sail_ooc | ENDGAME PLOTTING

ENDGAME PLOTTING

With Ari's drop from the game we have to rehash the original plan.

My Discord Takeways:

1. We know that Ari has told Clarke where the string is and Clarke will be looking to use it.
2. Per a previous/ongoing Player Plot, Tiamat is on the verge of taking over again and this plot will be merged into the endgame plot as Tiamat will ally with Clarke to go after the captain. EDIT: WE think it will be simpler if there is not a big huge fight, so that is out.
3. Eridian is going to come back and help Clarke get the string on the Captain.

The moment the string goes into effect we assume characters will have little to no time to react.

We want to maximize involvement as much as possible so please post additions, corrections, and ideas below.

As of this moment: Clarke will have the string re: Ari. Crichton will tell Valdis about the string, paving the way for Tiamat to look for it. Once Tiamat and Clarke team up things will start going down.

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Throwing this idea in the ring - the OG version of Siffleur's mother has taken up a Yog-Sothoth role and like Yog-Sothoth, she knows all/sees all, and exists outside of her universe. She's not human anymore and despite her shipside self's attempts at including a message in the spine of the message book asking herself to leave them alone, she's very hungry and would happily come looking for the bubble to devour everything inside. With the rocket launched outside of the bubble, that should be enough to have alerted her.

My thoughts are that she could be assaulting the bubble, providing another distraction for the Captain's usual guardians who might otherwise come to his defence/rescue when they catch wind of Tiamat, Clarke and Eridan.

I am strongly considering shrinking this a bit due to people being so busy and I feel like this might be a bit too much for us to coordinate.

It's a really cool idea though.

Yeah absolutely! We've got a tight timeline too, fewer moving parts are better!

Yes :D

It sounds like this isn't happening, but I just want to point out that this is exactly the type of thing that would make Wilson desperate enough to try to summon Them.

I had had a thought about Cassandra directly asking the Captain for a deal to the effect of "when your enemies show up, if you free up our nerfed powers and we fight for you, will you let us go afterwards if we survive?" I haven't directly discussed it with Cruisie yet to find out if that would be worth doing / adding to the endgame.

I think if it is IC for Cass this would be a cool thread to follow

Wilson asked Friday to un-nerf his revivification recipes too; I didn't make any arrangements in advance for how that was going to turn out, but it fits in nicely with this idea. (I don't think many characters besides Darcy and the departed Undine know for sure that Friday handles power adjustments herself, but Wilson's thought process was that she was the one he talked to about the subject last time and if she needed to ask the Captain to do it he would be more likely to agree now that everything's gone to hell.)

If he gets what he asked for, using the items he's gathered in the time he's been here he can make... an amount of meat effigies that depend largely on how many wooden planks he can get ahold of, which have to be claimed beforehand with a moderate blow to one's HP, and exactly two revival amulets that activate when haunted by a ghost (DST rules) or worn at the moment of death (DS singleplayer rules).

I'm very likely to forget or need to add on to this so I'm going to post two top-levels. Don't comment to this one, comment to the one below it, please!

John Crichton
- Crichton was on the launch team. He, along with Rita, Fever, and Sparkles, probably know the most about how the probe itself was physically launched
- He was in attendance at the meeting where Ari revealed the reply they got from "a friend" and is aware of the red string
- I don't think he's aware that Clarke knows about it
- Crichton is reluctant to use the string, it feels like a trap
- Crichton knows that something is wrong with Valdis and that it has to do with Tiamat and is somehow Maxwell's fault. He's being brought into the details of that by Ash/Valdis primarily
- He will oppose almost any plan that has been proposed by Tiama because, surprise, he doesn't trust her
- He would be most onboard with trying to rally the ship together to face-off against whatever threat might come at them from outside the bubble

Potential Plot Contribution: Crichton has the ability to perceive wormholes in his canon and can traverse them with enough effort. That could be one way they could all get out of the bubble and to somewhere else if he's somehow able to drive the entire ship through one. Pretty out-there idea but I thought I'd mention it

Number 6
- Number 6 is attending the Team Captain meetings
- He will take part in information gathering and also help in the plot to be seen doing things that is discussed in that meeting
- He's firmly Team Captain and will do everything he can to prevent that red string being used, though he's really only human so there isn't much he can do against Tiamat.
- If you need another raft built, though, he's your guy
- He WILL be making faces of disappointment at Clarke the entire time

Potential Plot Contribution: One of Ari's original ideas was possibly using the string on the Captain and then trying to negotiate with the writer of the note. If negotiations do need to happen, Number 6 is willing to throw his hat in the ring for it. There might be other people here better suited for that already but it's on the table.

