Nightlit

This is what I just don't buy. Vampires are old, they think in long terms, and they have the benefit of long term experience. I don't think that an ENTIRE room of vampires would be so afraid of her that they'd let her totally run the show. Like... consider what I just said about Dani? It would have been extremely plausible for someone to support Dani when he stood up to Deadnus. NOT because they have any care about what Dani is saying, but because in doing so, they'd be gaining favor with him and cutting down a political rival, and doing so in such a way where all the political downfall would fall in Deadnus' feet. After all, Deadnus is obviously doing stuff that is legally questionable. If nothing else? No set of bylaws would allow someone to deny complaints until AFTER the fact, except perhaps in an emergency situation, which has yet to be declared. In short, as soon as Deadnus said that complaints can be put in after the summit? ANYONE could have stood up and cut her down simply by quoting a few bylaws. And not only would that DESTROY her political credibility? The combination of inquiries and scrutiny could keep her and the protection league tied up in red tape for months. And this is true regardless of how personally powerful she might be. And a room full of vampires who are presumably that ancient? Would realize this. But in this case, it would be even MORE beneficial. Because not only would they be cutting Deadnus down in a way that she, frankly, brought upon herself? They'd be gaining the FAVOR of someone who, whether they know it or not, has inevitable clout in the entire vampire world going forward. And a person who, clearly, will not bow down to fear. Sure, Dani may have just spoken up now? But he spoke up TWICE, meaning that as he grows older and more powerful as a special? There's a good chance that he will becomes more outspoken, not less. Basically, this is an effortless political GOLDMINE for ANYONE there. And no one takes it, not even for their own selfish personal gain.

I think you are misunderstanding me. I'm not CRITICIZING Dani. I don't think he's done anything wrong or that you as a writer have failed him. If anything, I'm criticizing Vinicius. I have full confidence that Dani is right and Vinicius would have stood up to Deadnus. And as you said, that Dani stood up at all is pretty impressive? But I also think that Vinicius wouldn't have wanted him to stand down. One thing that was consistent in all the scenes in Dani's memory about Vinicius is that he wanted Dani to be confident in his humanity. To have confidence not in power, but in doing what's right. Dani may have spoken for what's right? But he didn't DO what's right, because he didn't have that confidence. And sure, you could say that about the other specials? But the other specials didn't speak up. And, to an extent, though the other specials were SHOCKED? I don't think they had the same humanity instilled in them as Dani did. But the last thing is, Dani isn't a child. He's almost 18. That's an age where a lot of people take action. Many members of the civil rights movement were his age. And for most of human history, he would have more or less been considered an adult. The point is? That by the time most people are that age, while they may not know what they want to be or what they want to do? They do typically, at least, have a sense of their place within their own situation, even if that understanding only serves to drive them to change it. I'm sure that most 17 year olds in Dani's position wouldn't stand up. But Dani DID stand up, and that comes with some caveats. Simply put? One phrase would have immediately put Daednus in her place, "I am a special, irreplaceable. You are not. If you do not sit down and say nothing for the rest of this meeting, you will not have me, because I will refuse to take any action on your or any other vampire's behalf." He could then continue with, "And with Vinicius dead, there is no way to create another me. So we can do this my way, or we can not do this at all." And I know Dani would never do this? But that's really a failing on Vinicius' part. Because, though I know Vinicius didn't want Dani to throw his power around as a Tyrant? He clearly DID want Dani to use it to further what's right, so the fact that Dani didn't when it wouldn't even have been that hard? Is telling.

Honestly? This is the first scene where I don't feel it makes much sense. I feel like SOMEONE would speak up and actually be like, "Deadnus SIT DOWN! You are NOT in charge here." Because she's acting like she is, and I feel like the OTHER WORLD LEADERS would have a problem with this ON PRINCIPLE. I know if I was one of the others? I'd step on her foot? SOLELY to do so. Solely to tell her, "You are not in charge. Stop acting like it." In the game of politics? Letting someone act like she is is admitting defeat. Challenging someone isn't just about stopping them from doing things. It's about setting a precedent of checks and balances. Checks and balances that are important, even in a council of backstabbing, if for no other reason than the ability to USE them against the other people in the council. But on to a more frank evaluation of the scene for what it is. I do think that Dani? Is really showing his ineffectiveness. Dani knows what he's witnessing is wrong, and more to the point, it's obvious that a GOOD NUMBER of people in the room ALSO realize it's wrong. And yet, he's just letting them shut him up. It occurs to me that Vinicius is probably spinning in his grave right now, since he almost certainly would WANT Dani to throw his weight around at this juncture. At the very least, stand up to Deadnus and make it clear that, even if he can't stop her? That he doesn't approve and that nothing she says will make that untrue. I could say more, but I'd like to see how the rest of the scene plays out before I make any final judgments.

