If you do decide to do another quest in this universe, maybe we could start out a bit more powerful, such as being a cape or in the Know, so that it doesn't feel like we are just trying to catch up back to where we were or re-tread old ground.
Tbh given how much we focused on cult training and our foe, and how little we spent exploring the Mansus, the only ground would maybe be some of those early lessons. But the styling of them can play out so differently.
It's kind of convenient, deep lore really hasn't been spoiled
You set out to kill this man, many many years ago. He had earned your enmity a thousand times over. He well-deserved your hate and your hunt.
You've spent years tracking him. Training for him. Thinking through every trick he might try, and countless ones he hadn't. You devoted your life to this quest, and it worked. It worked!
...
...And you are coming to realize you have not spent any one of those moments thinking what you would do next.
After the shotgun blast, it all felt like a blur. You checked his pulse -- you needed to be sure. You cleaned up what you could, and then ran. You're sure your assistants got you home safe, but you can't even remember your head hitting the pillow.
Now you're awake. You open your eyes and stare at the ceiling.
You've achieved your revenge. The quest you've dedicated what feels like your life to is finished. Ojciec and all the rest are avenged.
And life... just goes on? Plodding forward one second at a time? What do you do now?
What on earth do you do now?
Should you... go back home? The thought crosses your mind, but you shudder. The woman who showed up would be nothing like the girl they remember. Perhaps better to leave them with memories, which reality can never match.
Should you... find a job? You almost smile, thinking of what your resume would look like. And the look on some manager's face when you handed it over. Before he fled, screaming.
Suddenly, a thought crosses your mind. One of the whispers that had come your way, when you were doing your digging. That Michael was part of something. Something dark. Something strange. Something bigger than him.
You know he had help. You don't know its nature. You don't know its source. And most importantly -- you don't know when it started.
All those years ago... had it been more than just him? It would explain a few of his feats you could never quite believe.
And what was he working on now? What had let him to settle down here, allow himself to be found? What sick legacy did that sick man leave behind? God, was he --
Your stomach rumbling pauses your train of thought. You feel full of vigour again, the next steps of a path forward clear. The hunt is on, again.
(And thoughts of a normal life are back where they belong, buried in the deepest chasms of your mind.)
This would probably be a very different sort of quest, and I'm not sure how the mechanics would work out. But I'm thinking something like the detective background -- someone who gets into the occult because they're chasing down (or, in Alicja's case, has chased down) people involved in it.
I can't see her joining the cult, but I can see her starting her own one to oppose it? Even if she doesn't consider that what she's doing?
It'd lack the structure of an Advisor's council, so it might be too far afield, but it's a thought.
(And certainly she's left as a very interesting character!
Why would a QM rig the rolls against the players, leading to the end of the quest? It would make more sense for a QM to secretly boost player rolls if they are doing badly to avoid this situation, but I don't think witherbrine did that, nor is this a common scandal I have heard of happening on sufficient velocity.
Doing just some basic off the cuff statistics, it seems like there's about a 1.8% chance for the rolls to go this badly. While that may seem low, of the thousands of quests hosted on this forum, it would be inevitable that some quests run into streaks of bad luck.
Listen, I will not engage with "internet drama", and whitebrine doesn't really need me (or anyone) to protect him.
But listen to yourself for a little bit, eh?
Either QM did NOT cheat on the rolls, and this is the true result of what happened. Or QM flexed his writing skills, gave us a great story with compelling characters, and then "fudged" the dice to purposefully end the quest. By cold logic, both results means the QM accepted the quest ends, and claiming this is suspicious is just a very rude way of saying you would like it to continue.
But ultimately, QM is saying the dice were not manipulated, so they were not manipulated. If you don't believe that, and you can't trust your QM, then there is no point in participating in a quest.
As a fellow writer, I sincerely commend your character for not fudging the rolls. Like my fellow readers mentioned, giving us the indignity of "creating" rolls just to cop us out would have cheapened the experience.
I was very interested in learning more of our character's past. I was VERY curious about what you planned for this world, especially given the opportunities that the Worm setting gave us, and I really enjoyed your prose and style.
Hell, you have us a daughter-sized Wolf-based MASTER. My only regret is that I planned on writing another omake when we reached 100k words, where Velvet skipped histories to hug her, and now I won't be able to.
Regardless, it feels like you had a lot of fun writing this. And I am sincerely happy for you! Thank you kindly for all the effort you put into this story for us!
And if you wish to continue this quest from another character's perspective, "upgrade" us into a version of the quest where we play the Master, or start something else entirely, I will be there to follow your endeavors.
Have a wonderful day! I have no idea how ending a quest feels like ( ) so I can only guess you are a little stunned. So, if you want a few minutes or days to put your thoughts in order, go right ahead.
Either QM did NOT cheat on the rolls, and this is the true result of what happened. Or QM flexed his writing skills, gave us a great story with compelling characters, and then "fudged" the dice to purposefully end the quest. By cold logic, both results means the QM accepted the quest ends, and claiming this is suspicious is just a very rude way of saying you would like it to continue.
The key point is trust. The idea that either the dice rolls were legitimate, or the QM intentionally manipulated them, is a bit of a false dichotomy. There could be a range of factors at play that don't necessarily involve deception, but it's still worth acknowledging why people might question the outcome. A lot of the time, the way a story progresses can feel like it's at odds with the rolls, and that disconnect can create suspicion, even if no foul play is involved.
That said, you're right in pointing out that if the QM says the dice weren't manipulated, and you trust the QM, then there's no reason to assume anything nefarious. But if someone does have doubts, it's worth considering whether those doubts are based on the story's flow or a deeper issue of trust. Either way, if people can't trust the QM, it's going to be hard for them to engage in the quest, and I think it's better to have open conversations about concerns than to shut them down.
After Bird, Wither, and reading through Vox Vitae, I'm beginning to want to start my own... Any advice anyone can give me? I'm reading through the 'intro to Questing' thread, but I'd love any advice anyone could offer.
Edit: Unless this is a bad place to ask. I could check somewhere else, if need be.
This quest made me pick up CS again after a long time.
Then, pretty late in the game, I failed to turn or kill a Hunter despite using high-end lores to make him independent and after that failed wasted three attempts and lost two of my Edge-DIsciples, which made me close it again in frustration.
We died because we started a hot war before establishing a power base and subsequently got hated on for each and every combat by the dice. You really can't plan around multiple 100s being thrown against you.
tacticaltokens.com
