WELCOME TO CHAPTER 7 (Results!)

[Mooncalf]

Welcome to Chapter 7, which continues the story started by Chapter 5: Underworld War, and the Side Story: Trouble in the Deep. This chapter is going to introduce a multi-phase system whereby the actions taken in phase 1 influence the story of phase 2, and it’s after the end of phase 2 when the consequences will be felt on grid, in the Path’s canon universe. Phase 1 will not end until Dec 20, 0:01am UTC, even if the slider reaches 100% / -100%.


BACKGROUND

Recently, the sirens of the Hebigumo Foundation uncovered a mystical and ancient ruin which has been nicknamed the Labyrinth. Up until recently, the exact reason for their excavations have been largely unknown, though evidence of attempts to search for something underground has been there for those looking since Spring of 2016.

Now, the sirens of the Hebigumo Foundation have begun an assault on the Labyrinth, fighting against the undead creatures found there. Perhaps expecting reprisal from the vampire community, they have released statements to the press alluding to doing research in the area to try and pinpoint exactly what causes the dead to return to life in Harper Rock. They have requested the aid of anyone willing to help secure the area for testing purposes - something they feel is necessary in light of the zombie threat.

Publically, they claim this has nothing to do with vampires, but with protecting the city. Given that it is not common knowledge the Hebigumo Foundation is run by sirens, the general public is unaware of any potential deeper motivation. Those with knowledge of the supernatural could pretty easily put the pieces together; that the sirens recognize a zombie apocalypse could mean their extinction through starvation and an inability to procreate.

The Administrator has come out vigorously against the Hebigumo Foundation on CrowNet. He has made it very clear that the sirens are not to be trusted, that they are not really just conducting research, but are in fact looking for a way to make the Rift in the Fade smaller. His claim is that they wish to weaken the hold of vampires on the world with perhaps the eventual goal of completely eradicating the Rift entirely. The exact mechanism for their plot remains a mystery. However as incentive, the Administrator has promised that if the sirens are stopped, he will uncover their plans, and hopefully reverse engineer a way by which the Rift may be expanded so that vampires can spread further afield without needing to fear.


THE CHOICES

The choices for Phase 1 of this chapter drastically impact the story for Phase 2, so be careful when making them.

On its face, the choice is fairly simple, either support the sirens or fight against them. However, this is not a simple choice of vampires VS sirens, nor the status quo VS change. There are more complex issues at stake.

Supporting the sirens will most likely (but not definitely) lead to a chapter result in which the Rift begins to gradually get smaller. With the recent talk of walling off the Harper Rock area entirely, this means the city is more likely to be quarantined / abandoned, because the government will realize the vampire ‘menace’ can be contained. This won’t just prove problematic for vampires however. Without a robust human infrastructure, human characters may find gameplay much more difficult in many ways. Please note: permanent death becoming possible in HR will not be a consequence of any chapter, ever.

Combating the sirens will most likely (but not definitely) lead to a chapter result in which the Rift begins to gradually grow larger. While this would make walling off the city as a quarantine zone pointless, it also means the dead could rise further afield than just the quarantine zone. This could affect a whole host of gameplay mechanics and story elements, including but not limited to shop prices, human population, business earnings, and more security on the streets. There is also the possibility that this outcome could eventually mean vampires will be able to rise from the dead should they fall in other, neighboring cities (not just towns).

However, those wishing to maintain the status quo may be able to do so in phase 2, though you shouldn't count on it going your way.


CHARACTER INTEGRATION

For vampires, the post by the Administrator is a call to action one way or the other.

For supernatural humans (or humans aware of the supernatural), the statements released by the Hebigumo Foundation will act as a clue as to what’s going on. Characters can feel free to make choices in one direction or the other accordingly. Siren allies would also likely be aware that for sirens this is presumably an act of survival on their part.

And of course, any humans with connections to vampires could easily find out through them.


IMPORTANT DETAILS

To impact Phase 1 of the chapter, you can either engage in the massive fight taking place on the Labyrinth GF and/or through roleplay.

The chapter slider (complete with details about how to influence Phase 1) can be found here.

The Labyrinth can be found on grid at 18,-2 world, beside the Abandoned Mansion.