"The idea absolutely frightened me to my core. There was nothing about being human that was appealing. They seemed so fragile and delicate. Why anyone would choose to revert back was beyond me. Give up immortal life, lighting fast speed, and incredible strength all for the price of having a beating heart that would one day give out? No thanks." At first I thought that this might be a clue to a darker outcome for Dani. That he might hold some of the anti-human sentiment that others might have... but then I remembered that Dani was created as a vampire, and was never human. And, he's a very very negative person. Despite Vinicius' obvious attempts to the contrary, Dani can never see good in anything. The only good he ever sees is the good that happens to him, and even then he manages to attribute it both to the moment and to anything but himself. He exists in a constant state of negativity, which is actually kind of terrifying for a person with his potential power. Dani says "there was nothing about being human that was appealing" but I wonder if he'd find anything appealing about being a vampire if he really thought about it? Sure, he says "immortal life, lightning fast speed, and incredible strength" but those strike me as justifications for his previous attitude. Outside of an immortal life, which he obviously can't do, we've never seen Dani move at lightning fast speed or use incredible strength. In fact, every time he's had anyone use anything against him, he's either been overpowered or stood there and did nothing about it. And like... he better find something to like about being human, because he obviously is the one who is being rebirthed. That has been all but openly stated by the narrative thus far. And the fact that Dani hasn't realized that, given who his mentor was and what's happened to him is the first sign to me that he's just... kind of dumb? Like... previously, his naivete could have been attributed purely to experience. Even the dreams could have been attributed to just his lack of cultural aptitude. But now that Demetrius has told him what rebirth is (which I'd guessed chapters ago), he has all the information available to him to reason out exactly why rebirth is very relevant to him, and yet he remains blissfully unaware. And clearly there are people who are aware. The worry about rebirth was the whole reason they had Dani go to that medical examination in the first place! Another clue do Dani's inability to reason is how he reacted to Demetrius telling him he's not confident. He immediately attributed it as an attack, when it should have been very obvious that, HAD Demetrius intended it as an attack? He'd have said it long before then. The only reason to say something like that then is to attempt to help him. And yet, Dani reacted in not just anger, but childish anger. The absolute truth is, he's lucky Demetrius is here. If Demetrius wasn't here? Dani would continue to make terrible decisions; trust the wrong people, allowing them to parade him around like a marionette; and the world would be doomed. Because even if Dani isn't turned to the side of evil? By the time he'd have the willingness and ability to do anything about whatever is going to happen, it'd be far too late to do anything about it. And you could say that this is the result of trauma... but that doesn't really make sense. As far as anyone can tell, Dani's life up very recently was nothing but great. And sure, he lost his family, but his negativity is too deep seated to be the result of a single traumatic experience. Sure, it might cast doubt on everything he knew? But were he less obtuse, he'd at least consider other angles, and yet he doesn't. Even when he is considering things? He does so as an emotional child, spinning through doubts and worries. And when he does stop to try and analyze objectively? He finds nothing. Literally nothing comes to him, even in cases like rebirth, where he has more than enough information to at least guess at why it might be significant to him. I have no doubt that Demetrius and Vincent are both aware of Dani's nature as the subject of rebirth. But there's more. I don't think that rebirth is just about becoming human, there's too much worry about what Dani will become for that to be true. If it was just about becoming human, than it would be a simple matter to brush it under the rug, especially considering Dani isn't "a real vampire" he was made in a lab! It would be easy enough for someone to claim that Dani was created by a mad man specifically for this purpose, and that it says nothing about what might happen to real vampires. Also, Dani is a special. Why would Vinicius go to all the trouble to give Dani a super power that he was just going to take away? And if you say "well he didn't teach him how to use it" that doesn't make this make any more sense. If it was just a question of making a vampire to test rebirth on, then Vinicius could have simply made Dani in secret. Raised him in secret, and never gotten anyone else involved. This would have been both a lot safer and, frankly, a lot smarter if reversing vampirism was his only goal. But there is a lot of evidence that was NOT his only goal, and the fear of what Dani might become is not the fear of the existential implications of a vampire being turned human. The fear is much more visceral. They fear what Dani might become personally.

