You are Charlotte Fawkins, dashing heroine, detective, adventuress, heiress, sorceress, heraldess, etcetera. Three years ago, you drowned yourself in a quest to find a long-lost family heirloom; nowadays, you're still working on that heirloom thing, though you, trusty retainer Gil, and snake(?)/father(?) Richard have had plenty of other adventures. Inexplicably, you are plagued with strange omens and vile nemeses, even though m̶o̶s̶t̶ ̶p̶e̶o̶p̶l̶e̶ ̶a̶r̶e̶ ̶o̶k̶a̶y̶ ̶w̶i̶t̶h̶ y̶o̶u̶ ̶n̶o̶w you're beloved by everybody you know: after all, you've never done anything wrong in your life.Right now, you've successfully imploded the villainous corporation Headspace (and its Management), and have returned to a larger audience than you expected. Also, a louder one. There's a lot of people in a small area and they're all looking at you and clapping and cheering for you, because you did it. You did what you said you would. You saved people, and Headspace is no more, and... you think you need to sit down. There's still a possibility you're dead.You glance down at Gil, slumped, knees out, hand loosely clutching your boot. He looks exhausted. Which is your fault, you think. You did that to him, because you didn't plan enough, and you went all stupid and Managery, and you didn't even blow it up properly, just imploded it, which is way worse and less—Gil, seeing your glance, has reached up and slid his fingers into your forgotten open hand. He is tugging slightly. It takes you another moment to realize what he means, and then another to stiffen and help pull him to his feet. The instant he's up, he yanks your arm above your head, and the cheering swells feverishly. You spot Eloise, two fingers in her mouth, wolf-whistling.Oh God. You might not be dead. This might be real. You might really be a...Gil drops your arm, and Madrigal comes out of the front of the crowd, waving hers. "Okay! Okay! Cool it! Give her some fucking space! Does she look like she has anything to say right now?!" She looks at you. You can't think of how to respond. Gil has dropped your arm, but not your hand, and he speaks for you. "...Maybe later.""Maybe later! So if you don't have anything you need to tell Miss Big-Dick right this fucking second, you can all go off and get into— Monty! Corral them!""Okay, folks, if we could back up..." Monty launches into his natural-born role of traffic cop while Madrigal turns back to you, hands on hips. Is she angry at you? She doesn't look angry, but... "So."You process. "So?""So you did it, you fucking nutcase! You did it! Not that— I mean— I know you said you would, but there's a big difference between that and, I mean—" She rakes her fingers through her hair. "I mean, that's a power move. That's a big-dick fucking power move. That and Bug Man's—""I didn't do that much," Gil demurs. "All Lottie."(1/3)
"All Lottie. Except for the part where you bailed her crispy ass out? Never bothered to tell anybody you had god powers?""It was kind of personal.""Kind of personal. Okay. Well, I'm glad you decided to un-personal it, because—"You have finally formed a coherent sentence. "What are you doing here? You didn't, um— you weren't on the—""I wasn't in on your suicide pact? No kidding. But you told me and Pat all about it, yeah?" She jerks her thumb back at Pat, who inclines her head. "All about it. So we got to talking about it, and we got to realizing that you were planning on violently relocating... what the fuck is it... thousands of people? Tens of thousands?"You don't actually know how many employees Headspace has. You don't say anything."Yeah. You went into it not even knowing how many. And you didn't mention any kind of plan for what to do about those people, or... like... how to explain anything to them, or what to do if they got hurt, or how to deal with the massive fucking civil war over who's in charge now, or anything afterward. At all. Which seemed a little short-sighted, no offense.""Oh," you say."So we ended up... uh..." Madrigal looks over her shoulder. "The scope kind of... I mean, you told a lot of people already, and then other people who heard wanted in, just to gawk, I guess, and I pulled some contacts, and some of the others pulled their contacts— I guess Earl got the spelunkers— and we knew where you were gonna end up, thank god. So it wasn't too hard to hike over, or dream-zap over, or whatever you do. So, yeah. We've kind of been prepping all day for you to..." She gestures up and down at you. "But then that asshole popped out— not you, Bug Man. Gil. That asshole."She means Real Ellery, who's standing tensely to