Spellbound: A Ghost Story (WIP) [Updated May 22, 2024]

[CorvusWitchcraft]

Hey, so it’s been a bit. I said there was a possibility of updating again in May and boy did that not even come close to happening. The truth is, I went through a pretty deep depression spell during the latter half of May and writing just sorta didn’t happen for a few weeks. That was fun.

The good news is, I have a really good feeling about my ability to push out the next update before my second projected date of May 2021. Maybe even a month or two earlier than that, if we’re lucky.

In all seriousness, though, writing has happened, and I anticipate it continuing to happen for the foreseeable future, at least, and in light of that, I think an update in June is likely. But if it doesn’t happen, at least I still have a buffer of ~10 months before I’ve officially met my deadline.

In other news, today (June 6, for those in time zones where it is no longer that date) is Dyren’s canonical birthday, and I guess that’s cause for celebration(?), even though you only knew him for about ten minutes and then he died. But hey, people seemed to like him from what little time they had with him, so here’s to Dyren. (I’m not actually raising a glass. You don’t have to either.)

Obviously, I don’t have an update or a poll or anything else special to commemorate the occasion, and honestly, I think he’d appreciate that. He never really liked being the center of attention.

Or having been born.

Anyway, expect an update sometime in the next forever! I hope you all like outlandish amounts of unnecessary worldbuilding.

[NerdyB1443]

Oh I loved this! Its so well written and addicting to play, I can’t wait for the finished product!

[The_Eski]

I gotta say, I’ve quite enjoyed reading what has been written thus far. “Unnecessary” world building is always a treat, it gives the setting that much more crunch when you bite into it.

[Lala_Zarus]

Wow. There’s still so much things to be explored and i enjoy this lots and lots, but one of the most enjoyable surprise is Charlotte’s characterization. I’m loving it this far! keep up the good work!!

[CorvusWitchcraft]

@NerdyB1443 @The_Eski @Lala_Zarus Thanks for the support!

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So, a query for everyone.

I’m deep in the aforementioned “unnecessary” worldbuilding. Like…really deep. 3829 words deep.

And I have yet to start on what this info dump was originally supposed to be about in the first place.

This is all optional reading, by the way (thank god).

But to the point, I could keep going. I still have things to say. Like, “potentially doubling or even tripling that 3829” things to say. However, I’m also close (for a certain definition of close) to what I could consider a natural breaking point. With this in mind, I’m gonna posit the question:

Should I split this into two parts (the second part would come in Chapter II-2, probably), or just finish what I’m doing and dump it all on you at once?

• Split it into two parts so we have time to digest and you have time to write the actual story
• Just get it over with, I like my information in one place so I can absorb it all at once

Speaking of “information in one place”, it has come to my attention that in light of the aberrant amounts of information I am going to be unloading on you in the next update or two, some sort of index or glossary is probably going to be necessary at some point. I have some Thoughts^TM about this, how extensive I want to be, and when, exactly, I will have the time and energy to get around to it, but I felt that those who might be worried about information overload should know that this is, ostensibly, in the works.

Probably.

Edit: Alright, it seems pretty obvious at this point which way people are leaning. I’ll wrap up the exposition and stick the other part (AKA what this whole info dump was originally supposed to be about in the first place) in the next subchapter.

[Katlikestoread222]

this is so good! i love it already and can’t wait to buy it day one :’)

[Hostage]

Normal greetings! I replayed the game because I was trying to find the first clue before the update (not because I am obsessed over this story nor as a way to procrastinate the things I am supposed to do - no, neither of that …), and here are some notes I made in order to try to be useful for a change and to give normal feedback

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memoriam_i-1 typo thhink

memoriam_i-1 - typo staslking

chapter_i-2 - repeated text when talking to Valerie

[#“So other mages still won’t be able to see me?”] leads to this:

However, if after that you pick [#didn’t you say…], you go to the same text:

This occurs since [#didn’t …] is unlocked if we picked either [#so other mages still…] or [#“I want to know more about this ‘bond’ between us.”]