Antoine's the traitor. I mean, I could be wrong? But, if you read my comment on chapter 14 about Laura and how she could be faking niceness as a precursor to a betrayal? Antoine screams fake to me. Demetrius, on the other hand, is, as Dani said, Authentic. I am also convinced that, when the chips are down? Demetrius will be on Dani's side. If only because Dani is the ONE special that he can really trust. I know I don't trust the other 3 specials at all. Not that I think Demetrius is good or anything like that? But I do trust that Demetrius is genuine. That, for better or for worse, what you see is what you get with him. Antoine is too happy, he's either naive, which seems unlikely, or he's faking it. Now, I haven't seen enough of the two girls to say whether I'd trust them or not? But my first instinct is not to trust any of them. I am very curious to see where this ends up though. And I have a feeling that Demetrius knew Dani was watching his conversation with Maritoni, and said what he said about Dani's powers for DANI not for Maritoni. Then there's the fact that Demetrius can't sleep. Considering that Dani is having dream related things happen? I can't imagine that Demetrius' inability to sleep is isolated. There is some bigger thing at work here, and it's a bigger thing that I think Maritoni is either unaware of, or trying to stave off and failing. Now, and this is a speculation? I have a feeling that in the end Vincent is going to be the big bad (not that this would be that surprising) and Demetrius will be Dani's true love. (Also the pairing I'd be rooting for, but that's not the reason I think this). I'll leave my reasoning out so that the rest of you can come to your own conclusions.

Eric being killed is not surprising at all, in fact, there were a number of hints that this exact thing was going to happen during the chapter where Eric appeared. I think the bigger question here isn't why Eric died, but rather, who could have relayed that information. It's obvious that is Vinicius was murdered and Dani wasn't a target (for whatever reason, since if Dani WAS a target, he'd be dead by now) that Eric would also be a target, especially after showing a willingness to help Dani. And, it isn't a secret that Eric showed up and talked to Dani, so it's plausible that this was just a case of "Eric got to close to Dani, they might have talked, off him." But I don't think so. I think there's a middle man at play, someone who relayed information to whoever killed him. And there are a LOT of people that could be. Angelo or Laura are possibilities. Some people are probably like, "Laura? But she's been Dani's biggest supporter." Which is exactly what a double agent would appear to be if they hadn't fulfilled their objective yet. I don't distrust her, but that doesn't mean I don't consider that her role in this could be a charade. As for Angelo, while you could view his "why choose a human" question as foreshadowing of a betrayal? The truth is, he's right, WHY choose a human? And not just a human, but an essentially random human with no obvious intrinsic importance whatsoever. Dani is exceedingly important, and the caretaker's purpose is to protect the special in question in the case that the original mentor is unable to. And that begs the question, what is a random human going to be able to do to protect a special from something that was able to be enough of a threat to one of the most powerful vampires in their current society that such protection was warranted? In short? It's not a question of politics. The choice makes no practical sense because a random human shouldn't be able to even fulfill the basic function of the role! Which tells me that either that WASN'T the real role? Or, more likely, that she isn't a random human, and maybe never was! After all, Vampires exist. It stands to reason that other supernatural beings that haven't been mentioned in the story thus far might exist. But back to Eric? Like I said, it wasn't a secret that Eric was there, or that Eric was friendly with Dani. Meaning it could have been as simple as someone following Dani or Eric to the house and then listening to their conversation. Or it could have even been a coincidence, like Vincent going out there for an unrelated reason, finding them there, and listening in (still not entirely sure which side Vincent will end up on). And, of course, I don't believe for a moment that the various powers that be aren't keeping tabs on Dani's every movement, and Eric's too once he was there, so them being followed is not unlikely. Especially since they used a house that they already knew was being used by others for similar meetings. Not the smartest move on Dani's part to be honest. But Dani is sheltered and, frankly, kind of shortsighted. Like, the dreams potentially told him a LOT. And he's sitting there thinking they are totally useless. Not his finest moment. Not that it's really his fault. Clearly everyone around him has been intentionally keeping him in the dark as to what's going on. And I suspect, that was not the case for the other specials. So we'll see what happens moving forward. It'll be a ride whatever it is.