the side, hands in pockets, eyes trained on an imaginary horizon. "He popped out, and his ex— poor woman, by the way, oh man— and the Headspace guy himself, and Gil, but no Miss Big-Dick Princess. So you got a lot of people worried you blew yourself up.""I wasn't worried," Pat says dryly."Okay, she wasn't worried. And Ell wasn't worried— he said he shot you in the head?" Madrigal raises her eyebrows. "Sounds like something he'd do. But your Bug Man was all, you know, 'we need to do something,' 'even if she survived it doesn't mean she can get out on her own,' blah blah blah, so we had the rescue thing. And it looks like you needed it, no offense, so I suggest you give him a big fat kiss on the mouth."(2/3)
"What?" you say. "Why'd... hey! Excuse me! I'll have you know that, as has been explained, there is zero courtship between Gil and I, and—" He's still holding your hand! You wrest it free. "—to insinuate otherwise is baseless, completely baseless, and—""So you are in there!" Madrigal laughs at you. You scowl. "I never said it had to be romantic, did I? Give Bug Man a big fat friendly kiss on the mouth, if that's what you'd like. Whatever gets you off. Anyways... any questions? I can stick around, Pat can stick around— you know, whoever you need. Ell's going nowhere, if you still have beef. Bug Man's right there. Or you can go kick back, crack a cold one, pass out. Doesn't matter to me. I think you deserve it."(You'll have the chance to talk to multiple people about multiple subjects before you need to move on, so don't overthink it.)>[1] Talk to Pat and Madrigal. You get what everybody is doing here, but what are they... doing?>[2] Talk to Anthea. You only properly saw her one time. What was she up to? Did she help Gil out? (You should probably thank her if she helped Gil out.)>[3] Talk to Real Ellery. Is he done trying to kill himself now?>[4] Talk to Casey. Is there even a person left inside there? What did Management do to him?>[5] Talk to Gil. The last time you spoke to him, he blasted you with disgusting paganness, and you had no choice but to flee. You should probably address this.>[6] Write-in.
>AnnouncementsWelcome back to Drowned Quest Redux! We're back to IC downtime and I'm nearly on winter break, so I expect a chill and nicely paced thread. Don't jinx it for me, folks. Also, all those clunky Google Drive links have been compiled into a single sexy 3500-page PDF! At last, you can read (or CTRL+F) Drowned Quest Redux all in one place. I'll keep this PDF updated on a hopefully threadly basis. Link below. (Threads 1-4 are attached to this post: I can't attach the full one because of filesize limits.)>ScheduleOne a day, occasionally more if the first one was short. There may be sporadic half-updates (no options) if I start writing too late in the evening, sorry in advance. I am in the PST timezone.>DiceWe use a 3d100 roll over degrees of success system with crits. The base DC is 50. Modifiers may be applied to the roll or to the DC as relevant. The # of rolls that match or exceed the DC determine the result. Probabilities may be found in the Dice and Mechanics pastebin.The degrees are:0 Passes = Failure1 Pass = Mitigated Success2 Passes = Success3 Passes = Enhanced Success0/1/100 = Critical Success / Critical Failure / Critical Success [regardless of other rolls]>MechanicsThe (typical) MC has a pool of 14 Identity ("ID"), which may be considered both HP and the measure of her current sense of self. It may be lost through physical, metaphysical, or emotional damage. It may be regained through write-ins, designated options, and at reasonable narrative points, including sleep. It may be spent on a flat +10 bonus to rolls, as well as on more elaborate metaphysical effects. Dropping to 0 ID is bad.>Archivehttps://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive.html?tags=drowned%20quest%20redux>Fancy archive (PDF!!!)https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XZ-wmLX4bVinqhK21dZImKKtfuhKcXvQ/view?usp=sharing>Twitterhttps://twitter.com/BathicQM>Pastebinshttps://pastebin.com/u/BathicQM>Recaps https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VPJwXzTpv4lO_t6R3jA32NLbKjdIZjtJlRFsWQgBMnM/edit?usp=sharing>Ask the characters (or the QM), get a drawn response eventuallyhttps://curiouscat.live/BathicQM [ALMOST CERTAINLY DOWN, I'll make a new one eventually] >"Redux"?This quest is a loose sequel to the original Drowned Quest, which ran for eight short threads in 2019. Reading the original may help with context in very early Redux threads, but is not required.>I have a question/comment/concern?Tell me!
