The Hidden World Overview, Deathgripper & Glows
For over a year I have enjoyed entering the Hidden World, training my Deathgripper named Grimpinch and taking lots of pictures of my dragons glowing underground. I will start with my screenshot story of defeating Grimmel, and then share many more artistic shots of my dragons. Let's swoop in!
The blast of fire burned through his glove and sent a searing pain rushing over his hand. Falling back with half of his coat on fire, Gargle emitted an anguished scream into the night. His trusty Rumblehorn charged through a horde of Warlord goons to protect his rider. Devastated, Valka rushed to help him and looked up as her confused dragon flew away with Grimmel and his Deathgrippers.
* * *
The next morning, Gorge flew out to sea with a few of the Berkians, including Valka, to rescue her beloved Cloudjumper from the effects of Grimmel's poison dart. He had descended into the glowing caves under the school to gather mushrooms for a venom antidote prototype.
But the unexpected happened when Gorge threw the antidote aimed at Cloudjumper.
The vial struck one of his Deathgrippers instead, and the fearsome beast flew away free, landing on New Berk. Fishlegs tried to calm down the disoriented dragon, and called Gargle over to help him. Thankfully he wasn't putting up a fight, and since he could tell by Gargle's scent that he was related to his rescuer, the Deathgripper was at ease with him.
Grimmel soon continued on to New Berk with his Deathgrippers and Cloudjumper to attack.
The freed Deathgripper saw them approaching, and he much preferred the affection that the Berkians showed toward their dragons rather than the drugged obedience that Grimmel had imposed on him. Gargle decided to name him Grimpinch, and together they stealthily flew under the radar to fight back against their common enemy.
They dived way down to the bottom of the waterfalls and then approached from behind.
With a strengthened antidote Gargle freed Cloudjumper from the poison. The four-winged dragon immediately turned around to fire at Grimmel’s airship, and Gargle directed other riders and dragons to attack from all sides, making the enslaved Deathgrippers back away.
"It seems I underestimated you," Grimmel admitted from his burning airship. "I will give you a victor's due and retreat from the battlefield. Rest assured: I will be better prepared the next time our paths cross."
"Cloudjumper!" Valka cried out as she ran to reunite with him. "My old and faithful companion. My heart is full, now that you've regained your senses."
With Grimmel and Stormheart still roaming the archipelago, there were many problems left to solve. The first that needed to be addressed was the gaping chasm leading down to the Hidden World Annex.
* * *
Once Gargle had informed the Headmaster about the battle, the two of them joined Valka, Hiccup and his fiancée Astrid in the cavern.
"This will be the start of a new organization: the Defenders of the Hidden World," Astrid announced. "Our job will be to protect the Annex and protect dragons everywhere."
"I wish it didn't have to be this way," Hiccup replied. "I wish that dragons could live in harmony but we can't change our world. What we can do is keep everyone safe. Someday Toothless will have to leave us as the Alpha of all dragons, but that day isn't today. We're going to work together to defend the world we love."
I hope Gargle's okay these days! Fireballs kindasortamaybe hurt, especially a Stormcutter's fire at such close range. . .and from Cloudjumper of all dragons. x-x
Excellent read and wonderful screenshots! I can't wait to see what else's in store.
Thanks for reading the story, and for your concern. I wrote that part earlier so I forgot to follow up about his recovery. Gargle quickly extinguished his flaming clothes by rolling around in the snow. Once Bulkshield had whisked him away to safety, he then treated and bandaged up his wounded hand. The scars of the burns still remain, but thankfully his armor and thick coat spared the rest of his body from injury.
I took pictures of most of the two brothers' dragons last year, which you will see in the following posts. Although I would have liked to show them flying on their own in the Hidden World, that feature wasn't yet available at the time. Also, some of the screenshots I edited with Photoshop, which I only had access to at university. I'm really proud of how those turned out, and I hope you like them too.
When Gargle first flew down to the Hidden World Annex on Grimpinch's back, his trusty Bulkshield followed close behind. Gorge and Sparkflare also joined the group of riders and dragons to hear what Chief Hiccup had to say. Then Toothless gathered those dragons together and they flew a lap around the gaping entrance cascading with waterfalls.
After this triumphal procession, the two brothers mounted their dragons and explored this surreal subterranean ecosystem. Gorge admired the clutches of eggs nestled in rocky towers. During an earlier visit he had seen them and identified them as Light Fury eggs.
Sparkflare got a little too warm and fuzzy surrounded by all the Fireworms, making Gorge sweat profusely. But they were a beautiful sight.
(In the picture above and all the ones of Bulkshield, I blurred the background and made other edits.)