Hmm... for the betrayer? Well, we already know at least one person who could betray him and die for it, and that's Vincent himself. We saw that in an earlier dream. But people also forget that Kyle is his friend, and they are keeping him out of it because he already isn't reacting the way the others are. However, people are being too literal with the prophecy as well. Said "friend" could be a human whose "death" is becoming a vampire. Being a vampire has already been referred to as "dying" several times in the story, so it's very possible, especially for the woman who protects him? That it's "a human he knows protects him, and as a result, either as a benefit or to save her live, she is turned into a vampire." Given that there aren't any male humans he knows at the moment, that seems unlikely. However, these prophecies could refer to characters who haven't been introduced yet, and there is a darker twist on the betrayer who dies. It could be referring to a human who betrays him, and the "Death" is becoming a vampire, which would, rather than being a tragic end, make said betrayer a greater threat! And that's totally ignoring that the entire thing could be a bunch of metaphors and that the "Death" in question might not even be death. For example, the Death Tarot card doesn't refer to an end metaphorically, merely to great change. And so, though this is possibly me reading into it too much, we can't know that the phrases are meant to be taken literally or not, especially since dreams are made of metaphor, and we don't know how much of the dream was his mind filling in the blanks. As for me? I kind of hope that the main protagonists are not the objects of the prophecy for one reason: it's too predictable. If the prophecy is talking about Vincent, Angelo and Laura, well... then there's not really a plot twist. In fact, if that's the case? Then it's really a spoiler. As with all things though, execution is what matters, so whatever happens, I'll be along for the ride. As for Dani's abilities? I think it's a bit more complicated than just "he needs to feel it out." He's 17 years old, if it was a simple as feeling it out, he'd have figured it out ages ago. There's definitely something he's missing, some fulcrum to how his powers work. Or a block that's been put into him, by force or by choice. Perhaps by Vinicius himself. Dani is, after all, exceedingly powerful, at least potentially. If he were to choose to do something with his power other than its intended protective purpose? Well, then all this political meandering would be pretty trivial. For what is an army to a deity? And a deity is essentially what Dani would be. Not having some kind of check against that? Would have been pretty foolish on Vinicius' part.

Yeah. It was pretty obvious that Dani is the overpowered special. The ability to manipulate energy directly in a general sense? Is basically reality alteration at a basic level. Especially if matter/energy conversion is occurring, which appears to be the case. In any event, I actually don't care that much about Dani's powers. I'm much more interested in his relationships, and when he's going to realize that he has all the power. They need him, not the other way around. If he started throwing his weight around rather than letting people shit on him? There wouldn't really be anything anyone could do. The only leverage people have over him is leverage he lets them have.

Honestly, there being a murder and a conspiracy has been pretty obvious from the get go. But I think it's deeper than that. I think this is a full on gambit pileup involving multiple semi-related conspiracies. There's whatever Vincent's conspiracy is, which I think is actually DISTINCT from the obvious conspiracy to bring back the vampire domination of humans by the vampire nobility. There's the conspiracy of Vinicius and his "vampiric rebirth" which, I assume, is some form of "turning vampires human again." There's whatever potential additional conspiracies that Trusting and Daedalus are involved in. And, of course, there's the conspiracy Dani himself is slowly forming in response to the other conspiracies. Not that this is that surprising, given that conspiracies are very common in vampire stories, but it does mean that I actually don't really know where this story is going, which is a plus in my book. I can usually follow the meta lines, but here, there are a lot of directions the story could go, so congrats to that!

It's interesting how one thing can change everything for you. Certainly, almost dying will do that. But it doesn't have to be that extreme, or severe. It could be as simple as letting yourself cry for the first time since you were a child. Or seeing something you've never seen before. A shift in perspective can come from the strangest things. Things you might never expect. As for Eddie and Donald? I believe in rehabilitation in any case where it's possible. No matter what has been done, punishing the perpetrator won't undo it. In fact, the main thing punishing the perpetrators accomplishes is deterring others from committing the same crime. It changes very little for the criminal or the victims, indeed, often the process of the trial and punishment hurts the victims as much or more than the original crime, as many victims would rather get along with their lives than focus on something they'd like to put behind them. In short? We can't change the past. We can change the future however, and rehabilitation, when successful, makes a positive change to the future for everyone. I applaud Eddie for realizing that.

