Tavern Talk (Visual Novel)

From left to right: Kyle, Rhea, Fable, Hex, Melli, Zephir, Andu, and Caerlin. And that's not even the entire main cast.

"♫ There’s a drink awaiting me at the tavern… ♫"

— Calling On The Wind

Tavern Talk is an indie game developed and published by Gentle Troll Entertainment.

Described as Coffee Talk meets Dungeons & Dragons, the story has you play as an unnamed barkeeper in the fantasy land of Phesoa in the year 1755. Your tavern, the Wayfarer's Inn, brings in all sorts of adventurers, and you provide a listening ear to them. Besides crafting potions for drinks, you also listen to rumors and create quests for your patrons to go on as the world is beset by catastrophe.

Can your potions help save the world?

It was released for Nintendo Switch and Steam on June 20th, 2024. On October 9th of the same year, an Expanded Universe short story called "A Study in Fairy Dust" was released in the Supporter Upgrade. Later on November 12th, a new story, Tempest Tantrum, was released as paid DLC for the base game. It takes place 1.5 years after the good ending and stars Fable's brother Oleander as a new customer.

A prequel set 36 years before this game, entitled Tavern Talk Stories: Dreamwalker, is in the works; it'll feature a refined potion-brewing system where some ingredients dilute others, along with a slightly modified quest-making system where some rumors are irrelevant.

There's a Trope Awaiting Me at the Tavern...

