Ran a dnd campaign a few days ago. The party traversed into a dark catacombs looking for the towns missing children, and when they delved deep enough into the darkness I played the *a terrifying presence has entered the room* sound file. One of my players let out an audible and fearful sob. I had no idea she even knew about the game and she shouted to the other players "We need to get out of here, we need to get out of here RIGHT F@#KING NOW!"
@@cheesywithers her character (female elf ranger) and the dwarf druid made it out alive. However the human swashbuckler rogue ran off into the shadows with more balls than everyone in the party combined, and ended up attempting to solo what was deep in the darkness. (Creature was a 8ft humanoid bloated mass of muscle and gaping maws. Party killed it after they found the bits and pieces left of the rogue.) Her in-game fiance (her husband's fighter) went insane at the sight and gruesome loss of his beloved. (The player requested he roll on my major madness chart. I suggested the minor madness chart as it was a very dark and gruesome campaign so I felt he might be kinda used to this, but he insisted that his character would have a much greater mental breakdown due to their connection. The effect he rolled for was a 3% chance of permanent insanity.) The male fighter ended up ensuring the children never made it home in his fit of madness. And the party had to put him down as well. Those two are now playing a dwarf forge cleric and a dhampir grave cleric
On my first ever run where I really had to deal with the Crow Mauler I was the Dark Priest, with a resurrected skeleton and the little girl. After getting tired of getting killed by him I came up with this strategy: I cast pheromones on the skeleton just because I figured he was the most disposable, had the girl throw a red vial in his face to cut down his accuracy. What I didn't realize until later is that skeletons are actually immune to blindness because they already don't have eyes. Meaning that basically the whole fight I was free to chip away at the crow mauler's body while he just whiffed trying to hit my skeleton over and over again. (I was a dark priest and ghoul marriage so I was able to use a weapon that doesn't suck)
I used to think of Rudimer as a good or decent person. You're right though. He had power, authority, and martial skill, but failed to actually do anything about the evil things he witnessed.
Rudimer was a good person. But his loyalty was abused by forcing him to operate with no ability to make his own judgements in a place that is heavy with the spectre of terror and hunger. It wasn't just the prisoners that were being mentally broken.
Personally I think the god of the depths represents concepts like decay, and entropy. While in his domain the body and mind deteriorate at a supernatural speed, and physical forms begin to warp and degrade become feral, subhuman creatures. Only carrion eaters and those who feed on rot and decay gain true power under the god of the depths.
I mean, he was an abusive prison ward. He literally feasted on the rot of society for a living like some carrion eater, all the while choosing to be dutiful about it. His monstrous form - a brute with a crow’s head and a baton for a hand who abuses the players for no reason - is a mock extension of who he already was as a human being. Just more crazed.
Rudimer/Crow Mauler is definitely my favourite aspect of the entire franchise to this day. I very much agree with your interpretation that as a person, he was very inept at taking a moral stance when necessary, much like a soldier who's been conditioned to only follow orders and hold their nation above all else. It makes his descent that more interesting to me. His shortcomings being exploited by the God of the Depths' influence feels much more at home in this series rather than a harsh but fair soldier being corrupted. Great watch!