I have to say? As someone who is often irritated with that trope as well? I believed it here. While I still had that, "Ugh. Just tell someone!" But then I thought about who Hunter is and how he's acted and was like, "But Hunter won't. Because he's damaged to the point that there is no universe where anyone responds positively to this. He just can't accept that possibility at all. Sure, he says he's worried, but in reality, he's already written everyone off."

Hmm... I can't say I'm particularly happy about this, to be honest. I liked a lot of what you did with this story, but this chapter is short, trite, and asks more questions than it answers. I hope to see more stuff from you in the future, but I can't say this particular chapter did it for me, especially for the last chapter in a story. I am happy to have a more detailed discussion with you on the subject if you want to DM me, but I don't really want to go at length about it here. Still. I understand how good it feels to get a story done! So kudos to you! And if you loved this ending? Then that's great! Different strokes for different folks.

I really would like to know why the defense lawyer did that. Mayson did a terrible thing, but he was going to be punished for it. He's also clearly been pretty much destroyed as a person, so it just seems kind of pointless to me. What Mayson really needed is counseling, not to spend a fourth of the rest of his life in jail. Especially not as a result of a defense lawyer clearly going against his client's best interests. You may note, Hunter even is showing empathy towards Mayson. I personally believe that we should always aim for rehabilitation when rehabilitation is possible. And I believe that it would be possible with Mayson. So to me? This was a tragic state of affairs. Once again, I'm not saying nothing should be done about what Mayson did, but what should our goal be? Punishing him more doesn't really make anything better, while rehabilitating him could make him a better person, and allow him to atone for what he did by helping make the world a better place. Honestly, I'd also just like to know why Mayson did what he did. As far as I know we never learned why he hates jocks so much. And given that Mayson is the central conflict of the story, that's really the only question I have left. It's the loose end that I'd like to have answered. I'm happy for Dale and Hunter... but I also don't really care that much what happens to them at this point, cause I can pretty much guess what it is. They'll get married and live happily ever after. And that's great, but also essentially already been resolved. And I can't really be happy seeing events that I already know are going to occur when there are still questions I'd like to see answered. But who knows? Maybe I'll be surprised in the end?

I honestly don't understand this defense lawyer's tactics. Even if everything the defense lawyer said was technically true, it would not negate the fact that a sexual assault occurred. In fact, if Mayson and Hunter WERE in a relationship and Hunter HAD in fact cheated on him? That would be a clear motive FOR the sexual assault, which is otherwise missing from the prosecutor's case. So the lie actually makes him look MORE guilty. Similarly, whether or not the victim enjoys a sexual assault is irrelevant. In fact, momentary enjoyment of sexual assault commonly leads to a much more difficult recovery as negative feelings like guilt come up in relation to it. And besides. They literally found hunter partially starved and partially dessicated while chained to a bed with a ball gag, with clear MEDICAL AND FORENSIC evidence that he'd been kept like that for days. The only way that's not a crime is if the defense lawyer can somehow prove that Hunter was a willing participant for the ENTIRE TIME. If Hunter so much as gave any indication he wanted Mayson to stop? Then it becomes assault. And even then, it's arguably aiding and abetting suicide, which is also a crime in most places. Lastly... I'm not sure what the end game here is either. Best case scenario is that he gets Mayson not to go to prison, but Mayson is clearly being punished already. And it's not as if Hunter has been accused of a crime, nor is this trial public enough for anyone outside of it to really know what's going on, so it's not likely to ruin his reputation, especially since its really clear that no one who Hunter actually knows believes a word of the story anyway. So, outside of pointlessly traumatizing everyone involved, which I guess could be his end game, I'm not sure what he's trying to accomplish.

Seconded!