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Tropes # - C

100% Completion: The "Best Tavern Ever" Certificate is achieved by collecting all the other achievements, mostly by seeing every possible quest ending and getting all the major endings.
13 Is Unlucky: Chapter XIII, the last chapter of Act 2, is entitled "Come Hell or High Water". At the end of the chapter, Zenyth gets flooded by a tsunami.
Abandonment-Induced Animosity:
- Caerlin used to see Dragan as her favorite uncle, but he ended up fighting with her Uncle Fedor a lot and then selfishly ran away from them and took their savings. He then left them a note telling them not to find him, and Caerlin swore to kill him the next time they meet. If Caerlin reconciles with her uncle, she learns that he ran away from her family out of shame of his monthly transformations, and that he should've gotten their help from them instead of facing them on his own. Caerlin doesn't forgive him right away after sparing him, opting to wait and see if he has truly changed before doing so. If the good ending is achieved, Dragan and the werewolves all join the final battle, proving that his reformation is genuine.
- The moment Zephir learns the parents he thought he lost are still alive, he instantly asks for a quest to assassinate them due to them abandoning him. Whether or not they reconcile is up to the player, but if they do, Zephir doesn't forgive them right away because he still doesn't trust that they're genuine in their regrets over abandoning him. If the good ending is achieved, Zephir's parents join the final battle, proving that their Heel–Face Turn is genuine.
Accidental Pun: The Innkeep tells Fable this to try comforting them over the people's misery after the tsunami.
Innkeep: Fable, I know everything is a lot right now. Especially since this is the first wave of adventures that you've ever faced. Pun unintended.
Achievement Mockery: There's an achievement for giving a customer the wrong order.
Added Alliterative Appeal: This review from the Guestbook:
I came for a AAA-meeting. Ale. Adventure. Atmosphere. The ale was an adventure, alright! - Mr. Bland
Adventure Guild: Wayfarer's Inn has a quest board, where you can put up quests for your customers. To make a quest, you need to piece three slips of paper with rumors of the same topic, which are Color-Coded for Your Convenience. The v1.33.5 update did away with the color coding, randomizing them instead, in favor of an on-demand Hint System, which highlights which rumors form a quest, but if more than one quest is to be made, the hints don't tell you which of the relevant rumors actually go together.
Aerith and Bob: Among the Innkeep's regulars, there are customers named Fable, Caerlin, and Zephir, and also those named Kyle, Archie, and Grace.
Affectionate Nickname:
- Hex's sister Grace calls him "Hexie" while he calls her "Gracie". According to the Lorebook, she chose her full name from that childhood nickname.
- The Banshee calls her girlfriend, the Mari-Morgan, "Marmor", while her friend Baya simply calls her "Mari".
- Iniko calls Voyage "Voy-Boy" while Voy and Melli call them "Niko".
Alien Sky: Asteria has seven moons, and Moonswamp is named after a mythical area in it where allegedly, all the moons' reflections can be seen in a clear body of water. Despite this, Asteria's Astral Plane has the same constellations as Earth^note, which is lampshaded by Fable and the Innkeep.
Fable: Who knows, maybe there's a world out there with this exact configuration of stars in the night sky...
Innkeep: There might be.
All for Nothing:
- Everything Quasar has done has been to kill death. Quasar's motive for wanting to kill death was to resurrect his and the Inkeeper's deceased former companions and meet their souls. In the bad ending, it is revealed that while using the soul shattering spell on the necromancer that the spell also destroyed the souls of the former companions. With their souls destroyed there is no way for Quasar to ever see them again making everything he has done to see them, all the pain and death, even the destruction of the world, all for nothing.
- Both "Heir of Dragon Fire" and "The Twilight Chase" end in failure, no matter what you do, because Quasar had spied on both parties with his pet jackdaw and knew how to thwart their plans to stop him.
All-Powerful Bystander: The Great Dragons swear to the Oath of Neutrality, where they will not intervene with mortal happenings, good or bad. In practice, however, they found ways to get around this oath a few times to help the patrons, but only when they consider it absolutely necessary.
All There in the Manual: The Lorebook, which is paid DLC, provides additional information about the characters and the world of Asteria beyond the info provided in the Innkeep's journal. It also provides the backgrounds of the four deceased members of Quasar and the Innkeep's old party, whose past lives will be explored in the prequel:
- Aegeus Beccan was a pyromaniacal phantasm bard who loved creating illusions out of people's dreams and nightmares.
- Aquila Delphine was a blunt nymph ranger described to have the eyes of a hawk. Delphi was the former owner of Renu, then named Aurawra, who gets rescued by Zephir and Melli 30 years later for the Innkeep after their Zoford quest.
- Al-Cain Radosha was an Earth Echo rogue who became a devout worshipper of Tuat after miraculously surviving his first death.
- Kya Vinca was a Seelie druid who used a risky teleportation spell to leave her lake and find new oceans and friends.
Alliterative Title: Tavern Talk.
Alphabetical Theme Naming: The four members of Quasar and the Innkeep's party were called Aquila, Aegeus, Al-Cain, and Kya.
Alternative Calendar: The Lorebook provides information on how the timekeeping system in Asteria works.
- One Asterian year is composed of seven months, named after the Realm Keepers and the world's seven moons: Ur (The Month of the Elder Moon), Gaia (The Month of the Central Moon), Leviathan (The Month of the Primordial Moon), The Dreaming (The Month of the Dreaming Moon), The Waking (The Month of the Waking Moon), Cassiopeia (The Month of the Astral Moon), and Tuat (The Month of the Dying Moon). Each month is composed of 60 days and divided into the waning and waxing periods, except for the month of Cassiopeia, which has 35 days instead.
- One week is composed of seven days: Genesis, Bloom, Ardor, Tide, Woe, Nebula, and Oblivion.
Ambiguous Situation: The myths surrounding the Realm Keepers are inconsistent and contradictory with each other, and experts argue over which of them are true.
- The most popular version of the Creation Myth states that Asteria came to be when the Aether Tree grew from Ur when they slept after creating their Plane, and the other Planes and Dragons were born out of it. Some scholars debate on whether the Dragons created the Planes or were born out of them, and the debates often become heated.
- Some legends claim that the inhabitants of Gaia literally walk upon her back or stomach, while others believe it's metaphorical — an entity who's the guardian and protector of the earth, but impossible to touch from an Asterian's vantage point.
- The Astral Sea aka the Plane of Cassiopeia is seen as either the purest form of energy from the Zircon Age or simply a reflection of other Planes.
- Leviathan is viewed in less favorable interpretations as an unscrupulous sea serpent trying to claw his way to the Realm of Ur to consume the Elder Dragon. Kinder interpretations, on the other hand, see him as a protector of Ur who's saddened by their distance created by the Aether Tree.
- Tuat, the Spirit Dragon, is claimed to be either a dead Dragon who took on a spiritual form in the afterlife, has always been a spirit, a reflection of what Asterians believe is the guardian of the afterlife, or even Death itself. Some also see him as a Trickster God, and the Planewalker, the author of Lorebook, thinks Tuat has a morbid sense of humor.
Ambiguous Syntax: In the Intelligence ending of "Heir of Dragon Fire", Hex and Rhea explain how they and Caerlin tried to communicate with the guivre by writing in the snow.
Hex: Ever tried to stomp out letters while a giant reptile is attacking you, Innkeeper? Heck of a core workout. I think I developed muscles where no muscles should ever develop.
Rhea: Watch out, ye might become the first wizard to complete a push up.
Innkeep: And did it work?
Hex: The push up?
Innkeep: No, the writing-in-the-snow thing.
Ancestral Name: Archie's full name, Gustav Archibald Richmond the Third, since his father's name is Gustav Albert Richmond the Second. His mother's name, on the other hand, is Lady Dorothea Bridget the Twenty-Seventh. His Childhood Friend, Theo, who also grew up in nobility, has his full name as Theodore Hugo Frederik Sinclair the Third.
And Your Reward Is Interior Decorating: Depending on quest outcomes, the Innkeeper can get various trinkets to decorate the tavern with.
Androcles' Lion: If Clay saves the Astraen whale, it'll come back to help him in the final battle.
"Anger Is Healthy" Aesop: The Innkeep delivers one to Clay, a Gentle Giant who doesn't like getting angry, after seeing Tia get burned out following her first quest.
Innkeep: We all get angry sometimes. It's not the most fun, but it's important. Never getting angry doesn't solve anything either. It just makes you smaller and smaller until people no longer see you as someone they need to think about.
Clay: At least they're not scared of you.
Innkeep: Anger doesn't make you any more a monster than silence makes you a saint. Be a whole person, Clay. And don't be scared of who that is.
Annoying Arrows: In the bad ending of the first quest, Caerlin returns to the Tavern with three arrows on her left shoulder because Fable mistook her for the werewolf they were tasked to hunt down and shot her. She's annoyed but otherwise not seriously injured.
Anti-Frustration Features: The v1.34 update adds a fast forward button so you can breeze through the dialogue quickly, especially if you're looking for the other endings. There's also an option to skip over already-read dialogue, but it only takes effect in saves created after the update.
The Apocalypse Brings Out the Best in People: As the apocalypse becomes imminent in Act III, even those who usually don't give a damn about it such Una and Jade genuinely step up to help the others in their own ways, since they do care about their safety deep down.
Arcadia: According to the Extended Lorebook, Tregaryn is a cozy farming village with a tight-knit community, which makes it a little intimidating to strangers, but the locals will welcome you with open arms if you bring them a smile, warm hugs, and a homemade snack.
Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking:
- Kyle describes Countess Evelynn as the Queen of Darkness, the Temptress of Men, and the Flamenco Champion of 1467.
- When Caerlin asks the Innkeep about the Big Bad's weaknesses, they can say that it's either his arrogance, devotion, or that he's ticklish.
- According to the Extended Lorebook, the small tribes of the Cridal Empire are known for their community, perseverance, and excellent ice cream.
Artificial Gill: In Tempest Tantrum, Luminous Algae are infusions that grant the drinker the ability to breathe underwater. When they dive, a magical oxygenated bubble engulfs their head or their entire body depending on their size. The bubble quickly fades and cracks as the infusions' effect wears off, so the drinker must resurface before the bubble breaks.
Audience Participation: The v1.37 update added Twitch Integration, where you can stream your run and let your viewers vote on dialogue choices and drinks and also pet Andu.
Auto-Save: The game automatically saves your progress, although there are three save slots to manually save your game in.
Bad Ol' Badger: According to the Extended Lorebook, wildfire badgers are four-eyed carnivorous badgers with flaming fur that are often found in disaster zones, scavenging for scraps, consumable flames, and a good fight.
Bag of Holding: The wizard mouse whom Caerlin finds in Quag Mangrove has a dimensional pocket to keep all the cheese she promised him after helping her subdue the Wyvern Chimera for its saliva.
Beast Man: The Vukakin are a race of humanoid animals, most of who are from Avalon. According to the Lorebook, they have close family ties, are staunch traditionalists, and have a strong fighting spirit, and the three most common sub-kin are based on wolves, cats, and lizards.
Benevolent Abomination: The Guestbook has a compliment from "your friendly, resident eldritch horror", who invites the Innkeep to come visit the void sometime.
Big Brother Instinct:
- Despite his mischief, Hex always looks out for his little sister Grace, even though she can take care of herself as an adult by human standards. He even gets worried when Grace goes to the tavern on the day of the tsunami without telling him first, but she assures him that the Innkeep and the other patrons protected her there.
- In Tempest Tantrum, Oleander understandably gets worried about his younger sibling Fable exploring the Primordial Sea with Neil and Jade if they're not dating as a result of their failed quest to save Banshee and Mari's relationship on their vacation.
Big Damn Heroes: Just when it looks like there aren’t many options left for the group, Fable returns and they reveal they got blessed by the dragon Ur, meaning they can now produce the Dragon Fire Rhea needs to create the ultimate weapon.
Bigfoot, Sasquatch, and Yeti: The Abominable Yeti of the Highlands is mentioned in the Extended Lorebook, but they requested not to be included beyond their "sublime" jewelry making. Baya is their Only Friend and Pen Pal, and she's excited to meet them in "Heir of Dragon Fire".
Bilingual Bonus:
- One of Zephir's many names is Kumo. In the good ending of "The Lagoon of Tranquility", Fable suggests this name, while the Innkeep says that Kumo is either stealthy as a spider or soft as a cloud, and "kumo" is Japanese for "spider" or "cloud" depending on the kana.
- The achievement for getting the good ending of "The Parent Trap" is called "Katallage", which is Greek for "reconciliation".
A Birthday, Not a Break: Eleithyia and her niece were just going home from the carnival for the latter's birthday when the stars fell from the sky and destroyed many settlements across Phesoa. Tia believes that this is a bad omen, so she visits the tavern the next day to warn the Innkeep about it.
Bizarrchitecture: After spending his first night at the inn, Kyle spends several hours finding his way back to the main area because several twisted alleyways opened up to him outside his room.
Blob Monster:
- The Innkeep mentions catering to slimes, even feeding them bones if they order them.
- Before Rhea and Kyle first arrived at the tavern, they explored a deep cave. Rhea was mining for gold when a green ooze attacked her and Kyle and stole her treasure. They then enter Wayfarer's Inn while Covered in Gunge, with the ooze perched on Kyle's shoulder, which he mistakes for his cape. He later adopts the ooze and names it Mr. Slime.
- One of the priests at the Gaia Temple is revealed to be a wobbling ooze in disguise, who simply liked the humidity of the temple. The other priests forgave him, and he promised to try to become a real priest.
Blue-and-Orange Morality: According to the Lorebook, Seelies and Unseelies are two fae courts who are seen by Gaians as good and evil, respectively. In truth, Seelies are associated with light and Unseelies darkness, and they don't like being put on the traditional morality scale by Gaians, for light isn't always good while darkness isn't always evil. This often leads to a Culture Clash between Gaians and Avalonian fae.
