Legend of the Hunter

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Begin!

The sky trains breaches the clouds like ships in a field of ice. The magic furnaces roar. You have no idea how they keep those arcane steam engines in the air. It is just one of the many strange sights you are presented with, once you enter these lands. The DISHONORED KNIGHT, now free from the heaviest parts of his STOLEN ARMOR, marches on.

Legend of the Hunter is an Interactive Comic hosted on the MS Paint Adventures forums. It follows the adventures of Knight Errant Sebastian and his drunken, punch-happy brother Gwydian as they search for the ULTIMATE WEAPON. Hilarity Ensues when Sebastian is mistaken for an Exorcist, and immediately blunders into the center of a massive Gambit Pileup.

The comic presents itself as a walkthrough of an obscure old-school Role-Playing Game, and plays with video game, forum adventure and storytelling tropes in general with gleeful abandon against a backdrop of horse-throwing, CAPS-SPEAKING Badassery.

For added fun, nearly every character is Genre Savvy, medium-aware or an outright Fourth Wall Observer.

Now with a character sheet!

Legend of the Hunter can be read here [1], and at the original forum thread here [2] ^{[dead link]}

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Tropes used in Legend of the Hunter include:

• Abstract Scale:
  • ARBITRARY UNITS COUNTING TOWARDS YOUR IMPROVEMENT OF COMBAT PERFORMANCE.
  • Gwydian’s sociopathy is measured in Kilojerks
  • AVA'S ABILITY TO PUT UP WITH THIS BULLSHIT HAS DECREASED BY 134 BOLLOCKS!
• Alliteration: Frequently. Blundering Blabbermouth, Mesmerizing Moralist, Virtuoso Ventriloquist, Fibbing Fledgeling, Fearless Fainaiguer, Exhalation Extortionist... and those are just the Debatery classes. Inverted Trope In-Universe, however, as Sebastian’s frequent alliterations actually lower his score in his Debatery battle with Tristan.
• Alchemy Is Magic: Any two objects can be combined to form new objects, as long as there is a sufficient energy catalyst. Horizon Walkers can alchemize with no energy input. Sebastian gains the ability to his anger as a combinable object.
• Alien Blood: Demons bleed chartreuse yellow.
• Animal Motifs:
  • Almost everything in Videgotto is dragon-themed.
  • Each of the 10 Legendary Bartenders shown so far has an different animal theme.
• Animal Nemesis: The Forest Imp is this to Gwydian.
• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking:

Beowulf: “Poor Baron of Windfall. First, his "allies" hire us to keep him out of politics for good... ...and then, some barbarian barfs on his carpet. Truly, no greater tragedy's ever been told.”

• Awesome but Impractical: The Drakenguards’ uniforms.

Are those shields designed to look like wings? And those horned helmets gotta be uncomfortable. You'd tell them that you're sympathetic to their DRESS CODE PLIGHT, but it's so much more fun to leave them wondering.