I'm going to guess it's not that their powers are different, so much as this is the first time they've been in a situation where nature is fighting back. All the times they used their powers in the previous stories, things were calm. The most that the thing they were manipulating was doing was water being in a steady flow. This is an uncontrolled raging inferno. A force of nature that refuses containment or control. And fire doesn't just burn, it alters everything around it. Most storm fronts are caused by varying combinations of air at different temperatures and pressures, meaning a fire that large directly affects them. And who knows how that might interact with overtly supernatural powers, so even the hail could have been caused by the fire, in a direct or indirect way, and the reason it didn't happen again is because Ethan and Aidan were more practiced, careful, or simply because the exact properties of every fire are unique. It's a reminder that, no matter how powerful Ethan and Aidan are, they are not more powerful than the totality of nature itself, which is ultimately what they are up against.

That's perfectly understandable! And the fire stuff clearly shows you have experience in the matter, which is awesome and interesting. But none of that changes my comments really. And Aidan and Ethan aren't part of your real experience unless you have the most awesome life ever, so you are already veering into the world of fantasy. It makes perfect sense that fire fighters would integrate quickly. It's not a social call, ultimately you are all there to do a job, and one of immediate importance. But for that reason internal conflicts don't make for a good story (or, I should say, a good long story). And similarly, bringing in old characters who A: Are established characters who have taken part a lot of previous stories, and B: Have supernatural powers that can potentially render the existing conflict between the firefighters and nature less relevant makes the fires even more of a backdrop than a story, at least potentially, and if that potentiality occurs it becomes even more important for another story to occur. I actually have no issues with any of the stuff about the fires or with Brandon. I was surprised that his husband didn't die but I didn't think that was necessarily a bad development. I just wonder where the story is going now that it's not going to be about him losing his husband and finding solace with one of the other fire fighters there, but that wonder is more curiosity than worry. My only REAL worry is, as stated above, Aidan and Ethan stealing the spotlight from the new characters and rendering the conflict with the fire less significant. That said? All of these are worries, not as of yet problems. There are plenty of ways the narrative could move forward, even with Ethan and Aidan in it, that are great! There are just a few pitfalls that, in my opinion anyway, should be avoided. I wanted to offer the critique BECAUSE I think you are a brilliant writer, and deserve to be made aware of potential missteps so that you can at least consider them as you move forward.

Hmm... I'm gonna have to state a (probably) unpopular opinion. I'm not sure I'm happy Ethan and Aidan are showing up. While it does make sense to call them, so I can't say it's a logistical problem? But I don't really want them to show up the protagonists. They are powerful established characters who are more than capable of making the story all about them. Especially since, thus far, not much has happened with Brandon. I was hoping to get more of a story with him. I already found it a bit strange that his husband was NOT killed, since there was a cliffhanger regarding that which ended up being anti-climactic and (perhaps more importantly) until that happens, he can't develop a relationship outside of friendship with anyone here. Which I suppose, might be the point, but thus far his becoming part of the group has been too easy to really qualify as a story and so it makes me wonder what the story actually is. Because fighting fires makes more a great backdrop, but just them fighting fires over and over again is going to get old fairly quickly. And while Brandon has started accepting himself? It'd be difficult for that alone to keep the story compelling since he seems to be adjusting to that rather quickly too. So while I have enjoyed the other stories you've written thus far, and like where this story is starting? I'm a bit iffy on this decision, especially since the story of the current protagonist has barely started. Here's hoping Aidan and Ethan don't steal the spotlight. They already had their own tale! I think it's time to let others hold the reins!

I have to say, as frustrated as I was with Brandon? I liked how that was resolved. I have always felt that redemption is more important than punishment. The idea of a moral event horizon is pure foolishness. We can't change our past, all we can do is learn from it. Seeing the human ending that is respectful of everyone involved, regardless of the mistakes they might have made, was great. To me, the only ending that mattered in this chapter was the bit with Brandon. Jeremy and Alex's relationship had it's real ending halfway through the story. True, Alex had a bit of worry, but it never spilled into the relationship. Even when Jeremy was supportive of Alex's gambling problem and when Alex was supportive of Jeremy's mother and fire, those were conflicts the relationship was strengthening the resolve of, not problems within the relationship itself. Jeremy's relationship with his mother, as well as Alex's gambling problems, were also resolved in previous chapters. Sure, we saw the aftermath here, but it was clear at the time that the big important steps had already been taken in both cases. Similarly, though I was happy to see Niall and Richie. And it was nice to see a book end? In a lot of ways, that was "this is the beginning of another story you'll only have to imagine" rather than a real ending to the story at hand. Not that much of this is an epilogue is bad, I just felt like it was important to note. If I have a critique? I think the final scene felt a bit abruptly cut short. But outside of that, it's a great end to a great story!

