HGS Convergence Discussion Thread

Honestly, I can't make an informed judgement here. I have a vague outline of what you've got planned, but not many details aside from a general order of events (Stanford showdown, Raven Beak steals the stone, Raven Beak showdown, the stone gets purified, escape) and that I'm not to interfere with anything involving the Hypnos Stone. I don't have enough info to know whether changing things would help or hurt.

What I can say is this: Do whatever will make things more interactive for other players. If merging the fights means we speed through bits where we can only react and quickly get back to acting, then I'm in favour. On the other hand, if it means the non-interactive parts just pile up while the chances to do stuff in between them get cut out, I'd rather leave things as-is.

On a related note, is there going to be a verbal confrontation with Blood Moon? I've got several bits written up for it that I don't want to go to waste - one's an idea I had earlier for convincing other Mawkin that ended up not getting used, while the rest is more a chance to get my frustrations with Blood Moon specifically addressed in-universe.

I figured Blood Moon and Fire Eyes could show up around the ship when the Altfords are freed, assuming they are before the fights with Dark Stan and RB. If not, you still have during the escape and/or in the Dream Realm for the epilogue

Edited by Scipion3 on Apr 12th 2024 at 10:20:50 AM

I'm fine with the idea

Either after saving Stanford or before the escape could work. However, the mere possibility of it happening during the epilogue is ringing alarm bells for me. I was assured on Discord that Blood Moon would be 100% gone for good and not have a lingering power over the Dream World or anything, but a confrontation afterwards would flat-out contradict that, leave unpleasant lingering implications, and overall be the exact opposite of what I want.

By epilogue, I meant before his definitive death since that's going to happen after the escape, if that's what concerns you. But the stone needs to be returned there first before he can sacrifice himself. Can't do it mid-escape, since that'll happen right after the villains are down.

Edited by Scipion3 on Apr 12th 2024 at 11:19:33 AM

Yeah, that’s what I had assumed. Blood Moon’s fate isn’t going to be any different than what we had already explained.

Edited by kablammin45 on Apr 12th 2024 at 1:49:18 AM

, Phew, okay. So I misunderstood the order of events, and the escape is going to be before the stone is purified rather than after. Many thanks for the clarification.

No problem, sorry if there was any confusion.

As for the other remark, I think it's mainly to speed up the react thing (as well as the overall pacing). We'll just have to juggle with everything since like KB said, that option has its own issues (as well as on my end, try to balance RB's fight).

~Oggy 123 Are you there? I tried pinging you on Discord to continue the bits at the Safety Shelter and the Looni Room for a few days already but you still haven't responded. I'm willing to wait a bit for the former, but for the latter, if you don't reply in 12 hours, I will proceed with the battle without you.

Edited by TroperNo9001 on Apr 15th 2024 at 3:22:11 AM

It sounds like people might be okay with accelerating the climax of this arc, and I think Scips and I have an idea for how it might go at this point if we roll with it, but I just want to confirm for sure if people are okay with this.

My main concern is that, again, it could result in a bunch of things happening at once and risk potentially be confusing/overwhelming for players (including Scipion and I as the GMs for this part of the arc).

For transparency's sake, the sequence of events would be like this:

• Once the fight with the Equestrians is over, the group will be free to head toward Altford Jail.
• Before they get there, however, Vilgax and Elifis will spring Skarbick and a couple of other genuinely evil Altfords loose. The group will encounter them on the way there, but ultimately they will escape (to be faced again another time).
• The Altfords will start to be rescued at this point (and Eye-Sicle will be changed back to normal).
• DS will sic Squishy on the group and be right behind Squishy himself.
• The two major character deaths will happen here, after which DS will flee back to the Atomizer chamber.
• Whoever is going there to face them will go there, and that's where they'll fight RB and DS.

Otherwise, we'll just proceed as originally planned, with everything the same except DS and RB will be fought separately (DS being fought in the Atomizer chamber, followed by fighting RB on Itorash).

Edited by kablammin45 on Apr 14th 2024 at 7:18:07 AM

Since the discussion took place on Discord, I'll summarize here that so far, we're leaning towards merging RB and DS's fights into a Dual Boss. If that's how we're doing it, next, we should decide if they'll be fought in the same room or in separate rooms like with the brainwashed Equestrians.