Heh, I think you are doing Rudimer a bit of injustice. More likely than not regarding Troturer and the Dark Priests the main issue was that he WANTED to act, but while being the Commander he had explicit orders NOT to interfere with them and lend them any and all support. The former was/is afterall a famed Knight and Warhero and his scientific contributions are noteable, not to mention that the creation of the penance Knights of the Holy See were only possible due to his 'scientific research'. The part with the Dark Priests is probably conjecture, but my guess is that the rulers of Rondon were growing desperate with the Plague and it IS undeniable that the Dark Priests posess great knowledge and are... 'unburdened' by most scrouples that the vast majority of other people would have in the pursuit of knowledge and power. Besides, both Ludwig and Seymour mention that Rudimer is a rather brave and tough man, then again, Ludwig isnt one to talk bravery and so we cant know for sure. Ultimately Rudimer is a man who by ordinary means found himself locked in a supposedly prestigous position, but without the authority to act the way he wanted (and possibly needed) to, while unable to defy the orders of his hire ups. Chances are if he would have acted against the Dark Priests and/or Trotur he might have ended up in one of those cells. And how would have/could have he fought the spreading madness and erosion of sanity and order all around him while time itself seems to have become a blurr? The whole aspect about the banality of evil DOES suit quite well. It's a typical case of men who are considered to be honorable and brave, find themselves forced to stay their hand in the face of evil that disgusts them due to their own bonds of loyalty and duty that make up who and what they are, while forcing them to ignore atrocities right in front of them. Orders are orders afterall and a good Soldier follows orders and a good officer understands the importance of the chain of command that bind them all, with only the rarest circumstances that allow one to go beyond that or make one's own decisions. Also I want to point out that ALL Prisons are ultimately places of misery, hatred, pain and suffering - more so in medieval fantasy settings where there arent any guiding principles of human rights and were torture tends to be a common tool in the pursuit of truth in the justice system. Then again you might have a point there, however I think like many things in the game it's meant to be ambigous and lacking a definite answer. All in all, good video man, keep em coming! :D
Yeah probably should have elaborated what I meant more. So I think if you put Rudimer in a battlefield and tell him to kill the enemy, he'd do so without a problem. But ask him to make a morale decision on his own terms, and he buckles. I think I say in the video that being the captain of the dungeon was a doomed task for anyone from the start, and Rudimer definitely has a lot going against him, including his own nation and the religious institution of the vatican. Termina goes into a lot more detail on how society and systems can effect individual behavior. I'll admit I still wrestle with the question of what kind of character Rudimer is. I think Rudimer is a victim more then anything else, of his circumstances and the dungeon in general. But he's a fascinating character, definitely my favourite overall in the first game. Yeah the dark priests are heavily influential in Rondon's politics. I do have a video planned that goes into more detail on what I think they're upto, but I'm still in the scripting phase sadly. But they're definitely taking advantage of Rondon's current woes for sure. In any case thanks for the comment mate! :)
I agree with this take, Rudimer wanted to act but as a soldier, he was a pawn to his superiors who put him at his post in the dungeon. If he acted on his own and got rid of Trotur and Dark Priests, this would result in grave consequences for him. He accepted that he was just a cog in the machine, that could be easily replaced, if he lashed out against the horrors, that resulted in him following his superiors' orders. He wasn't comfortable with how the dungeon was run and hid his true feelings behind the mask of indifference, as he felt there was nothing he could do. Only when he slipped into the madness as events escalated and the dungeon lost even the semblance of control, he tried to set things right and purge the evil in the dungeon. But he was too late and was crushed by the overwhelming darkness dwelling inside the dungeon. But I wonder if he truly was too late. I doubt a single mortal with no clue about the bigger picture and cosmic mechanisms running the world of f&h could set things right even if he tried to do so from the beginning when even new gods were powerless to make any change. Even a party of hardened veterans under Buckman went out like sheeps to the slaughter when faced with the monstrosities of the dungeon. Fate of Rudimer was truly tragic, as he was fated to be a pawn, first to the kingdom of Rondon, and later when this place has utterly corrupted him, a pawn in the hands of the God of the Depths.
4:14 Crow playing while talking about the Crow Mauler was unexpected. Never even played the game, but got dragged in by the storytelling and the great musical choices.
I binged watch all your F & H videos in one go, brilliant analysis. Your humour is fantastic too. Rudimers one of the nost fantastic characters in the series, complex amd nuanced and not saying a damn word. Well, theres crow cackle but that's brilliant. The horn that plays reminds me of the celtyx war horn used by the Celts, mournful and eerie. It sounds so sad. The notes of that ranged from playful to something like a woman screaming in pain. I love this goddamn game. Looking forward to more videos.