>LAST TIME ON DROWNED QUEST REDUXYou awaken to the Herald making final arrangements-- it has to vacate your body soon, but it wants to leave you in a good spot. In fact, it has wrangled you and four Managers onto an elevator straight down to the BrainWyrm Mk II, the central mechanical "brain" controlling Headspace's operations. You're pretty sure that the Mk II is what you need to blow up.The Herald leaves, but thanks to its machinations, the Managers believe you still speak for it. As the elevator descends, they answer your questions about the prisons of extrareality that hold the locitis victims captive, though they get a tad defensive when you grill them about their use of live subjects. They also tell you more about the BrainWyrm, which you finally see when you exit the elevator: it's an enormous metallic sphere that exerts a powerful gravity. Also, Ellery's here, along with an incapacitated, vacant Casey. You send the Managers to corner them, but Ellery wards them off with the tine of the Crown he took from Casey (and which Casey took from you). Annoyed, you summon up residual Herald power to turn the Managers real, rendering them immune to the effects of the tine... but vulnerable to Ellery popping off and murdering every single one of them. Oops. Ellery waves around the tine, now full of Managerial essence, and tells you he'll trade you it in exchange for his sun back. You manage to negotiate that down to half the sun, perform the exchange, and set about convincing the newly re-empowered Ellery to not explode himself. You do this by sticking your hand into his chest, grabbing his strings, and forcibly merging your mind with his. Now possessing a direct link to Ellery, you search for the silver-bullet reason why you ought to blow up Headspace and he oughtn't, why you're a special important heroine and he isn't... but can't find anything. Ellery is superficially different from you, but you share all the core traits that might otherwise prove your specialness. That is, except for one: Ellery does wrong things all the time, while you've never done anything wrong in your life.Ellery, baffled by your conviction to this bizarre idea, discovers the reason why you're so convinced of it: your memories are seriously, seriously messed up. If your life were a book, it'd be illegible: words, paragraphs, and entire chapters would be missing, and many of the pages would have severe water damage. That, and there's two pages stuck together with something crusty and metallic-smelling...Augh! Attempting to open the stuck-together pages sends you reeling, distraught, but Ellery pulls you back to reality. He tells you that there's nothing to freak out over: *Management* did this to you, and that means you can probably get your memories back. Hearing this comforts you a little, but now you're back to square 1: you still have nothing separating you and Ellery.
And maybe that's the point, you realize. A heroine isn't special because of her qualities or actions, but because she was designated as a heroine from the beginning. Therefore you're the heroine because you are, and Ellery isn't because he isn't. It isn't just circular logic-- it's actively *powered* by circular logic, by recursion, by self-consumption. Having realized this, you take control of the narrative-- as in the literal narration-- and force Ellery to give up. He has no other option.Defeated, Ellery begs you one last time to kill him. You decline and flounce away to commune with the BrainWyrm instead. After forcing comprehensibility onto the BrainWyrm's interior, you "find yourself" in a place with a great many filing cabinets. Reasoning that your memories might be stored in one of them, you command the BrainWyrm's automated system to retrieve them for you. You wind up with a strange device which, you decide, must be some type of snake memory-storage technology; you save it for Richard to look at. Then you cruise to the BrainWyrm's center, which you visualize as a glowing snake made of Law. You skip straight to communing with the snake, who promptly devours you, possesses you, and nearly kills you outright. You're saved by the model of your manse, altered by Richard, which provides a protective shield. Inside, you regain your strength, remember all the things that make you *you,* and successfully wrench back control. You're still not sure how to blow up the BrainWyrm, though, so you consult the Managerness inside the tine of the Crown. You pour Headspace's contents into the Namway manse, then implode it, filling it with all-consuming void.With you inside. But with the help of your friends, or "friends," you're rescued: Richard protects your consciousness, Gil finds you inside the void, and Ellery (and everybody else) helps haul you to safety. You did it!