Bookends: The first quest, "A Werewolf On Detours", offers you the choice of mixing either a Dexterity or Charisma drink for Fable. The final quest, "Flight of Hopes and Dreams", involves mixing either a Dexterity or Charisma drink for Fable.
Boring Return Journey: In "The Lagoon of Tranquility", the treacherous trip to Boreas and the quest outcome is explained in detail, but Fable reserves the story of the return trip for later. It turns out to be a quiet trip home, and Fable wrote a song while traveling.
Brainwashed and Crazy: In the Innkeep's backstory of their failed quest with Quasar, Aquila was mind-controlled by Kerebosia into killing Al-Cain.
Bread, Eggs, Breaded Eggs:
- When Fable tells the Innkeep about the former's bad luck, the elf complains how their life seems to only follow the path that's the most embarrassing, or dangerous, or dangerously embarrassing.
- Archie likes reading books about "adventures and heroes and adventuring heroes".
- If the Innkeep tells Baya that the former isn't okay after the tsunami hit the tavern, Baya offers them extra coupons, or flowers, or flower coupons, but the Innkeep politely says that Baya's company is good enough.
- According to the Lorebook, Una plans to spend her retirement chilling, relaxing, and chillaxing near her favorite spot in Phesoa, the Wadden Sea.
Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick: The Lorebook lists Iniko's crimes they committed before fleeing to Gaia: impersonation, petty theft, disrespecting the tides "(whatever it means)", and terrorism.
Brick Joke:
- Jade complains about one of her jobs involving a two headed sheep that was a pain to capture. When Meli and Zephir return from their quest together, she mentions encountering a two headed sheep and the Innkeeper asked if they had any trouble.
- Minthie visits the Innkeeper hoping they have finished proofreading a manuscript she left them and once she leaves, they mention they had forgot to actually do that after all these years. When Minthie returns to pick up the manuscript, she appreciates the effort but notices the ink made for edits looks very fresh.
Broke the Rating Scale: In the good ending of "Hey There Evelynn!", Zephir aka Blaze tells Melli about his quest at Marrow Castle, and she asks him how scary the castle is.
Melli: On a scale from one to parents being eaten by a T. rex, how scary was it?
Blaze: ... In the middle... I suppose?
Buffy Speak:
- One time Zephir orders their usual Charisma drink, it's to stop them from choking on their words, in case they need to do that "cussing-someone-out thing" again.
- With Tia and Clay too busy to help Caerlin and Rhea go to the Highlands to infuse Caerlin's Baba's greatsword with Dragon fire from the Ever-Burning Flame, Caerlin hopes that Baya can help them instead with her "tree travel... thing".
- When discussing which potion to take for "The Twilight Chase", Clay suggests adding "fast infusion thingies" to the Defense potion to compensate for the little Dexterity needed for it, as one of the choices for the quest.
- On the last day before the final battle, Hex says that the Big Bad would have to enter the Astral Portal in the Aperture to reach Tuat and do his "crazy apocalypse thing".
- Tempest Tantrum:
  - Baya suggests joining Melli and Archie on their quest to find the contraption in the Corilifean Library so the bog creature can ask her friend Mari (and also Banshee if the player decides their relationship was saved in the main game) about the "puzzle... mechanism... thing."
  - In "A Tempest is Announced", Archie wonders if he'll encounter a dionaea muscipula aka a mutant venus flytrap in the Forbidden Valley, which Voy calls a "Dionysus... muscle... thing".
But Thou Must!:
- When Zephir gives the Innkeep a trinket from their first quest, they let them guess what it is. Regardless of the quest's conclusion, neither answer is even remotely close to the correct answer: it's either a wall clock or a ritual dagger Zephir stole from Marrow Castle.
- Fable and Zephir get into a brief argument over who should help the Banshee and the Mari-Morgan get back together, but regardless of the Innkeep's suggestions, they both team up, anyway.
- Towards the end of Chapter XIII, the Innkeep wonders if they should finally read the letter or not. If you pick "No", the Innkeep admits that they're still scared, but they realize that being brave means doing the things they're scared of, so they read it, anyway.
- When Caerlin returns from the escort mission, she asks the Innkeep if the story can wait because of the Primordial Flood. If the Innkeep says no, Caerlin chides their impatience and tells them that she needs to check on her group first, saving the story for later, anyway.
- In the Bittersweet Ending, the Innkeep can't turn down Hex's final gift for them, Ur's Greataxe, with Quasar's soul sealed inside, because they need to learn to stop running from their past.
- In Tempest Tantrum, if Melli's quest at the Corilifean Library was completed with Intelligence, she asks the Innkeep what the book mimic gave her party as a reward for helping it. Neither of the Innkeep's answers are correct, for the mimic gave the party the second piece of the mysterious contraption instead.
Bystander Syndrome:
- Despite Jade's potential to be a real hero, she doesn't care about bigger disasters because they're "not [her] problem". She only cares about her work as a bounty hunter and if she gets paid well for it. Deep down, she actually cares about the ongoing calamities despite not looking it at first, and she gets dragged into helping Tia's party catch the Big Bad before he enters the Twilight Chasm.
  "Heroism is an unprofitable art form. If you're unlucky, you'll even get in trouble for destroying someone's property."
- One of Fable's sisters couldn't care less about the star rain destroying Ashen Grove, believing that some "wide-eyed adventurer" will eventually put the stars back in the night sky.
Call a Pegasus a "Hippogriff": The Realm Keepers are all called Dragons, but according to the Lorebook, Cassiopeia is a wyvern while Leviathan is a sea serpent. On the other hand, Ur is based on a European dragon while Tuat and Gaia are based on Eastern dragons.
Cannot Spit It Out: Chapter 23 shows that the Innkeeper is very reluctant to share to the other patrons about Quasar, only finally confessing their old friendship with him to Fable, Zephir, and Melli the next day.
Catchphrase:
- Whenever Hex enters the tavern, he greets everyone with a "Good mythical morning!" even if it's not morning.
- Subverted for Voy in Tempest Tantrum, where he says that his fans wanted him to say his catchphrase, but he didn't know he had one the whole time. The Innkeep tries guessing it but doesn't come close to it, so they suggest a new one for him, which is either "Prepare to be razzle-dazzled!", his wink, or "It's me, Voyage! The music guy!". He says or does this exact catchphrase when he returns from his quest.
Celebrity Cameo: One of the special guests is Quincy of Quincy’s Tavern.
Celestial Body:
- The Astraen humpback whale that Tia summons in her first quest has a giant star nestled in its belly, the last one left in the Astral Plane, and its translucent skin is gray, its eyes are pale, and it's lashing out in pain. It turned out the whale swallowed the East Star to try warming itself of its frostbite curse. According to the Extended Lorebook, this whale is sometimes called Pharos, after the star it consumed, while Quasar was the one who inflicted the curse on the whale.
- The Extended Lorebook also mentions other astral creatures with stars on their skin such as solar crabs, cosmic squids, and astral seals.
Celestial Deadline: The "astral show" on the 35th day of Cassiopeia turns out to be the day of Quasar's planned apocalypse because that's the day when the barrier to Tuat's realm is at the weakest. Upon realizing this, The Innkeep races against time to send their patrons on quests to stop Quasar.
Character Alignment: invoked Each of your patrons has an official alignment listed in their profile.
Character Name and the Noun Phrase: According to the Lorebook, one of Archie's Working Titles for his next book is called Fable Verifina and the Courage in Caring.
Chekhov's Gun:
- In the Defense ending of "Hey There Evelynn!", Zephir finds a vial of blood of the first vampire — Mike. He leaves it behind because he's not interested in learning its story. It's later used by Quasar as part of the ritual to open the portal to the Astral Sea from Aperture.
- One time when Grace books a room at the Tavern, the Innkeep warns her not to enter the rooms with "Do Not Enter" signs hanging outside. She assures them she won't but she's curious about any dangerous creatures hiding inside if there are. One of these rooms becomes her temporary burial site if she dies casting the teleportation spell, with pink carnations hanging outside.
- In Tempest Tantrum, the Innkeep always has Evelynn's dagger as decor regardless of the outcome of the Marrow Castle quest in the main game, which is explained either by Zephir giving it to them or the Innkeep trading their bat clock for it. In the Defense ending of "A Tempest is Announced", Voy borrows it to help Oleander fight the Tempest, and he uses it to absorb the Primordial Storm and open a vortex to return the fire spirit and its broken zoetrope to Leviathan.
Chekhov's Gunman: A key for one of the final quests is how many quests turned out well. This will allow for reinforcements to appear that will help fight off the undead.
Chest Monster: The mage tower in "Mission: Magically Possible" has a door mimic at the front to keep out intruders by eating lockpicks and fingers. The Innkeeper comments they also have one for anyone trying to break in after hours.
Chicken-and-Egg Paradox: Kyle discusses it with Tia and Clay, having always wondered which came first between the chicken and the egg. Clay says it's the egg, the Innkeep can agree or disagree with him, while Tia opts out of the discussion.
Choice-and-Consequence System: Some customers give you the choice between several potions to make for them, and whichever you give them will affect the outcome of their quest.
Classical Chimera:
- Chimeras with various animal heads, usually in threes, reside in the far reaches of Phesoa. Chimeras are also afraid of mice and can't tell apart different shades of green. One example of a chimera shown in the Extended Lorebook has the heads of a lion, a sheepfish, and a snake, the last of which serves as its tail.
- The Wyvern Chimera, which has a dragon head, lives in Quag Mangrove, and its scales and claws are sought-after alchemy ingredients while its saliva can be used by vampires as sunscreen. If Caerlin took the Intelligence potion for the quest, she successfully collects the Wyvern Chimera's saliva by camouflaging herself with an improvised ghillie suit and puppeteering a wizard mouse to convince it to give its saliva to her for Kyle. The Wyvern Chimera, amused by Caerlin's trick, spares her and lets her leave with its saliva.
Cock-a-Doodle Dawn: The next day begins with a rooster crowing if it's a sunny day.
Colony Drop: A star rain happens at the end of Chapter 4, which Kyle initially mistakes for fireworks. The next day, your patrons talk about the near-catastrophic damage it did across Phesoa, including one falling star impacting the center of Zenyth and forming a huge crater in it.
Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Dexterity drinks are green, Intelligence drinks are purple, Defense drinks are blue, Strength drinks are red, while Charisma drinks are yellow.
Comical Coffee Cup: If Archie's first quest is successful, he buys the Innkeep an enchanted mug that says "No. 1 Innkeeper". The Lorebook describes it as "...unique".
Constantly Changing Name: Zephir keeps changing their name many times over the course of the story, with Melli suggesting three of them: John, Aura, and Dave. When he changes it for the first time and the Innkeep tells Melli that "Blaze" isn't his name, he claims that "Zephir", his first name, is his middle name instead. Their true name is Neil Brume, and they kept on changing aliases because they found it "uncool" and they were trying to find themself after their parents' abandoning of him. If the good ending of "The Parent Trap" is achieved, his reconciliation with them along with warming up to the other patrons, especially Melli, is what lets him be himself and use his true name from then on.
Cooldown Hug: In the Strength ending of "One Zoetrope to Rule Them All" in Tempest Tantrum, Clay, Melli, and Oleander give the Tempest a hug to calm it down from its tantrum, clearing up the Primordial Storm it caused in its rampage. Thankfully, the Phoenix Chilis in the potions they took protect them from the Tempest's flames, and it shrinks until it's small enough to be held in Oleander's hands.
Cope by Creating:
- If Archie's first quest ends in failure, he reveals that becoming an author is his way of helping him cope with the trauma following it.
- In the bad ending of "Twinkle Twinkle, Deadly Stars", Clay crafts a mobile made of sea glass and the Astraen whale's stardust in remembrance of the creature he and Tia killed to stop its rampage.
  Clay: I think that sometimes you have to make something beautiful out of the things that hurt you.
Cosmic Keystone: The Sigils of Alkahest, invented by Evangeline Calcite according to the Extended Lorebook, are tethered to the Realm Keepers' life force, and destroying the Sigils severely injures the Dragons and brings about calamities unto all of Phesoa. Destroying all five Sigils will destroy the Aether Tree and cause the apocalypse, and three of them have already been destroyed by the time Tia and Clay discover more info about them in the Everbloom Archives.
Creative Closing Credits: After the final chapter, the outside shot of the tavern is shown, and what happens there depends on the ending as the credits roll on the side.
Credits Gag: The credits of the Lorebook lists "Lore Trolls", "Assistant Lore Trolls", "Emotional Support Trolls", "Emotional Support Intern-Trolls", and "Renu's Sponsor" among the staff.
Crossover Cameo:
- The Interlude in Act 2 features Polly Geist and Scott Howl ending up at the tavern after going through a portal. Lampshaded by the Innkeep:
  Innkeep: You do seem slightly... out of this world though.
  Polly: Ooooh! Maybe you're onto something, potion seller!
- The Among Us update adds tiny Crewmates running around the Tavern and replaces the dumbbell with the Emergency Button. This purely aesthetic flair can be toggled anytime.
Cue the Sun:
- If the good ending is achieved, the final chapter begins at sunrise as the patrons come back from the final two quests to celebrate their triumph over Quasar. This is Subverted in the bad ending, where it's still sunrise in the intro, but upon entering the Tavern, the Innkeep sees that the sky has turned green because Quasar won.
- In Tempest Tantrum, the final chapter begins at sunrise in the good ending, for Clay's party has successfully calmed down the Tempest, clearing up the Primordial Storm.
Curse Cut Short: After hearing the game plan on how to protect Ur's Greataxe from the Big Bad, Caerlin declares, "Let's go beat his a-" before the Innkeep interrupts her.
Cutting Off the Branches: Played with in Tempest Tantrum. The DLC sequel takes place after the good ending, but regardless whether the mission at Marrow Castle was a success or failure in the main game, the Tavern will always have Evelynn's dagger because your old save file doesn't carry over to Tempest Tantrum. Una asks about it, wondering if the Innkeep should've put up a clock there instead, and how they got the dagger depends on the player, along with the other things that have happened since the other quests in the main game.