• Awesome McCoolname: Grandmaster Krogan '4-Tune' The Earth Sage, El Vendaval
• Balance of Power
• Bandit Mook: The Forest Imps
• Battle in the Center of the Mind: The Demon's interactions with Esmerelda.
• BFG: The TEN-FOLD PERFORATOR ARTIFACT
• BFS: The VIER-HANDER
• Big Bad Ensemble: Or, if you prefer, "morally ambiguous Chessmaster Ensemble."
• Big Ol' Eyebrows: Grandmaster Krogan '4-Tune' The Earth Sage, the author of HARDCORE SPELLZ, seems to think they are a prerequisite for spellcasting.
• Binocular Shot: The preferred method of surveillance in Legend of the Hunter.
• Black and Grey Morality:
  • On the Grey side, we have:
    • Sebastian, an unscrupulous Anti-Hero who will do whatever it takes to obtain a dangerous demonic weapon
    • Gwydian, a violent, borderline Chaotic Stupid Psychopathic Manchild
    • King Skal, a racist chessmaster with an ambitious agenda for both his own country and everyone else's
    • Lady Naum, whose ultimate goal is anyone's guess
    • The Silver Knights and the Exorcists of Arael, who protect the world from demons and don't have any qualms about leveraging their indispensability for political power
    • The Legendary Bartenders, whose motives are unclear at best.
  • On the Blacker end of the spectrum, we have:
    • The Demon Lords of the Nine Hells, and all of their underlings.
    • The Beastmage Beowulf, a greedy, megalomaniacal Jerkass with a flippant disregard for life, human or otherwise
    • The Jackal, a smug, cruel gangster and all-around asshole.
• Blade Lock: 'Twixt Gwydian and Mantikor. Bonus Points for the fact that both of them are Dual-Wielding at the time.
• Butterfly Aura: One of the reasons Beowulf rarely uses the ULTIMATE WEAPON is that he thinks he looks less impressive with glowing butterfly wings.
• Captain Obvious: All of the game's Auto-Help tips are mind-numbingly self-evident, such as "Avoid being punched!"
• Cave Mouth: The “secret” entrance to the treasure room is an animated dragon’s mouth.
• Character Level
• Character Name Limits
• Video Game Cheats: Supposedly, if you press "up up up R Left-Joystick Alt-Tab Right Lower-C" and then just flail around the d-pad randomly for ten seconds, any merchant will give you stuff for free. Gwydian attempts to use this code, but lacks the coordination to pull it off.
• Chekhov's Gun:
  • The the first thing Sebastian buys is a badly-made RELIGIOUS THINGAJAMMIG. It will be important later.
  • The TEN-FOLD PERFORATOR ARTIFACT is a literal example.
• City of Adventure: Videgotto
• Combination Attack: Sebastian’s combat gauges enable these when they are full.
• Combinatorial Explosion: The narrator frequently notes how very, very different his previous playthroughs have been.
• Combining Mecha: The DRAGON’S WING FORMATION, carried out with the awesome strength of Videgotto's soldiers and their sheer UNENDING WILLINGNESS TO HUMILIATE THEMSELVES.
• Cryptic Conversation: When Skal talks to the General about his backstory, and his role in their plan.
• Cutaway Gag: When the General and the Bartender of the Faltering Horse are revealed to have met at a support group for large people.
• Cute Is Evil: The MURDERSQUIRRELS.
• Debug Room: The Narrator uses this on occasion.
• Demon Lords and Archdevils: The EYE, The HAND, The POISON, and the MAW are some of their names.
• The Dev Team Thinks of Everything: Legend of the Hunter (the game) allows for every bit as much flexibility as Legend of the Hunter (the Interactive Comic) demands.
• Dissimile: From HARDCORE SPELLZ, The Guide To Rad Reality Warper’s Daily Asskicking:

Looking for the thrill of letting magic dance at your fingertips like some fat kid that's tickled, but instead it's not like that at all and looks awesome instead?

• Dump Stat:

There is actually a secret LUMBERJACK stat in this game! However, there's not much use in grinding for perfect LUMBERLIQUIDITATION if you do not yet have the PLAID SHIRT and INTIMIDATING BEARD.