>TO-DOImmediate goals:- DebriefShort-term goals:- Use the memstick- Make Richard tell you what's going on - Leave Headspace/Namway in decent shapeLong-term goals:- Resurrect Annie- Return Claudia- Attend your richly deserved Game Night- Use, extract, or otherwise deal with the Wyrm stuff you got going on- Find Jean Ramsey and her snake; challenge her to epic single combat (probably); reclaim the Crown- In the meantime, continue collecting and storing Law (5/16)- Make friends (...unless you have already?)Mysteries:- Who or what is Namway Co. and Headspace Corp.'s “Management”? What did they want with the clone of a snake? What do they want with a massive store of Law? If they're snakes... what does that mean?- What kind of company(?) does Richard work for? What is its endgame? What does it want with you? What is its relationship with Management? - Who is Horse Face investigating, and why?- Who wiped three years of your life from your memory? Was it Management? Why? Can Richard really not remember them either?- What is the Herald? Why does it keep showing up? What does it want? Where is it supposed to be? What are you supposed to forgive yourself for, exactly? (You haven't done anything wrong!)- When is the world going to end? How?- Do you have a destiny? Is it God-related? It's a good destiny, surely?- Why does Richard keep developing stab wounds?- If Richard isn't a snake, or anything else, what the hell is he? - Why does Management know Richard by name? (Or mean nickname, at least?) --->Don't forget to scroll up and vote!
>>6159299>5Thanks for all the saves bro>4Pat still ungrateful even though we just all but guaranteed Management would never come after her again and I'm pretty sure we also managed to grab her boyfriends location in that memstick? Wow
>>6159299>[1] Talk to Pat and Madrigal. You get what everybody is doing here, but what are they... doing?>[2] Talk to Anthea. You only properly saw her one time. What was she up to? Did she help Gil out? (You should probably thank her if she helped Gil out.)
>>6159313>>6159315Please pick one, unless you plan to talk to both of your votes at the same time. "You'll have the chance to talk to multiple people" means you'll have a chance to talk to somebody else after the first person, sorry for the lack of clarity. >Pat still ungratefulWait for her to have more than one line of dialogue before jumping to conclusions, anon! Even if that's what Charlotte would do
>>6159323In that case 5 firstHe was the prime lifesaver
>[5] Talk to Gil. The last time you spoke to him, he blasted you with disgusting paganness, and you had no choice but to flee. You should probably address this.
>>6159299>[5] Talk to Gil. The last time you spoke to him, he blasted you with disgusting paganness, and you had no choice but to flee. You should probably address this.
>>6159331>>6159448>>6159598>[5]>>6159315>[1], [2]Gilbros... we winning. Writing shortly. I don't expect this to be a super long update.
