Gold Side Resistance Arc "Spirals: Part Three."

[Darmian]

With the invasion of Praetoria by Primal Earth forces imminent, Odysseus is attempting to wrap up loose ends for the Resistance. Dominatrix's machinations continue and could affect the War's outcome. [A Praetorian Crusader SFMA prior to the Praetorian war.][Assumes a Resistance outcome for "No Man's Lady".]

 

Arc id: 57197.

 

If there's any typos or whatnot can people let me know because I've been writing this on a tiny laptop while away and using a phone hotspot. So it got a bit fiddly!

Edited September 20, 2023 by Darmian

[TerroirNoir2]

Excellent!  Now that trilogy will have an ending for me!

 

When are you getting the final trilogy done?  Like, NO PRESSURE AT ALL.  NONE.   Ha!

[Darmian]

2 hours ago, TerroirNoir2 said:

NO PRESSURE AT ALL.  NONE.

Right right. I see you, @TerroirNoir2.

[Darmian]

And next on the agenda is the final Gold Side trilogy, Responsibility Loyalist.  Which will arrive when it arrives 😛

[TerroirNoir2]

2 hours ago, Darmian said:

And next on the agenda is the final Gold Side trilogy, Responsibility Loyalist.  Which will arrive when it arrives 😛

We'll be waiting!

[cranebump]

3 hours ago, Darmian said:

And next on the agenda is the final Gold Side trilogy, Responsibility Loyalist.  Which will arrive when it arrives 😛

Promises, promises.:-)

[Zhym]

Just ran through this.  Nicely done, as usual, although my shaky knowledge of the lore is starting to come through.

 

Also, I think this (again?) illustrates how hard it is to do Praetorian lore arcs, because there are so many different directions that Praetorian lore can have gone depending on the character choices.  For example:

Spoiler

In most of my Praetorian runs, Cleopatra didn't survive the mission where I had to choose whether to kill her or Chief Inspector Washington.

Partly that was because some of those runs were with Loyalists, which I realize doesn't fit the alignment of this mission.  But IIRC, if you run that mission as a "loyalist" who is secretly a member of the resistance, Calvin Scott (that jerk) tells you to kill her to protect your cover.  Or his.  Or something.

And, really, all that "Suga" this and "Honey" that?  She had it coming to her.

 

Anyway, my response to seeing her in the arc was, "Wait, didn't I kill you?" 

 

A couple of typos I caught:

• Mission 1: Cleo's descriprion text: last word is "Maruder," not "Marauder."
• Mission 4 post-text: "Defenceless" s/b "Defenseless."

Finally: I don't know why I expected this to be a finale, but it definitely wasn't!

Edited September 18, 2023 by Zhym

[Darmian]

17 minutes ago, Zhym said:

Just ran through this.  Nicely done, as usual, although my shaky knowledge of the lore is starting to come through.

 

Also, I think this (again?) illustrates how hard it is to do Praetorian lore arcs, because there are so many different directions that Praetorian lore can have gone depending on the character choices.  For example:

  Hide contents

In most of my Praetorian runs, Cleopatra didn't survive the mission where I had to choose whether to kill her or Interrogator Kang.

Partly that was because some of those runs were with Loyalists, which I realize doesn't fit the alignment of this mission.  But IIRC, if you run that mission as a "loyalist" who is secretly a member of the resistance, Calvin Scott (that jerk) tells you to kill her to protect your cover.  Or his.  Or something.

And, really, all that "Suga" this and "Honey" that?  She had it coming to her.

 

Anyway, my response to seeing her in the arc was, "Wait, didn't I kill you?" 

 

A couple of typos I caught:

• Mission 1: Cleo's descriprion text: last word is "Maruder," not "Marauder."
• Mission 4 post-text: "Defenceless" s/b "Defenseless."

Finally: I don't know why I expected this to be a finale, but it definitely wasn't!

Well, from my reading of canon, when you do the New Praetorians arc and rescue Marauder,

Spoiler

that's where you see Cleopatra's body. So she has the option to survive until then at least, which to be fair isn't long after the end of this arc!

