Remove ads

A Rat's Guide to Glory

Reader mode
Nyarky said:
By the way, what was the deal with the Highlight Heroes? Was it actually EGO corrosion as some postulated?

And how would Ciel as they are in the epilogue would react if learning about Maria's true nature, in fact, did they?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Ciel never figures out what Maria's deal really is, but they also do not really work together again. More like that they call each other on occasion.

As for the Highlight Heroes... the top few were junkies who took so much Enkephalin that they adopted traits and some inhuman sturdiness from Abnormalities that Enkephalin came from. Plus the mental issues one can imagine stemming from doing so.
 
Naron said:
Ciel never figures out what Maria's deal really is, but they also do not really work together again. More like that they call each other on occasion.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Make sense, unfortunately.

Another idea that struck me:

A more ambitious Ciel or a more persuasive Parvati ends up with Ciel going to the library, he asks for Maria's help and ends up... on Tiphereth's floor. Cue, lots of questions. Bonus point if the disappeared sister of Giano is there too. :V
 
Nyarky said:
Don't worry, I am sure best waifu from Armored Core 6 can give you some energy! :V

(If you don't get what I mean, just wait until you are far enough in the game, it will become clear.)
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I may have met her, depending. I only got to filtering the noob filter so far, my last two-ish weeks were pretty busy.

Either way, I will be doubtful about any sort of waifu giving me energy because I do not run on waifus.
 
Naron said:
I may have met her, depending. I only got to filtering the noob filter so far, my last two-ish weeks were pretty busy.

Either way, I will be doubtful about any sort of waifu giving me energy because I do not run on waifus.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

If you got past chapter 1's noob filter, you have just met her, it's Ayre. (Her name isn't a real spoiler alone)

But it is still too soon to completely understand the joke, don't worry, I can just assure you that she can give you energy even if you don't run on Waifus. She's best waifu like that. :V
 
So with the Quest now over, could we possibly ask about the paths not chosen, and the potential consquences we missed?
 
Naron said:
Sure, ask away. Just keep in mind that I did not have too extensive plans at any given time, so there may not be much to share.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

There are three things I am kinda curious about:

1. What would have happened if Ciel let Monroe kill Harumi? Would Monroe have tried to kill Ciel afterwards?

2. What would have happened if Ciel ever bothered to call Angus? Would he have just hung up once any tax-related questions Ciel may have had were dealt with?

3. What would have been the consquences of opening up that prescript?
 
Brightflame said:
1. What would have happened if Ciel let Monroe kill Harumi? Would Monroe have tried to kill Ciel afterwards?

2. What would have happened if Ciel ever bothered to call Angus? Would he have just hung up once any tax-related questions Ciel may have had were dealt with?

3. What would have been the consquences of opening up that prescript?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
The first would have had no consequences; Monroe only wanted revenge on Harumi for the same sort of thing she pulled on Ciel later. If anything, not saving her would have led to more money because Monroe would have shared the haul.

Agnus the Claw would have only bothered with tax-related questions. They had absolutely no interest in further interactions with Ciel.

As for the Prescript, while I am not going to say what was written inside, opening it would have led to some doubt on Ciel by their team. Maria would not have cared much, but Giano and Hifumi could never rule out that Ciel is not an Index plant then. Ciel also would have gotten some inner turmoil about acknowledging a Prescript.
 
And something tells me this Ciel will still become a color....... just longer as it were to get there, an ego afterall does exist and even if not on purpose the city will still challenge him and force him to heights we may not see, this is not the end of his story, merely of our tenure with him, may it go pleasantly little Gold cat, you made it

Naron said:
That aside, she is a Queen of Hatred who escaped a Lobotomy Corporation branch facility in District 23 and started out as a Fixer while trying not to let it slip she is not quite human. Hence why she used no magic where others could see (but totally teleported around instead of taking the train) and changed her outfit to be a shirt and pants instead of skirt and vest, plus a pair of glasses for extra camouflage. There was nothing great going on there beyond the fact she was an Abnormality figuring out how to human.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
So queen of hatred aberrant I guess, Maiden of zealotry mayhaps?

My own question at this point is a simple one, were the timeline shifts our doing, ciels or a 3rd party?
 
