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Shimmer, Glimmer, & Gleam - A Quest of Loss & Gain

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The community aspect is something I really don't want to give up, I really want to follow that plot thread, so I'm not going to vote for Doppelganger Dance.
Roaring vengeance quests can be cool, but I kind of like violence not being a consuming/defining part of Orchid, if that makes sense. Not going to vote for Line Goes Down

So for me at least it's a vote between Waking Nightmares and Escape from Salt Bay. Currently leaning towards the latter, because road trip.
[X] "Flower? One of our lookouts has spotted caravans heading to the farms. Real people. It might be worth moving..." (Begin Part Two: Escape From Salt Bay. You will evolve The Glass Thumb and lose your sense of home as you abandon what you have bled and killed to build.)
 
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Morrowlark said:
You are not the only force in Salt Bay City. Selections not chosen may be influenced by other burgeoning factions.​
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Let's view each option's future.
ChoiceGainOther CostsDeadline
Waking NightmaresDream Logic, Allies
  • Entrenchment in undefensible position
  • Easy healing
  • Corporate poison
  • Chance of Doppelganger
Urgent
Escape from Salt BayHealing, Allies
  • Dream logic
  • Corporate poison
  • Chance of Doppelganger
Neither
Line Goes DownDeath of Corporate
  • Dream logic
  • Allies
  • Entrenchment in undefensible position
  • Easy healing
  • Chance of Doppelganger
Important
Doppelganger DanceIdentity
  • Dream logic
  • Allies
  • Entrenchment in undefensible position
  • Corporate poison
  • Easy healing
Important
Choosing one option means suffering the opportunity cost of losing the other choices. I think I'll choose Waking Nightmares, but I'll sleep on it.
 
So like in orchids? memory's she mentions Slasher protocol... are we in what used to be the world of darkness?
Im gonna think on the choices more.
 
Formula666 said:
So like in orchids? memory's she mentions Slasher protocol... are we in what used to be the world of darkness?
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Ah shit. I see how you got here, but I'm going to explicitly deny this one. I'm eating off WoD's plate a bit on this topic, but in this case "slasher" should be understood explicitly as either the films of that kind, or as long-term manifestations of collective nightmares which ape said films.
 
By the Gods this is a hard choice after that ending. Line Goes Down feels too dangerous for Orchid's mental state. It was already dealing with the 'No capital E' situation in its head, and trying to understand them better is not going to HELP that kind of thing one bit. Orchid cannot and should not become who it once was.

Similarly, while Doppleganger Dance would give Orchid more understanding of who it was in the past, is that truly something we want to sacrifice the focus on our burgeoning community for? So far, we have always prioritized saving people when we can, and sparing those we can't like with Asset Protection. Orchid neglecting that to hunt for answers on this past that haunts it would no doubt be interesting, but it would also harm it more than the gain.

Which brings us to Waking Nightmares and Escape from Salt Bay, both of which are rattling in my head.

For Waking Nightmares, this feels like the decision to Fortify and Protect. To say "This is our home, we built it, we will hold it" while bringing in others and setting up this community to become a bastion in Salt Bay against the horrors of this new world. It will be hard, there will be losses and pain, but the end result could be a remade city built on better foundations and ideals for this World while combating the remnants of the old like Corporate. But the rewards for this would likely be an even larger community, more prepared to deal with the new world, and access to a LOT of resources and technology in the short term that can eventually be leveraged to make the long-term viable.

As for Escape from Salt Bay, this feels like the decision to Move on and Learn from those who were (according to the omake) preparing for something like this to happen for awhile. It means taking all we can afford to carry and moving either outside the city to settle there, or potentially joining the Nomads to integrate into their society. Or to potentially find a smaller town with less horror monsters to call home while learning from them. Salt Bay may survive us leaving, it may be destroyed by those remaining to take out its horrors, or it could be consumed by those horrors; We may never know if we take this path, but we'd most likely have nearly all of our community alive for it.

I've only been awake less than an hour now, so I need to think on this a bit more, but those two are the ones I'm leaning heavily towards right now
 
Damn, this is hard. I suppose I'll choose the one that involves killing Corporate, but I'm going to wait for just a bit longer. Geez, hard choices…
 
Okay, going to tentatively vote for this:

[X] "...to any Threshold Innovation forces, we need relief immediately. We have wounded, I repeat, we have..." (Begin Part Two: Waking Nightmares. You will evolve Familiar Strangersand lose your certainty as you shy away from the violence you have just committed.)

Katarina Winter's analysis helped me decide.
 
[X] "I don't want to hear it from you people. I killed two of those things and we've barely made a dent. Corporate needs to die before it poisons the new world." (Begin Part Two: Line Goes Down. You will evolve the Wings Everlasting and lose some of your human sanity as you rip your way into the mind of Corporate to better understand your prey.)

We gotta fly. And at the end of the day, humanity will survive changed. We were already going to take a few sanity hits, we can do it right now before Corporate goes even harder on their craziness.
 