 

Thanks for grabbing the typos!  Getting them now while I have connection.

 

Mind you, the "finale" of this story sort of takes place in the

Spoiler

First Ward/Night Ward arcs followed by the Dark Astoria arcs and Dilemma Diabolique.

So...yeah.  

Edited September 18, 2023 by Darmian

[Zhym]

11 hours ago, Darmian said:

Well, from my reading of canon, when you do the New Praetorians arc and rescue Marauder,

  Hide contents

that's where you see Cleopatra's body. So she has the option to survive until then at least, which to be fair isn't long after the end of this arc!

Spoiler

Yes, she could live that long, if you make a certain choice at the end of the level 1-10 loyalist arc.  Otherwise she's unambiguously dead much sooner than the New Praetorians arc.

 

My solution to this issue would be to avoid using any Praetorian character whose status is ambiguous, like Doctor Steffard, Aaron Walker, Chief Interrogator Washington, and of course Cleopatra.  There are probably others.  That way, your arc doesn't have to be tied to any particular path in the tree-like structure that is the Praetorian story. 

 

Or maybe it's just that I find Cleopatra to be annoying enough that I wouldn't miss her if she were replaced with anyone else. :)

 

 

 

 

[Darmian]

12 minutes ago, Zhym said:

Spoiler

Or maybe it's just that I find Cleopatra to be annoying enough that I wouldn't miss her if she were replaced with anyone else. 🙂

 

ROFL.  Except that:

Spoiler

In the DA arcs Domi specifically says White/Marauder is the one responsible for losing Diabolique's amulet and securing her freedom from Cole. But I simply cannot find a crack in the narrative where this could happen if he personally was responsible, nor would he actually DO it. But he has a blindspot in Cleopatra, and she WOULD do it, believing it would strike a further blow at the regime.  So that's where that thought process goes.  Trying to untangle the wackiness that is FW/NW and its knock on effects is ...fiddly.

 

[Zhym]

52 minutes ago, Darmian said:

ROFL.  Except that:

  Hide contents

In the DA arcs Domi specifically says White/Marauder is the one responsible for losing Diabolique's amulet and securing her freedom from Cole. But I simply cannot find a crack in the narrative where this could happen if he personally was responsible, nor would he actually DO it. But he has a blindspot in Cleopatra, and she WOULD do it, believing it would strike a further blow at the regime.  So that's where that thought process goes.  Trying to untangle the wackiness that is FW/NW and its knock on effects is ...fiddly.

 

Spoiler

Hm.  Good point.  My counterargument would be that Domi says that even in the timeline where Cleopatra dies early in the Praetorian arc, so it can't have been Cleo.

OTOH, would White/Marauder have turned to Diabolique after Cleo was dead?  The obvious motivation would be to bring Cleo back, but maybe he wants a way to speak with her and sells it to Cole (or merely justifies it to himself) as a way to get useful intel on the Resistance.  And Cleo can't be long for this world (well, the Praetorian world) anyway—it's just a matter of time until she gets found out. 

 

A much different story than what you've written, obviously, but I think there are ways to come up with a reason White would do what Domi said—if it's a reaction to Cleo's death.

And yes, that would have the side benefit for me of Cleo still being not merely dead but really most sincerely dead. ;)

 

Edited September 18, 2023 by Zhym

[Darmian]

18 minutes ago, Zhym said:

 

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Hm.  Good point.  My counterargument would be that Domi says that even in the timeline where Cleopatra dies early in the Praetorian arc, so it can't have been Cleo.

OTOH, would White/Marauder have turned to Diabolique after Cleo was dead?  The obvious motivation would be to bring Cleo back, but maybe he wants a way to speak with her and sells it to Cole (or merely justifies it to himself) as a way to get useful intel on the Resistance.  And Cleo can't be long for this world (well, the Praetorian world) anyway—it's just a matter of time until she gets found out. 

 

A much different story than what you've written, obviously, but I think there are ways to come up with a reason White would do what Domi said—if it's a reaction to Cleo's death.