Max Maximum
- Max will be invested in what happens with Tiamat and Valdis for obvious reasons, he loves Valdis and wants her back
- Max will be against using the string but he isn't a fighter so he will hang back and help with any injured/protect people who also are not fighters any way he can.
- IDK, I got nothing else for him yet

Thoughts and comments on the above? Post them here :)

RE: Discord, no one has any reason to suspect Tiamat until it is too late thanks to a specific regain :P

- Phil has been keeping eyes on the sky, so any shenanigans up there are extremely likely to be noticed by him.
- He also stopped wearing his muffs and earbuds, so he’s also likely to overhear stuff.
- He’s always carrying around his blades and his antimagic ring, the latter of which shields him from magic and can break magic effects on other things and people once a day, either temporarily or permanently based on the other’s discretion. Use wisely.
- Himb can turn into beeg dinosaur bird monstar now. But only once a day, and for about ~6 hours, which he has to wait out.
- He’s also been sitting in on Team Cap meetings and acting on their behalf. Any weird crap he sees or hears is going directly to them.

Said some of this in discord already, but to have it on record here, too!

Nimona, while currently on the fence, will side with Team Cap out of monster solidarity once the chips are down. So far her CR hasn't led her toward much involvement in the endgame plot -- I'd like to change that, if possible! If not she'll just leap into any big final battle with fists swinging, as is her style, but something meatier than "ooh, chaos!" beforehand would be fun to chew on.

I've also been toying with the idea of her shadow dragon/kaiju/whatever form making an appearance. I genuinely don't know how feasible this'd be, both for power-nerfing reasons and because she'd have to be really, really badly triggered for it to happen; like, in the movie, it's spawned by a literal millennia of grief and rage hitting its boiling point. Part of me thinks if it was gonna happen, it would've happened already? But who knows! If anybody thinks it could fit into endgame plots somehow, hit me up.

okay I have to ask: what if she takes kaiju form to save somebody?

OH MAN

I'm trying to figure out if that'd even be possible?? The way I've been playing it, it's a largely involuntary transformation that can only spawn from strong negative emotions, and while it'd be a fantastic thematic plot twist to have it become something she can control and/or something fueled by positive emotions, I don't think she's quite there yet, alas.

EDIT: ...that said, now that I'm thinking about it more, it might be possible to use the fury of THE ONE PLACE I'VE BEEN HAPPY AND MADE FRIENDS IS ABOUT TO GET OBLITERATED BY [whatever finds the ship], HOW FUCKING DARE YOU. Maybe. I gotta keep pondering. HMMMMMM.

Edited 2024-01-25 03:56 (UTC)

Phil’s regaining his big monster form is me basically magically fulfilling the like, Barbarian Rage that comes from the parental sheer fucking terror of anything happening to their kids; the kind of thing that lets mothers lift cars off of their children, et cetera. (tho I made it an at-will thing to make it an entirely positive ability for him, and because he has enough emotional tells lmfao).

So basically with the right mix of things, including what you've described, I don’t think it’s out of place for it to come out in a protective fashion. esp depending on how she interprets who is doing the threatening, the nature of the threatening, and who is being threatened. And especially if they can’t just run away or scare the threat(s) off.

Edited 2024-01-25 10:26 (UTC)

In the interest of getting things moving, I am considering shrinking the original idea to be a little more secret. But I would love to see Nimona's form because that movies is just wonderful.

1. Ash knows all the things going on with Tiamat. Currently he is talking to Maxwell waiting on a cipher for the spellbook. He also text Max to meet up with him at Bobby B's to get him up to speed while Valdis works with Erin to talk to Tiamat.
2. I have no idea what is going on with the Captain. If you want a ten foot wolfman to participate in this big fight let me know.
3. Ash knows a rocket was launched and that's about it. He's not Team Captain or Team Mutiny. Just on his own little island of don't make decisions for me that impact my life. He's pissed but hasn't taken a side.

Basically, just tell me if/where he might be needed. Otherwise, I'll probably just be hanging back.

Bastion is not in either team's inner circle but isn't willing to hand the Captain over to someone who would re-enslave him, particularly as a fellow victim of mind control and fugitive from just about the entire world. They also have a lot of sympathy for Friday for similar reasons because of how Security described her when they arrived, and they're friends with Siffleur, so if he moves to protect Friday specifically he could get them in on that.

Wilson is also not really in the loop with anyone, except that he knows Maxwell's set up some kind of sketchy ritual. He could be dragged into any number of things via Maxwell and will fight anyone who tries to sacrifice or discard Maxwell, including Maxwell.
As I said on Discord, he doesn't like the Captain or care very much about him, but if anything too horrible happens to him, like fate-worse-than-death horrible, that would offend Wilson's sensibilities.

He doesn't want to be taken by "Them" again, but it's been pointed out to him that there are worse things that could find the ship; if the bubble does appear to be under siege by an even worse elder god (as far as I know this is not actually planned to happen, it's just something Wilson worries about), he would consider being pulled back into The Constant an acceptable alternative and start setting things up with Maxwell to try to get "Them" to come and pick them up.

Edited 2024-01-28 03:29 (UTC)

Mulcahy has Catholicism on his side, which idk his being an ordained minister might be useful somewhere, given theology and such has come up here or there. Something to keep in mind.