Speaking of their battle, I started working on my post a while ago and just finished the Corrupted Quarters section. While I appreciate how it's going so far, there is a lot for me to cover to make sure that everyone can partake in it and their actions are properly accounted for.

If they end up as a Dual Boss, it could be separate rooms again. It's working out for the brainwashed Equestrians.

I’m kind of leaning toward separate rooms myself. I agree that it’s been working well enough for the Equestrian fight and it might make things less confusing.

Yeah, I think we could face them simultaneously in separate locations. It'd help keep things more organised, reduce people stepping on each other's toes, and also show off more different places. It would mean figuring out how best to split the party, but I have a plan for how to reshuffle my characters to get them into the showdowns I want.

The separate room parts is a good idea, yeah

A bit late to the discussion, but sounds fine by me.

Raven Beak is supposed to snatch the stone and capture our Stanford behind everyone back, this could be what will prompt others to go after him while Dark Stan confront the team. In that case we can have RB's part take place on Itorash if 9k1 wants to use large gem fusions

Edited by Scipion3 on Apr 17th 2024 at 9:58:18 PM

I still think RB should be fought on Itorash because the other fighters, not just the Gems, can take advantage of the large fight area.

Right. And so can RB too.

Finally posted; Elfin wasn't able to remove Twilight's bracer because the latter got hit by AR Pearl and Garnet, and there isn't much time for Elfin to take it out before Aaron's Hyper Beam hits Twilight and everyone right near her (but it can be dodged).

~Oggy 123 Is Nozomi's family still going to talk with Ally, Dupe, and Mimi? Because Ally already introduced herself twice to Nozomi, and since you brought them to the Shelter to interact with them, I assumed that the conversation might lead to somewhere since Mimi's also considering asking a little later where the father is (since that might be heavy stuff for them). But still, it's been almost a week since Ally's response to Nozomi.

Edited by TroperNo9001 on Apr 21st 2024 at 3:51:30 AM

Starting with my latest post, we're bringing back the 48-hour limit from the last ZDR post for everyone involved in the arc to post before the GM proceeds with it. In my case, Twilight will be freed regardless of who removes her bracer in my very next ZDR post, but I just want to see if CAC (the nominator) will be the one to do so. He's given the choice to either do that as part of his Character Development, or evacuate the prisoners out of the lair (and possibly retreat with them at the ship) because his mental health took a huge toll here and he needs to recover^note or CAC saves Twilight and then retreats with her and the other prisoners, unless his player has other third options in mind. IK Steven also has mental issues, but his meds are keeping him from going down the path CAC nearly took (and he's required to form Obsidian 2.0 for the escape sequence after the Final Boss fight).

As stated before, the prisoner evacuation is the part where some of the heroes can retreat early to reduce the overall party size for the final battle, and Steven's suggestion to CAC is the in-universe prompt for that for those in the Looni Room. The others can come up with their own excuses to have some of their party members retreat.

In other news, Sol goes by any pronouns like Skyler and Dess but will mostly be referred to with "they/them" pronouns for consistency.

Edited by TroperNo9001 on Apr 24th 2024 at 6:04:53 PM

Might not be able to post tonight due to a blackout in my home, forcing me to conserve my battery and cell data.

EDIT: Managed to get in only the finale post. Nompost will come when I can finally charge my devices after the blackout.

Edited by TroperNo9001 on Apr 30th 2024 at 12:55:21 AM

So we're clear, I don't intend the reinforcements Majel called to interrupt the escape sequence; they're more for a rendezvous afterwards. Since TheRealBerdly showed interest in possibly having Captain Sisko show up, it's meant as an opportunity for him and other players to have characters escort the group home.

Edited by NineTailedCat on Apr 30th 2024 at 3:40:50 AM

Speaking of TRB, Flick is presumably still in the group, but since he disappeared after the VL Metroid battle on ZDR, I'm now gonna assume that he retreated with the prisoners offscreen unless otherwise stated.

Edited by TroperNo9001 on Apr 30th 2024 at 9:22:52 PM