Visual Novel / Seasons Of The Wolf

Tales of Aravorn: Seasons of the Wolf is a fantasy RPG by Winter Wolves. It takes place in the same setting as Loren: The Amazon Princess, but one does not need to have played it to enjoy this game.

As Shea or Althea, twins from the village of Ninim, the player comes across an abandoned young wolf and decides to take it with them. This one decision starts an event that will span four Seasons, taking them across the world, and dealing with corruption and deceit.

This visual novel provides examples of:

• Ambiguously Human: When confronting the Grand Mogul the party observe that for all his power he's only human. He replies "That's how I like to appear." He might just be messing with the party but...
• Adipose Rex: Grand Mogul Rafik of Dingirra is almost spherical.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Jariel is sweet, cheerful, kind of a dork and always supports non-violent approaches. None of this stops him carving a path through his enemies once violence is unavoidable. Also if he is romanced he is willing to sacrifice Rowinda to save Althea.
• Best Her to Bed Her: Krimm's people have a variation; she can have casual sex with anyone she feels like but in her culture actual romance and particularly marriage requires a man to defeat her in a wrestling match. If he loses he's not allowed to even come near her. This becomes an issue in her romance, as she doubts Shea could match her for raw strength. She resolves the problem by challenging Shea to a match and winning handily, thus claiming him instead.
• BFS: Krimm and versions of the twins with the Ranger class wield one in their sprites.
• Big Bad Wannabe: Yeldin runs the Dingirran arena and seems to think he's a big player in the city's cutthroat politics. As it is the Four Families (the real movers and shakers) look down on him and the city's ruler sees him as a joke. Ultimately he is publicly humiliated as Rowinda arranges a mass break out of most of his enslaved gladiators and he's then killed by the party when he tries to pursue.
• The Cameo: Amukiki from Loren: The Amazon Princess is seen fighting in the Dingirran arena but he doesn't interact with the main characters.
• City of Adventure: Dingirra during the Spring section and Shacklesplit during the Summer section. Ninim from Winter and Fall doesn't quite count, as it's stated that the place is not usually this active.
• Cloud Cuckoolander: Between the borderline Happy Harlequin Hat, the breeding giant ants for fun and profit and the volcano obsession Rowinda is certainly an odd duck.
• Convenient Replacement Character: Artas joins the party for the "Bad Blood" DLC, which helps fill out the numbers since, unless Athea was the player character and romanced her and then defeated Deceit, Chalassa will be dead. If Chalassa is alive Artas stays home.
• A Day in the Limelight: The Bad Blood DLC provides this for the sibling not chosen as a player character, as the twins split up to handle different issues and get roughly equal screentime.
• Defrosting Ice Queen: Chalassa is this in spades. Although if you're not playing Althea and romancing her it doesn't do her any good in the long run.
• Druid: A character class option for both twins. As a class it has the best healing available.
• Easily Forgiven: In the Bad Blood DLC either Chalassa, Jariel or Artas (the first two if romanced by Althea, Artas if Althea was not the main character) will (apparently) kill Rowinda if Althea refuses to do so in a Sadistic Choice to save the rest of the party. Chalassa and Jariel are called out on this and it damages their relationship with Althea. If it was Artas nobody seems to blame him for doing so. This is possibly because, for all his intelligence, he still thinks like an animal and is therefore expected to be ruthlessly practical.
• The Exile: The twins' father, Morran, is not allowed to enter Ninim in punishment for causing the death of his wife, who was much beloved in the town. It's later revealed that he did no such thing but accepted the shame to hide the fact that she was a shapeshifter from the spirit world and had had to return there.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation: As noted above Shea cannot beat Krimm in a contest of strength. Nothing in the game stops Shea having a considerably higher strength stat than Krimm.
• Gay Option: Riley for Shea and Chalassa for Althea.
• Geas: Every member of Chalassa's people, the Bloodskins, are under a geas due to their historical debts to demon lords. In Chalassa's case she is bound to complete any task she accepts. Since she accepted a contract on the lives of all shapeshifters this will cause her to eventually turn on the twins. The only way to get out of this without killing her is to kill Deceit, the demon lord who she is controlled by, and you can only do this if playing Althea and romancing Chalassa.
• Gladiator Games: The majority of the party is encountered as slaves in the Dingirran arena.
• Half-Human Hybrid: Well, half elf hybrid. As it turns out the twins' mother was a Shapeshifter.
• Happiness in Slavery: While most of the slaves in Dingirra are not happy to be there the Master of the Pits loves his position, mainly because it allows him to indulge his petty sadism.
• Happy Ending Override: Downplayed. The "Bad Blood" DLC reveals that the happy endings to each route in the main game were Jariel glossing over the grimy details at Althea's request. Ultimately however the stories of each route seems to still be heading toward the same good places but the journey there is harder than originally portrayed and in every route Rowinda is (albeit incorrectly) believed dead by the party.
• Honorary Uncle: Vaelis is this to the twins. Conversations with him can later reveal that for a while they thought he actually was their uncle and their father hadn't told them due to a falling out.
• Hot Springs Episode: Two of the hubs feature public (co-ed) baths which serve as a great way to advance your chosen Romance Sidequest.
• Interspecies Romance: Three out of the four available romances are this, as the twins are elves and only one of the romance options, Jariel, is also an elf.
• I Will Punish Your Friend for Your Failure: If the player character refuses to kill their defeated foes at the order of their master Yeldin he orders their sibling to be torn apart by wild animals as punishment. Thankfully there's a mass break-out before that happens.
• Legendary in the Sequel: While it doesn't come up often this story takes place shortly after Loren: The Amazon Princess and Loren and her companions are already known as legendary heroes.