In order to avoid that, one option could be to create a new temp and set it as true if [#“I want to know more about this ‘bond’ between us.”] was chosen. Then, – instead of checking visible to unlock [#didn’t you say], the game could check this new variable.

memorian_i-1 - Charlotte

This sentence fits quite well in the lover and the brother path, as Charlotte was mentioned previously in memorial_i-1. However, when Callum and the MC are rivals, Charlotte was not mentioned yet, so “a little early” is kind of unfitting, as the expectative of meeting Charlotte was never created… I mean, the bare fact that the MC encountered Charlotte was a surprise.

memoriam_i-1 - incomplete sentence

chapter_i-3 - mage

I have no idea what I am saying but on my understanding the term “magi” is the plural of “magus” - which, in its turn, is a Circle title. Here, Valerie is referring to the culprit – who she doesn’t assume as a member of the O, thus, the term here used shouldn’t be “mage”? (or “mages”?… I dunno. Idk english)

chapter_i-1 - stories

I try to avoid this kind of feedback - however, while I was reading the repetition of the word stories here kind of bothered me. Anyway, really minor point.

prologue - age

I already tried to say that but I am not sure if I made my point clear as I am exceptionally bad at both communication and english… and at being sure, for the matter. Anyway, I agree with all that you said and displaying the age on the stat screen at the prologue would be weird, I reckon. However, currently there is no way to the player directly acknowledge at which age the MC died. The only way so far would be connecting the dots between these phrases on the prologue:

You have lived in the Kingdom of Regalda your entire life; you have been slaying […] for nearly half that time

[…] the man who has stood by your side for half of your lives.

And this one, on the memoriam the first:

You are 16 years old when your parents are slaughtered like animals.

Also, this one on chapter_i-1 give us a clue that MC is younger than 43. But, well, not much more.

It has been over 800 years since the day you died.

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To me, it seemed weird when I was reading the first time – because I did not know at which age MC died, but, in chapter one, the number 843 appeared as if magically. Plus, the gradual loss of MC’s memory kind of sets the age of death as the reference parameter to compare to the RO’s ages. And we already have an option to flirt with Valerie in chapter i-3, before than the first-time reader has any chance to be sure about the number 30. All they would know for sure until there is that Dyren is young when compared to the MC, but as they don’t know MC’s age, they also won’t be able to tell if it is the 14 kind of young or the 20 one.

All that said, I believe the text could provide the information to the reader since the stats page won’t do it. If you agree that giving this info on the prologue is important, my first idea would be to slightly change the text of some exert to include the mention of the number 30, for example, this sentence could do it [“You have lived in the Kingdom of Regalda your entire life; you have been slaying […] for nearly half that time” ]

startup - temp burn

I am sorry but this has been bothering me for a while. I’ve tried to let it go, but, yeah, I’ve failed – surprisingly. So, on the startup there is this temp named burned. There is a choice in which it is set as true - however, the temp does not affect the story at all. My question is: is this variable a vestige from when you had another thing planned? Or did you intend to use it to affect something but you forgot to do so? Or neither? Or all? (all except the neither one, I mean)

[CorvusWitchcraft]

@Hostage

I have no idea what I am saying but on my understanding the term “magi” is the plural of “magus” - which, in its turn, is a Circle title. Here, Valerie is referring to the culprit – who she doesn’t assume as a member of the O, thus, the term here used shouldn’t be “mage”?

So, my intention when writing this passage was that Valerie was saying that a magus showing up would be a valid reason for a culprit to hightail it out of there (exhibit A: Cortez’s interaction with Marcus and Jacqueline). Since you didn’t see any magi at the museum, her (flawed) reasoning is that the culprit must have run away because they were somehow afraid of being apprehended by Mundies, even though any mage of reputable skill would have no trouble dealing with any kind of opposition on that front. Therefore, the mage in question must be super weak and not threatening.

But looking back on it, this passage is phrased super awkwardly and I can see why that didn’t get communicated properly. I’ll see if I can figure out a way to rephrase it in a way that makes actual sense.

@Hostage

My question is: is this variable a vestige from when you had another thing planned? Or did you intend to use it to affect something but you forgot to do so? Or neither? Or all?

…Y-yes?

I have no memory of creating this temp or what purpose it was supposed to serve, considering the startup scene ends on literally the same page. Best guess is that I’d intended to add some flavor text about the MC’s burn, but either didn’t yet understand temps or didn’t yet realize I would be splitting the prologue into two parts (even though again, I cut it off literally a few paragraphs later). I guess I can just delete it since it clearly never served a purpose??

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The rest of the feedback I will take into account and fix/amend in the next update. Thanks!

[CorvusWitchcraft]

Today is the summer solstice (in the northern hemisphere)

…Which might be relevant, if the events of Spellbound didn’t take place during the dead of winter. Or, uhh, if any part of this update took place outside, where the positional status of the sun might actually matter.

Okay, wait, I can salvage this. Just hold on until tomorrow, go find something else to do for the day and come back tomorrow, and I can make this a Father’s Day update instead. Which is relevant because…because, uhh…there are fathers. That…exist. And, uh…get mentioned in this update.

Sort of.