Great video. The thing I find most tragic about Rudimer is that his last sane act before he truly succumbed to madness was to send some sort of distress message to his brother Seril. By then it was far too late, but some part of him still hoped to be saved. Even worse, depending on the player’s actions, this act may have doomed his brother to the same fate.
Wow, I had absolutely no idea how much detail went into the whole process with Rudimer, and the stuff involving passive nihilism and Rudimer’s own weakness. I chalked it up to losing madness, but this is a much more interesting and intelligent explanation for why there are still followers of the God of the Depths even in Termina. And that it was out of loyalty to the concepts of active nihilism and erosion of the ego that led to the evolution of Rudimer himself
There is a way to kill the Crowmauler taking like no damage at all, just hit him in the head with a red vial, then hit him twice in the same turn on the mauler arm with partymembers equipped with miasma and eastern sword (you can get miasma before you kill CM using legsweep) (oh and youll need the iron mask) this should leave the CM with no maul or peck attack only flock of crows by the first turn
Ooooo these videos are so good. Really shows the (no pun intended) depth of the game's storytelling. I personally havent touched F&H1 outside of videos but i cant wait to play through F&H2 myself
One thing i did to prevent the blindness was fighting the crow mauler in a ritual circle with a ghoul in my party, that way if i ever got blind i could just perform a marriage and recover my sight
You think your eyelids will protect you from a crow's beak? Since apparently they are trained to blind you, you closing your eyes will at best prevent your eye from being taken out, and instead pummeled into mush.
lmao, birds peck HARD. they don’t just do damage when they hit exposed parts. you aren’t talking about a soft love peck from a pet, you’re talking birds trained with pure killing intent and likely overrun with the corruption of the depths. you could not and would not be able to protect your eyes unless you were armored and even then they’d go for other parts of the head
I didn’t interpret crow mauler as a coward. He was devoted to his kingdom to a fault. The god of the depths manipulated this devotion and wrapped his allegiance to his own. Turning him into the ultimate faithful warrior. He is chosen as to be the crow mauler because of his unique mindset.
Don't be so hard on Rudimer. He was a man of duty who did his best with the orders he was given. I think the point was to break Rudimer's heart so he would become a monster. Otherwise giving orders that tied his hands like that makes no sense.
Who is the double crow mauler? My favorite characters from the first game are lizard mage and god of depth. Greater golem and pheromones turn any enemy into a joke
![[로보토미 EP19] 비나와의 5시간^^^](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/OXXyqHjt_b4/mqdefault.jpg)
Ran a dnd campaign a few days ago. The party traversed into a dark catacombs looking for the towns missing children, and when they delved deep enough into the darkness I played the *a terrifying presence has entered the room* sound file.
One of my players let out an audible and fearful sob. I had no idea she even knew about the game and she shouted to the other players "We need to get out of here, we need to get out of here RIGHT F@#KING NOW!"
well? what happened
@@cheesywithers her character (female elf ranger) and the dwarf druid made it out alive. However the human swashbuckler rogue ran off into the shadows with more balls than everyone in the party combined, and ended up attempting to solo what was deep in the darkness. (Creature was a 8ft humanoid bloated mass of muscle and gaping maws. Party killed it after they found the bits and pieces left of the rogue.)
Her in-game fiance (her husband's fighter) went insane at the sight and gruesome loss of his beloved. (The player requested he roll on my major madness chart. I suggested the minor madness chart as it was a very dark and gruesome campaign so I felt he might be kinda used to this, but he insisted that his character would have a much greater mental breakdown due to their connection. The effect he rolled for was a 3% chance of permanent insanity.)
The male fighter ended up ensuring the children never made it home in his fit of madness. And the party had to put him down as well.