Tropes D - K

Dark Reprise: Hex and Grace's theme, "Tea For Two", has a depressing reprise called "Tea For One", which plays in the Bittersweet Ending, when Hex returns from a victorious battle just to hear about his sister's sacrifice.
Darkest Hour: The first half of chapter 23 starts out grim: not only have both the "Heir of Dragon Fire" and "The Twilight Chase" quests failed, Tia is revealed to have died at Quasar's hands. The feeling of hopelessness on everyone slowly starts breaking everyone.
Dead Hat Shot: In the Non-Standard Game Over, Caerlin returns to the Tavern carrying Fable's hat, implying the latter died long after walking out on the Innkeep and storming off into the Twilight Chasm.
Deadpan Snarker:
- Rhea starts out snarking about the Innkeep's "canned" greeting and doesn't put up with Kyle's "quirks", as she puts it.
- Caerlin, a no-nonsense Vukakin, often snarks at Fable's cautious optimism.
- In Tempest Tantrum, Oleander tends to snark at other patron's remarks as a result of being stuck in his stressful job.
Deal with the Devil: Mike struck a deal with Tuat that the latter would grant him immortality in exchange for guarding the Spirit Dragon's realm. However, Tuat tricked Mike into being turned into the first vampire, and nobody from the living world or the afterlife wanted him.
Death Glare: In the Intelligence ending of the Morlya quest, Hex glares at Iniko when the latter suggests breaking open the glass case containing a magic scroll, and Hex opts to solve its puzzle instead.
Death Mountain: The Gravelmack is a mountain range full of sharp peaks jutting out of the ground. It's a desolate area in the northern part of Sayae Plains that blocks off the path to the Forbidden Valley. The Gaian Everbloom Archives are buried deep under the Gravelmack, guarded by bleak stalkers and surrounded by dry steppes and a poisonous lake that burns off the skin of anyone unlucky to fall into it and has monsters that pull them in.
Deathbringer the Adorable: Iniko's black weasel-like pet Corry is short for "Corruption", yet it means no harm and just stares blankly at no one in particular.
Dem Bones: The Maihda are a skeletal race whose bones are made of gems, typically working as archivists. Some Maihda are only partially undead, such as Jade, who has only her arms turned into bones, while others are complete skeletons, like Skully. He's also the only complete skeleton who was resurrected with a conscience.
Did You Die?: When Zephir tells Melli the story of how his first quest was successful, she asks him if Countess Evelynn killed him. They annoyedly tell her that they weren't.
Died in Your Arms Tonight: In the bad ending of "Fatal Company", Archie mentions the day after his mourning that his Childhood Friend Theo died in his arms after being attacked by zombies. Archie also projects this onto the Innkeep when they tell him about Melli's disappearance, believing that she died as well.
Disproportionate Retribution: The Wanted Wall has a few patrons who were banned for petty things, such as James the Unwieldy being banned for his poor singing and unpaid fine for broken glasses.
Does This Remind You of Anything?: If Fable finishes the first quest by talking down the werewolf, they help him cope with his lycanthropy by reminding him that even if he finds the cure for it, it still won't undo the damage he did in his wolf form, and he has to learn to accept his new life as one. Fable also takes him to the werewolf community near Ashen Grove for further support, and the Innkeep likens it to group therapy for a long-term mental disorder.
A Dog Named "Dog": Baya calls their friends, the Banshee and the Mari-Morgan, by their species names, implying those really are their names.
Don't Wake the Sleeper: The Elder Dragon Ur slumbers deep in their plane within the Dreamlands, and if woken up too early, they'll bring about the apocalypse. When Fable stumbles into Ur's chamber, the Elder Dragon has woken up from the groundwater dripping on them, and they get forced fully awake and into a rampage by Quasar. Ur cries out to Fable for help by giving them a riddle, and Fable either solves it or demands them to just tell them directly what they want. Regardless, Fable successfully lulls Ur back to sleep with their lute.
Dragons Are Divine: The Realm Keepers: Ur, Gaia, Cassiopeia, Tuat, and Leviathan are divine dragons who stay within their domain and avoid directly interacting with the mortal realm so they won't accidentally harm its residents with their powers. However, they can infuse their magic with Citrin and Lotus Flowers, which can be added to potions to bless the drinker with the power to fight the undead. The Realm Keepers are so powerful, only the weapons forged for their use can kill them. Direct communication with them is difficult since they speak in signs, visions, or riddles, which are open to interpretation.
Dream Land: The Dreamlands are the only realms unguarded by the Realm Keepers, and they served as transitional space between the other realms before they were seemingly closed off forever, until five planar portals were created following Kerebosia's defeat and the death of Quasar and the Innkeep's party 30 years ago. The realms are mirrored versions of the Central Plane and are believed to be the dreams of Ur. They're divided into Avalon, the upper plane composed of Ur's dreams, and the Twilight Chasm, the lower plane composed of their nightmares.
Dream Reality Check: When Fable returns after their long disappearance, Zephir thinks he's dreaming and asks Caerlin to pinch him, but she mishears him and punches him instead.
Duct Tape for Everything: The Innkeep suggests using duct tape to fix the Sigils to save the Realm Keepers, but Melli tells them that it's not possible to do that.
Earn Your Bad Ending: The hidden fourth ending has the player choosing to join Quasar, meaning they will never help the others save the world. To achieve it, though, the player must’ve gotten bad outcomes on all the previous quests, and choose specific dialogue options during Quasar’s visit in chapter 22, meaning there’s a lot of trial and error involved.
Easter Egg: The Supporter Edition Upgrade gives you instructions on how to unlock an alternate costume for Fable: press and hold 3 and 7 on the alphanumeric keyboard for 1 second while at the title screen.
Effortless Achievement: There are achievements for completing the potion and quest tutorials.
Elemental Armor: Frozen Pinecones provide frost armor to the drinker when added to the potion; the armor protects them from physical and magical attacks, and also freezes anyone who touches it.
Elemental Embodiment: Elemental beings are called Echoes, and two of your customers are Zephir, an Air Echo, and Clay, a half-giant Earth Echo. The Lorebook also mentions Flame Echoes and Sea Echoes, and they can interbreed to produce offspring of multiple elements such as Lava Echoes.
Enchanted Forest: Ashen Grove, the largest forest of the Northern Republic, is an enchanted forest shrouded in fog at night, which is rumored to be called upon by the Sylvan Spirits. An elf clan watches over the forest and guides travelers through their way in it. Quag Mangrove, which is to the west of the forest, is home to ferocious beasts such as the Wyvern Chimera, so even the elves avoid going there.
Every Episode Ending: Each Chapter/day ends with Andu being fed, the Tavern being cleaned, and the candle being blown out for the night. The sequence doesn't play at the end of each Act since they end on Cliffhangers.
Everybody Knew Already: Fable has always suspected that the Innkeep was friends with Quasar, so when the Innkeep confesses it to them, Fable isn't surprised, unlike Zephir and Melli, who react with Stunned Silence.
Expressive Accessory:
- Zephir's scarf waves up and down depending on his mood.
- The skull on Clay's right shoulder rattles whenever he's scared.
Expressive Ears: Caerlin and Melli, a wolf and cat Vukakin, respectively, droop their ears when they're upset.
Eye Scream:
- In the Defense ending of "Fatal Company", Archie draws his rapier to lethally poke out the eye of a zombie, making the creature fall limp on the ground.
- In the Dexterity ending of "Heir of Dragon Fire", Caerlin strikes her greatsword into the guivre's eye just before her party escapes through Baya's tree portal.
The Fair Folk: All humanoids from Avalon are generally classified as fae and are raised to be tricksters, giving them a mixed reputation from the other kin, even those from less turbulent Planes. Changelings are shapeshifting fae who only show their true forms to trusted people (of if they're lazy as the Lorebook claims) and usually change their forms for tricks.
Familiar: The Extended Lorebook provides some more lore about these creatures:
- Familiars are small draconic creatures created by the Dragons to serve their followers and help them on their quests. Their powers and appearances take after the Dragon who created them, such as amphibians for Leviathan, insects for Gaia, and birds for Cassiopeia.
- Maihdan wizards have found a way to magically bind normal animals to them as their familiars, without the need for a Dragon's blessing. While this bothers the Dragons, they don't consider it as a serious emergency to take back the familiars. Meanwhile, the familiars in Zoford are mysteriously disappearing, prompting Zephir and Melli to investigate it. It turns out that the familiars weren't kidnapped by an evil wizard as initially thought, but rather, they went to him without telling their owners to ask him to remove their magical bonds with them and turn them back into regular animals. The wizard is still held responsible for the familiars' disappearance in the good ending, but he had good intentions to free them. Zephir and Melli also find a lost familiar and name it Renu, and they give it to the Innkeep as thanks for helping them out.
Fantastic Underworld: The Plane of Ur is a labyrinthine cave system that sprawls beneath the roots of the Aether Tree. It has all sorts of magical gems and ores buried inside, and anyone lucky to stumble into the Plane is at a loss of words on how to describe it.
Fantasy-Forbidding Father:
- Fable wishes to explore outside Ashen Grove and write songs about their adventures, but their brother, the caretaker of the grove, forbids them because as elf rangers, they "belong to the woods" and they must stay in their homeland to maintain its balance.
- Archie loves reading adventure books and wishes to go on them in real life, but his parents prefer that he read books on etiquette or the news and become a diplomat.
Fantasy Kitchen Sink: The Realm of Gaia has become a melting pot of diverse kin ever since the Second Wave of Migration 30 years ago. Among your regular customers alone, you have elves, Vukakin, vampires, dwarves, Echoes, humans, seraphs, giants, skeletons, changelings, Finfolk, phantasms, and druids.
Feathered Serpent: The guivre is a giant winged snake with white iridescent scales and a large opal on its forehead. It guards the Ever-Burning Flame in the Highlands temple, and when it sleeps, it's camouflaged like a giant snowy hill. Its gem droppings can also be forged into weapons.
Fictional Document: "A Study in Fairy Dust", which is a short story available in the Supporter Upgrade, is written in-universe by Archie.
Fictional Social Network: The Innkeep admits to Fable that the former's afraid of bad Yilp (Yelp) reviews.
First-Name Ultimatum:
- Zephir harshly calls Jade by her first name, Ulyssia, to call her out over Taking a Level in Cynic following the failure of "The Twilight Chase" and believing there's nothing that can be done about the apocalypse.
- Grace harshly calls Hex by his full first name, Hexagon, when he suggests finding another way into the Forbidden Valley instead of casting a potentially lethal teleportation spell to get there quickly to stop Quasar, because they're running out of time.
Fish out of Temporal Water: In the Act 2 Interlude, Polly and Scott accidentally wind up at Wayfarer's Inn via a portal and are shocked at how "dated" its surroundings are. Conversely, the Innkeep gets confused when Scott talks about the lack of cars in Zenyth, which he describes for them as either "carriages but without the horsies" or "those things that go "vrooom"". Polly then realizes what time period they're in when she notices that her phone lost signal.
Fish People: Finfolk are fishlike humanoids with stars sparkling on their bodies, Ear Fins, and webbed hands and feet. Like Astral Mermaids, they're good swimmers, and they tend to explore wherever the Astral currents take them.
Five-Second Foreshadowing: Two in Chapter XXII:
- The chapter is entitled "Twilight Zinnias", and before Melli and Grace leave the tavern, they tell the Innkeeper that they last saw the Necromancer wearing those kinds of flowers on his armor. Guess who shows up with that exact description later that evening.
- After Melli and Grace leave, Quincy drops by and asks the Innkeep on how they're feeling. They admit that their life has been in limbo since they've been struggling with helping their patrons during the calamities, and that the Innkeep has been struggling with coming to terms with their past, which is tied to the disaster. Quincy advises them on how to confront it and move forward from it, and then tells them to take care before he leaves. Later that evening, Quasar show up at the tavern, and the achievement for meeting him, "Hello, Old Friend", reveals why the Innkeep has been struggling with their past.
Flower Motifs:
- The Lorebook reveals the favorite flowers of a few patrons, some of which are symbolic:
  - Grace's favorite flower is the forget-me-not. It's commonly used as a symbol of remembrance, and she wants Hex to cherish her living moments and hold them dearly when she dies ahead of him because she knows he'll outlive her with his elven lifespan.
  - Jade's favorite flower is the thistle, befitting her prickly (but well-meaning) personality.
  - Baya's favorite flower is the water lily, fitting for a bog creature. They even wear one as a hat.
- The flowers on the Big Bad are all symbols of his character: orange gladiolus for strength, yellow zinnias for remembrance, pink petunias for resentment, and marigolds for despair. Also, the letter he sends to the Innkeeper contains an orange lily, a symbol of hatred, which represents how he blames them for the death of their old party.
For Doom the Bell Tolls: In some serious moments, ringing the dumbbell after mixing a potion makes it go bong instead of the usual ding.
Foreshadowing:
- In Kyle's second visit, he mentions meeting a mysterious stranger wearing armor of swirling shadow and onyx bone, who told him to send his "congratulations" to his Old Friend, the Innkeep, for "the faux peace they have found in their house of denial". However, Kyle forgot the stranger's name, while the Innkeep feels hesitant about that meeting and claims that Kyle's description of him doesn't ring any bells for them, before quickly changing the topic. This is because the stranger is actually Quasar, who holds a grudge against the Innkeep for running away from him following the death of their party 30 years ago.
- If the good ending of "Until Sunrise" is achieved, Caerlin will receive a prophecy with reads as follows: "Hope will fall and hope will rise. A hero will tether its final tread, burying the past, and keeping the dead." This is a reference to the events of Chapter 23, with things looking bleak until Fable comes along with the hope they need as the hero who'll defeat Quasar should the right choices be made.
- The Innkeeper's reaction to Fable trying to go on a quest without enough info, which is to try making them stay in the Tavern for their "safety". Near the end of the game, we learn the Innkeep did just that thirty years ago and it ended up with most of their old party dead.
- In the Strength ending of "The Parent Trap", Jade tells the Innkeep that she heard Zephir's parents cry out "Ne-" when he attacked them, only for him to interrupt her and say they cried out "N-No way!" instead. After Jade leaves, Zephir, going by Kumo at this point, changes their name to Nils, which sounds very close to their real name, Neil Brume.
Free-Range Children:
- Zephir was only 10 when they took on their very first quest in the Gravelmack and was only a little scared of the bleak stalkers. He plans to give the 10-year-old Melli her first quest, believing that she's old enough to embark on it.
- Melli herself learned to take care of herself after losing her parents at three, and as a result, she thinks she can do some quests alone after her first one with Zephir. This worries many of the patrons, especially Zephir, when she goes off to Morlya without telling anyone, but she returns safely and realizes after being called out by Zephir that she can't do everything alone.
Friendless Background:
- Fable never had any good company because of their bad luck. The Innkeep consoles them about it and can reach out to them as their first friend.
- Despite Baya's kind heart, people are scared of her and want to burn her down. According to the Lorebook, they were lonely for a long time, with only their plants as company, until they met the Banshee and the Mari-Morgan in one fateful Primordial solar eclipse. They've become her closest friends ever since.
Friendship Trinket:
- Clay buys friendship bracelets for himself and Tia or crafts them out of seashells after their first quest, but Tia initially refuses to wear them because she believes they're impractical for combat. Eventually, they both wear them in "Raiders of the Lost Archives", and Tia enchants them so they can sense where the other is while they're split up in the Everbloom Archives. Clay's bracelet becomes a Tragic Keepsake after Tia's death, and he cries when its sensing magic stops working.
- According to the Lorebook, the blue star on the tip of Hex's hat is a leftover of a friendship bracelet Grace made for him when they were younger.
Frozen Body Fluids: The Astraen whale normally cries golden dust, but when it was cursed with a potent frostbite, its tears turned into ice before hitting the ground.
Fun with Homophones: In the Dexterity ending of "Hey There Evelynn!", Zephir comes back from his quest at Marrow Castle. They tell the Innkeep that they're as stealthy as a knight— no, the night.
Gameplay and Story Segregation: When Quincy gives the Innkeep his Hot Chocolate recipe, he suggests trying it out or mixing him any other Dexterity drink. However, the Hot Chocolate conversation is exactly the same if the Innkeep mixes some other Dexterity drink instead, where they say they "couldn't wait to try it out" when they already made that drink before.
Giant Wall of Watery Doom: At the end of Act 2, Zenyth suddenly gets flooded by a tsunami, which almost sinks the entire first floor of the tavern. It was caused by the Pyre erupting and collapsing into the Primordial Sea, courtesy of Quasar according to the Extended Lorebook. Thankfully, the tavern is completely dry despite the window cracking, and your patrons are safe inside, although scared.
Got Me Doing It:
- The Innkeep sometimes slips into their customers' quirks without meaning to, such as Aria's penchant for bad puns and Rhea's Scottish accent.
- Hex ends up picking up Iniko's modern slang during their first quest together, to the annoyance of Grace, Caerlin, and the Innkeep. Hex is quick to point out that the latter two don't complain when Iniko does it.
Grail in the Garbage: In the Zoford quest, Melli searches everywhere in the wizard's office for clues on the missing familiars. She even searches the trashcan in the Charisma ending, but while she doesn't find any leads, she at least finds a new potion recipe for the Innkeep to try.
Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold:
- Fable has light blonde hair and is gentle and kind towards the other patrons and any citizen in need of help.
- Tia is a Knight in Shining Armor with long, flowing light blonde hair.
Haunted Castle: Countess Evelynn, a vain, thieving vampire, resides in Marrow Castle, which sits atop the rocks of Witch's Wrath Peak. She set up werewolf traps around the castle and has a pond full of tooth-spined guppies in the courtyard, and legend has it that anyone who tries to escape the castle will be merged into it and turned into its decorations.
Heroes Prefer Swords:
- Caerlin's a heroic Beastslayer who takes pride in her grand greatsword, which was passed down from her Baba. It's stronger than the average steel and can withstand high temperatures even without magical enhancements.
- Clay's a heroic, kindhearted giant who wields a claymore, a Scottish two-handed sword.
Hey, Catch!: In the Intelligence ending of "Fatal Company", Caerlin distracts the zombies by tossing a piece of bloodied cloth towards a cliff and pretending that she's feeding them a slab of meat. She almost gets tempted by her own game of fetch, but she resists it and successfully gets away from the zombies.
Hidden Depths:
- Besides being good with animals, Fable is also good at crosswords, which is why they offer to take care of Zephir's pet sheepfish Rufus for him since Rufus needs to do his daily crosswords to prevent his wool from getting strawy.
- Zephir knows how to braid hair, which they learned from their mother before she disappeared during the village fire. According to Zephir, that was how his mom apologized to him since she wasn't always direct with her words.
- According to the Lorebook, Melli's also interested in rock collecting.
- Although Archie's well-read, he's surprisingly knowledgable in poisonous plants, which helps him on his first quest.
- According to the Lorebook, Hex loves tea parties and dancing in the kitchen with his sister.
Holiday Mode: The v1.36.1 and v1.38 updates added Halloween and Christmas decorations, respectively, to the inn. As of the Among Us update, they can be toggled anytime.
Hypocrite Has a Point: When Zephir warns Melli not to run off to take on dangerous quests without telling anyone, she's quick to point out their hypocrisy on that. The Innkeep can side with Zephir and say that he's got a point, even though he's guilty of it himself.
Hypocritical Humor: When Jade reveals her first name, the Innkeep can tell her that if they had a name like that, they'd rather keep it to themself. Jade says that those are "bold words" for someone only known as Innkeep.
I Have Many Names: Due to territorial disputes between the Republic and the Magocracy, Dalwell is also known as the Amber Isles, and what to call the place is a heated topic. The fae creatures who settled there via a portal from Avalon call it Fairweather, while Clay simply calls it Kelpie Island because of its shape.
I Need a Freaking Drink:
- Rhea tends to ask for endurance-boosting drinks to help her listen to Kyle's rambling.
- If Grace's teleportation spell succeeds in sending her team to the Forbidden Valley and she survives, she immediately asks for an Intelligence potion to stabilize her brain from the severe mental pain she suffered from casting it.
Immortality Seeker: Kerebosia, the Necromancer Quasar and the Innkeep's old party fought, was obsessed with immortality and would do anything to get it.
Immune to Fire: Zigzagged with the Phoenix Chilis, which give the drinker fire resistance to things such as dragon breath, but they don't protect them from lava.
In-Series Nickname:
- Caerlin sometimes goes by "Caer" or "Lin", and doesn't care which one. You can choose which one to call her by at the end of her first meeting with you. Melli, on the other hand, calls her "Linny".
- In Tempest Tantrum, Baya calls Oleander "Lele".
In Spite of a Nail: In Tempest Tantrum, regardless of the choices that determine which quests were successful or failures in the main game, the Innkeep always has the Comical Coffee Cup Archie got them from Diria. However, there's no explanation on how the Innkeep got it if Theo died in "Fatal Company".
Innocently Insensitive:
- When Fable meets Skully for the first time, they're shocked that he can talk even as a skeleton. Fable apologizes for accidentally being racist, but Skully doesn't take offense because he knows that skeletons usually can't talk and he's the only one who was resurrected with the ability to do so.
- Una chides the Innkeep for unknowingly pressuring Baya, who's emotionally sensitive, into talking about the relationship breakdown between her friends.
- Despite Voy's charisma, the Innkeep notes that the phantasm is bad at reading between the lines, such as when he still offered to jam with Fable despite them telling him that their lute often goes out of tune.
Insistent Terminology: If Fable clears the first quest by talking down the werewolf, Caerlin states the day after that as annoying as she thinks they are to her, they helped her resolve a 10-year feud within her family. However, Fable insists that it's not a feud, but a miscommunication, because in their opinion, a "feud" implies a certain level of hostility.
Invisibility with Drawbacks: Fae Crystals and Ghost Berries provide the drinker temporary invisibility when added to the potion; they're recommended for stealth missions.
Item Compendium: The February 27, 2025 update added a gallery for all the trinkets your patrons give you across multiple saves.
Justified Tutorial: The tutorial for potion making is prompted by Fable asking if they can see how the Innkeeper makes their favorite drink. As for quest making, it's prompted by Caerlin asking if the Innkeeper remembers how to make quests.
Key Under the Doormat: In the Intelligence ending of "Mission: Magically Possible", Voyage and Iniko find out after having gone through the Wizard Tower that there was a key under the doormat. Melli would've told them about it earlier, but she wanted them to find it by themselves.
Killer Rabbit: According to the Extended Lorebook, tidal geckos are more vicious than their "adorable" species name implies. They have sharp teeth, spiked tails, and they literally turn the tides on their enemies should they intrude upon their watery domain.
Kill It with Ice: In the Defense ending of "Hey There Evelynn!", Zephir breaks off an icicle from their frost armor to stab Evelynn in the heart, slowly turning her body into ash.
Klatchian Coffee: Minthie gives the Innkeeper a strength drink called Cursed Coffee in Act 3, which comes in a steel chalice and the steam is ghosts. The recipe book makes it look like it's a forbidden drink, but it's just really strong coffee.
"When you peer inside the steaming chalice, looking at your own distorted reflection, you will find the darkest, swirling depths. The blankness will be all-consuming, a gloom so bitter you might think you might see the souls of the damned swimming inside. But really, you'll be looking at a strong cup of coffee. That's it."