• A Lighter Shade of Black: Jul just barely manages this in comparison to Deceit. She helps Althea save Chalassa if the two fall in love and while her reason for doing so is to steal Deceit's power she does seem to think they're a cute couple and wish them well. She offers the same Sadistic Choice as Deceit in the DLC but while he's doing it For the Evulz she is trying to keep up appearances with her new demon lord rivals. She doesn't care that she's hurting people or anything but at least she's not actively enjoying it.
• Long-Haired Pretty Boy: Riley, who may have the longest hair in a party with several long-haired people.
• Loved I Not Honor More: Jariel has sworn to complete his Century Journey and this prevents him from dedicating himself to a relationship much beyond the physical with Althea for almost eighty years until he's finished. Althea decides to shorten this down by doing half the remaining journey herself, taking it down to thirty six years. Still bad but manageable for long-lived elves.
• Love-Interest Traitor: Chalassa, though she doesn't want to be, as noted under Geas.
• Made a Slave: This drives the plot. The player sibling's adopted wolf kills a Dingirran and the player sibling is taken as a slave as a punishment. The other sibling and Vaelis attempt to rescue them and are captured and enslaved as well. The rest of the story flows from there.
• Master of Illusion: Riley is a skilled illusionist and this comes up a number of times in the story outside of combat spells, with Riley often concealing the party to allow stealthy approaches to problems.
• Mayfly–December Romance: Given that the twins are elves (and young elves at that) all the romance options except fellow elf Jariel fall into this. Perhaps wisely the player character chooses not to dwell on this. The twins are themselves the result of this, as it's revealed that their father was an elf and their mother an immortal shapeshifter.
• Metaphorically True: If encountered the succubus Jul will claim that "Even the great Loren and her companions couldn't kill me!" She neglects to mention that they were quite capable of killing her and she only survived their encounter by playing dead then teleporting away and making sure to never cross paths with any of them ever again.
• Mundane Utility: The Dingirrans use a bound Fire Demon to heat their public baths.
• My Species Doth Protest Too Much: Most Dingirrans in the story are untrustworthy, greedy slavers but Riley (while still a little tricky) is a reliable party member and frequently disgusted by how far his countrymen will go.
• Never Mess with Granny: Rowinda is clearly a lady of increasing years. Anyone underestimating her on this basis will quickly regret it as the lava begins raining down.
• Non-Indicative Name: This seems to be the case but is ultimately averted. The wolf that the player character adopts drops out of the plot after the Winter section. However at the end the twins discover that they are the children of a wolf shapeshifter and the adopted wolf is their brother. Arguably therefore the "Wolf" of the title refers to the player character, who is part wolf.
• Pregnant Badass: A romanced Krimm spends the Bad Blood DLC in the early stages of pregnancy with twins by Shea. It doesn't slow her down on the battlefield at all.
• Rat Men: An enclave of Ratmen can be found in each season of the game. Contrary to the usual portrayal of such creatures in fantasy they are (if approached non-violently) friendly and honest and serve as vendors and a useful source of XP, as they will engage the party in practice fights if asked.
• Retired Badass: Vaelis was a successful mercenary for decades before returning to Ninim to settle down. He's quite willing to step back into the fray to protect the twins however.
• Romance Sidequest: Four companions are available for romance, one for each gender/orientation combination for the player character.
• Static Role, Exchangeable Character: The player chooses which of the twins to play as and that's who ends up leading the group. The other sibling is still around for the entire plot but takes a much less central role.
• Sadistic Choice: In the Bad Blood DLC Deceit (or Jul if the party killed Deceit earlier in the story) will have Althea's party trapped and will let the rest go if Althea kills Rowinda. The player can try to fight them instead but they cannot be defeated in their place of power and either Artas, Jariel or Chalassa pushes Rowinda into the lava to save the rest.
• The Stinger: Following up from the Sadistic Choice mentioned above after the credits roll we find out that, due to her volcano obsession, Rowinda developed a "Lava Diving" spell and survived.
• Tempting Fate: Early on in the Winter section the twins worry about being cast out of Ninim like their father. Vaelis says they should be fine so long as they don't cause someone to die. Sure enough...
• Thinking Up Portals: This is noted as the main reason why the almost universally hated Dingirrans are tolerated and traded with. They are the only culture to have widespread knowledge of portal magic and no-one wants to make an enemy of someone who can open a magical door for their entire army right behind any defences you might possess.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: The Empire, as compared to their depiction in the previous game. In that they were rather bigoted and dictatorial but both traits seem to have worsened in the last few years up to hiring Chalassa to commit genocide on all shapeshifters.
• Ungrateful Bastards: The Ninim town council. particularly in the Bad Blood DLC. Despite the party saving the town from at least two threats they are prepared to banish them, first for being "troublemakers" and then because the twins are half shapeshifter. It takes saving the whole town a third time to get them to change their mind.
• Violently Protective Girlfriend: A romanced Krimm or Chalassa regarding Shea or Althea respectively. The appropriate twin often has to hold them back somewhat.
• Wacky Wayside Tribe: The centaurs encountered on the way back to Ninim in the Fall section. The gnolls found on the same journey used to be this as well but then took a much more important role in the DLC.
• Walking the Earth: Jariel is on a "Century Journey," an elven tradition whereby he wanders the world for a hundred years learning about other cultures. The others note that even given elven lifetimes it's a big investment of time on his part.