You, And Not The State Of You

You, and not the state of you

Hollow Knight x TGCF Au (I need a cool name for this lol)

Ok so I finally figured out the general plotline for this au!

You first meet Xie Lian next to the area where the gravedigger ghost is in Dirtmouth. He's seemingly muttering to himself unless you already have the dreamnail, in which case it's fairly clear that he's talking and responding to the gravedigger. He mentions something about being a wanderer, but that he's been feeling a pull within the depths of this kingdom.

Few places you can meet him after this. Resting next to a bench, looking up at the statue in city, and various locations where it's pretty obvious he just fell down a hole.

You might get only some of these before you trigger his main event by going back to the tunnels under the resting grounds after you go through the first time. You'll see his hat and bag haphazardly fallen next to a patch of ground that is continuously shaking and making the dive-able location noise without you walking over it. You can free him by doing the dive spell, and then meet him at the godseeker/sarcophogus afterwards, were it becomes clear that this is what was drawing him down into hallownest.

As for Hua Cheng, you can find his body in the area behind the coliseum where you have to chase down the Pale Lurker. His ghost will pop up, and if you talk to him you will ask you to please look for a wanderer in a golden mask for him, as he cannot leave his body and his senses only go so far. You can talk to him again after seeing Xie Lian at least once, whether before or after you first meet Hua Chang, and he will ask you to deliver a delicate flower to Xie Lian. If you agree a small silver butterfly will fly towards you during the scene where you gain it. You can get various dialogues from him about his devotion for Xie Lian and his search for him that's ended in his death.

Now, endings for our couple! There are several ways this can go.

Xie Lian can either be saved from the hole and then show up again at the godseeker in the trashpit, or he can become infected if you fail to save him either before the crossroads become infected or you fight him in godhome. If you fail to save him before then and go back to the area the patch of ground will only shake when you walk over it, and if you dive down you'll find him infected stuck in a hole. A white cloth band will attack you occasionally if you get too close(fool eater style), and if you dreamnail Xie Lian post infection you'll get some very devastating lines about him still trying to escape from being buried alive. You can hit infected Xie Lian as many times as you want, but after a certain amount the only thing that happens is a flash. he doesn't die.

With Hua Cheng if you attack him at any point, or if you let Xie Lian be infected after taking the flower quest and then go see Hua Cheng again, you'll trigger his boss fight. Ghost King Hua Cheng! Defeating him and absorbing his essence obliviously means the end of him except for in godhome.

You can only deliver the delicate flower to Xie Lian outside of Godseeker, although if you visit him after he gets infected more than once you'll find that a patch of delicate flowers have grown up above and around him, implying that Hua Cheng was able to find him and that's why he attacks you if you go back.

If you deliver the delicate flower to Xie lian by the godseeker he'll remark that it seems faintly familiar, and then the butterfly that was originally seen will pop out and go to Xie Lian. he'll be struck by surprise, and the next time you go down he'll be missing from next to the godseeker. Some backtracking will show you that his new final location is sitting next to Hua Cheng's corpse, amiably chatting away.

Xie Lian's godhome fight can have a few variations. It begins with him on the other side of the arena sitting in his usual gear, and then a black nail is flung down from the ceiling, blasting away his hat and bag and revealing him as Banished Prince Xie Lian! The background will be either the Trash Pit or the resting grounds with some delicate flowers depending on wether or not you saved him. if you completed the delicate flower quest a cloud of silver butterflies will appear during the opening sequence as well, and dispel the seal on him, giving you the Flower Prince Xie Lian fight with the background of a golden palace filled with delicate flowers!

Hua Cheng just gets his Ghost King fight, but if you succeed in reuniting them there will be Xie Lian hanging out in the background during his fight!

23 notes View Post

tiny-gege

1 month ago