>Give Bug Man a big fat friendly kiss on the mouthCrack a cold one? A cold what? Madrigal's grinning down at you like she expects you to know what to do next. You're not sure you followed any of what she said. You can talk to people? But what if they ask you things you don't want to answer?Gil, ever-faithful, sees your consternation. "I think she wants to sit down, right? Lottie? Take a breather?""Sure," you mumble. "Yeah."Madrigal nods approvingly. "Sounds like a plan. I'll tell people to clear out. Give me a shout if you need me, 'kay? Not literally. I'll probably be nearby. If I'm not, ask Monty.""Or me," Pat says."Or her, yeah. Pat knows what's up. I think she had something to ask you...?""I can wait." Pat grips her wrists. "Go sit down.""We'll see you in a little bit, then," Gil says. "Uh, thanks for everything, really, Madrigal. You didn't have to—""Yeah, yeah. I fucking well did have to, but that's life. At least it got exploded. See you later, you two."And then Madrigal has turned and waded back into the crowd, and Pat without comment has followed, and nobody is looking at you but Gil, whose hands are in his pockets. "Can you walk okay?""I'm a heroine," you say, concentrating, "of course—""Here! I gotcha!" Gil catches your arm as you teeter. "You've been through a lot... I mean, I assume you've been through a lot. I can only imagine. Um, how's— is this okay?" He's lifting your arm and placing it gingerly over his shoulder. "Just for support."You rub your fingertips against the suede of his jacket. "...Yeah...""Okay! Ace! We don't have to go very far, just out of the way of everybody. I don't want to be stared at. C'mon."He walks/drags you some ways, then stops, looks around, and squats down. He pats the ground in front of him, and you collapse to your knees right there."Hey, there we go. Looking good. How are you feeling?"A complex question. You roll it around in your mouth. "You saved my...""Not really," Gil says. "I think you would've been fine without us, like they said. I just couldn't stand the wait. Ha-ha. You know how to wig me out, Lottie.""You're lying." You feel sure of it. "I would've died! I thought I was going to— I thought— I was all screwed up at the end, thinking I was going to— I was wigged out, not you. I was thinking all this horrible stuff, all negative, and I wasn't being heroic at all, and you came in and—""Of course you were wigged out. You went and exploded yourself." You're not sure you like how lightly Gil is treating this. "I was glad you weren't taking it in stride, because you— I mean— you exploded yourself. You were just acting human.""And not what?""Lottie...""Human and not what?" You dig your thumbnail into your finger. "And not like a scary monster trying to kill you?""That's not what I was going to say," Gil says. "But since you said it, I mean... yeah. That was a plus."(1/2)
"Because I was a scary monster trying to kill you?" "I— I don't know. Were you? All I know is that I found you, and then..." He gestures vaguely for the 'hug' bit. "...you were gone again. I didn't know if it was me, or you, or—""It was me," you say. "I was trying to kill you. I mean, I— I really wanted to— it wanted to kill you. And I couldn't let it kill you, so I... yeah. I ran.""Ah.""Are you mad at me?""What? No?" (You side-eye Gil, but he looks genuinely confused.) "Why would I be mad?""Because you were mad last time when I screwed up? You told me to plan better. And I didn't, and I ditched you, and I imploded myself, and I made Madrigal go to all the trouble of... whatever she's doing, and... anybody normal would be mad." You fold your arms. "Are you going to be mad after you stop being pagan?"What kind of answer were you looking for? Either a yes or a no. Gil's hesitation stings. "I... I don't know. I don't think so. How did you know?""Besides the god powers? Your eyes are all funny-looking. Blue. Did Teddy do this to you?""Only a little. There was a fish, and..." Gil rubs his eye self-consciously. "I won't bore you with the details.""A fish?""What did you call it? A vision quest? It was one of those. I think. I don't have a lot of experience. Don't worry about me, though— I mean— I didn't do much of anything. You're the one who blew up Headspace. Are you at least proud of that?""I... I think once I see it...""Needs to sink in. No problem. You should be proud, though. I mean, fucking Headspace— the amount of— this is a big deal, Lottie. A big goddamn deal! Be proud.""Thanks," you say."Yeah," Gil says. "Of course.">[1] So... what was he up to before and after you ditched him? You're sorry you got separated.>[2] So is he all magyckal and perfect now? You don't know what being paganfied does. (You just remember he got really uppity last time it happened.) Will it go away?>[3] Tell Gil about the new developments with the Herald.>[4] (Attempt to) tell Gil about your revelations about the nature of heroism.>[5] Ask Gil if he ever got a souvenir from Casey Effing Kemper. >[6] Ask Gil about the mini-siphons. He got all of them planted, right? ...Right?>[7] Write-in.
