Alpha Preview Update (June) (Patreon)

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Password: crabrangoon ⬅ ❗️

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What's New:

• 30,000 words of new content!
• The big climactic showdown of Chapter 7!
• Halek's first day off scene!

Developer's Notes:

[Edit: it turns out that Dashingdon does not accept files over 1 MB, and it turns out that a chapter with 160,000 words does exceed that limit, so the Chapter 7 changes did not go live initially! For anyone who had trouble seeing them earlier, you should be able to view the update now: I had to split it up into two files (chapter7 and chapter7-2) in case you're code-diving! Sorry for any inconvenience!]

Yay, we're almost done with Chapter 7!!! THANK GOD!!! I always find it hard to wrap up mysteries in a clear and succinct way that doesn't detract from the tension in the current scene, so any lingering questions or smaller details will be addressed in the aftermath in Wallmire: some things are deliberately left a little vague or confusing due to Thurl's reticence, bias, and his status as an unreliable narrator! But hopefully we can finally gain some closure to the questions plaguing us since the beginning of the mission... and there are even some humorous and romantic moments in there too, if you know where to look! 👀 The angst of reuniting with your love interest after they think something terrible has happened to you... 😩

Again, just a few things to note for this time [obviously spoilers]: 

• Because this is the chapter's "final battle," there's a lot of branching involved, and it's very broad and beefy scene in general. Some branches currently end faster than others, or are temporarily incomplete or unavailable! 
• Successfully breaking out of Thurl's control and either killing him or knocking him out is more complete than promising him clemency. If you get the team regrouping and heading back to Wallmire, you're on the most currently complete route!
• Currently, only using your weapon against Thurl is available if you choose to attack him: I ran out of time to finish the other options this month, but they play out exactly the same!
• Using a Word of Power against Thurl and the Asag is also not currently written!
• As before, going to the house that Mimir tells you to -> figuring out the mystery behind Wallmire -> catching Thurl before he strangles you all lead to the most complete route. There are a lot of stat checks involved, so if you find yourself struggling, use the quickbuild feature! 

I had a bit of a hard time writing this month and felt like everything was a bit of a mad scramble, especially with some unexpected changes in my schedule (we're already coming up on one year since my novel was published, which means the paperback version is being released very soon--I had completely forgotten)! So if this update feels particularly first-drafty, just ignore that and know that I will of course be revising and refining once I get some distance from this chapter and have recovered from how long it is! I've never written a chapter that was so long (the last chapter was the longest at almost 100,000 words) and we've hit 160,000 on this one, so almost twice that........... so I feel like I've run a freaking marathon!!! I'm all out of breath and exhausted! 🫠 Especially since I wrote so much this month in particular--30,000 words in one month is twice more than I usually manage at my best! And with the ongoing Twine port, even 10,000 is usually a stretch, so I don't know how I mustered the strength to do it this time! I had a lot of sleepless nights and probably pushed myself a little too hard... 😭 But it's okay, because that means I'm that much closer to getting this chapter done! I am very eager to wrap it up soon, take a break from it, and then go back and clean things up and flesh out the incomplete branches with fresh eyes down the road! 

Oh, and as a bonus: Halek day off scene! I was planning on doing both his and Lavinet's in this update, but realized that was way too ambitious, but at least I finished his along with a ton of content for Chapter 7! 😮‍💨 Again, this scene feels a little more first-drafty than I usually like to release for public consumption, but hey, it's an alpha build: you all know I'm going to polish it up and make it pretty later, so right now, you can just enjoy the gist of it! Halek's actually pretty funny and sassy, to my surprise--he was a little more sarcastic and charming than I was expecting him to be! If you want a few extra easter eggs, hanging out with him for the first time after Chapter 5 results in some inside jokes! 

(This was also my first time writing a day off scene for a non-RO character besides Caine, which felt kind of weird at first... because I was like... ...wait, where's the MC's options to flirt?... I had to physically stop myself from doing that LOL!

And finally, as usual, the standard content warnings for Chapter 7 apply here, plus some extra battle violence: general horror situations, discussions of murder and serial killings, descriptions of gore, death, and violence, and icky creatures like leeches and parasites are all present, so play at your own caution!

Total wordcount (without code): 796,593 words without code

What's Next:

FINALLY, THE ACTUAL END OF CHAPTER 7! I can't wait to get a measure of closure on this one, knowing at least one main route of it will be complete, and then get a fresh start in Chapter 8 for a while! 🥰 I'm 90% sure the next update will include the beginning of Chapter 8 as well, and hopefully we'll be able to get to Lavinet's day off scene next, but I won't promise that last one in case I'm being too ambitious again! I never know with these things until I'm actually in the midst of writing them... So that's our roadmap for July! (And you know, once we get to Chapter 8, we're like... three-fourths of the way through the main game... 🥹 but there's still so much ground to cover!)

Thank you everyone, as always, for your kindness, fun comments, encouragement, and support! I always love seeing what you have to say and share, and it always gives me so much motivation when I'm slowing down or writing feels like a slog. I just truly appreciate you all so much and am so thankful to have you all along on this journey! I hope you enjoy Chapter 7 as we start to wind down from this swampy ordeal--keep your head up as June comes to an end, stay healthy and hydrated, and remember that I'm rooting for you!! 💖 Enjoy!