Those two are now playing a dwarf forge cleric and a dhampir grave cleric
R yall that corny 😂😂
On my first ever run where I really had to deal with the Crow Mauler I was the Dark Priest, with a resurrected skeleton and the little girl. After getting tired of getting killed by him I came up with this strategy: I cast pheromones on the skeleton just because I figured he was the most disposable, had the girl throw a red vial in his face to cut down his accuracy. What I didn't realize until later is that skeletons are actually immune to blindness because they already don't have eyes. Meaning that basically the whole fight I was free to chip away at the crow mauler's body while he just whiffed trying to hit my skeleton over and over again. (I was a dark priest and ghoul marriage so I was able to use a weapon that doesn't suck)
I used to think of Rudimer as a good or decent person. You're right though. He had power, authority, and martial skill, but failed to actually do anything about the evil things he witnessed.
Rudimer was a good person. But his loyalty was abused by forcing him to operate with no ability to make his own judgements in a place that is heavy with the spectre of terror and hunger. It wasn't just the prisoners that were being mentally broken.
Personally I think the god of the depths represents concepts like decay, and entropy. While in his domain the body and mind deteriorate at a supernatural speed, and physical forms begin to warp and degrade become feral, subhuman creatures. Only carrion eaters and those who feed on rot and decay gain true power under the god of the depths.
I mean, he was an abusive prison ward. He literally feasted on the rot of society for a living like some carrion eater, all the while choosing to be dutiful about it. His monstrous form - a brute with a crow’s head and a baton for a hand who abuses the players for no reason - is a mock extension of who he already was as a human being. Just more crazed.
this goes hard I didn't even realize that the crow mauler had lore
I mean, you should if you've played the game
@@eeavwinex7869 I'm a speedrunner I'm not looking at lore
@@thiev7 THEN WHY PLAY THE GAME LMAOOO 💀💀💀
@@eeavwinex7869 ??? am i not allowed to play the game bc I like going fast???
@@thiev7 no oc not I'm just saying that your missing out on a lot of a game and a core part of an experience if all you do is go fast
Rudimer/Crow Mauler is definitely my favourite aspect of the entire franchise to this day. I very much agree with your interpretation that as a person, he was very inept at taking a moral stance when necessary, much like a soldier who's been conditioned to only follow orders and hold their nation above all else. It makes his descent that more interesting to me. His shortcomings being exploited by the God of the Depths' influence feels much more at home in this series rather than a harsh but fair soldier being corrupted. Great watch!
Heh, I think you are doing Rudimer a bit of injustice. More likely than not regarding Troturer and the Dark Priests the main issue was that he WANTED to act, but while being the Commander he had explicit orders NOT to interfere with them and lend them any and all support. The former was/is afterall a famed Knight and Warhero and his scientific contributions are noteable, not to mention that the creation of the penance Knights of the Holy See were only possible due to his 'scientific research'.
The part with the Dark Priests is probably conjecture, but my guess is that the rulers of Rondon were growing desperate with the Plague and it IS undeniable that the Dark Priests posess great knowledge and are... 'unburdened' by most scrouples that the vast majority of other people would have in the pursuit of knowledge and power.
Besides, both Ludwig and Seymour mention that Rudimer is a rather brave and tough man, then again, Ludwig isnt one to talk bravery and so we cant know for sure.
Ultimately Rudimer is a man who by ordinary means found himself locked in a supposedly prestigous position, but without the authority to act the way he wanted (and possibly needed) to, while unable to defy the orders of his hire ups. Chances are if he would have acted against the Dark Priests and/or Trotur he might have ended up in one of those cells.
And how would have/could have he fought the spreading madness and erosion of sanity and order all around him while time itself seems to have become a blurr?
The whole aspect about the banality of evil DOES suit quite well. It's a typical case of men who are considered to be honorable and brave, find themselves forced to stay their hand in the face of evil that disgusts them due to their own bonds of loyalty and duty that make up who and what they are, while forcing them to ignore atrocities right in front of them.