Tropes L - O

Lame Pun Reaction: This conversation with Fable and Caerlin before the final battle:
Innkeep: [...] I could do without this feeling of ants running around in my stomach.
Fable: Me too. But I'm glad you care.
Inkeep: Would you say I Care-lin?
Fable and Caerlin: ...
Innkeep: Okay. Sorry.
Last-Name Basis: Maihda often go by their surnames, which are named after rocks, only confiding their first names to their immediate family or people they highly trust.
Last-Second Word Swap: When Hex takes on the quest at Morlya, he says that he's eager to investigate the abandoned wizard's tower for its scrolls of ancient magic, semi-cursed objects, and "books of forbidd— forgotten knowledge".
Late-Arrival Spoiler: Defied in Tempest Tantrum, which opens with a spoiler warning to the main game since it takes place after it, giving you a chance to press the back button when you see the intro.
Leaning on the Fourth Wall: In the bad ending of the Zoford quest, Zephir says that maybe in another timeline, he and Melli could've talked things out with the wizard instead of fighting him over a misunderstanding, hinting that the Charisma potion is the correct potion to give them in the next run.
Leeroy Jenkins: Quasar and the Innkeep's old party became so complacent in effortlessly defeating Kerebosia's goons, they overconfidently fought her directly without preparation. They seriously underestimated her powers that by the end of the quest, only Quasar and the Innkeep survived.
Lemony Narrator: In the Lorebook, the Planewalker presents the lore of Asteria in a conversational tone, occasionally snarking such as skipping over the section describing humans.
We all know about these guys already, so I won't bore you with any details. But they're here, varied, and quite loud.
Lethal Chef: In Tempest Tantrum, Oleander plans to attend his sister Bryony's dinner party. According to him, she didn't learn how to cook, but at least she's trying.
Oleander: [to Baya] And you don't mind potentially poisonous pie, right?
Lighter and Softer: Downplayed with Tempest Tantrum. While it still has a world-threatening calamity, it's not apocalyptic, unlike in the main game. People still get worried about their loved ones while Melli angsts over accidentally causing the disaster, but nobody dies in any of the endings. In fact, all the endings are good, if not bittersweet.
Literal Metaphor:
- When Baya tells Voy that the former struggles with making friends because people might burn them (although they don't scar easily), Voy thinks it's a metaphor for trying to move forward after being constantly abused. However, Baya meant it literally because she's a swamp witch and people are trying to burn her for it.
- In the Intelligence ending of the Morlya quest, Voy charms the door mimic by playing a tune that would "melt its metaphorical heart". He didn't expect it to literally melt away as he played an emotional song for it.
Literal-Minded:
- A two-way misunderstanding. Fable sarcastically says that their life is as exciting as a roasted nut. The Innkeep, not realizing what they meant, lists various types of nuts, but Fable awkwardly points out that they're allergic, which is why they compared their life to nuts. The Innkeep then asks if Fable actually meant that they're missing some spice, but Fable misinterprets that and talks about their stomach being sensitive to spices, prompting the Innkeep to clarify that Fable might be missing some spice in their life.
- Fable themself generally takes things literally, since they also start the tale of their first successful quest from the day of their birth when prompted by the Innkeep to start from the beginning.
- When Kyle gets concerned about Rhea drafting the concept of her ultimate weapon for the Ironheart Competition, the Innkeep suggests giving her space before talking to her. They can say that her patience is on cooldown, but Kyle says, "I don't think Rhea is cold, her room was very well heated. If anything, I think she's a very warm person!"
Living Shadow: In the depths of the Gravelmack live the bleak stalkers, shadow creatures with twisted antlers, velvet wings, and beaklike snouts, which feed on rocks, gemstones, and bones and crawl around in abandoned places such as the Everbloom Archives. They can't be killed by mortal weapons, their teeth are sharp enough to pierce through armor, and they're also attracted to light like moths. However, they're surprisingly cute and cuddly according to Tia and Clay, and they can be inspired to help adventurers in their quests.
Lore Codex: Your journal keeps track of your regular customers, along with the rumors they give you and quests you make out of them. There's also a message log of your conversations with them, a recipe and ingredient list for your potions, and the map of Phesoa.
Loser Buys Lunch: In their first meeting, Una and Jade, who both have decades-long winning streaks, challenge each other to a card game, with the loser having to pay for the next round of drinks.
Luck-Based Mission: There's an achievement for making Andu sparkle by making a Sparkling Nebula. However, it happens randomly.
Mage Tower: There's an abandoned wizard's tower on the island of Morlya that's Bigger on the Inside, twisted in the middle, and tilted by exactly 5 degrees. It's full of puzzles and traps such as a staircase that crumbles if someone steps on the wrong Pressure Plate, but it's also filled with treasure in a vault hidden past the gym. The tower is also well-protected with magic, so anyone who tries teleporting there risks getting trapped there or winding up in another plane.
Magic Mirror: The Banshee has a silver mirror adorned with heart carvings called the Mirror of Far Speech, which lets her communicate long-distance with the Mari-Morgan. According to the Lorebook, one must see the other person they want to contact in order to use the Mirror, and both parties must be within one mile of a body of freshwater.
Magic Music:
- Voy is always seen with his Chaybbean Haegeum, whose wood is made of Ethereal Bamboo and whose strings are, according to the Lorebook, made of Chaybbean ghost spider silk. According to Iniko, if Voy plays his instrument the wrong way, he could accidentally open a rift that could suck him into the Ethereal Weave. The Lorebook also says that the Haegeum was his 21st birthday gift from his family.
- According to the Lorebook, the Lute of Twilight Strings has a small spirit in its core that grants buffs on the user's healing spells or summons small flurries of flowers if the right notes are played.
Magical Library: The Everbloom Archives were one of the great seven Maihdan archives, which grew bigger with more information about the cosmos thanks to their fearless archivists. However, they fell to an unknown foe and have been lost in time ever since. Books from the Aperture were transferred to the Gaian branch of Everbloom, and Tia seeks to find the library for any info about the star rain.
Man on Fire: In the Strength ending of "One Zoetrope to Rule them All" in Tempest Tantrum, Oleander jumps in front of Clay and Tia to protect them from the rampaging Tempest. He then hugs it and gets engulfed in its flames, but he doesn't get hurt by them thanks to the potion's Phoenix Chilis giving him heat protection.
Masculine, Feminine, Androgyne Trio: A five-member example with the Realm Keepers, who are composed of two males (Tuat and Leviathan), two females (Gaia and Cassiopeia), and one dragon who is Otherworldly and Sexually Ambiguous (Ur).
Meaningful Echo: In the Strength ending of "The Parent Trap", Jade says, "This is for the kid you left behind," as she prepares to fight her client's parents, just when the father attacks her. The client then shows up and attacks him, saying this exact line.
Meaningful Name:
- Some of the Rogue's aliases are related to their element such as Zephir^noteafter "zephyr", a light, gentle breeze and Kumo^note. Also, his real name, Neil Brume, can be translated to “Cloud Mist”.
- As per Maihda tradition, Jade's named after a green gemstone, much like the color of her eyes and her bony arms. Her pet turtle Onyx and hog mount Obsidian are named after black stones.
- Una N'diaye is a play on undine, a water spirit.
- Baya can be translated to “berry”, which is fitting for a nature druid.
Memorial Statue: In the normal ending, a statue is made in honor of Eleithyia outside the tavern.
Message in a Bottle: In the Intelligence ending of "The Lagoon of Tranquility", Zephir and Fable form a scheme to get the Banshee and Mari-Morgan to meet at Lonesome Lagoon and talk to each other, by sending them forged messages in bottles, pretending they're from the other party. The letters are written in invisible ink and infused with runes, and then placed in bottles filled with water of the target locations. Magical water droplets are then sprinkled on them before they're thrown into the sea.
Mistaken for Name:
- When Baya and Voyage first meet, the latter introduces himself as "Voy, that's short for Voyage". Baya takes it literally and tells "Voy-that's-short-for-Voyage" to come visit their spa someday.
- When Rhea asked Caerlin to name her sword after successfully forging it with Dragon Fire, the wolf panicked and said that it was "Just a Greatsword". To her embarrassment, the name stuck, but Fable assures her that Ur's greataxe is most commonly translated as "Just a Greataxe", so her sword fits the naming convention.
Mix-and-Match Critters: According to the Extended Lorebook, sheepfish are sheep with fins for legs and tails that are owned by farmers since they can't survive on their own. When found in a rare herd, they migrate between small lakes during warm months and wide, grassy field in warmer regions during cold months. Zephir owns a black sheepfish named Rufus.
Modest Royalty: Archie and Theodore have long Ancestral Names as members of wealthy diplomat families, but they prefer going by just their first names.
Mondegreen Gag:
- When Skully tells Caerlin about the Sigils of Alkahest, she mishears them as "Sigils of Alcoholic Zest" and tells Rhea that when she asks her to infuse her Baba's greatsword with Dragon fire from the Ever-Burning Flame to make it as strong as them.
- When Melli declares that she'll look for more clues about the Big Bad, she claims that although finding them makes her calmer, Zephir and the others wouldn't need them because according to her, Zephir said that they would "kick [the Big Bad]'s abs (ass)" anyway.
Morton's Fork: No matter what drink you give for both "Heir of Dragon Fire" and "The Twilight Chase", they will always end in failure because Quasar had spied on both parties with his pet jackdaw and knew how to thwart their plans to stop him.
Multiple Endings:
- The final battle’s outcome and the credits shown depends on the quests' outcomes:
  - The End: Get mostly negative outcomes. Hex turns on the group and Quasar wins. He then makes one last visit to the tavern as the world ends. The screen then fades to black, and flecks of magic float around as the credits play.
  - All Well's That Ends Well: Get a balance of positive and negative outcomes. Your friends win but Grace doesn’t survive the teleportation spell, to Hex’s sorrow. The credits show a statue being made in Tia's honor.
  - Party Time!: Get mostly positive outcomes. Your friends win and they are all alive, so they hold a celebration together during the credits.
  - The End... Together?: A secret ending that unlocks if the player has gotten all bad quest outcomes up to chapter 22. During Quasar’s visit to the tavern, after choosing specific dialogues the Innkeeper can now accept his offer to watch the end of the world together. The credits show Neil, Melli, and Caerlin stumbling upon the now abandoned tavern, helpless to do anything as the sky turns green and the world ends.
- Like the main game, Tempest Tantrum has multiple endings depending on your choices, all of them bittersweet:
  - Ending 1: The first quest is done with Intelligence while the second is done with Dexterity. Una, Clay, and the Highland priests successfully rebuild the zoetrope for the Tempest, but while it calms down, it feels sad because its newly rebuilt home doesn't feel the same as it was before. Oleander then repurposes the zoetrope by placing it where the Ever-Burning Flame used to be, where the Tempest can make dancing light shows with it, and the Primordial Storm stops because the fire spirit feels happy with its new purpose.
  - Ending 2: The first quest is done with Intelligence while the second is done with Strength. Clay, Melli, and Oleander successfully calm down the Tempest, stopping the Primordial Storm, but the fire spirit can't go home because its zoetrope was accidentally destroyed for good by Una, Clay and the Highland priests. However, Clay offers it to become a guiding light at the animal shelter for new adventurers, and Una promises that she'll build a new zoetrope for it.
  - Ending 3: The first quest is done with Dexterity while the second is done with Charisma. Archie, Voy, and Oleander drop the zoetrope on the way to the researchers, destroying it, but at least Baya catches it before it can fall into Dead Man's Lake. The researchers at the Forbidden Valley then build a lantern for the Tempest as its new home while the party rescue the spirit from a trap laid by a sleet moose. The Tempest is scared of its new home because it might be forgotten again, but Oleander assures it that it won't happen again, and it accepts it and absorbs the Primordial Storm with it, turning its flame purple. The spirit now lives with the researchers, having found its new purpose.
