Alpha Preview Update (May) (Patreon)

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Password: coco_may ⬅ ❗️

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Incomplete routes guide ⬅ ❗️please check if you suspect your game ended early :)

What's New:

• 20,000 words of new content to Chapter 9!

• Two steamy makeout sessions for the price of one! (If you're romancing Briony, Riel, or Lavinet)

• Indulge in toilet humor with a bird

• Partake in various closet hijinks

• Torment a poor guard who probably doesn't deserve it?

• Use your magic (or awesome lying skills, or, again, the power of kissing) to infiltrate Sibella de Vespe's apartment, and hopefully find evidence you need for the Autarch...! Or suffer the consequences 🥲

Developer's Notes:

Hi everybody, I'm finally back, and with a large update to Chapter 9 for you! 🙌

So we went to Costa Rica (which was divine) for a personal trip as well as to attend a friend's wedding, but then on the way back, we were supposed to have a layover in Dallas before taking a connecting flight back home. The storms in Dallas meant our flight got cancelled and we got randomly rerouted to Miami and were forced to stay there overnight... long story short, we ended up extending our trip for a few days completely by accident to hang out in Miami, but that was fun too! By the end of it, though, I was really antsy to get back home and get back to work, so I'm really excited to be uploading this update! 😂

Regarding the update! It's actually a bigger chunk of text than I normally manage in a month, which is impressive given the long trip (to me, anyway), but it's more broad than long, involving a ton of choices and branching paths rather than a long sequence of linear scenes, if that makes any sense. I hope you have fun trying out the different options, because some lead to drastically different scenarios! A lot of it is very silly and humorous (I have no idea where the rat and Lavinet came from, say, or Riel as an angry paint-splattered cat), but maybe it's a necessary bit of levity in all of the really heavy, sinister, and dark intrigue that has been the Sun Court and this chapter so far. And, of course, a trove of steamy moments for you Briony/Lavinet/Rielmancers! I love both of the tropes (fake kissing to throw off pursuit/forced closet proximity) that get utilized in this section, so I was honestly so stoked to be able to tap into them! Be aware that things get a bit, um, PG-13, but I tried to keep it work/mission-appropriate, lol!

Also, this update only applies if you aren't planning on using the dark tome to frame Sibella and instead have to go hunting in her place for evidence!

As I mentioned last time, once Chapter 9 is close to wrapping up, I'm going to take a break from pushing forward with the main plot and devote my energy to finishing up the loose threads I've left hanging in my wake: character interludes, holidays and birthdays, Ascendancy Festival, and etc., just so timelines and character progression is clear and tidy across all channels before we plunge into the endgame. But for now, we've got to deal with Sibella first, so we'll keep on working on that next month!

Here are some obligatory pictures of our trip in case you're interested! 📸🌴 We were deep in the rainforest for a large part of it, so we were blessed with lots of encounters with nature and all kinds of interesting wildlife! (It provided lots of inspiration for my next book, though if you don't like creepy-crawlies, you might find some of it unnerving!) Maybe after having done the swamp chapter, I should do a mission set in the rainforest...? 👀

TW: insects, reptiles, amphibians

Total wordcount: 1,134,895 words without code

What's Next

We're pushing on with Chapter 9, including approaching High Augur Arameri, the Autarch's Right Hand, with your results, and Croelle popping back in again. Maybe a character interlude if there's time!

Thank you for everything, and I hope your May closes out beautifully!