who does what pattern

1 - squares: first talatriot match. happens at a transportation waystation. she is headed to frivoly, the country of fairies. this close to the surface, humans aren't a rare sight to deeplings, although winsome is about to delve far deeper than most humans ever do. so, unaccosted, winsome is minding her own business when some snotty weird fairy guy named "rib bone" or something comes up to her and asks if she wants to play a game, wagering a special prize adored by the hollow world peoples (a bag of scrim). she can win this, but if she loses, she must offer the detestable rib bone a short paean of praise and adulation. if she wins, she gets her first item, which is a little sack made of hide that is full of floor grit and gross scrapings from under the furniture. if he wins, winsome is forced into a bad outcome where she has to versify to rib bone about how easy it is to barely tolerate him in small doses, and how wonderful it is that his modest clothing judicious veils his repulsive body. this is how i am imagining the first talatriot match going, and thats what squares seems good for, a ridiculous tutorial level, featuring "rib bone".
2 - triangles: this one's not super exciting either. it doesn't stir winsome's heart with its elegance yet. let's say that winsome winds up in a backwater town called Inconsequence in the fairy country Frivoly at this point in her journey, still in the shallow depths of chiranema. she goes to a poisonous plant tavern, where you can savor a selection of tasty poisonous plants while in the company of a bunch of old codgers of various species who come there to get fucked up and swap their exaggerated, misremembered old person stories. her spirits are still high and her mission right on track, but winsome is frustrated! she's been underground for days now and she's met nothing but boring, lame guys! where are the ladies? when is she going to meet all the sexy hollow world waifus from her most cherished mass-produced images and sculptures? she needs to win at least 2 matches with the geriatric deepling men in the tavern in order to sate her boredom, or she can elect to play more matches for cash wagers and use it in the shop. players can Cut Their Teeth on these simple triangles and then start moving forward to the meat of the game. so these triangles are for stage 1 "tavern old guys."
3 - six-pointies, also known as daves of starvid: oh, why not? lets go with the stars of david, if you dont like triforces then lets choose this one, i trust your gut instincts. so, lets say that just as winsome is about to leave, the server on duty leaves. another fellow comes to replace him. he's surprisingly winsome's age peer, a noticeably well-put-together and good-looking beetle in tastefully ornate evening attire, an engaging, gregarious personality of the sort that does well in a service position, adept at being genuine or feigning it. he's an interesting person and great company but he's frustrating because he's still not the sort of person that amorous Winsome is seeking to frolic with. this is to heighten audience anticipation of the actual romantic stuff and also i guess throw a bone to audience members that like to see hunky, cool guys. maybe has has a cool beetle name like fnicht and a shell with a patina of brass. and maybe if you choose to pursue conversation options you can have an interesting conversation about chiranema and what it's like and how it works and who's this and where's that in it. or you can just sort of skip over all that, hurt his feelings a little bit, and move on. either way, let's say fnicht propositions winsome for a date at some point. no choice or game outcome affects this, winsome's just not interested, she doesn't swing that way, she's got stuff to do. so fnicht changes tack and asks her if she wants to play a game of talatriot. if she wins, fnicht will give her a special poisonous plant that will serve her well on her journey and she can leave right away. if she does so, winsome looks back while leaving and sees fnicht looking kind of lonely and sad, like he could use a friend. "oh well!" she will tell herself in that moment. "he'll be just fine! these things have a way of working themselves out. tra la la la la." but, if she loses, winsome has to hang out with fnicht. just as friends, and for fun. if she does so, winsome has a really nice time with fnicht, has a heart to heart with him, and comes to some personal realizations about herself that cause her to abandon her quest. BAD END 1!
4 - square & octagon - piffie. if winsome gets the good ending, she will be very intoxicated upon leaving the public establishment because she has a low poisonous plant tolerance. her drunken mishaps will cause her to be arrested and brought before the whimsy court under magistrate piffie. this is the impetus that starts piffie and winsome's relationship, and this is the "signature piffie style" of talatriot game.
5 - only hexagons - after breaking piffie's heart, winsome leaves along a well-traveled burrow pathway deeper into chiranema, on her way to the beetle country shickshick. along the way, winsome stops by a lot of small towns and hamlets populated by farming and mining beetle communities. none of the grandiose extravagance the urban beetle ruling class flaunts is here. the population's attitude towards their meager lot in life is fatalistic and resigned -- behemoth does not pull the peasant's plow, after all! when you play talatriot against the "beetle tillers and toilers", you play on a hexagon board. like all generic encounters you can play them for money and buy stuff at little beetle sundry depots.
6 - 'chamferedhex' - midboss of the beetle country "shickshick". a foreman or local aristocrat of some kind? anyway, winsome challenges him. if she wins, he will lead her to a slime vein with working miners so she can see the tendrils of penrose for herself and learn about how the resource is dowsed and extracted. if she loses, she must start work as a miner. this work will humble her and she will develop bonds with her working compatriots that will induce her to abandon her mission and change her lifestyle. another BAD END.
7 - whacky squares that look kinda like triangles - ??? weird person
8 - chamferedhexsquare - beath. beath is a beetle miner. even though she is only just on the cusp of thirty, her body is starting to give out on her, and she's terribly lonely, since she's one of the only women on her work crew and she's not at all into guys.
9 - sphinx - doll maroon enclave generic battle. winsome winds up in an enclave of dolls who escaped servitude and captivity, after getting lost in her final push to the core. winsome cannot play these matches after meeting lulu as the story perspective temporarily shifts to lulu's at the instant of their meeting.
10 - snake scales - zoujie. our "super sexy top half woman bottom have snake sacred hermit/yamabushi" type character. the classic character archetype we all know any love. older than winsome by several years, sort of protective, assertive, affectionate, and doting in her romantic pursuits (everyone has their own style of approach, yknow). zoujie trusts winsome immediately since she comes recommended by a respected witch from the town zoujie lives near. as winsome bonds with zoujie, zoujie teaches her a lot of things, including how to commune with slime and how to summon the avatar when you get close enough to the core. practiced witches, hermits etc do this regularly in order to ask penrose if she will place a tendril here or there for a community to live off of, but zoujie will not know winsome's true purpose in doing so.
11 - hexspike - i dont know what was going on when i was playing this earlier but it works fine when im playing it now and i actually think its quite cool and unusual. serpent country midboss. this close to the core, humans are never seen and treated with a lot of rumor and suspicion. winsome is brought before a learned witch who interrogates her about her true purposes being down there. winsome says she's going to the core to commune with its avatar, but declines to say why. so the witch proposes a talatriot match. if the witch wins, winsome will tell her the truth. if winsome wins, the witch will put away her suspicions and allow winsome to meet with the hermit zoujie, who can teach her things about the core.
12 - triforce - skip
13 - honeycomb - lulu. there is no midboss for the doll enclave, as lulu's narrative segment is larger, more torrid and contentious than the other relationships with the other adversaries.
14 - swirl - probably not good, pieces are too large and it's confusing to match since 12 uniques
15 - optitri - serpent country generic battle
16 - circles - penrose