I am eating breakfast as of this time, party people. Don't neglect the most important meal of the day; the party might never stop, but you sure will if you don't eat. When I'm done, I'll get around to updating the Butcher's Bill.

That said, while I have y'all here...how're we feeling about that ending? About Orchid itself? Who is Our Protagonist, to you, if I might be so crass as to ask directly?
 
Morrowlark said:
About Orchid itself? Who is Our Protagonist, to you, if I might be so crass as to ask directly?
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Someone who needs a break. A newborn to the world, yet still paradoxically seriously defined by the small vestiges of its old life. Also a general lovable dork who cares more than it's able to admit.

Also damn, I need to work on possessive "it". Something for later.
 
[X] "...to any Threshold Innovation forces, we need relief immediately. We have wounded, I repeat, we have..." (Begin Part Two: Waking Nightmares. You will evolve Familiar Strangers and lose your certainty as you shy away from the violence you have just committed.)
 
[X] "...to any Threshold Innovation forces, we need relief immediately. We have wounded, I repeat, we have..." (Begin Part Two: Waking Nightmares. You will evolve Familiar Strangers and lose your certainty as you shy away from the violence you have just committed.)

After thinking on it, I cast my vote. We fight again to save people, and to likely defend our home.
 
[X] "I don't want to hear it from you people. I killed two of those things and we've barely made a dent. Corporate needs to die before it poisons the new world." (Begin Part Two: Line Goes Down. You will evolve the Wings Everlasting and lose some of your human sanity as you rip your way into the mind of Corporate to better understand your prey.)

Morrowlark said:
That said, while I have y'all here...how're we feeling about that ending? About Orchid itself? Who is Our Protagonist, to you, if I might be so crass as to ask directly?
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I liked the ending, particularly the part with Jill comforting her brave flower. I thought that was a sweet moment after all the crazy hyperviolence of fighting corporate. As for Orchid themselves I do find them interesting. They have such a fascinating way of looking at the world cause they have literally zero context for any of this crazy shit that is going down. Yet despite everything they really do seem like a person who cares deeply. For their friends, for the world, even the refractions. I like that about them.
 
Im really torn but i think we focus on survival, and after the horrible state violence put us in... returning to that immediately feels like a bad idea

[x] "Flower? One of our lookouts has spotted caravans heading to the farms. Real people. It might be worth moving..." (Begin Part Two: Escape From Salt Bay. You will evolve The Glass Thumb and lose your sense of home as you abandon what you have bled and killed to build.)
 
Thirty minute warning. If I'm late I'm late, I'll honor it because that shit is my fault, but I don't want y'all to miss out.
 
[x] "Flower? One of our lookouts has spotted caravans heading to the farms. Real people. It might be worth moving..." (Begin Part Two: Escape From Salt Bay. You will evolve The Glass Thumb and lose your sense of home as you abandon what you have bled and killed to build.)
 
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WayWard_Animal said:
[X] "I don't want to hear it from you people. I killed two of those things and we've barely made a dent. Corporate needs to die before it poisons the new world." (Begin Part Two: Line Goes Down. You will evolve the Wings Everlasting and lose some of your human sanity as you rip your way into the mind of Corporate to better understand your prey.)
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Welcome to the party! My alerts been blowing tf up as you sprint through.
 
Morrowlark said:
Welcome to the party! My alerts been blowing tf up as you sprint through.
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It has been delightful to blitz through your quest, you have a very interesting way of telling a story and it's protagonist is very fasincnating.

I might ...double back on this vote actually hm. Ggggggh choices are difficult I'll just stick with my first instinct.

But Home.....GAHHHH I"M PARALYZED.
 
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[X] "I don't want to hear it from you people. I killed two of those things and we've barely made a dent. Corporate needs to die before it poisons the new world." (Begin Part Two: Line Goes Down. You will evolve the Wings Everlasting and lose some of your human sanity as you rip your way into the mind of Corporate to better understand your prey.)
 
And here we go. What Part 2 have we selected?
Scheduled vote count started by Morrowlark on Dec 16, 2024 at 6:48 AM, finished with 27 posts and 9 votes.
  • [X] "Flower? One of our lookouts has spotted caravans heading to the farms. Real people. It might be worth moving..." (Begin Part Two: Escape From Salt Bay. You will evolve The Glass Thumb and lose your sense of home as you abandon what you have bled and killed to build.)
    [X] "...to any Threshold Innovation forces, we need relief immediately. We have wounded, I repeat, we have..." (Begin Part Two: Waking Nightmares. You will evolve Familiar Strangersand lose your certainty as you shy away from the violence you have just committed.)
    [X] "I don't want to hear it from you people. I killed two of those things and we've barely made a dent. Corporate needs to die before it poisons the new world." (Begin Part Two: Line Goes Down. You will evolve the Wings Everlasting and lose some of your human sanity as you rip your way into the mind of Corporate to better understand your prey.)
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