7/21 Update - The Prisoner

The Prisoner.wmv 

Synopsis

Sarah makes her way to the second location chosen by the players  - the Romani Ranch - where a startling revelation is made.  Meanwhile, the remaining Moon Children discuss their next course of action while the second child - the one representing Goht - arrives to confront Sarah at the beginning of the Ranch. He proposes an increasing question to Sarah, lending credence to the possibility that there may be more to this digital world than meets the eye - that some of its inhabitants might actually prefer to remain here as opposed to facing the harsh realities of the outside world. Barely given any time to mull over these new developments, the original alien enemies from the cartridge as dispatched to try and abduct Romani herself - an NPC from the original game who, without player intervention, would always have her mind wiped at the end of the first day.

Sarah fights valiantly against the intruders before they retreat, seemingly freeing Romani from her fate. Afterwards, as Sarah surveys the land she notices that the moon child she encountered at the beginning of the ranch was no where to be found. In its stead, however, the horrifying reaper Gomess appears and begins to launch its attack against her. Ill-equipped to handle thefoe, Sarah does what she can to buy herself some time to retreat into the barn where Romani is supposedly being held. Inside the barn, Sarah is transformed to a familiar void - with none other than Romani herself looking at him. The two exchange words briefly, with the young girl trying to recollect her thoughts as her memories begin to flood back to her. She reveals herself to be Rosa , the original character from the 2010 videos, albeit trapped in this character avatar and doomed to repeat the same 24 hours again and again... until now. Thanking Sarah for freeing her, she promises the two will have more time to explain the true nature of this world - but with the angered reaper outside their doorstep, Rosa imbues Sarah with two weapons capable of fighting back against the corrupted world. The first is a staple of the original game, the Light Arrow - a weapon of great force able to vanquish some of the strongest monsters in the original game. The second is an item with a unique purpose - a pendant of memories that can be used much in the same way that Sarah broke Rosa free; disrupting their predetermined cycle. When used on a certain NPC, it allows that characters original memories and autonomy to return. What uses this may have remain to be seen, as this item could be a great asset to the right character, or an extremely deadly one to the wrong one. 

As of now, Sarah seems to be have been able to start to wake up certain NPCs to join her fight in retaliating against The Father, and things are beginning to look almost optimistic - almost heroic. But then again, hubris can prove to be a powerful Achilles heel. One must not forget that Jadusable himself seemed to be curiously enjoying the glitching game as well before the fourth day glitch happened. 

Consensus Poll

There will be a poll at 6pm EST tomorrow to determine the next course of action. Even though the moon child wearing the Goht mask has seemingly disappeared/vanished, does not rule out that there still could very well be important information in Snowhead. Remember, Sarah only has 48 hours in-game left until a decision must be made about doing the 4th Day Glitch, this part of the game it is pertinent to gather as much information as possible about the world before making a decision that will irrevocably change it. It's important to think about the potential locations to visit and take some time to debate the merits of them of who or what you might encounter to shed light on this world. Clearly, the visit to Romani has added some more context into what this virtual world is and what its inhabitants are - even rewarding the players with special items - perhaps other locations will as well?

The options are:

• Great Bay Coast
• Ikana Graveyard
• Stone Tower Temple
• Snowhead Mountain
• Astral Observatory
• Revisit Clock town

The objective for letting the players know the options a day beforehand is to ensure that there is plenty of time to debate the merits of each, and to ensure that people don't feel rushed into making a hasty decision. As a general rule - which will be enforced by the moderation staff going forward - impassioned debating is allowed, but resorting to name-calling or insulting those you disagree with is not. Please keep that in mind as discussion opens in the discord tonight.

If for whatever reason you do not feel comfortable talking to the moderation staff about a specific issue, or if it concerns a specific moderator, you can always reach out to me personally on Twitter via DM. We are a work in progress in refining our moderation team, but we all share a love the community that we have created here and want to do everything we can to help continue to grow it and make it a great space for veterans and newcomers alike. 

In Closing

Thank you, and as another reminder we are progressing to the final updates. How long this phase lasts really comes down to player choice -  from the road map laid out, the earliest I can see this story concluding is in August and the latest is in September. So that means if you've been watching  and want to participate to be eligible for a patron reward, or if you  just want to chip in and show your support in general you should aim to get your pledges in before the end of July so they can be processed in time. I would say that getting them in before the end of August would be a 90% safe bet as well, considering we have now saved Rosa it has greatly shifted the odds in our favor, but there is still a crucial point coming up at the end of this month that could effectively lead to a "bad end" and end the story at the beginning of August. So, if you're waiting on your paycheck in August to consider pledging... convince your friends to make smart choices these next two weeks!

Thank you as always, and good luck!

Next Chapter: The Happy Mask Salesman 

Previous Chapter: The Moon Children