  - Ending 4: The first quest is done with Dexterity while the second is done with Defense. Archie nearly gets pulled into Dead Man's Lake by a lake monster, but Baya saves him. However, the monster pulls the second half of the zoetrope into the lake before Archie, Voy, and Oleander can take it to the researchers. They then set up a trap for the Tempest, but Oleander nearly kills it for harming them. However, he comes up with a new plan and traps the Tempest in the remaining part of the zoetrope, and then threatens to destroy it with Evelynn's dagger just to get Leviathan's attention. Oleander then threatens to him to take back the Tempest and its home or else the elf will destroy it, and Leviathan laughs as he immediately accepts the offering, for it was a gift from Ur. After which, Oleander uses Evelynn's dagger to absorb the entire Primordial Storm, and then open a vortex to return the Tempest and the zoetrope to Leviathan. The dagger then sticks to Oleander after the quest because the Innkeep believes Leviathan chose him to wield it.
Multiple Head Case: One job that Jade took up had her helping a farmer wrangle her flock of two-headed sheep, which broke lose after the star rain destroyed her barn. These sheep are too stubborn to be easily moved or startled since one head keeps watch of intruders while the other is grazing, but morning dew clovers can tame them easily and let them obey the handler's commands.
Mundane Utility:
- Andu can breathe fire, but he's too lazy to use it, although he sometimes does it to roast marshmallows.
- According to the Lorebook, Melli uses her "Butter" Knife of Feline Grace, which she got from Zephir as a gift, as to spread marmalade on bread.
- Evelynn is mentioned to use her life-draining dagger, the Vampire's Kiss, to peel oranges.
My Parents Are Dead: In the good ending of "Hey There Evelynn!", Zephir asks Melli if she goes to school. She says she doesn't because she thinks she's smart enough. Zephir then asks if Melli's parents agree with her, but she quickly corrects him that her parents died, so they can't tell her to go to school.
Mysterious Note: Early on, Kyle meets a random stranger in the market, who asks him to pass his letter to the Innkeep, whom the stranger claims is his Old Friend. The Innkeep doesn't open it immediately due to their emotional baggage over the stranger, not taking until the end of Act 2 to finally read it. It's an invitation from the stranger to the Innkeep to watch his astral show for them as a way to rekindle their old friendship from 30 years ago... But right after the Innkeep finishes reading, Zenyth suddenly gets flooded, an ominous sign that the astral event might be connected to this and the star rain that happened at the end of Act 1.
Myth Prologue: The story opens with the player character narrating about the land of Gaia, only to realize that the relevant setting is just in their tavern just outside the small town of Zenyth, Phesoa, so they start over, although they're still dramatic in their storytelling. In the tavern, they serve drinks and potions to travelers of various fantasy races to help them on their journeys, but it's not an easy task because the Innkeep (as they're called) has "big shoes to fill".
Names to Run Away from Really Fast:
- One of Zephir's alternate names is "Blade" because they kill people with ease, but Melli thinks it's because of their sharp tongue.
- "Quasar Duskbringer" is a name befitting for a madman who plans to start the apocalypse, and Zephir, the "edgy" rogue as called in his in-game profile, is a little jealous of it.
Never Got to Say Goodbye: If the Innkeep tells Zephir not to inform Melli of his departure for Boreas with Fable, he later regrets it because he's afraid Melli might've died in the Primordial Flood and desperately tries looking for her. She turns out fine, however, to Zephir's huge relief, although they get mad at her for leaving them without telling them first.
Nightmare Weaver: Phantasms are demonic beings that are called living nightmares because of their ability to conjure scary illusions out of people's dreams.
No Fourth Wall: The game is fully aware of the conventions of a fantasy Tabletop RPG and the characters casually namedrop its various terminologies:
- When Fable nervously tries out the first quest, they worry if they're "underleveled".
- When Rhea first enters the tavern, she rudely brushes off the Innkeep as an "empty babbler". They can confidently tell her that they're "all but empty", and Rhea remarks that the Innkeep was given more dialogue options than most. The latter also adds that they're different from the "average background character".
- When the Innkeep serves Rhea her first order, they call her "Valued customer number two". Rhea responds, "Oh, are ye hittin' the placeholder text? Let me try."
- When Caerlin tries swearing for the first time, she instantly notices her curse words are being censored. The innkeeper notes that it's for youth protection as "the age-rating system is harsh". They say the same when Polly and Scott ask for booze.
No Longer with Us: Inverted twice.
- In Chapter XXIII, Clay returns from "The Twilight Chase" crying and tells the Innkeep that Tia is "gone". The Innkeep thinks she simply left the party, but Clay clarifies to them that she died.
- In the Bittersweet Ending, the Innkeep tells Hex that Grace "didn't make it". Hex thinks she didn't make it back in time or she just took a nap, but the Innkeep sadly clarifies to him that she died casting the teleportation spell.
Noodle Incident: In Tempest Tantrum, if the Innkeep tells Archie that the former visited the Corilifean Library before, they add that they don't think the authorities would let them in again. Archie just eyes them suspiciously and tells them that he'll ask them about it another time before continuing his story about his party's quest there. If the Innkeep gives his party a Dexterity drink, they admit that they used to love breaking into places, but they tell Archie to just imagine how they did it because it's another story for another time.
Not in Front of the Kid!: When Zephir swears within Melli's earshot, the Innkeep rushes to get the former a drink so they would "stop cursing at the child".
"Not So Different" Remark: Fable points out to Caerlin, a wolf Vukakin who initially disliked them for stepping in to help her fight the werewolf, that Vukakin and werewolves, despite their lupine similarities, are both stubborn kin who refuse to ask for help and also steal sheep.
Nothing Is Scarier: In the Defense ending of "Fatal Company", Caerlin and Rhea explain how the escort mission went eerily wrong when darkness surrounded them.
Caerlin: You know somethin' is goin' on if you hear nothin'. No birds, no crickets, no wind. Just dead silence.
Rhea: Didn't even realize it until Caerlin pulled me over.
Caerlin: Just as I was explainin' it to her, my ears perked up. Far away, I heard some low hummin' sounds.
Rhea: Didn't hear 'em meself. I thought ye were making it up. Imagining noises in the dark, to make up for the absence of light. Sometimes the brain does things like that.
Caerlin: It was so silent, except for all that hummin'... I started gettin' this weird feelin' in my guts.
OOC Is Serious Business:
- Andu's usually nonchalant, but when the Innkeeper is making a drink for Quasar, the poor thing is so terrified, he doesn't show the signs for drinks.
- The normally cheerful and pompous Archie comes back crying and only giving the Innkeep Stunned Silence if his first quest ends in failure.
- Hex doesn't say his usual catchphrase after returning from the failure of the "Heir of Dragon Fire" quest to show how serious things is.
Obsessively Organized: Countess Evelynn labels all her personal belongings, although she forgot to label her wall clock, which Zephir steals if the quest to take back Kyle's Invisibility Cloak goes well.
Obviously Not Fine: When Zephir is about to tell Fable and the Innkeep that the Air Echo's parents are alive all along, he angrily says that "Nothing's wrong. Everything's awesome." Fable and the Innkeep can tell that Zephir's actually not okay, prompting the Innkeep to get him his usual Charisma drink so he can explain his situation as calmly as possible.
Odd Name, Normal Nickname: Leviathan is called "Levi" by the Innkeep whenever they pray to him.
Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Since the game takes place only in the tavern, we only hear about the patrons' quests, but since their stories are detailed, it's easy to imagine how they turned out.
Oh, My Gods!: Several characters thank the Realm Keepers for their blessings and use "Drake" or "Dragon" in place of "god".
Ominous Clouds: In Tempest Tantrum, mysterious blue and purple clouds swirl outside the Tavern as the magical storm in Phesoa worsens.
Our Angels Are Different: According to the Lorebook, seraphs have Divine Parentage from any kin who has had influence with the Dragons. They gain divine powers as they grow thanks to the Dragons' blessing, and they often have glowing eyes or dragon scales as signs of their divinity. Seraphs are believed to be born with a special purpose, but some wish to stray away from their "destiny". Their mystical powers let them outlive their parent kin by several decades.
Our Banshees Are Louder: There's a banshee who lives in Lonesome Lagoon, whose shrieks shatter bones. She's in love with the Mari-Morgan, but they got into an argument that's nearly making them want to break up, to their friend Baya's worry, so Baya asks the Innkeep to make a quest for someone to get her friends back together. Despite the Banshee's relationship troubles, she's kind enough to sing for you and invite you to her cave if you approach her nicely.
Our Elves Are Different: Elves are typically Forest Rangers who can live up to centuries old. Your first customer, Fable, is a 110-year-old elf ranger who looks like a young adult, while Hex and Grace are half-human, half-elf, with the former inheriting elven traits and the latter inheriting human traits.
Our Giants Are Bigger: According to the Lorebook, giants come in different varieties, from the dreamy to the horrifying. They tend to be lone wolves.
Our Gnomes Are Weirder: According to the Lorebook, gnomes are a short, friendly humanoid kin whose skin resembles porcelain or terracotta clay. They often live in isolated magical terrains, where they repurpose the local flora into homes, workshops, and "immaculate" saunas. They also have cuisine that's almost as fabled as their inventions.
Our Hydras Are Different: According to the Extended Lorebook, hydras are nine-headed serpentine creatures that serve as Guardians to the Dragons. Hydras are mostly docile but can attack intruders if provoked. They also like riddles, tea, and 3D puzzles, such as the Amaranthine Hydra Fable befriends.
Our Mermaids Are Different: According to the Lorebook, Astral Mermaids are graceful, gentle creatures said to be harbingers of harmony by people of the Central Plane. Their bodies shimmer with stars, and they work as ranchers of Astral Beasts.
Our Nymphs Are Different: According to the Lorebook, nymphs are Avalonian water folk who have a penchant for music, arts, poetry, and community.
Our Sirens Are Different: According to the Lorebook, sirens are the Primordial counterparts of Astral Mermaids. Unlike the beautiful merfolk of the Astral Plane, sirens are grizzly sea creatures with sharp teeth and claws and the ability to command storms.
Our Vampires Are Different: Vampires are an undead kin descended from Mikha'el, who was tricked into becoming one by Tuat in exchange for immortality. Besides drinking blood, being sensitive to the sun, and shapeshifting into bats, vampires have two ways of procreating: they can be born from other vampires (although they have a notoriously low birthrate) or created from ancient blood rituals.
Our Werebeasts Are Different: According to the Lorebook, there are other werecreatures besides werewolves such as wereowls, although they're quite rare.
Our Werewolves Are Different: Werewolves are kin who turn into wolves under the full moon and are easily killed with silver arrows. However, their canine instincts make them weak to a game of fetch. There's also a werewolf community near Ashen Grove who are astrologers.
Our Zombies Are Different: Zombies are reanimated corpses without souls, which mainly feast on flesh but gnaw on trees if they can't find any. They're usually dimwitted and blindly follow their leader like a pack, and they're easily killed by weapons blessed with the Realm Keepers' magic. In the good ending of "The Vegan Dead", it's revealed that the zombies are actually enslaved by the Necromancer and are suffering great pain when gnawing on the Pale Trees, so Skully convinces them to break free of their leader's influence and unionize against him.
Overcomplicated Menu Order: The Lorebook has this drink suggestion from Una for the Innkeep:
More █████. Less magic. @#$%&!. I want a pineapple drink. Also where are all the little umbrellas? You should theme a drink around me. How about one with a miniature whirlpool?
Overly Narrow Superlative: After the Innkeep has a heart-to-heart with Fable when the latter returns from their long absence following their fight with the Innkeep, the elf tells them that they're their favorite innkeeper, when the Innkeep is the only one who has ever run the tavern while Fable has never visited any other tavern before this one.