• Eldritch Abomination: Grimdark Blood Coffee of the Abyss.
• Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors: ICE-COLD STARE beats FIREY BREATH.
• Encounter Bait: Demons are attracted to strong magic.
• Energy HOARZ
• Everything Is Racist: Most of the Nemeans shown are quite fond of playing the "race card" for fun and profit, mostly as a form of petty revenge against Videgotto's aggressive expansionist policies.
• Exospeak Gag: ESTABLISHMENT OF IMBIBERY, DESOBERIZATION FACILITIES, HIGHWAY DEPOSSESSIFICATION, ARBITRARY UNITS COUNTING TOWARDS YOUR IMPROVEMENT OF COMBAT PERFORMANCE.
• Experience Points: The ARBITRARY UNITS COUNTING TOWARDS YOUR IMPROVEMENT OF COMBAT PERFORMANCE.
• Eye Beams: The Hat Squid employs these when its hat is removed.
• Falling Chandelier of Doom: At the Baron of Windfall's house.
• Fantasy World Map: By popular demand.[3] ^{[dead link]} The author has remained tight-lipped about the details of as-yet unvisited countries, however.
• Fantasy Character Classes
• The Fourth Wall Will Not Protect You: Inverted Trope, in The Demon's case.
• From Beyond the Fourth Wall
• Gambit Pileup
• Gargle Blaster: Several.
  • The fearsome DIRE BEER. The only beer that tries to drink you back.
  • The EYEMELTER, seen here[4]
  • The COGNAC OF THE ANCIENTS, which causes wood to go up in flames on contact.
  • The BLACK BREW, also known as the LICH'S LIBATION, which endows the drinker with the inimitable power of 1000 DARK MOLOTOV COCKTAILS ON FIRE.
• Golem: The Baron of Windfall's bodyguards, as well as Beowulf's CASH COLOSSUS.
• Glowing Eyes of Doom: Golems have these.
• Goddamn Bats: Forest Imps: Small, agile, irritating creatures that like to steal things.
• Hello, Insert Name Here: Par for the course for a forum adventure. The second Twin Wyvern Guard refuses to be given a name, preferring to remain a safe distance away from any Plot-related events.
• Highly-Visible Ninja
• Hope Spot: Father Lamard has several opportunities to avert his fate, but he doesn't take advantage of them because he doesn't realize he's in danger.
• Hot-Blooded: There's a lot of this going around.
• I Know You Know I Know: At the beginning of Chapter 3, Sebastian knows that Esmerelda knows something about the ULTIMATE WEAPON. Esme then pretends to be mute, because she needs Seb to help her keep the Demon suppressed, and her intel is his only incentive to help her. The players then inform Gwydian that she's faking her mutism, and advises him to play along with it to keep Seb from finding the ULTIMATE WEAPON. Sebastian, meanwhile, knows exactly what Esme and Gwyddy are up to...
• Improvised Golem: CASH COLOSSUS
• In Soviet Russia, Trope Mocks You: The fearsome DIRE BEER. The only beer that tries to drink you back.
• Inverse Ninja Law: Defied Trope by Beowulf, who decides not to summon hoards of demons in case there are any heroes nearby to exploit this principle.
• Item Crafting: Almost anything can be combined through alchemy, as long as there is a catalyst. Horizon Walkers can alchemize without a catalyst, but cannot cause the exact same reaction twice.
• It Runs on Nonsensoleum: The Knights of Howitzer or whatever have discovered a way to injure people so grievously that it HEALS THEM.
• It's Quiet... Too Quiet: The Clown is getting this vibe right before Finagle's Law kicks in.
• Joke Item: The ALL-SEEING SHOE, which cannot be equipped (and would probably set its wearer's foot on fire if it could).
• Keep Circulating the Tapes: The Narrator claims to be unable to find the game on Ebay.
• Killer Rabbit: The MURDERSQUIRRELS.
• Lethal Joke Item: The Dragon Drubbing Drumstick. It's small, it's flimsy, it sports a tiny pair of functionally-useless wings, and it allows its wielder to command a STEALTH WYRM.
• Lock and Load Montage: Set to Eye of the Dragon, no less!
• Magitek: The sky trains run on time thanks to this. St. Howitzer's Remedy Squad uses magic cannons to heal people.
• Malevolent Architecture: The treasury room contains a switch that floods the room with magic-smothering water when activated.
• Metafictional Title
• Milkman Conspiracy: The Legendary Bartenders.
• Mistaken For Exorcists: Sebastian is wearing a dead exorcist’s armor. King Skal recently called for an exorcist. Hilarity Ensues.
• Mix-and-Match Critters: The DEMONIC FEATHER STALKER

...a devilish lesser beast that follows the proud tradition of being A RANDOM ASSEMBLY OF DIFFERENT ANIMAL'S BODYPARTS.

• Mundane Utility:
  • Sebastian uses a BANISHING SPELL to put out a small fire. Twice.
  • Beowulf uses the ULTIMATE WEAPON to summon... A Demonic Couch.
  • Beowulf uses MONEY MAGIC to build a stairway out of coins.
• Needs More Love: In-Universe, the Narrator finds the titular game's obscurity unfortunate.
• No Fourth Wall
• Noodle Incident: Gwydian’s breathless account of an exclusive party he attended. It involved monkeys, a water hose, and MERRY-GO-ROUNDS.
• Nutty Squirrel: The MURDERSQUIRRELS. Cute? Check. Irritating? Check. Murderous? Check. Tasty? Double check.
• Oculothorax: The Eyeball demons.
• Oh My Gods: Occasionally.
• Orbital Shot: PRIEST-OFF![5]
• Organic Technology: The TWITTERBIRD, which mimics whatever sounds it's hearing in an inaudibly high-pitched chirp, and the CHATTERBIRD, which hears these chirps and repeats them at normal pitch.

No-one will ever know what the hell nature was thinking.

• Overly Long Gag:

Sebastian: “DON’T PUNCH THE PRIEST, GWYDIAN!”