Last edited:
Kalibrius said:
And something tells me this Ciel will still become a color....... just longer as it were to get there, an ego afterall does exist and even if not on purpose the city will still challenge him and force him to heights we may not see, this is not the end of his story, merely of our tenure with him, may it go pleasantly little Gold cat, you made it


So queen of hatred aberrant I guess, Maiden of zealotry mayhaps?

My own question at this point is a simple one, were the timeline shifts our doing, ciels or a 3rd party?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

"Ciel, The Golden Heart"

To be honest, the timeline shift for me was just a nice way to have a "reset" mechanic, coincidentally supported by canon because PM works with the idea of alternate timelines.

Perhaps it's less that we were timeline jumping and more that simply our perspective existed as multiversally omnicient because we were "players".
Like, simply a shifting of our attention. "Oh, so Ciel dies in this timeline (because the possibilities for each decision are almost mathematically "infinite")? Well, huh, let's see then what he's doing on this other side, where everything went "right"."

Like that time Rose had good shots with Ciel until the timeline had the particles arranged enough that the variety of factors that would normally alter the trajectory of a shot exist and allow Ciel to survive.

To be honest, it's such a clever and good little mechanic that I'll probably use it in my PbtA games. Or in any future Quests I might make.
 
Last edited:
Out of curiosity @Naron , what do you envision a Color Ciel to be like? Given how their skillkit is laid out, our Rat-turned-early egoist doesn't strike me as a heavy hitter even if a Color's arsenal is not something to sneeze at.
 
SleepMode said:
Out of curiosity @Naron , what do you envision a Color Ciel to be like? Given how their skillkit is laid out, our Rat-turned-early egoist doesn't strike me as a heavy hitter even if a Color's arsenal is not something to sneeze at.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Honestly, I have no idea yet. Ciel is definitely not the sort to take hits to the face, so more of a skittering, dodge-y style. I did like the idea of giving Ciel a grab-bag of gizmos they can pull out when needed. But I was ultimately dependent on whatever the players picked.

Outside of combat, so far Ciel's orientation was more in intel than direct fights. That probably would have stayed the same, so their position as a Color would have gone toward the Blue Reverberation rather than the Red Mist or the Black Silence. Which is kind of ironic, considering it can still be likened to a rat skittering around out of sight.
 
Congrats on completing another quest, and what an end it was. I liked the end to Ceil's arc and feel that even though it was the ending they set out for, it was an ending they enjoyed much more; having something they cared about in the City and the heart to enjoy it. I really liked the QoH showing up, that definitely threw a lot of us for a loop and it was interesting seeing an Abno trying to fit in with the city.
Just for old time's sake, one last joke to close things out.
Naron said:
Your wife won't follow at your pace,
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
THe Purple Tear is a shipper, apparently.
 
Also likely means they've been keeping tabs on ciel as an ally
Makes you wonder how ciel will react to when limbus rolls in and his friend is literally getting stronger with each branch removed
 
Maria being Magical Girl is kind of funny when I basically remember that basically near the beginning of the Quest someone asked if it would be possible for Ciel to have a romantic relationship with an Abno where the same person went so far as to specify QoH as a possibility.

As I recall Naron had also given a rather cryptic answer to that, or I could be misremembering. The thing is, it makes me wonder if Mary was in on the plans all along or if that comment had something to do with it.
 
Something like Naron hadn't totally ruled it out but implied that if it was on the table it wouldn't be a simple thing.
 
Last edited:
Massive W, and not the wing in mind. We did it boys, a Happy*(*As happy one can be in the city) ending, without needing to exile ourselves to the outskirts.

Congrats on finishing another quest, stoked for all your works ongoing and planned/future ones.

On another note I've been taking notes on your pacing for your writing and tried to apply it myself, it's been working wonders on my end, letting me reach stuff I want to write out, you've more or less inspired me to write more instead of wallowing at my unfinished stories.

(Also Elena was best girl and we should've courted her.)
 
Kelasgre said:
As I recall Naron had also given a rather cryptic answer to that, or I could be misremembering. The thing is, it makes me wonder if Mary was in on the plans all along or if that comment had something to do with it.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
It may have inspired the idea, I am not sure. Although romancing Maria was all but impossible because SV suffers from First Girl Syndrome, so anyone not Parvati could not have been it unless Parvati died :V
 
Reader mode
You must login or register to reply here.
Remove ads
Back
Top