>>6160153>1,5,6Oh god the mini siphonsWe forgot completely
>>6160153>[6] Ask Gil about the mini-siphons. He got all of them planted, right? ...Right?
>[1] So... what was he up to before and after you ditched him? You're sorry you got separated.>[6] Ask Gil about the mini-siphons. He got all of them planted, right? ...Right?
>>6160817>>6160585>>6160395>>6160380>[6]>>6160585>>6160380>[1]>>6160380>[5]Called for [1], [5], [6]. I'd normally just do [1] and [6], but asking won't hurt anything and it provides me a convenient segue into the option slate. Behold my evil QMing powers at work.Writing.
Rolled 4 (1d16)Oh, and rolling for how many siphons Gil managed to plant offscreen. You get 4 of 16 automatically, since that's what you planted *on*-screen.>Why would he not do his one job?Because Casey brainwashed him and stole the rest of the siphons! You should consider yourself lucky your loyal retainer managed to steal them back and plant any extra. (Well, maybe. We'll see how the roll turns out.)1 = No extra siphons 2 - 12 = N - 1 siphons13-16 = All the extra siphons
>>6160858>3 extra siphons7 / 16 were planted, so you're just under half capacity. Not entirely what you were aiming for, but it could be worse. Back to writing.
>Catching upGil's unbroken eye contact is too much for you: you redden and look down. "So... what have you been doing? Besides saving my life, or not.""Aw, geez, that's a lot of... I haven't seen you since we jumped out of that window, right? Not counting the run-in. Wow. Okay, well, uh, I fell and wound up— I guess I got pinned as a Friend, because I wound up... most of it doesn't matter. I wound up getting reamed by Casey Fucking Kemper, is what happened. Completely jacked up. Mind-wise, I mean. Not my finest hour. But—""You seem okay," you say suspiciously."I am now. I think because I'm not real, strictly speaking, he couldn't wipe me out. Or maybe it's..." He leans his cheek against his hand. "...you know, I'm a tough nut to crack. After everything. I don't know. So it took me a while to work through it. Vision quest. You know.""Oh." You process. "Oh. So you're all dumb and pagan because you needed to shake off Casey's vile brainwashing?""More or less, yup. I don't know if that'd be my word choice, but that's what you're here for." Gil smiles crookedly. "I need to thank Garvin, since it was his statue thing that...""Horse Face is responsible for this?!" You should've known! "Do you need me to talk to him?! Because I will have a word with—""Lottie, sit down. I'm fine. I'm still me, just— you know how sometimes you set some shitty expectations for yourself?""No?" you say. "I always meet my expectations.""I— okay. Should've seen that coming. Don't worry about it. The point is, I did shake off the vile brainwashing, etcetera, socked C-F-K in the jaw—" Gil sounds pleased with himself. "—took off. And, uh, from there, I— I don't think you need a play-by-play, since I was mostly trying to track you, and you know how that worked out. But I did run back into Anthea... did you even know she was there? I guess she found out Ellery was trying to blow himself up, and she thought she might be able to wrangle him. Since I guess she does that a lot. She was going to nab him with... basically a pocket-dimension generator, which I thought was so cool, and I got to— have you ever really talked to Anthea?""Um..." You think. "...no...""You should! She's super nice. I mean, nicer than any other lady I've talked to..." You glare. Gil holds his hands up. "You excluded! Obviously she didn't save my life or anything. But she also didn't shoot me in the face, or insult me, so it's a low bar... um. She helped out a lot. And the body really helped. The goo, I mean. It's crazy how much more you can get done when you know you're not gonna get hurt. Like, when you know it. So thanks for that, again, if I haven't said it a million times.""Certainly," you say, and sit down primly. "I'm pleased you have all your limbs, Gilbert. Did you have a chance to stick the siphons up?""Uh...""You didn't?"(1/2?)