Edited 2024-01-29 00:30 (UTC)

fever:

*was part of the probe launch team, knows about how it was launched and the magic that was used to help propel it. also aware of the response and the red string, deeply against using it but believes its use is inevitable
*to that end, told everyone who also knows about Ari's response that she's willing to step up and kill the "collector" who sent it
*privately told Skulduggery of her intentions to commit to any fight against whatever comes to try and take them over/enslave the Captain
*is aware of the binding cuff on the Captain and is trying to come up with ideas on how to magically interfere with it/break it
*is willing to delay or forfeit her own escape in the name of getting everyone else free from being trapped or imprisoned
*sorcerer and basic weapons user, always has at least a dagger on her, unwilling to back down in a fight ever. point her at who you want killed

helena:

*deeply disagrees with the launch but has taken a firm stance against despair and giving up, openly will say that as long as they can move they can still fight. deeply, deeply fears being forced to return to her realm or being destroyed
*still retains transcriptions of Jenny's negotiations with Malin, as well as having written down everything Jenny directly told her about reality auditors - the information has been ICly dispersed to some people, but Helena still has the files for those that want a direct refresher
*accepted her role as a non-combatant, the most she has is her ability to draw everyone's attention to a specific person for ten seconds, as well as healing that stops bleeding and puts out fires
*been here longer, so knows the general state of things, as well as having key allies in Team Cap

basically, gang, tell me how i can engineer what you wanna do for endgame. i'm perfectly willing to take things as they come, but for those with specific goals or needing to ICly get a grasp on things, let me help you out!

Edited 2024-01-30 01:30 (UTC)

If time permits, I'd love to find some way for Helena to tell Cass about the reality auditors and/or Malin -- she has only vaguely heard of the former recently and not at all about the latter.

her and Cass are close enough that I'd be willing to say Helena would broach the idea at a point about the memory cracks again, trying to dwell on a nice thing about gardens, and it's an easy transition from "aww you saw me as a little kid" into "yeah and then I fell into a memory belonging to Pirate Jenny" and move from there

That could work! Let's see if we can get there.

Regarding the string and the cuff, it's worth noting that Phil has, for quite a while now, been on-and-off wearing around a grey metal ring besides his wedding band. It's the antimagic ring, which besides protecting its bearer from magic, also enables them to break one magic effect on someone or something per day/long rest. Whether temporary or permanent is up to the other players. With a recent upgrade to it, only the most highly potent and powerful magic bypasses it (I count his Mantle as among that since it's of Spring), as well as any of Cap's magic, but... the cuff isn't Cap's magic afaik. it may not have an enchantment on it either, but it's worth a thought. Phil has no idea about it, but if Fever found out about his ring and asked of him a favor or to borrow it, he'd agree.

Edited 2024-02-01 00:32 (UTC)

👀👀👀👀👀👀

oh god the eyes look terrifying on windows 11 BUT it would absolutely be worth a shot in Fever's eyes so if the knowledge ever came out? she'd explain the idea and take the risk that Phil's a guy who doesn't want the Captain bound. (which, seeing as he hasn't been in the mutiny meetings is a fair assertion)

It can come up pretty easily, like idk if they’re just hanging and drinking and Fever tries to cast something on him for shits and gigs, like Light on his tie, and her magic goes. What tie wdym.

hello hello hi hi so!!

Surprisingly, dropping from a game for almost a year knocks your character way out of the loop so I'm looking for a way back into the loop rn. Steve is still very firmly team mutiny but he doesn't really know what team mutiny is doing anymore so he's just been kinda chilling on his own instead and not worrying about it since obviously he has no inkling that shit is about to go down lmao.

SO!!! basically if anyone would like to kindly drag me back into the mutiny circle officially, I would greatly appreciate it.

Hi! Cassandra very much wants to pull Steve back into the mutiny circle officially in the aftermath of the launch; it would have been dependent on Tayrey's approval, but not sure how to handle that now. Possibly I can get the player's okay to handwave that happening before Tayrey vanishes, or else Cass could decide to bring him in after?

I think after would probably be the most likely bc the stuff I had planned for him to ask her in their thread likely wouldn't have gotten him an invite to anything lol. He was gonna grill her about why she thought it was a good idea to announce to the entire ship what they did, etc, so he is on the "critical of the launch" side of things but still mutiny.

After is good! You can tag in to Cass's current post-launch open post at your leisure, and we can set it later in the month so it can be after Ari's vanished.

Sounds good!

After participating in the "distraction" leading up to the launch, Dimitri is ... less than happy with how little he was told (and how readily he went along with it). He's not rejecting 'team mutiny' altogether, he still wants to get the hell out of here and he Cannot get friendly with the Captain, but he's resistant to feeling used again and frustrated that his stance of 'I just want to get out of here and have given up on caring how' has left him alienated from both parties
After the labyrinth (jesus that was almost a year ago) I meant to have Dimitri follow up with Friday about the dream magic she used to contact him. Better late than never?

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ENDGAME PLOTTING

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[Don't Comment To This] Crichton/Number 6/Maximum

[COMMENT HERE] Crichton/Number 6/Maximum

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Bastion & Wilson

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