Orders are orders afterall and a good Soldier follows orders and a good officer understands the importance of the chain of command that bind them all, with only the rarest circumstances that allow one to go beyond that or make one's own decisions.
Also I want to point out that ALL Prisons are ultimately places of misery, hatred, pain and suffering - more so in medieval fantasy settings where there arent any guiding principles of human rights and were torture tends to be a common tool in the pursuit of truth in the justice system.
Then again you might have a point there, however I think like many things in the game it's meant to be ambigous and lacking a definite answer.
All in all, good video man, keep em coming! :D
Yeah probably should have elaborated what I meant more. So I think if you put Rudimer in a battlefield and tell him to kill the enemy, he'd do so without a problem. But ask him to make a morale decision on his own terms, and he buckles. I think I say in the video that being the captain of the dungeon was a doomed task for anyone from the start, and Rudimer definitely has a lot going against him, including his own nation and the religious institution of the vatican. Termina goes into a lot more detail on how society and systems can effect individual behavior. I'll admit I still wrestle with the question of what kind of character Rudimer is. I think Rudimer is a victim more then anything else, of his circumstances and the dungeon in general. But he's a fascinating character, definitely my favourite overall in the first game.
Yeah the dark priests are heavily influential in Rondon's politics. I do have a video planned that goes into more detail on what I think they're upto, but I'm still in the scripting phase sadly. But they're definitely taking advantage of Rondon's current woes for sure.
In any case thanks for the comment mate! :)
I agree with this take, Rudimer wanted to act but as a soldier, he was a pawn to his superiors who put him at his post in the dungeon. If he acted on his own and got rid of Trotur and Dark Priests, this would result in grave consequences for him. He accepted that he was just a cog in the machine, that could be easily replaced, if he lashed out against the horrors, that resulted in him following his superiors' orders.
He wasn't comfortable with how the dungeon was run and hid his true feelings behind the mask of indifference, as he felt there was nothing he could do. Only when he slipped into the madness as events escalated and the dungeon lost even the semblance of control, he tried to set things right and purge the evil in the dungeon. But he was too late and was crushed by the overwhelming darkness dwelling inside the dungeon.
But I wonder if he truly was too late. I doubt a single mortal with no clue about the bigger picture and cosmic mechanisms running the world of f&h could set things right even if he tried to do so from the beginning when even new gods were powerless to make any change. Even a party of hardened veterans under Buckman went out like sheeps to the slaughter when faced with the monstrosities of the dungeon.
Fate of Rudimer was truly tragic, as he was fated to be a pawn, first to the kingdom of Rondon, and later when this place has utterly corrupted him, a pawn in the hands of the God of the Depths.
this sounds like when people justify concentration camp guards "they were ordered to do it"... and they did what they were told
I love your storytelling voice!! It suits the material
I've fallen asleep to this playlist so many times lmao, a chunk of these views are going to be from me alone
"A terrifying presence has enteres the room"
great watch!! i’d love to see a part two about the role of active nihilism in f&h!
One thing that you got wrong they don't torture children until they lose their bowls they are tortured because they lose their bowls.
4:14
Crow playing while talking about the Crow Mauler was unexpected.
Never even played the game, but got dragged in by the storytelling and the great musical choices.
Great game. Highly recommend it as long as you're willing to die a few times👌
I binged watch all your F & H videos in one go, brilliant analysis. Your humour is fantastic too.
Rudimers one of the nost fantastic characters in the series, complex amd nuanced and not saying a damn word. Well, theres crow cackle but that's brilliant. The horn that plays reminds me of the celtyx war horn used by the Celts, mournful and eerie. It sounds so sad. The notes of that ranged from playful to something like a woman screaming in pain. I love this goddamn game.
Looking forward to more videos.
Cozy and informative videos, keep them coming ❤
Great video. The thing I find most tragic about Rudimer is that his last sane act before he truly succumbed to madness was to send some sort of distress message to his brother Seril. By then it was far too late, but some part of him still hoped to be saved.