Gargle looked lovingly at Bulkshield. His dragon had saved him from the Warlords twice when he was injured and they were about to overtake him. As tough as he was, he knew that Bulkshield had empowered him to enter enemy territory. He was glad that the discovery of these caves right below the school meant that they didn't have to be completely separated. However, the dragons would be spending more time down here apart from their riders.
They had to make the most of this adventure. Who would have thought that Bulkshield's horns would glow pink here?
Streamglide's glow is my favourite because the speckles of light match his colours and make nice harmonies with his cyan and blue scales. Here it looks like cyan, magenta and yellow, the secondary light colours.
And here it is blue, red and green, the primary colours of light! The only problem is that he had permanent racing stripes. I'm not sure if that has been fixed yet.
Globstract also wanted to spread her wings in the Hidden World Annex, where she would look even more like an iridescent butterfly!
I wish there were more noticeable motion blur in-game. In dim lighting, photos are more prone to blurring movement, so I experimented with this effect in Photoshop.
Flingshot glowed like he was on fire; the stripes on his wings flicking in and out of sight like flames as his belly emanated the light of embers.
I went to great lengths editing this picture with photographic effects. Blurring the background slightly made the points of light less distracting, and giving radial blurs in two different directions to the wings made them feel like they were moving.
This one gives a sense of motion, with a path blur added to the background, and a spin blur centred on Flingshot's torso to make his wings and tail move.
Gorge admired how fiery the waterfalls were, as Light Fury eggs illuminated the cascades with golden light.
* * *
After Hiccup and Toothless had defeated Grimmel for good, and Toothless had led the dragons to the Hidden World, Gargle discovered that the Sentinels were still on Vanaheim caring for the aging dragons that remained there. He rode the Elder Sentinel, Headvord, to the newly discovered sacred place for dragons.
Hopefully Headvord would bring the Sentinels there once all of the dragons in their care had died.
Grimpinch looks his most menacing on Zippleback Island with its eerily cold lighting, so I captured these shots of him to show off his sharp pincers and spikes. I brightened the sky in the first three.
The green grass and cyan water complement his colours perfectly.
What makes this atmosphere so eerie is that it looks too cold to be sulight, but also too bright to be moonlight. Some of the stars are faintly visible though. Which do you think it is?
Grimpinch's jaws become unhinged when he fires! I darkened the water in the distance and brightened the sky to allow his blast of acid to stand out more.
All the images and the descriptions are fascinating! A little sad that Bulkshield and the other dragons are going to be with their riders less but at least the gigantic hole in the School makes it so they won't be apart forever. . .for now. Hopefully it doesn't come to that!
Hmm. . .I never really thought about what time of day it was on Zippleback Island. I always thought it was the sun but it is interesting that stars are visible; maybe it's transitioning to or from night? I suppose it is too high for that idea though.
Gargle and Grimpinch flew to a secluded cave space in the Hidden World. It only had a few narrow entry points and was uninhabited by wild dragons. Since this made it safer for riders to fly around in than other underground areas, Hiccup designated it as a race track.
Gargle didn't care about the race as much as he did about observing the foreign landforms and flora in this humid environment.
The growths on the walls fascinated Gargle and boggled his mind, as they were large enough for his dragon to land on. Were these really a type of mushroom, or giant coral?
Grimpinch's glow changed colour like a traffic light as he flew through the cave. (This area gave me good screenshot opportunities back in January, but only now did I edit out the power-up buttons and other UI.
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The mercenary, Grimmel the Grisly, had invited his enemies Nikora Stormheart and Hiccup to a parley to negotiate their conflicts. Hiccup was willing to join them under a white flag, but his mother convinced him to send Gorge along with Eret as his representatives instead. Returning to their former home under these circumstances was tense to say the least.
The two leaders bantered threateningly. Stormheart said she would not hesitate to rip Grimmel piece by piece if he opposed her. The Night Fury hunter stayed calm and collected in his replies, even when Stormheart remarked that his Deathgrippers were free to test her.
"Let us speak of greener pastures," he pleaded. "I have no quarrels with Berk itself, my young friend. Peace with dragons is a foolish notion... but do what you want. And Stormheart, I have no desire to control lands. I can advise the warlords to leave you alone if you leave me be."
When the parley was over, Gorge flew away on Sparkflare's back, looking down at the impressive fleets and dragons of his enemies. He would tell Hiccup of Grimmel's offer to end his crusade if Hiccup and Toothless fought him one on one, but it was such a blatant trap.
* * *
Late that night, his brother Gargle flew to the Warlord camp on Glacier Island along with backup. Eret had been monitoring the camp ever since he had saved Gargle from getting captured the last time they were there. He assured the riders that its defenses were at their weakest. Now was the time to strike first.