Tropes P - Y

Paper-Thin Disguise: In the Charisma ending of the Zoford quest, Melli hides in the wizard's office and pretends to be a cat, even though she's a Cat Folk wearing clothes. The wizard is fooled for a while... until Melli blurts out that she wants some chocolate milk, forgetting that non-anthro cats don't normally talk.
Parental Abandonment:
- According to the Lorebook, Kyle was abandoned at a young age by his cowardly parents but was later adopted by a loving couple with a magnificent castle.
- Zephir lost his parents in a village fire when he was seven, which was started by a pretentious noble who hired some criminals to set fire to a farmer's barn over a disagreement over payments. Zephir then took revenge on the killer and tried to find family in the thieves' guild, but they weren't keen on being close-knit, so Zephir set out on the lonely path, with only their sheepfish Rufus as company until Melli came along. It then turns out that his parents are alive all along but abandoned him during the fire, making him seek out revenge on them.
- Melli's parents were eaten by zombies, which were then eaten by a T-rex, when she was three, and she solved their murder case. Their deaths motivated her to become a detective and help other people in need.
The Password Is Always "Swordfish": In "Mission: Magically Possible", the solutions to the doors in the Wizard Tower are "password", "password's passed the password", and "1234".
Platonic Declaration of Love: Although they've already become good friends after their first mission, Clay declares Tia as his best friend before they embark on the quest to stop the Big Bad from entering the Twilight Chasm. Tia, as serious as she is, is genuinely shocked by Clay, but she is touched by his gesture and calls him her best friend in return.
Pocket Dimension: The Ring of Beast Storing stores one willing creature inside its gemstone. According to the Lorebook, it enters a harmless demiplane which provides it with pillows, a pink cloudy sky, and "the perfect opportunity for nap time". Time inside the demiplane doesn't pass the same way as outside it, but it varies on the item.
Poor Communication Kills:
- Caerlin's favorite uncle, Dragan, apparently betrayed her family by getting into fights with her Uncle Fedor and then selfishly running away with all their savings and leaving them a note not to find him. Caerlin hasn't seen Dragan in 10 years and vows to kill him in revenge the next time they meet. It's revealed that Dragan got his lycanthropy in the annual family gathering and got into a lot of fights with his husband Fedor. Dragan then ran away out of shame of his monthly transformations into a werewolf, and had Caerlin learned about this much earlier, she and her family would've tried their best to help him cope with it instead of Caerlin holding a decade-long grudge against him. Regardless of the outcome, Dragan is spared, either because Fable successfully talked him down, or they couldn't bring themself to kill him and instead drops him off with the swamp witch to try curing him.
- The reason the familiars of Zoford are mysteriously disappearing is that they left their owners to ask a wizard to remove their magical bonds with them and turn them back into normal animals. They aren't happy with their dragonlike bodies, but they didn't tell their owners because they were afraid of how they'd react if they would no longer be able to communicate with them.
Portal Network:
- After Kerebosia's defeat and the death of Quasar and the Innkeep's party members 30 years ago, five interplanar portals were accidentally created from their souls as a result of Quasar's soul-shattering spell. This caused another great migration of all kin across the realms thanks to the portals making interdimensional travel easier.
- According to the Extended Lorebook, the silk of the ghost spiders of Chaybbean, which forms a complicated network between realms, is what makes interplanar travel possible. The silk is also used to make the strings of Voy's haegeum, which lets him open portals with it.
Port Town:
- The harbor city of Zoford boasts the largest port of Phesoa, which serves as a trade hub between it and Vielos. It's a popular residence for wizards and other mages.
- Amassa, the capital of Diria, is the second most important port city of Phesoa. The city amasses a melting pot of cultures, mostly from Asteria, which makes it another popular trade hub.
- Borkam is another port city which is a popular destination for retired adventurers. It's also a frequent hub for fisherfolk to share their seafaring stories to curious travelers.
Potion-Brewing Mechanic: Your main job has you creating potions for patrons, mainly to help on quests. First, you get an order from a customer, which gets pinned in your journal, then you find the matching recipe and draw it on the chalkboard. The recipe is represented by a five-point radar chart, indicating how much of the five attributes (strength, charisma, defense, intelligence, and dexterity) is needed for the potion. You then pour potion ingredients and/or add infusions into the beaker, with some potions requiring infusions since the beaker can only hold up to five portions of any ingredient. Any unwanted potion ingredients can be fed to Andu and the infusions can be swapped out or removed. Once you've made your potion, you can ring the bell to summon a portal to mix it and teleport it to your customer.
Power Crystal: Citrin are gems infused with the divine magic of the dragon deities, which bless the drinker with the power to fight the undead.
Precision F-Strike:
- Melli, a sweet Vukakin kitten, swears for the first time when she and Archie admit that they couldn't find any more vital info about the Big Bad. Archie and the Innkeep are shocked by her, and she implies that she learned that swear word from Zephir.
- Clay, a Gentle Giant, rages and swears for the first time out of grief over Tia's death because the Realm Keepers are neutral and wouldn't do anything about it.
Protective Charm: According to the Lorebook, the Raven Rose Snow Globe can cast a powerful protective spell once a day when held with both hands and the spell is cast with love in one's heart.
Pun: When Rhea tells her story about the green ooze that attacked her and Kyle before they arrived at Wayfarer's Inn, she says that she was minin' her own business and struck gold when the ooze stole it from her.
Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: Quasar does this when he accuses the Innkeep of abandoning him out of cowardice for not supporting his evil ambitions.
Quasar: Didn't we promise to always stand by each other's side? To. Never. Be. Alone. Again?
Punctuation Shaker: The first vampire was known as Mikha'el, but most people in the present just call him Mike.
Pungeon Master: Aria's "Wanted!" Poster states that she was banned from the tavern for telling too many bad puns, even though she thought they were "incrELFible". The Innkeep even admits that she's made them start making them, too.
Punny Name:
- One of your customers is a giant Earth Echo named Clay More, like the Scottish two-handed sword.
- In the Guestbook, Turkoisefire compliments the choir and singing acts directed by A. Nony Mouse.
Puppy-Dog Eyes: In Tempest Tantrum, the Innkeep can convince Archie to become Melli's substitute assistant by telling him that she'll be sad without him. Melli then pulls off an adorable crying face, and Archie gets moved by it.
Pyrrhic Victory:
- Some bad endings of quests have the patrons succeeding in their main goal, but at a great cost.
  - In the first quest, Fable successfully catches Dragan and sends him to the swamp witch to try curing him of his lycanthropy. However, Caerlin is still hung-up over his abandonment of her, and Fable tries cheering her up by introducing her uncle to the werewolf community. Unfortunately, he isn't allowed in it because his story is "too sad" and the community feels hopeless for him. Fable then feels guilty of not letting Dragan talk it out sooner.
  - In "Hey There Evelynn!", Zephir kills Evelynn and returns the Cape of Invisibility to Kyle, but the latter feels melancholic upon receiving it because he still loved his ex-wife deep down despite her stealing his cape from him on their wedding day.
  - In "Until Sunrise", Caerlin collects the Wyvern Chimera's saliva for Kyle's vampire sunscreen by slaying it, but she regrets doing so because she believes her Baba, who communicated with Guardians like the Chimera, would be furious at her for it. Caerlin at least gives it a proper burial to honor it and her Baba.
  - In "A Scandal in Zoford", Melli solves the case of the missing familiars, but she and Zephir get into a misunderstanding with the wizard and end up fighting him instead of talking things out with him. The wizard, who genuinely tried freeing the familiars from their masters by turning them into regular animals, dies in the fire he caused to try killing Zephir and Melli, and they don't realize his actual plans until the familiars telepathically communicate that to them. Melli then feels guilty of the wizard's death after the familiars check on him and run away from her in grief.
  - In "Mission: Magically Possible", Hex successfully retrieves the spells he wants to study, but the tower is set ablaze due to his team's carelessness, destroying the rest of the treasure and leaving him disappointed.
  - In "The Vegan Dead", Caerlin and Skully successfully slay most of the horde of zombies gnawing on the trees of Pale Woods, but they don't find out why they're doing so because they didn't have enough charisma to resolve the situation nonviolently and ask around what was happening. It's not until Tia warns them of what's happening to the Aether Tree in the capital when they realize too late why the remaining zombies were eating the trees.
- In the Innkeep's backstory, Quasar was forced to cast the soul-shattering spell on Kerebosia after she killed the other party members, making the Innkeep run away out of grief. Kerebosia was destroyed for good, but the spell didn't resurrect the others, so Quasar blamed the Innkeep for their deaths and grew to hate them ever since.
"Ray of Hope" Ending: In the Intelligence ending of "Night at the Library" in Tempest Tantrum, the second piece of the zoetrope ends up broken because Melli wasn't able to resurface in time before the water leaked into her bubble and into her pocket. However, Melli's party soon realizes it isn't damaged beyond repair, so Melli suggests having Una fix it and then have the Highland priests forge it with divine magic. In fact, the rumor that's unlocked from this is called "High Hopes".
Reading Tea Leaves: One wizard whom Iniko encountered foretold the falling stars on Phesoa by using tea leaves.
"The Reason You Suck" Speech: Jade is so brutally honest, she has choice words to say for the people she's against.
- In the Strength ending of "The Parent Trap", she harshly calls out her client's parents for abandoning their child like cowards and unknowingly sending them down the path of revenge. She even threatens them at spearpoint.
  Jade: You two are by far the worst parents I've ever had the misfortune of witnessing. I can't believe anyone could be as cowardly and pathetic as you both are. And for your own sakes, I really hope you haven't crushed any other children's hopes and dreams.
- She verbally tears into the Innkeep for refusing Fable a potion as punishment for storming off without reading the quest details first, leading to their disappearance; allowing Quasar into the tavern and not getting rid of his jackdaw spy sooner; and sending Jade's party on a quest that's doomed to fail from the start because of said spying, which resulted in Tia's death and everyone feeling hopeless about stopping the apocalypse; all because the Innkeep was being complicit with their job as a bartender and not ensuring their patrons' safety more seriously. Jade gets so frustrated with the Innkeep, she stops believing in their Rousing Speeches to not give up yet because she now sees no point in trying anymore. Zephir and Caerlin agree with Jade's points and also call out the Innkeep for unintentionally endangering Fable and everyone else.
Refusal of the Call:
- Although Caerlin is initially reluctant to hunt down the werewolf herself, she still takes on the quest anyway because she just happened to be at the attack site when Fable, who actually signed up for it, arrives there and either interrupts her fight with the werewolf or mistakes her for him and shoots her, to her frustration. It's turns out that Caerlin was just joking about not wanting to do the quest, for she was just trying to cope with having to fight her Uncle Dragan, who is the werewolf all along, and she vowed to kill him for abandoning her and her Uncle Fedor.
- Zephir is hung-up on killing his parents for abandoning him, when he mistakenly believed they died in the village arson, so he assigns the quest to someone else. In the bad ending of the quest, where Zephir stops Jade from killing his parents and fights them himself, having regretted his plan at the last moment.
Relationship Revolving Door: One of the choices in Tempest Tantrum reveals that the Banshee and the Mari-Morgan were on the verge of their fifth breakup when Baya asked the Innkeep to put up a quest for someone to help reconcile them for her.
Repeat What You Just Said: This conversation if the Innkeep tells Caerlin that their favorite Realm Keeper is Leviathan.
Caerlin: Why? You like snakes?
Innkeep: I do. I also enjoy elemental magic. And swimming. And chaos.
Caerlin: What was that last one?
Innkeep: Swimming.
Caerlin: Right.
Resigned to the Call: Upon taking up the first quest the Innkeep puts up, Fable nervously tries talking themself out of it despite wanting to take on it, because it brings back bad memories of their very first adventure. They tried helping out a party trekking through Ashen Grove, but they accidentally led them to the Mari-Morgan, a wrathful spirit who drowns anyone who comes her way in Shiver Mere. Fable nearly got drowned by the Mari-Morgan and had to be saved by the more experienced party, and the elf became a laughingstock among them and has been reluctant to go adventuring ever since. However, the Innkeep encourages Fable to follow their heart and overcome their fears so they can bravely take on the new quest.
Retired Badass:
- Caerlin's grandma used to tell her stories about the dragons she fought, before the latter left her family to spend her last moments away from them. "Baba" handed down her grand greatsword to Caerlin, and this along with her stories is what motivates Caerlin to fight the Wyvern Chimera to collect its saliva for vampire sunscreen.
- Despite being retired, Una offers to help out other adventurers with her knowledge from her old quests.
Rhetorical Question Blunder: The Act 2 Interlude opens with this conversation with Polly and Scott.
Polly: Who said we can't road trip all by ourselves?
Scott: Liam did, I think.
Innkeep: I think that was perhaps a rhetorical question.
Rhino Rampage: The spinel rhinos of Diria are extremely temperamental creatures that destroy infrastructure such as bridges. According to the Extended Lorebook, their aggressive behavior presumably stemmed from the conflict between the dwarves and the Maihda, who both once domesticated these creatures.
Riding into the Sunset: The Innkeep can tease Zephir and Fable with this trope if "The Lagoon of Tranquility" is successful, to their embarrassment.
Innkeep: Glad you two didn't run off into the sunset together.
Rock Theme Naming:
- Maihda have surnames that match the gemstones their bones are made of. Fittingly, Jade has jade skeletal arms while Skully, whose skeleton's made of alabaster, remembers that his surname was Alabaster when he was alive.
- Jade's pet turtle Onyx and hog mount Obsidian are named after black rocks.
Sacred Flames: The Ever-Burning Flame is said to be a gift from Leviathan to the first mortals. One version of the legend states that Leviathan used it to bestow Elemental Powers upon his chosen, while another version claims that one of his Guardians stole the Flame from him instead. The Flame is still burning in an ancient temple in the Highlands, keeping the hope of Asteria alive. It is also infused with divine magic that can bless any weapon to become as powerful as the weapons of the Realm Keepers. In "Heir of Dragon Fire", the Flame was unfortunately extinguished by the flood, and the temple was long destroyed by the time Hex's party arrives there.
Schrödinger's Question: Due to the lack of an Old Save Bonus, what happens in the main game doesn't carry over to Tempest Tantrum. Instead, the DLC opens with Una talking to the Innkeep on how the other patrons are doing after their victory over Quasar. She asks them several questions whose answers determine which quests were successful or failed in the main game, and thus their ramifications in the DLC are determined by the player. For example, if they decide that only the star whale was saved, Ur's Greataxe will appear as a decoration since Hex gives it to the Innkeep only in the Bittersweet Ending, where Tia doesn't become a star as well.
Screen Shake: The screen shakes twice in the game: once during Chapter XIII and again in Chapter XXIII, due to the calamities in Phesoa.
Screw This, I'm Outta Here!: There's a secret achievement for making Andu hide at the bottom of his bucket because he's fed up with you constantly making a drink that doesn't fit the requested ones for a quest.
Sealed Evil in a Can:
- In the Bittersweet Ending, Hex casts Soul Bind on Quasar to seal him inside Ur's Greataxe as karma for stealing it from them. He then gives it to the Innkeep as a decoration for the Tavern.
- In Tempest Tantrum, Melli accidentally breaks a mysterious contraption that housed a fire spirit, which gets upset and sets the forest near Clay's animal shelter on fire. Luckily, Clay and Melli put out the fire in time, but the fire spirit escapes from them. The spirit, called the Tempest, throws a tantrum that causes calamitous weather in Phesoa, so Melli must repair the zoetrope to put it back inside and stop it.
Selective Slaughter:
- While Caerlin has no problem with slaying beasts, she draws the line at killing Guardians because her Baba, who communicated with them, would be furious about it. This is why in the bad ending of "Until Sunrise", Caerlin regrets accidentally killing the Wyvern Chimera just to collect its saliva for Kyle's vampire sunscreen.