…

…Look, guys, I’ll be honest here, I might have to retire the whole “time my updates to holidays/events” gimmick at some point. I’m sorry.

I know it doesn’t even begin to make up for this betrayal of expectations, but here, have an update as recompense. I can only hope you can find it in your hearts to forgive me one day.

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Some quick notices/announcements

Firstly, I mentioned this before, but for those who missed it, this update contains a pretty hefty (optional!) info dump about the taxonomy of magic. I was originally going to talk about the 12 schools of magic as well (in fact, that’s, uhh, kind of what the info dump was supposed to be about in the first place), but by popular demand, I’ve split off that information and will instead include it in the next update.

Also, a glossary/index is probably in the works. Maybe. Someday. If I get around to it.

Secondly, just a reminder that this update (finally) continues the ongoing event in which I hide a clue/puzzle in each update, and the answers, taken collectively, will hint toward the identity of the secret RO! So far, most of the discussion about this has taken place on the Discord server rather than the forums themselves—if you’re wondering, the Discord folks actually found the first clue, and then tragically dismissed it because they were wildly overthinking the entire exercise—but I figured I’d let people know, in case they’d forgotten or missed the original announcement, that this is still happening. And you could be participating!

Or you could just wait a few months/years for it to be revealed in the story, like a normal person. That’s probably the saner option.

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And now, the usual briefing on the update itself.

The update, including the ~5600-word info dump, clocks in at ~26,000 words—just shy of the stupidly long record-holder, Memoriam I-1. With this update, the total word count balloons up to ~143,000 words.

As usual, I have a vague outline of the next update’s contents, but the specifics are hazy, and I’m sure I’ll arbitrarily invent enough content on the spot to double or triple the stuff I have planned—as is my wont. Best guess is that the next update will come sometime in July?

Or maybe I’ll wait until the winter solstice so I can make a season-appropriate event update. That sounds like an excellent idea that will definitely not disgruntle any of my fans!

[Red_Eyes]

Cortez is a straight savage. Kinda feel bad for Val tho but she needed that.

You got a day one buyer here.

[Empress_Nightmare]

Oi @CorvusWitchcraft,nice work and G’Luck with the rest of it…
Lol are ya trying to confuse us or yourself?!?

[Nuan10]

[Bulk_Biceps]

I have an insatiable urge to kill Rawlin Cortex. I don’t care if he’s the MC’s “partner” I want him to die. I hope he does. I’ll feel better when he does.

[mirikajana]

I had a similar urge to punch him in the throat, but dying works too.

[OddCatGuy]

I’m with you there buddy, his high and mighty attitude really ticking me off, he really have a pro-cons behavior and my attempt to romancing him died out at what he did to Valerie. Ugh, he reminds me of Callum and it was a nightmare.

@CorvusWitchcraft damn you really make a good characters to invoke my feelings like that.

[ceresvaldez]

Gosh I loved the update! I’m such a fan of the jumping from past to present. The writing was so good, as ways, and it was very interesting learning more about how magic works in this universe

Also I’m seeing a lot of Cortez hate and here I am, loving his snarky ass and how his affection grew when you called him out on being a jerk or stood up to him. Can’t wait to see more and keep up the good work!

[CorvusWitchcraft]

@Empress_Nightmare

Lol are ya trying to confuse us or yourself?!?

Yes.

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@Nuan10 No idea why this is happening—as far as I know, it fundamentally shouldn’t be possible while Implicit Control Flow is enabled (which it is). I’ve coded a hard fix by just adding a *goto and label, but if anybody has any additional insight on why this would happen or how to avoid it in the future, I’d appreciate it.

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Re: Cortez, the hate for him is definitely valid; he’s meant to be a pretty polarizing character!

However, directly killing him (or even causing significant harm) is not really in the cards right now. This would have pretty serious blowback for both the MC and Valerie, even if you somehow succeeded (which would be difficult, given your current power level).

There might be a way for Cortez to die over the course of the story…but again, this might have some undesirable consequences, depending on your other priorities.

@ceresvaldez

Also I’m seeing a lot of Cortez hate and here I am, loving his snarky ass and how his affection grew when you called him out on being a jerk or standing up to him.

That’s an interesting observation.

[Empress_Nightmare]

Lol I liked how Cortez likes when the MC calls him an asshole or a jerk…

[Empress_Nightmare]

Ooh ,so… Are you confused even a little bit by your own planning for this story?!?
I believe you for some unknown reasons like making a mess…

[Astericae]

This is currently one of my favorite wips . The plot/setting is amazing and I love the characters! So excited to see where this goes! My MC is now a designated ‘big bro’ to Valerie and slowly falling for snarky a-hole Cortez haha.