"Did You Catch It?"
A bits-and-pieces show with freeformschooler
Hello, and welcome to the first time-wasting episode of "Did You Catch It?" The Warrens of Oric the Awesome has a lot of little things that happen that are allusions to classic video games, references or callbacks to other parts of the story or just fun easter eggs for the players to find. I can't yet detail things that could give the players any major plot or mechanical information, but anything else is fair game!
#1: What was up with the Void?
Back when our dashing heroes first fought Betweenford, they found themselves in an empty, dark room with nothing but a miniboss that seemed awfully annoyed by their appearance. What was this place? Why haven't the players found themselves there since?
It all goes back to the when the players picked up the ladder in the lava room and placed it in the target room. This lead them to somewhere called "DL2 (Void)." We now know that the level Cherish is adventuring through is titled "DL2" or "Dungeon Level 2," but "(Void)" indicated that this was a part of the level that the dungeon didn't expect that players would try to enter.
This is a reference to the error-handling methods in classic video games like the infamous
Chris Houlihan room. When Link to the Past loaded up a room without data in it for whatever reason, it sent the players to a special room instead of crashing entirely.
The question is: what was Betweenford doing there? Well, you'll find out eventually!
#2: Why did Circuitrix warn Cherish against climbing up?
At the end of Chapter 1, Circuitrix told Cherish that the ladder up to the metal hatch could provide a quick escape, but she warned that something bad had happened to the people who'd tried to use it before. Cherish seemed unharmed and uncursed, though, so what was the big deal?
For just one panel, we briefly see Proxxy flip open a wall panel and punch in some letters. When Proxxy and Cherish re-enter the steel hatch, they find themselves in DL2 rather than the Underside. It can be inferred that the location the hatch was set to teleport between before this was not DL2 but rather the staircase in the Underside.
But why would it be conveniently set to that?
Back when Al opens his mailbox, he finds a letter from Proxxy. Not only has she personally delivered him a time bomb, but she claims ownership of the incredibly durable Searchbots. We don't know for sure that Proxxy jumped down there and delivered the letter herself, but if she had, that would give an easy explanation as to why the metal hatch was still working as a teleport between her hub and the Underside when Cherish found it.
What would have happened if Cherish had tried to enter the hatch and it wasn't set as Proxxy's target location? Only Circuitrix knows.
Hope everyone's enjoyed this episode of "Did You Catch It?" Keep your eye out for more things like these because the story is littered with them! The show will be back next hiatus if all goes well.