Using the tags [FOR SIRENS] or [AGAINST SIRENS] will impact the slider at an increment of 2% per 500 words in whatever direction is tagged. This means that roleplay could potentially have an enormous impact on the chapter, given that characters on grid only have a set amount of energy they can gain in a day, whereas there is no cap on the amount of writing a person can do.

The battle in the Labyrinth will only be on the ground floor, so only enemies there count towards the chapter.
Each NPC on either side of the conflict has an equivalent NPC on the other side of the conflict.

NPCs to kill in order of difficulty, FOR the sirens:
Ancient Zombie (0.016% per kill)
Mooncalf Titan (0.033% per kill)
Revenant Guardian (0.05% per kill)

NPCs to kill in order of difficulty, AGAINST the sirens:
Encantado Worker (0.016% per kill)
Encantado Shaman (0.033% per kill)
Jorogumo Guardian (0.05% per kill)


HOW TO ENTER PHASE 2

Once the date reaches Dec 20, 0:01am UTC, the first phase of the chapter is at an end, and the next phase will be announced shortly after. Remember, the actions taken in the first phase will radically influence the layout, play style, and story for the second phase.

[Mooncalf]

We have 2 days remaining until the end of this chapter. As such, future roleplay impact on the chapter slider has been decreased 50%. Grid-side impact actions have not been adjusted.

This has been done to prevent people from saving up 100 roleplay posts right until the final hour of the chapter in order to suddenly swing it one way or the other. We want to encourage people to post roleplay throughout the chapter, rather than writing it in secret and posting it right at the end.

However, roleplay is still the best way of influencing the chapter, so this is your chance to do so, with mere days remaining!

[Azraeth]

Phase 1 of Chapter 7 has drawn to a close!

Phase 1 has ended with a score of 40.67% in favor of working against the sirens. This means that the sirens are unsuccessful in their endeavor to dig out the Labyrinth and get to whatever lies beneath it. This loss has forced a retreat, and the NPCs on the ground floor of the Labyrinth will be removed shortly to reflect this.

Of course this leaves numerous questions. What exactly were they looking for? What can be done with it? Is it safe to trust the motives of the Administrator?

Whether you fought for the side of the victors or the defeated, there still looms the larger problem of the Rift and what may happen to it as a result of Phase 2!

To find out more about how Phase 1 will impact Phase 2, and participate in the next portion of the Chapter, please stay tuned! More information, details, and story will be coming on January 1st, 2018!

[Azraeth]

CHAPTER UPDATE!

Congratulations to those fighting against the sirens, you have officially taken the first step towards beating them back and stopping them from slowly closing the Rift. What’s more, there is a chance that you may contribute to the Rift growing wider. Now that the Hebigumo Foundation is out of the way, it’s time to begin sinking into the Labyrinth itself. The Administrator has released an update stating that the sirens were attempting to dig into the farthest depths of the Labyrinth in search of something ancient. Something powerful. He has requested that the path be cleared for him so that he can make good on his promise and find a way to reverse what the Foundation wanted to do.

Of course. Maybe he’s not a necessary component for that at all.

As far as human characters are concerned, to the public, the Hebigumo Foundation is claiming their research was sabotaged, though they have yet to lay the blame at the feet of the vampires of Harper Rock. In a last-ditch effort, they are putting out the word to supernatural humans what is happening in the Labyrinth, which means any supernatural human will have access to information about what's going on through the Hebigumo Foundation.