"I did! Some of them! Look, Lottie, I got— you know, jacked up. I was working on it until Casey went in and stole all my shit. Or I gave it to him, I don't know. I got the first four up, and then everything happened, and then, by the time I got any back, you'd pretty much cluster-bombed the place. It was over."You draw your knees to your chest. "How many did you stick up total?""Four plus..." Gil counts on his fingers. "...three? Seven.""So less than half?""Look, Lottie, I'm sorry. I was a little preoccupied. But don't you have juice in storage already? You're not starting from scratch, here. And the ones I did get should've captured what they could, so it's not like we're getting nothing. Just maybe not enough. Positive thinking?""Don't tell me to think positive," you snap."Sorry," Gil says. "Just saying.""...Did you at least steal what you wanted to steal from Casey? I know in the penthouse, you really wanted to—""Oh! Yeah!" Gil rummages around in his pocket, then pulls out a boxy black thing. "I nabbed a talkie! Check it out! It's like a short-range radio in a little box, but it works two ways. I'm thinking maybe I could tinker with it, try to duplicate it, see if it can go between minds... whatever I can think of, I guess. But it's awesome stuff. Headspace really had a lot of crazy technology, so I'm glad you saved a lot of the infrastructure, or else it'd—""They were snakes," you say."What?""Management was snakes. Like Richard. That's why they had all the fancy technology.""Oh." Gil lowers the talkie. "Wait, so Richard is Ma...""He says he isn't. I think it's probably complicated." You look over your shoulder at the diminishing crowd of people. "I still don't know that much, so... maybe later.""Right. Good plan. Are you feeling any better?"You reflect. "Yes.""Okay! Ace! That's all you need sometimes, a breather. Can you stand? I saw you standing earlier."Yes, you can stand, though you're still not wholly steady on your feet. "Grab on if you need me," Gil says helpfully. "Where are we going?">[1] To Casey! He *brainwashed* your retainer?! This is entirely unforgivable. You must either wreak your revenge or determine that he's so messed up revenge would be worthless. >[2] To Anthea! It is sort of weird that you haven't properly talked to her in weeks. You should probably tell her how you made Real Ellery not explode himself, so you get the proper credit. >[3] To Us! You might be feeling better, but that doesn't mean you're ready to accept the adulations of the public. To gird yourself, you must face the one person(s) who's probably annoyed at you right now. Also, Gil can give Teddy back (fingers crossed). >[4] To Horse Face! You're glad Gil likes being all pagan-y, or whatever, but pawning off nefarious artifacts on your retainer is a bridge too far. Give him a piece of your mind. (Also, Horse Face might be able to help with crypto-theological... stuff. Should you be experiencing it.) >[5] Write-in.
>>6160961>2Oh you wanted to save Ellery? Sorry we’re so heroic we accidentally did your entire goal as a side quest. Not easy being a destined savior and all
>>6160961>[2] To Anthea! It is sort of weird that you haven't properly talked to her in weeks. You should probably tell her how you made Real Ellery not explode himself, so you get the proper credit.