Yeah. When Brandon was like, "And if you’d bothered to get to know me, maybe you’d have seen that." I was like, "Well, maybe if you'd spent the TWO WHOLE DATES you'd had talking about yourself rather than your money? He might HAVE gotten to know you."

Collin watches Armon put the finishing touches on his fate wheel. Armon smiles at him, “I’m glad they added the next ring of nodes.” Collin smiles back, “Yeah. That looks great by the way. I’m glad you were able to find something you really feel passionate about.” Armon nods, “Thank you.” He looks down, “Collin. There’s something I want to say.” Collin smiles at him, “What is it?” Armon looks down sheepishly, “You know how I am using a wolf?” Collin nods, “Yes. I ca

OH! Yeah. Literally the ONLY reason they did that? Was to try and instigate a situation where the central group consisting of significant people to the boss fight? Encountered literally no monsters at all. Since the post combat lull is location based, not team based. So if the first group kills all the enemies fast enough, and the rearguard kills any random/respawns as they occur? Then the central group could theoretically move through the entire Temple following the vanguard entirely through zones currently in post combat lull. And if that seems overly convoluted and with a potential to go wrong? That's absolutely true! Especially since they plan to use items at the end to restore, and the central group consists entirely of people who have literally done the temple in one form or another without assistance, so there's little need to shield them from combat. It's like all those fantasy stories and games where you have a battle princess, who fights as good as, if not better, than the knights around her, and yet everyone goes out of their way to protect her, making everything more difficult than it would be if they just considered her a combatant in the first place.

Only initial spawns in this game stick to their own rooms. Respawns both occur based on time rather than location and wander the dungeon rather than staying where they start. (In fact, ALL spawns in dungeons outside of specific predetermined room layouts work like this. The spawns in hallways and stuff are both random and spawn infinitely, though there is still a post combat lull, a limited number of enemies that can exist at any given time in the entire dungeon, and enemies don't spawn in locations no player has gone to yet, whether or not said location has a predetermined enemy layout). And like I said? It's mostly to save time. It still would take 3 times as long to go through all three paths independently rather than doing them all at once. There is also another mechanic in the game that hasn't come up in the story yet that makes fighting in super large groups less effective. There is an arbitrary limitation to the number of things that can currently be happening to any given combat entity (player or monster). It's in the teens, except for raid bosses where it's significantly higher, so it mostly doesn't impact individual parties, but it does mean that there are diminishing returns to having large groups of people fighting together, especially fighting enemies with AOEs, because the limitation is individual based, so if 50 players are fighting one enemy, that enemy can potentially affect all 50 of those players with an AOE, while only a fraction of the players could even target the enemy with actions.

Efficiency mostly. They weren't worried about people dying before the boss, as many of them had already done runs, sans boss, in smaller groups. By splitting up they delineate the drops more evenly, which helps with inventory space and makes it take less time to search the dungeon. This is the intro raid, meaning it's actually easy content, for the most part. The reason why the initial runs at the beginning of the story failed was partially just because they were under powered (there are 3 dungeons meant to be completed by players before they'd be ready for the raid). Chances are, had they been at the proper power level, and not stressed out from being trapped? The second or third attempt would have been successful (or, they would have realized they didn't have the tools and wouldn't have attempted them at all), if only because they'd have seen the pattern from the earlier attempts. The only reason they are even organizing as much as they are is because they are trying to do the boss deathless without knowing the vast majority of its pattern. Mind you, they are being foolish. There is a big part of them that still thinks of this the way they did when it was a game. Where stuff like time was significant, because they had external lives and the like, so they couldn't necessarily spend hours moving through the Temple one room at a time as a single huge group (not that the intro Temple would take that long, but still).

Asa looks at the names, “We should have done this earlier. There are so many names missing.” Collin sighs, “Where would we have done it?” Asa can’t answer that. Before today, he didn’t even know there was an in game forum. It explicitly wasn’t implemented during the afternoon event, so he’d never bothered looking for it. It seemed no one else had either, as when Brandon had found it via the help menu it was completely empty. The only thing there now is the list of names. Every player any