GAMEPLAY DETAILS

• Phase 2 is essentially a race. However, there are 3 primary objectives. Those who complete the objectives will participate in a special End Chapter roleplay, where the majority of the consequences for Chapter 7 will be decided.
• The first objective is to gain a set of keys from an unknown floor in the Labyrinth. There are two of them out there, but be warned, they are buried very deep and it may take some time to get to them. Those who get the two keys will be listed on the Chapter slider page and will participate in the End Chapter roleplay.
• Objective two is finding keys in the Laybrinth Temple. As with the Labyrinth, they are hidden on an unknown floor. There are also two of them, and finding these artefacts will be no easy task. The two who find the keys in this manner will be listed on the Chapter slider page,a nd will participate in the End Chapter roleplay.
• Both the Labyrinth and Labyrinth Temple are going to give a bonus of 20% additional experience points until the end of the chapter.
• The third objective, to get the last set of keys, can only be done through roleplay. The roleplay must be a group thread (with a max of 4 people involved). There is no word count requirement. However the thread must at least reach page 3. The thread should have ‘Chapter 7’ somewhere in the title, and it should be posted on the Official Event Roleplay forum. Anyone may participate.
• In the case of the roleplay thread, please leave the end ambiguous, as all relevant threads will be entered into a lottery and the winner randomly selected to get the key.
• It should be noted that only two roleplayers will be selected, and they will be chosen at random from the winner of the thread lotto. This means that there are two layers of randomness involved. The selected individuals will take part in the End Chapter roleplay.
• Lotto winners will be drawn in 4 weeks (On January 29, 2018). Any threads which meet the above requirements will be entered.
• Character overlaps are permissible, meaning a person may attempt to get into the End Chapter roleplay through any of the three objectives.
• However, given how small the pool of ‘winners’ is, players will be restricted to one character per IP able to participate in the End Chapter roleplay. This does not mean a person cannot join multiple characters into any of the three major events, just that they can only win on one character. This is because the potentially 6 winners are going to make major choices which impact the story and gameplay, which means a single person having more than one voice would be unfair.
• All winners will be added to the chapter slider page as they achieve the above mentioned chapter objectives. Once all of the ‘winners’ are on the slider page, David or I will put up the End Chapter roleplay!

ROLEPLAY DETAILS

• Characters involved in the roleplay aspect of this phase are searching for an ancient set of keys, artefacts.
• Threads may have up to 4 people max. Bear in mind that only one character per IP will be admitted to the winner circle. So doubling up characters on the same IP in the same thread may not be the best choice to maximize odds of getting in.
• Threads should reach at least page 3. There is no word count.
• The above requirements must be met by January 29, 2018.
• Leave threads ambiguous at the end, as all entries which meet requirements will be entered into a lottery, and the winner will be posted publicly by a developer.
• The setting for the roleplay is one of the floors of the Labyrinth. You can feel free to include any NPCs you may come across in the Labyrinth. Bear in mind the location is an ancient ruin which gets progressively deeper and darker the further in you go. All other details are up to the writers.

[Azraeth]

Just so people are aware, the [Against Sirens] tag is not necessary for this (the second) phase of the chapter, as the Hebigumo Foundation (and therefor the Sirens) already retreated from the Labyrinth.

To be entered into the drawing to get a key through RP, all you need is to meet the requirements listed in the update post:

1) Thread title with 'Chapter 7' in it somewhere.
2) Between 2-4 participants
3) It has to hit at least page 3
4) Must have an ambiguous end point

Sorry for any confusion.

[Azraeth]

One week left until the RP key draw.

[Mooncalf]

To ensure that most of the keys are actually found, we've began making the Labyrinth 'throne room' keys appear sooner than we initially had them. The required floor for finding keys in both the temple and the labyrinth will begin to decrease in number a little every couple of days, until the keys are found.

At the beginning we set the keys to drop on a floor which would pose a challenge to even the strongest characters, but as many are giving up we've realised we need to start making it a little easier each day. This not only makes it so that the keys are found, but it also adds urgency to the race.

[Azraeth]

The RP Key Drawing will take place tomorrow morning at around 10 AM EST. Any and all entries should be ready by that point, as I will put together the lotto then. I'll be using this site to ensure 100% transparency. <3!

[Azraeth]

Alright, the RP key drawing is complete!

The public record of the draw can be found here.

The winning thread is Down the Rabbit Hole.

The winning participants (those who gain keys) are Every and Freyja, and the keys will be distributed soon.

People can wrap up threads as they desire (though obviously only the winning thread can find the keys). Taking place in the Labyrinth, the keys can be found on an NPC if so desired, in a secret passageway, or something of that nature.

A huge thanks to everyone who has participated!

Only a few days until the end chapter roleplay goes up =D!

[Azraeth]

The end chapter roleplay prompt will be posted by one of the developers a little bit later today.

Our list of key holders are as follows:

Ariadne
Amalea
Llangort
Every
Freyja


Thread will be linked here when it's up so that people can easily follow!