- As a mercenary, Jade has no problem being hired to kill, but she draws the line at innocents and parents because she'd hate to orphan their children. It's why she's reluctant to kill Zephir's parents for them in the bad ending of "The Parent Trap".
Shout-Out:
- Some of the quests are references to films:
- The quest "A Scandal in Zoford" is one to a short story starring another detective.
- If the good ending of "Until Sunrise" is achieved, Caerlin encounters a mouse with a wizard hat. The Innkeeper comments they prefer the detectives.
- The description for Sailor's Courage says that it gives "even the driest landlubber the qualities of a good sailor...Spinach not included."
- Iniko shapeshifts their fingers to play the World's Smallest Violin when they complain that they were busy playing Magic: The Scattering when the tsunami happened.
- One of the banned patrons on the Wanted Wall is named The Wizard of Paws.
- One of the reviews in the Guestbook says, "Tom and Greta survived the Darkest Dungeon."
- One of the Innkeep's lines when serving Kyle his drink is "Here. With all the strength of a raging fire."
- In the bad ending of "Twinkle Twinkle, Deadly Stars", Tia performs a ritual with Clay to try communicating with the Astraen whale's essence after killing it. Clay says that its thoughts were "like A Song of Ice and Fire".
- When the Innkeep gives Hex his Intelligence drink to help him "understand the meaning of... everything", he cheerfully shouts "42!" to the Innkeep's confusion.
- In Tempest Tantrum, the Innkeep can mention having stayed up all night reading Archie's latest book, Sense and Sensibilities and Zombies.
Sickly Green Glow: At the end of Chapter XXII, the sky outside the Tavern glows an evil teal green when Quasar Duskbringer arrives.
Simple Solution Won't Work: In Tempest Tantrum, Una asks the Innkeep if the latter can call Leviathan to fix the zoetrope, but they say they tried praying to him but failed because even as a devotee, they don't have a direct line to him, while he sticks to the Realm Keepers' Oath of Neutrality to only step in to help mortals if he believes it's absolutely necessary.
Skewed Priorities: Voy is more concerned by his haegeum getting wet from the Primordial Flood than drowning in it, to Fable's annoyance.
Slept Through the Apocalypse:
- Una, a retired adventurer who has Seen It All, is only mildly annoyed that she slept through the star rain.
- Iniko shapeshifts their fingers to play the World's Smallest Violin when they complain that they were busy playing Magic: The Scattering when the tsunami happened.
So Much for Stealth: In the Intelligence ending of "The Lagoon of Tranquility", Zephir and Fable turn invisible and hide behind a bush as they watch the Banshee and the Mari-Morgan try getting back together. Zephir then accidentally steps on a twig, making the Banshee turn to their direction and scream at them, so Zephir and Fable are forced to come out of hiding and explain themselves.
Solid Gold Poop: The guivre poops gemstones, which Rhea reluctantly uses to upgrade Caerlin's greatsword.
Soul Jar: One of the scrolls that's locked away in a glass case full of riddles in the Mage Tower in Morlya contains a powerful soulbinding spell that rips people's souls out and binds them into objects. However, according to the Lorebook, souls can try escaping the bind while the spell has a high risk of backfiring on the caster. Hex casts this on Quasar in the Bittersweet Ending, sealing his soul into Ur's Greataxe as karma for stealing it from them.
Soundtrack Cover Character Jam: The original album cover of the soundtrack features Fable strumming on their lute.
Speaks Fluent Animal:
- Clay has this ability, as revealed in his first visit at the tavern, which allows him to communicate with the Astraen creatures.
- In Tempest Tantrum, Baya's revealed to be able to talk to mimics, not just plants, because they speak on the same frequency as flora. In the Intelligence ending of "Night at the Library", this is what helps her understand why the book mimics at the library are being aggressive.
Spooky Silent Library: In Tempest Tantrum, the Mari-Morgan goes on vacation at the Corilifean Library, with the Banshee for their anniversary date if the player decides their relationship was saved in the main game. The library is haunted with evil books that bite fingers off, and it's rumored to be cursed by an evil wizard long ago. Mari finds a mysterious contraption with orange gears there, which might be connected to the similar contraption Melli found near Clay's animal shelter. In the Intelligence ending of "Night at the Library", it's revealed that the library wasn't cursed after all — it was instead infested with book mimics that were hiding from the recently installed glass dome that produced sunlight and biting unsuspecting readers out of stress.
Standard Fantasy Setting: Takes place in the typical fantasy setting of Asteria, but inside the player character's tavern just outside the small town of Zenyth, Phesoa.
The Stoic:
- Zephir Has a cold stare, doesn't emote, and talks tersely and seriously. When they take on a quest, they just do it after arranging it with the Innkeep, no questions asked. He becomes Not So Stoic when he discovers that his parents are alive all along and abandoned him during the fire.
- In Tempest Tantrum, Oleander always has a dour look on his face and a dull way of speaking because he takes his job so seriously. He eventually opens up to others after his quest, as shown in the Strength ending of "One Zoetrope to Rule Them All", where he hugs the Tempest to calm it down from its tantrum.
  Melli: Sometimes I wonder if you're allergic to fun...
Stress Vomit: Upon hearing about Tia's death, Iniko keeps Voy outside the tavern so the latter won't vomit in there.
Stunned Silence: The Innkeep can react to Clay's party failing "The Twilight Chase" with silence.
Super-Speed: Besides Dexterity potions increasing agility, Golden Feathers and Saber Fangs are infusions that make the drinker inhumanly fast.
Supreme Chef:
- Kyle is mentioned to be an excellent baker in the Lorebook, as long as one makes sure to request no blood.
- Clay's such a talented chef that he offers to cook for Tia's family. Tia herself even compliments his soup.
Surveillance as the Plot Demands: A fantasy version with Gertrude the jackdaw, who's revealed to have been sent over to the tavern by Quasar to spy on the Innkeep sending the patrons on quests, including the ones directly tied to Quasar's apocalyptic plans.
Swamps Are Evil: The Moonswamp is a region south of the Republics that's composed of various dark swamps shrouded by fog. As beautiful as the swamps are, most travelers avoid it because of its treacherous pathways.
Symbol Swearing: All curse words end up rendered as symbols and accompanied by a thunderclap.
Takes One to Kill One: According to the Extended Lorebook, the Great Dragons are so powerful, the only thing that could kill them is a weapon forged by another Dragon thanks to their magical blessing. As such, Quasar steals Ur's Greataxe to try killing Tuat with it to break the final Sigil and cause the apocalypse.
Take That!: Two against The Twilight Saga:
- When Caerlin tells the Innkeep rumors about a werewolf attack in Tregaryn, the latter is surprised because they thought the "werewolf hype" died along with "that one romance novel". They and Caerlin also get into a short debate on which team between vampires and werewolves they're on before moving along.
- If Archie's first quest is successful, he promises that he'll write a story for the next time he and Theo meet. Caerlin remarks that it's "still a better love story than that one romance book", and Rhea asks if it's the one with the vampires, which Caerlin says with a Blunt "Yes".
Taking the Bullet: In the bad ending of "A Scandal in Zoford", Zephir jumps in front of Melli to block the wizard's fireball fired at her. Thankfully, the heat protection from the Phoenix Chilis prevents Zephir from being burned to a crisp.
Tarot Motifs: Each character is associated with a Tarot Arcana according to their character profile.
Tastes Like Friendship: Fable tried to befriend the Amaranthine Hydra with some biscuits the former accidentally burned, but forgot about their speech about friendship, so they just set the biscuits down. The Hydra then gave them a riddle, and Fable spent three days trying to solve it but gave up. They then returned to the Hydra to ask it for the answer, but it clarified that its cryptic speech is just how it speaks, and that it just wanted some tea. Fable then gave it what it wanted and completed its "quest", albeit three days late.
Teleportation with Drawbacks: One of the scrolls locked in a glass case in the Mage Tower in Morlya contains a powerful teleportation spell called Ubique Porto. It allows the caster and up to six other creatures to teleport anywhere in Asteria with pinpoint accuracy and also teleport past security systems and into other planes anytime. However, since it costs more mana than what most people normally have in their bodies, the spell can potentially kill the caster. With the proper modifications, the caster staying in their place improves the spell's stability, but it's still extremely risky to cast, with a survival rate of 30%. When one uses it, their eyes glow yellow as they feel like their insides are pulled out of their nose. Hex and Grace argue over who should cast the spell because it's their only option to enter the Forbidden Valley quickly and get past its unnatural magic to stop Quasar, but Grace insists on doing so and encourages Hex to go with his party to confront Quasar directly.
That Came Out Wrong: When Fable returns from saving Ur, the Innkeep is surprised by their new appearance. The Innkeep can say that Fable's new ears or horns are "very ear-y" or "very horn-y", only to quickly realize they sound wrong and say they're "very pretty" instead.
That's No Moon: In "Heir of Dragon Fire", the mountain path Hex, Rhea, and Caerlin have been traversing up to the temple turns out to be the body of a guivre, a giant winged snake with white iridescent scales and a large opal on its forehead.
Themed Cursor: The v1.33.1 update made the cursor white with a purple gemstone in it for "more immersion".
Thinking Up Portals: The Innkeep teleports drinks to their customers using portals, while the tavern itself has a portal system to give easy access for those with mobility issues.
Time Skip: Tempest Tantrum takes place 1.5 years after the game's good ending.
Trademark Favorite Drink: All patrons order a usual kind of drink for most of their visits.
Tradesnark™: In the Dexterity ending of "Night at the Library" in Tempest Tantrum, Melli says that the second "puzzle piece" was hard to crack, even for "The Great Detective™" like her.
Tragic Keepsake:
- Caerlin's grand greatsword was handed down to her by her grandmother before the latter left her family to spend her last moments away from them. This sword, along with the bedtime stories about fighting dragons "Baba" told Caerlin when the latter was a Vukakin pup, is what inspires her to take on the quest to defeat the Wyvern Chimera to collect its saliva for vampire sunscreen.
- All Melli has from her deceased parents are her mother's handmade socks and her father's detective novels. The latter are what inspired her to become the detective she is today.
- In the credits scene of the Bittersweet Ending, Hex carries Grace's staff with him in memory of her.
Underwater City: In Tempest Tantrum, the City of Underwater lies hidden under the Primordial Sea. Despite being underwater, it somehow survived the Primordial Flood because it's protected by a giant bubble. Archie, Melli, and Baya are amazed by the city when they visit it — various fishes, glowing isopods, and giant sea creatures swim around it, while its buildings are built with travertine walls and marvel pillars. There's also a magical light that illuminates the city and the dark ocean from within and attracts the sea creatures towards it.
Vampire Bites Suck: Zephir returns with vampire bites from their fight with Evelynn in the Defense ending of "Hey There Evelynn!" and mentions how they nearly died to her as she sucked their blood.
Vampiric Draining: In the Defense ending of "Hey There Evelynn!", Zephir brings back Evelynn's dagger, Nightshade's Kiss. Fittingly for a weapon owned by a vampire, it drinks up the blood of its victim and turns it into necrotic mana that powers up its next strike.
Virtual Paper Doll: A few alternate costumes for your customers can be unlocked via Downloadable Content:
- The Supporter Upgrade gives you instructions on how to unlock Fable's alternate costume, which is a fancy suit: press and hold 3 and 7 on the alphanumeric keyboard for 1 second while at the title screen.
- The Pirate Palooza Costume Pack gives Zephir and Melli pirate costumes.
"Wanted!" Poster: The Wanted Wall features several posters of banned patrons, mostly for petty reasons.
We Wait: At the end of Chapter XXIV, the Innkeep, Quincy, and Grace if she survives casting the teleportation spell say these words as they anticipate the return of the parties from their final two quests.
Weird Weather: In Tempest Tantrum, Voy reports getting lost in "fuzzy", low-visibility weather on the way to the Tavern, howling winds so loud, he couldn't think well, and Grace's or Skully's compass going haywire when he tried using it. The next day, Oleander reports being caught in a magical storm with the party he was guiding, which melted away their leader and turned the others into frogs. It's caused by the fire spirit Melli accidentally unleashed from the contraption she found in Clay's animal shelter.
Wham Episode: Two towards the end of Act III:
- In Chapter XXII, Quasar drops by the tavern and reveals to the Innkeep as the "old friend" who invited them to watch his "astral show" aka his planned apocalypse upon all of Asteria. He's doing it out of bitter revenge over the loss of his and the Innkeep's old party 30 years ago, and he blames the Innkeep for their deaths. Quasar also reveals that the jackdaw in the tavern is his spy all along, which he sent over to gather intel about the quests to stop his evil plans. The Innkeep is shaken by all of this, and after Quasar leaves, they start questioning themself over "sending the patrons to their doom".
- In Chapter XXIII, both "Heir of Dragon Fire" and "The Twilight Chase" end in failure, regardless of which potions you gave to the parties, because of the espionage the previous day. The two parties return to the tavern in despair, and Clay goes berserk over Tia's death. The Innkeep tries consoling him and his party over the failed quest, but he storms out in anger, believing that no one can do anything to stop the apocalypse. Jade then asks for her drink, but instead of the chapter ending with the usual closing time sequence, it immediately continues over to Act IV because the patrons still have so much baggage over recent events. But just when they thought all hope is lost, Fable finally returns from their long disappearance with the Dragon Fire needed to forge the ultimate weapon for Caerlin.
Who Wants to Live Forever?:
- Kyle, a vampire, struggles with abandonment issues because he outlives almost everyone he meets, so he takes the time to cherish the moment with them while they're still alive.
- Downplayed with Hex, a half-elf. While he has the long lifespan of an elf, he hates it since his sister, who inherited the human lifespan, doesn’t have that, which means he’ll eventually outlive her. Melli theorizes that he was trying to look for an immortality spell in the Mage Tower in Morlya to extend Grace's life. This comes to a head when Hex and Grace must choose who between them should cast the potentially lethal teleportation spell to reach the Forbidden Valley quickly and stop Quasar. Hex desperately doesn't want to lose Grace, but she argues that with her limited lifespan, she wants to make the most out of it, and it's her choice to potentially sacrifice herself to help her brother save the world. She then tearfully tells Hex to stop acting like she's already dead and cherish what may be her last living moments.
Worst Wedding Ever: Kyle's ex-wife Evelynn stole his prized cape on their wedding day, making him call off their marriage and grow to hate her. He asks the Innkeep for help in retrieving it by requesting them to put up a quest for someone brave enough to storm her castle.
Worthless Yellow Rocks: After Jade and Una helped the farmer wrangle her flock of two-headed sheep, she tipped them with Citrin gems. However, Jade saw no use for them because she's a Maihda, while Una didn't care about material rewards because she's retired (and she only stepped out of it for a while to help Jade). Instead, they give the gems to the Innkeep as powerful infusions that bless the drinker with divine dragon's magic, which grants them the power to fight the undead.
Written-In Absence: In Tempest Tantrum, some patrons' absences are explained in-universe:
- Neil can't help Melli with her quest to find the missing contraption at the Corilifean Library because he's on vacation with Fable and Jade if they're not dating as a result of their failed quest to save Banshee and Mari's relationship, so Melli asks Archie to be her substitute assistant for it. Archie reluctantly accepts the offer only because he got Writer's Block for his next book.
- Rhea can't repair the zoetrope and forge it with divine magic because she's out exploring a cave with Kyle and Evelynn if the player decides the good ending of "Hey There, Evelynn!" happened in the main game.
You Answered Your Own Question: This conversation when the Innkeep first meets Kyle and Rhea, who arrive at the tavern covered in green ooze, although they actually explain it after the Innkeep serves their drinks.
Innkeep: May I ask how that happened?
Rhea: Ye just did.
You Do NOT Want to Know: When Melli asks Zephir about his origin story, he tells her that it's "too dark" for her and it's "best" that she doesn't know.
You Should Have Died Instead: The main reason Quasar hates the Innkeeper is that they ran away in their final quest instead of helping the rest of their party. He believes everyone would’ve lived if they weren’t a coward.

Tavern Talk

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There's a Trope Awaiting Me at the Tavern...

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There's a Trope Awaiting Me at the Tavern...

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Tavern Talk

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