Weekly Update - 04.18.22

Hello everyone!

April is… moving rather quickly. I think it might be partly because I'll be moving house shortly, so there's always a ton of things to do to prepare for it. Fortunately, I've been able to keep up with FoA in the meantime, and so there's another 7,000 words in the chapter now, and I've made a hefty start to the first of the two Hera scenes. 

This one deals with being there for her arrival, and the small dinner that follows afterwards. Hades and Charon are the companions for this branch, and it's been sort of a fun dynamic to write. Hera has some history with both of them, especially Hades, and it's sort of a complicated situation in a lot of ways. 

Just for starters, the two of them were have been some version of "friends" for just about as long as they've been alive, which is literally ages. But add to this the fact that Hera is married to (and genuinely in love with) Zeus, with whom Hades's relationship is complicated and often antagonistic, and then throw in the fact that she really only ever shows up in the Underworld when she's stressed and needs someone to vent to, and it gets kind of messy. Prepare for awkward social situations that the PC can potentially help and potentially make even worse, plus a sort of "approval" mechanic for the visit that can be affected by the preparations the PC made (if any), and a couple of their conversational choices. 

I had fun with this one, as how Hera thinks of her visit is the benefit/drawback for this story branch. If she thinks well of it, PC might find themself with a Queen of Olympus disposed well towards them, and who knows what that might change down the line? Upset her, though, and it might well be the opposite situation. Of course, there's a few little bonus tidbits and changes there for people who have an established backstory with her, too, so I hope it turns out to feel fun and full of the kind of flavor that means your choices have really entered into the proceedings, so to speak. 

Anyhow, that's that for this week. I should hopefully be able to get through the rest of this scene soon, and possibly start the second one with her. We'll see how it goes. Also on the way  on Wednesday is a bonus content: Makaria's POV of the garden scene between her and the PC.

I hope you're all doing well—it's hard to believe we're almost a third of the way through this year!