PodCastle

* Author : John Wiswell 
* Narrator : Wilson Fowlie
* Hosts : Matt Dovey and Wilson Fowlie
* Audio Producer : Peter Adrian Behravesh
*
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PodCastle 654: 8-Bit Free Will is a PodCastle original.


Rated PG.
8-Bit Free Will
By John Wiswell
They exist, then don’t exist, then exist again. They are monsters where the game’s probability fields call for them, attached to every tile of the dungeon. They are invisible to the player, whether they are there or not, until combat. If they’re lucky, they’ll get the chance to die.
The player always gets to exist, has always existed, and may as well always exist. The Hollow Knight and HealBlob don’t exist again until the player starts struggling with the other enemies. Then the Hollow Knight and HealBlob are re-spawned, to die in battle and smooth out the difficulty curve. They don’t exist long enough to know they’re in love before the player strikes.

Trent is too buzzed on hard iced tea to realize his party is dying. He tabs between music videos, an IM with his sort-of-not-really girlfriend Jayla, and the retro 8-bit game he won in a Twitter giveaway. Dungeon Smashers 6, a game hiding its mediocrity behind a twee pixel aesthetic and irony (it is not the sixth, but the first game its developers have ever released).
His war party consists of three Soldiers, now three floors up in the Tower of Constellations. Hollow Knights and Lesser Goblins are everywhere. Something has poisoned his party, but he has yet to notice that they’re hemorrhaging HP with every step he makes them take.
“You’re pretty much invincible in this game,” Trent types. “It needs a Hard Mode.”
After a moment the IM flashes. Jayla says, “I miss old school JRPGs. Ever play Wizardry?”
“Well, actually,” he makes the mistake of starting a sentence with, “Wizardry was made by—”
His headphones emit a grotesque splat as one of his Soldiers dies. He tabs back to find two monsters attacking his party, the basic Hollow Knight and HealBlob combo, one brawler and one healer. They never drop any good loot.
The IM tab flashes. Jayla’s asking, “You there?”
He tabs back to apologize, typing, “Sorry. So you like RPGs? I was always into Dragon Warrior.”
He misses his second Soldier getting killed.

Soldier3 swings at Hollow Knight, and does 12 damage.
HealBlob casts Heal on Hollow Knight, restoring 12 HP.
Hollow Knight swings at Soldier3, and does 16 damage. Soldier3 is vanquished!
Game Over!
HealBlob has leveled up! HealBlob has leveled up, and learned Heal2! HealBlob has leveled up! HealBlob has leveled up! HealBlob has leveled up, and learned Antipoison! HealBlob has leveled up!
Hollow Knight has leveled up! Hollow Knight has leveled up! Hollow Knight has leveled up! Hollow Knight has leveled up! Hollow Knight has leveled up, and learned DoubleSlash!
The sudden rush from whatever just happened nauseates the Hollow Knight. Its avatar signifies a haunted suit of armor with no occupant, but if it can be nauseous, then it is throwing up inside its own helmet right now.
HealBlob casts Heal2 on Hollow Knight, restoring 34 HP.
“Uh,” Hollow Knight says. “Thanks?”
The Hollow Knight looks at its partner for the first time. HealBlob is a green cube signifying a gelatinous mass, wearing a pixel art hat with a red cross on it. She has no limbs or eyes.