• Perverse Puppet: El Vendaval battles one that is stashed among the artifacts in the Exorcist's Chamber.[6]
• Petting Zoo People: The Nemeans. They look like cats. Cats with multiple arms.
• Player Punch: Poor Father Lamard.
• Poor Predictable Rock: During an especially boring stakeout, Beowulf plays Rock-Paper-Scissors against Barber Demon - which has scissors for hands.
• Professional Butt Kissers: Beowulf’s council of Yes-Men. Of course they aren’t actually paid, but Beowulf does allow them to live...
• Prophecy Twist: The narrator warns us that the priest is about to get punched, but he doesn't say how.
• Railroading: The game does this a lot, to the point that the narrator quips that it’s a miracle nobody has run across an Insurmountable Waist High Fence.
• Rainbow Speak
• Random Encounters
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: The MURDERSQUIRRELS.
• Refuge in Audacity: The cornerstone of Sebastian's 'fake exorcists' plan.
• Rewriting Reality: The Narrator occasionally enters developer mode and changes things. So does Gwydian.
• RPG Mechanics Verse
• Rule of Cool
• Running Gag:
  • The drunkenness of the game's programmers.
  • Lousy character portraits.
  • Bizarre and dangerous intoxicants.
  • Unhelpful Auto-Help tips.
• Shout-Out:
  • A few to MS Paint Adventures, but less than might be expected for an adventure hosted on the MSPA forums.
    • The Blood Coffee of the Abyss is described as “grimdark.”
    • Several instances of the phrase, “All the X. All of them.”
    • “And she has SMELLED DECIET!”
    • The Other Guy slices his Naming Screen in half with his sword.
    • El Vendaval thanks “Hieronymus” for giving him “all this awesome confidence.”
    • “Pose as a team, because shit just got aerodynamic.”
  • Other Shout Outs:
    • El Vendaval grew his mustache by SHEER FORCE OF WILL.
    • "Banishing... PAWNCH!"
• Some Dexterity Required: Gwydian attempts to use a Video Game Cheats to get free stuff from the Merchant, but fails due to his lack of coordination.
• Spontaneous Choreography: When 'Jeeves' sings.
• Spontaneous Human Combustion: The result of keeping BLAZING BASIL and DRY FIREWOOD in one’s inventory.
• Staring Contest: A particularly MANLY example.[7]
• Stat Indicators: Legend of the Hunter’s Heads-Up Display keeps track of all the vital stats, as well as humorously irrelevant ones such as CANCER RISK and HEDGE FUNDS.
• Stylistic Suck: Gwydian's recap of the first two chapters is done entirely in crayon and Buffy-Speak.
• Suspiciously Similar Song: 

...AND HE'S WATCHING US ALL WITH THE EEEEEYYYYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEE... OF THE DRAAAAAA-GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON

• Suspiciously Specific Denial:

You stuff all kinds of things in your practical and IN NO WAY NIGH UNMANAGEABLE Portfolio of POSSESSIONS.

• Throat Light: The Golems.
• Totally Radical: Every single line in HARDCORE SPELLZ, The Guide To Rad Reality Warper’s Daily Asskicking.
• Tracking Device: An exorcist's armor functions as this, down to monitoring its wearer's vital signs. This is why the exorcists have already arranged for Aaron to fill in for the dead exorcist Sebastian is impersonating...
• Tree-Top Town: The THAMATON TREE, a Nemean settlement.
• Tropaholics Anonymous: The General and Mr. Horse met at a support group for tall people.
• Tropes for Dummies: Alchemy for Dummies
• Unsound Effect: IMPEDE! ENCUMBER![8]
• Vetinari Job Security: The Exorcists of Arael have this, as they are the only ones who can use warding spells or banishing spells. The fact that Sebastian has found a way to acquire a Banishing Pawnch is an imminent threat to the Balance of Power.
• Victory Dance: After the first Random Encounter.[9]
• We Need a Distraction: When the brothers are barricaded in the treasure room.

It's the best distraction that there is - a distraction that's also an attack.

• What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?: Sebastian brushing his teeth.[10]
• What Measure Is a Mook?: Played for Laughs with the Hat Squids
• World of Ham
• World of Badass
• Xtreme Kool Letterz: HARDCORE SPELLZ, The Guide To Rad Reality Warper’s Daily Asskicking
• You All Meet in An Inn: Discussed Trope.

There's something about those places that tends to attract PERSONS OF CRITICAL IMPORTANCE to quests in general.

• You Put the X In XY:

Guard: “GET OUT AND SURRENDER OR WE'RE GONNA SHOW YOU WHY THERE'S 'REND' IN SURRENDER!”