>>6161054>>6161071>[2]You got it. Writing,>>6161054kek
>Yes I did singlehandedly rescue your ex-boyfriend you're welcome *dab* *dab* *dab*You scan the people remaining. Madrigal looks busy. Pat looks peeved (though that might be her normal face, you're not sure). Horse Face looks like Horse Face. Okay, there definitely is somebody with multiple faces on them, which you refuse to address right now. Casey is as blank as ever. Ellery... Ellery also looks peeved. He's being talked to by Anthea.Anthea! Gil's right that you haven't talked to her much. Does she know you're responsible for exposing Ellery's dark secrets? Is Ellery telling her you just saved his life? The last time you spoke to her properly, she was mad at you for spying on them, but surely she'll have forgiven you by now. Since it was for a good cause and all. Also, since she's so nice. You'd normally be skeptical of anybody claiming to be that nice, but Gil says it's true, and you trust his judgment.You clear your throat. "Er, if Anthea was so helpful to you, I better go bestoweth upon her my... esteemed regards. Yes. Additionally, I must inform her that I did in fact rescue Ellery, since he's probably lying to her right now about that. Since he's such a liar. Why are you making a face?""I'm not making a face," Gil says, even though he clearly was. He was smiling in a weird way. "That sounds great. Lead on?""Yes!" You lead on. Once or twice you have to catch yourself on Gil's arm, but only so he feels useful. Ellery spots you first. He's significantly more messed up than he was when you left him: there's little holes burned into his skin everywhere, and he's missing big patches of his arms, neck, and face, plus a couple fingers. It's like he got splattered by acid. You guess you shouldn't be surprised that he doesn't seem to care. "And there she is.""Charlotte!!" Anthea breaks away and rushes up to you. "Oh my goodness! You did it! You didn't need me or anybody at all! And you evacuated— I didn't realize— you've ended so much suffering, and saved so, so many lives, and it's— I can't believe it's over! It's really over! Oh, and Gil, I'm so glad— it was so brave of you to go and get her, and it looks like it worked perfectly, and, and, and I— and—" She wobbles and goes glassy. "Thea?" Ellery says, and comes over. "Shit. Here."He waves a sachet of something under her nose. She inhales, reflexively, and her smoke goes white. Ellery withdraws the sachet. "Strong emotion," he tells you neutrally.Anthea wipes her upper lip. "Thank you," she says, equally neutrally. "Thank you, Charlotte. Gil. You did a really amazing thing. And thank you for stopping Ellery from doing something stupid.""Not stupid," he says. "Charlotte, can we chat?""You're not chatting. You and her talking alone is what led to this mess." A flicker of red in Anthea's white smoke. "If I have to stay around to stop you from hurting yourself, I'll stay around."(1/2)
"You're not my fucking mother," Ellery says."You never knew your mother, Ell.""Yeah! So I don't need one! And I'm not your fucking project anymore, either. I can make my own godsdamn decisions, and I can talk to whoever I—""No, you can't." Anthea folds her arms. To you: "I'm sorry about him. Thank you for talking him down." (Ellery snorts.) "Was there something you wanted to talk about?">[A1] You really know very little about Anthea, other than the outline Ellery's sketched for you. What does she do, besides be president of Spelunkers Associated? How did she meet Ellery? Did she know about his dumb martyr plan all along?>[A2] She's not still mad about you spying on her, right? (She doesn't seem mad, but she could be harboring resentment.)>[A3] Has she met Madrigal? Did she know there was going to be a welcoming party?>[A4] What's this about a pocket dimension generator?>[A5] Uh... so she thinks it's fine if a lot of the Headspace employees fell into Us, right? She still counts that as saving their lives, right? >[A6] Write-in.>[B1] Thank her sincerely for helping Gil.>[B2] Thank her heroically for helping Gil.>[B3] She seems mollified enough already. Omit the thanking.>[B4] Write-in.
>>6161559Anthea is definitely a good person if she appeciates us as much as we deserve.>[A4] What's this about a pocket dimension generator?>[B1] Thank her sincerely for helping Gil.
>[A1] You really know very little about Anthea, other than the outline Ellery's sketched for you. What does she do, besides be president of Spelunkers Associated? How did she meet Ellery? Did she know about his dumb martyr plan all along?>[B1] Thank her sincerely for helping Gil.
>>6161559>A1>B1She’s awed enough for our ego to not need the heroic thank you
>>6161625>>6161630>[A1]>>6161589>[A4]>>6161589>>6161625>>6161630>[B1]Called for [A1] / [A4] / [B1]. Also, since everybody's picking single options, here's your reminder that dialogue options like the [A]s are "pick however many you want" unless otherwise specified. You don't have to pick multiple if you don't want to, but it's not prohibited. Writing. I am starting late, so slim chance I won't finish, but I feel pretty good about it.
On second thought, I'm pretty much beat, and the update would need extra legwork to get it to the endpoint I'm envisioning. I think I'll go ahead, pass out early, and maybe see if I can work on this during the day. If not, it'll be tomorrow night as usual. Thanks for your understanding.
