Ain’t no fight like a gnome tickle fight! AMIRITE?! I’ve spent the past week trying to make The Magick of Gnomengarde more gnomish, entirely with debuff spells designed to make foes fail in spectacular and hilarious ways. But I I thought I’d close this segment out with a little offense.

Q: What do you get when you mix Witch Bolt with Hideous Laughter?

A: Gargalesis.

(Gargawhosawhat?) GARGALESIS.

Okay, so today I learned that gargalesis is a scientific term used to describe one of two forms of tickling – because, to my dismay, there weren’t many good synonyms for “tickle fight.”

According to Wookiepedia:

Knismesis and gargalesis are the scientific terms, coined in 1897 by psychologists G. Stanley Hall and Arthur Allin, used to describe the two types of tickling. Knismesis refers to the light, feather-like type of tickling. This type of tickling generally does not induce laughter and is often accompanied by an itching sensation. Gargalesis refers to harder, laughter-inducing tickling, and involves the repeated application of high pressure to sensitive areas.

Wikipedia.com

It’s like I always say, when you struggle to bring something to life in your game, pattern it after things in literature, cinema, or television. And so, for this spell, I am picturing Emperor Palpatine circa Return of the Jedi, standing over Luke Skywalker, cooking him medium well with some Sith Lightning. Except, instead of rolling around on the ground screaming for Darth Daddy to save him, Luke Skywalker is shrieking with uncontrollable laughter as Palpatine tickles the young Jedi nearly to death with a pink, tickling ray. That’s my visual for gargalesis.

I’ll just say, I have spent way more word count than I ever thought I would on the worst part of Dragon of Icespire Peak. I hope I didn’t lose any of my 5 readers over this. If you’re still with me, thank you. And, I’m sorry for putting you through all of that.

Worse, I can’t promise Gnomengarde won’t hijack my brain again. You’ve been warned.

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