And yes, that would have the side benefit for me of Cleo still being not merely dead but really most sincerely dead. 😉

 

Welp, I cannot help it if you don't like her! She's actually less annoying to me than Voodoo lady whatsherface in First Ward.

[Zhym]

1 minute ago, Darmian said:

Welp, I cannot help it if you don't like her! She's actually less annoying to me than Voodoo lady whatsherface in First Ward.

Oooh, close competition on that one.  I think I give the dubious "win" to Cleo, though.  At least Nadia doesn't act like she's trying to flirt with you while you're running errands for her super-strong boyfriend with a jealous streak and anger management issues.

[Darmian]

2 minutes ago, Zhym said:

Oooh, close competition on that one.  I think I give the dubious "win" to Cleo, though.  At least Nadia doesn't act like she's trying to flirt with you while you're running errands for her super-strong boyfriend with a jealous streak and anger management issues.

 

But:

Spoiler

If you don't kill Cleo in the beginning and she fully survives up until just before you rescue Marauder, then Marauder wouldn't have turned to Diabolique because, well because all that has already happened by then.

 

However:

Spoiler

If you DO kill her then there is a massive gap between then and when Diabolique is actually freed from Cole's control, so if Marauder was responsible he spent a long time just mulling it over and he doesn't read like that. He seems far more "get it done".

  Anyway.  On to plotting the final trilogy. Who knows, might even cross reference Spirals in it!

[Darmian]

And there's one other PRACTICAL reason why Cleopatra is perfect for this once you accept her survival is canon.

Spoiler

I simply could not build Marauder in the character creator. Oh, I tried. Many times.  But the gauntlets don't exist for one, not to mention anything else.

So what could be done was done.

[Zhym]

1 minute ago, Darmian said:

 

But:

  Hide contents

If you don't kill Cleo in the beginning and she fully survives up until just before you rescue Marauder, then Marauder wouldn't have turned to Diabolique because, well because all that has already happened by then.

 

However:

  Hide contents

If you DO kill her then there is a massive gap between then and when Diabolique is actually freed from Cole's control, so if Marauder was responsible he spent a long time just mulling it over and he doesn't read like that. He seems far more "get it done".

  Anyway.  On to plotting the final trilogy. Who knows, might even cross reference Spirals in it!

 

Well...

Spoiler

In my version of events, Cleo gets found out pretty soon after the events of "No Man's Lady."  Sure, her plan is to make it look like Washington was the Resistance spy, but that had to get people looking closely at her, too.  I figure her cover gets blown pretty fast after that.

 

You're right about White not being the sort of person to wait before acting, though.

 

[Zhym]

Oh, and:

 

Spoiler

I'm not suggesting Cleo be replaced in the arc—aside from the impracticality you mentioned, it would be a whole lot of work! 

 

I was thinking more of a throwaway line explaining away why she's still alive—either in dialogue, her description, or something.  But I can't figure out a situation in which (1) you'd heard she's been killed but was alive, and (2) she was still able to function as an undercover agent of the Resistance.  I could see her being reported killed but somehow lived (this is the comics; no one is ever permanently dead—except Statesman, I guess), but she'd have to go Underground after all that, which sort of gets in the way of her purpose in your story arc.

 

Oh, well.  I should just accept that this arc happens on a certain branch in the Praetorian plot tree. :)

 

Edited September 18, 2023 by Zhym

[Darmian]

8 minutes ago, Zhym said:

Oh, well.  I should just accept that this arc happens on a certain branch in the Praetorian plot tree. 🙂

We could take it that she has Washington fingered as a fall guy for a while and that the player's involvement was simply coincidental. She was always skating on thin ice doing what she was doing and would have needed SOME sort of escape route if she wanted to maintain her public status.  Anyway, it is what it is.

 

And Mission 4 and 5 were swapped so that the canon narrative worked better!  Initially I thought a throwdown with TRN would be a good finale, but it didn't fit the timeline, or the initial peek behind the scenes.  That Mission 4 fight is odd though.  It's possible to just win it fast, but even a little raise in the difficulty and TRN is a monster.