Even worse, depending on the player’s actions, this act may have doomed his brother to the same fate.
Wow, I had absolutely no idea how much detail went into the whole process with Rudimer, and the stuff involving passive nihilism and Rudimer’s own weakness. I chalked it up to losing madness, but this is a much more interesting and intelligent explanation for why there are still followers of the God of the Depths even in Termina. And that it was out of loyalty to the concepts of active nihilism and erosion of the ego that led to the evolution of Rudimer himself
There is a way to kill the Crowmauler taking like no damage at all, just hit him in the head with a red vial, then hit him twice in the same turn on the mauler arm with partymembers equipped with miasma and eastern sword (you can get miasma before you kill CM using legsweep) (oh and youll need the iron mask) this should leave the CM with no maul or peck attack only flock of crows by the first turn
5:20 this backstory is a reference to a book series called the last argument of kings about a character who is the chief torturer of the main country.
The God of the Depths walked so the God of Fear & Hunger could run.
Excited to watch this! A fear & hunger video from you is always welcomed.
Ooooo these videos are so good. Really shows the (no pun intended) depth of the game's storytelling. I personally havent touched F&H1 outside of videos but i cant wait to play through F&H2 myself
Really enjoyed this, something I can listen to so I can learn about Fear and Hunger in the background while working
One thing i did to prevent the blindness was fighting the crow mauler in a ritual circle with a ghoul in my party, that way if i ever got blind i could just perform a marriage and recover my sight
Crow Mauler is literally an Oblivion NPC guard.
I wish there was a skill to... idk... close and guard your fucking eyes when a bunch of birds are about to attack you?
You think your eyelids will protect you from a crow's beak? Since apparently they are trained to blind you, you closing your eyes will at best prevent your eye from being taken out, and instead pummeled into mush.
lmao, birds peck HARD. they don’t just do damage when they hit exposed parts. you aren’t talking about a soft love peck from a pet, you’re talking birds trained with pure killing intent and likely overrun with the corruption of the depths. you could not and would not be able to protect your eyes unless you were armored and even then they’d go for other parts of the head
@@grandbean9031bro spitting facts
Another banger video, I'd love to see your take on nashrah since his lines add a lot of context into f&h world
I really love your funger videos, keep doing more!!
All-mer Balls
😏
I didn’t interpret crow mauler as a coward. He was devoted to his kingdom to a fault. The god of the depths manipulated this devotion and wrapped his allegiance to his own. Turning him into the ultimate faithful warrior. He is chosen as to be the crow mauler because of his unique mindset.
Don't be so hard on Rudimer. He was a man of duty who did his best with the orders he was given. I think the point was to break Rudimer's heart so he would become a monster. Otherwise giving orders that tied his hands like that makes no sense.
I love your video, especially exploration of philosophical perspective, but there is a "e" sound and the end of Nietzsche.
IF YOU WANT TO POO ON THE WALL YOU WILL HAVE TO LEARN TO ANGLE YOUR SQUATS!!!!!
i like how ur playing crow from cry of fear!
Good shit bro
your pronunciation of Nietzsche makes me want to eat fiberglass
Wait how is crow mauler still around 400 years later when ragnavaldr has to kill him for his S ending?
There’s multiple crow maulers. Even in the base game there’s a two headed crow mauler in the gauntlet
Who is the double crow mauler? My favorite characters from the first game are lizard mage and god of depth. Greater golem and pheromones turn any enemy into a joke
18:31 the b-
I was so angry when i got the bleeding anus status. I thought i had missed something righteous!!
моргенштернария удивляет
Why is the god of the depths so evil
Oh that why lol
3:27
:3
I always felt nasramous was also banality of evil 😈 very poo-pee 💩
Gore smell +
Gore and poo -
Hell yeah glad you're still posting. I watched all the other FaH videos in one afternoon heheh