 
So reclusive, not seen in years, how could he know his old journals from the lumber camps had found their way into a certain someone's collection? 
Logged simply as: "The Pinetree Pioneer's Guide to Survival" .. this Guide, it changed oh so very much.. but that, is a tale for another time..."

 

Where Maxwell for sure is hinting at having a copy of Woodie's journals somewhere in his books we can see behind him, a sort of first edition of what is now Walter's Pinetree Pioneer Handbook, is in Wickerbottom's Secret Library pre-Constant and/or in her Everything Encyclopedia, in Maxwell's books, part of Winona's red-thread research wall, and Wilson's research & documentation "for scientific record & future posterity" (from the Firewood Survival Guide Animated Short opening vignette), and Wagstaff's whole everything, etc.. and ofc the in-game Scrapbook 

 

- - >> SKILLS << - - 

TREE GUARDIANS 
Walter & Woby are allied with all Tree Guards/Monsters 
Higher chance of spawning them but they spawn without attacking/aggroing 

SHAKE PAW -> QUICK PAWS (quick 'pause', take a mini break)
Woby instigates handshakes & high-fives with all Survivors, giving a Sanity boost, 
Quick Paws (high-fives) are faster than Shake Paw (handshake) 

DOGGY PADDLE -> WATER DOG 
Water-based skills for Woby, possible Grass Gator taming in the future? 
Small Woby can retrieve items from shallow water 
Big Woby can swim in shallow water 

PATHFINDER -> TRAILBLAZER 
Create maps, re-use map scrolls, erase blueprints and other paper, without a Cartographer's Desk 
Mark trails for other Survivors to follow 
Any size Woby can lead the way, like moving to a point on your map, or following Suspicious Dirt Pile tracks 
Create new roads with Big Woby's help 

PACK MENTALITY -> PACK LEADER 
Small Woby can distract Hounds from their leader 
Big Woby can become Hound(s) Leader 
Increase Hound tameness by:
Woby herding 
Woby or Walter feeding
Full Moon howling with Woby 

SNACK PACKS 
Walter can swap bags with Woby, no matter her size, even while riding 
Woby can feed: herself, Walter, and tamed Hounds 

CREATURE COMFORTS 
Sit or sleep w Woby for warmth 

a SILLY boss set: 

MOONGOOSE AND THE POULTRYGEIST

Get MooseGoose to Lunar Island 
Defeat MooseGoose anywhere in Lunar territory / with Lunacy metre showing
Re-spawns as MoonGoose Crystal version (with mongoose elements of course)
Re-spawns again (on full moon only maybe?) as the Poultrygeist 
Chaotic gobbling slippery headless final form!
Drops Wish Bone & Gizzard among its drops, and used for: 
- a new slingshot (Walter only)
- a bow and set of bone arrows (one survivor breaking the wishbone into 2)
- or two items/weapons, broken/split in 2, where the larger keeps the magical properties, and the smaller holds no magic 
(bc Wish bones break un-evenly, and grant a wish to whoever's holding the bigger half after it breaks)

and last bit! still messy-ish, less edited: 

- - >> AMMO << - - 

> More, not less, plz! I want so many sorts of refined & found ammo it's kinda silly, kinda ridiculous, 
Not anything/everything (like Wheeler) but some useful and/or silly stuff 

> Simple & Found 
Allow Flint to also craft Pebble Rounds 
Pine Cones & other burnables can be shot at a firepit to light it, 
Birchnuts as ammo bc spikey 
Woby Snacks made from any jerky, works in Slingshot to feed Woby (& others) from afar 

> Alignment 
-> Rosethorn: Darken their disposition, just a bit / for a moment
-> Bloodthorn: Darken their heart, 
-> Iridescent + NM Fuel 
-> Iridescent + Lune Tree Blossom 

> GEM ROUNDS 
R - Warm Round? +Health for the target? 
O - Pull item from first inventory slot of target, collect items from a tumbleweed, 
Y - Mark a target, make them glow! also works on friends 
G - extra drops from the target? 
B - Freeze Rounds already 
V - Slow Down Rounds, apply to firespread, consider making AoE 

[Steorra]

I personally don't think occultism is suitable for Walter, but I won't reject such potential possibility of Woby. They are mysterious.

[BrixGoBrrr]

12 hours ago, Steorra said:

I personally don't think occultism is suitable for Walter, but I won't reject such potential possibility of Woby. They are mysterious.

Yaaaa, I like this! and I don't disagree tbh!! Woby seems to understand how magic costs something,
But Walter, I'd love to see his backstory expanded in a Forest Protector sort of way,
So Walter seeking out "Magic" in an occult sense isn't his thing, but the Practical Magic of handcrafting & survival skills used daily, of preparation and timing, practicality is his path of access to magical things, perhaps an unintentional seance or two?