[Darmian]

And I'm actually surprised that the major players in Praetoria, the Praetors and so on, don't have a level 25 version in the AE since the majority of true Gold side play is 1 to 20 (Plus FW/NW of course and that's another issue too!) Having them would have made this a lot easier!

[lemming]

5 hours ago, Darmian said:

ROFL.  Except that:

  Hide contents

In the DA arcs Domi specifically says White/Marauder is the one responsible for losing Diabolique's amulet and securing her freedom from Cole. But I simply cannot find a crack in the narrative where this could happen if he personally was responsible, nor would he actually DO it. But he has a blindspot in Cleopatra, and she WOULD do it, believing it would strike a further blow at the regime.  So that's where that thought process goes.  Trying to untangle the wackiness that is FW/NW and its knock on effects is ...fiddly.

 

 

Marauder losing the amulet is part of Vanessa DeVore's arc in First Ward:  https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Vanessa_DeVore_(Contact)

[Darmian]

3 minutes ago, lemming said:

 

Marauder losing the amulet is part of Vanessa DeVore's arc in First Ward:  https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Vanessa_DeVore_(Contact)

Yep, I have that accounted for, albeit in passing dialog from Cleo. My main issue is I can't see where Marauder himself would be responsible for it.

[cranebump]

You know...

Spoiler

...if you just say f*** tha loar!, you don't have to worry about these things.:-)

 

[Darmian]

7 hours ago, cranebump said:

You know...

  Hide contents

...if you just say f*** tha loar!, you don't have to worry about these things.:-)

 

NOT going to happen.  You know it, I know it, hell most of the AE gang probably know it by now, never mind the people I pester in game and on here.

[lemming]

On 9/18/2023 at 1:11 PM, Darmian said:

Yep, I have that accounted for, albeit in passing dialog from Cleo. My main issue is I can't see where Marauder himself would be responsible for it.

That's because he's not really responsible, Domi framed him.
 

Spoiler

Well, the PC steals the amulet before Marauder arrives after you "beat" Dominatrix.

Before Combat:

Dominatrix: Looking for Diabolique's talisman, hmmm, Character?

Dominatrix: Oh, don't look so hurt, I'm just teasing you a little.

Dominatrix: I could care less what you want to do with this trashy jewelry...

Dominatrix: What I care about is what you can do with me.

Dominatrix: Now, now, don't be having deviant thoughts... I just want to use you for my own gain.

Dominatrix: If you want this little trinket, then I'll give it to you, but in return I want you to make it look like I didn't just hand it over.

Dominatrix: Don't worry about hurting me, I can take a little pain.

Dominatrix: Just make sure it looks good.

Dominatrix: I want Michael to suffer mightily when the Emperor hears that his incompetence allowed his granddaughter to be injured and his property stolen.

Dominatrix: With any luck, Mr. Marauder will get reassigned to somewhere like Lambda Sector, leaving the well-being of the Magisterium to pretty little me.

First Blood:

Dominatrix: Hit me, Character. Harder!

75% Health:

Dominatrix: That'll do...

 

You got the Talisman!

Dominatrix: Mmm, that was very good, Character.

Dominatrix: I'm impressed.

 

I just need a few moments to cast the teleportation spell and get you back.

Dominatrix: As promised, here is the talisman.

Dominatrix: Now, if I were you I'd hurry out of here.

 

Oh no... I was worried about this...

Dominatrix: If Michael catches you then I'm afraid I'm not going to be able to do much to stay his hand.

 

You're too deep underground, Character. My spell can't reach you.
You're going to need to get closer to the surface. If you can get to the sub-basement then I'm pretty sure my spell can reach you.

Dominatrix: After all, I'm just a delicate little girl who needs all these big strong men around to protect me.

 

You'd better hurry though. Praetor White is on his way!

 

[Darmian]

1 hour ago, lemming said:

That's because he's not really responsible, Domi framed him.
 

  Hide contents

Well, the PC steals the amulet before Marauder arrives after you "beat" Dominatrix.

 

 

 

Ok, I "got" the gist of that in the dialog.  Well, if someone like yourself who knows what's going on reads it, then you'll see.  But there's enough obfuscation to throw smoke too!