Tag: Parahumans

Plague 12.8

Krixwell JaceLeave a comment

I know the world can get ya down
Things don’t work out quite the way that you thought
Feeling like all your best days are done
Your fears and doubts are all you’ve got

But there’s a light, shining deep inside
Beneath those fears and doubts so just squash ‘em
And let it shine for all the world to see
That it is time, yeah, time to read Wo-orm!

Ah, ah, ah, ah – Wo-orm!
It’s time to read – this chapter!
Ah, ah, ah, ah – Wo-orm!
It’s time to read – this chapter!

…

Howdy!

Last time, Taylor broke a doll. Whoops!

This time, she’s probably going to be feeling the guilt of not having managed to save the four people Mannequin killed before she could stop him. But even with Taylor, it would be both difficult and excessive to fill an entire chapter with that, so other things are also going to happen. Which other things depends largely on where she’s headed now. Is she going off to her Hive? Seeking out Tattletale and/or Danny? Heading to a different part of her territory to help out there?

I think I’d prefer one of the first two options. The last one just sounds like it’d feel repetitive after 12.6.

No matter where she goes, it’s possible she’ll run into another Slaughterhouse member, though improbable. There’s only eight of them, and a big city. Effectively seven for this purpose, since we’re not running into Mannequin again so soon, and at least three of them are likely to not be anywhere near Skitter’s territory.

But yeah, much like Skitter right now, this chapter could go in a lot of different directions. I should probably just dive in and find out which one it takes!

End of Plague 12.7

Krixwell JaceLeave a comment

Looks like Taylor has another piece of guilt to plague herself with.

This was a pretty good fight. I was absolutely right – Taylor did end up using a simple but clever tactic to turn the tide of it and stop getting knocked around so much. I really liked a lot of what she did here, including but not limited to playing dead to give herself time to think, the crawleidoscopes and the use of webs, glue and dyes to create a sticky situation

for Mannequin.

(Look. I knew. You knew. We all knew, it was just a matter of time before that particular overused pun reared its ugly head. I valiantly held it off as long as I could, but in the end, I’m only human. Supposedly.)

Pacing-wise, it did feel like Mannequin’s last efforts stretched out more than they maybe should near the end, but not so badly that it ruins the experience. Besides, I’m liveblogging, meaning everything is more stretched out for me than for the average reader, so maybe it’s just me.

Other than that, I guess my only complaint is that Taylor found a way to spin her victory to a negative because of events she wasn’t in a position to stop, but that’s more a frustration with Taylor than with Wildbow’s writing. It’s completely in character, I just wish she’d learn to stop doing that, for her own mental health’s sake.

Maybe that’s why we had the bit at the end about Mannequin’s head? I mean this bit:

It was miniscule, but there was a drop of black fluid beading at the seam in the neck where the chain had been threaded.  Apparently that was enough of a flaw for Mannequin to abandon it.  I left it where it was.

Like Mannequin left his head behind because of a tiny flaw, Taylor is letting a (relatively, I mean; four lives is still nothing to scoff at) minor failure overshadow a major victory.

Next chapter, I’m guessing we’ll have Taylor beating herself up some more about the lives she failed to save rather than feeling good about the lives she did save. She’ll probably also be heading back to the Hive and see for herself what it’s like after the Shattering.

If she could, she would probably be trying to contact the Undersiders to hear how Tattletale is doing and tell them about the encounter with Mannequin, but just about every phone in town is busted now, so I don’t think she has any good means of doing so without physically going to their locations.

Actually, maybe that’s where she’s headed. She’s dealt with her territory like Coil wanted, so now she’s going to go follow up on Tattletale and/or Danny? Though I’m not sure she’s actually finished dealing with her territory just like that.

Whatever the case is, I’m looking forward to the next turn Wildbow’s going to throw at me. Maybe Taylor will run into another Slaughterhouse member soon? Who knows. (You do.)

So yeah, that’s it from me for today. See you next time!

Plague 12.7

Krixwell JaceLeave a comment

Howdy! Welcome back to the liveblog! 🙂

Last time, Skitter did an excellent job organizing the relief efforts in the immediate wake of the Shattering in her territory, right up until Mannequin stopped by to unorganize them again. Even if he’s chased off now, he’s killed at least four people, probably more, including the paramedics, so he’s already put a serious spanner in the works for the relief efforts after he’s gone.

Now Skitter is pissed. Well aware that Mannequin’s power offers him a potentially even stronger advantage over her bugs than all the other enemies who were strongly defended against them had, she’s still challenging him to “make him regret” what he’s been doing.

I want to clarify that while I used this at the end of the last chapter:

image

…that was just to represent Skitter’s attitude. I do not think it will actually end in death for Skitter or even Mannequin, though I wouldn’t be surprised if Mannequin takes out a couple more civilians while ignoring Skitter’s attacks.

One thing’s for sure: In order to have any chance of winning this (on her own, anyway, but backup ex machina here would be less acceptable than it was in Gestation, where it counted more as setup – if anyone’s going to help, it should probably be one of the civilians or Charlotte), Skitter is going to need to be clever. I’m sure she has what it takes to come up with an effective strategy here, though I’m not clever enough to think of one myself at the moment. It’s not like we didn’t know Skitter is smarter than me in many ways. 😛

I’m looking forward to seeing what she comes up with, so without further ado, let’s go play with our action figures!

End of Plague 12.6

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That was an alright chapter. Not super exciting until Mannequin showed up, but sometimes we gotta take a moment to deal with this kind of thing. Taylor’s story isn’t all about the battles and deadly situations.

Skitter did really well dealing with the crowd in this chapter. While I did find myself with not too much to comment on at times, it was neat to see Skitter take charge so effectively, once she actually got people to listen to her.

I still really like Charlotte’s role in this chapter. The way she stepped forward to help Skitter get the crowd to join in on helping was a real power move, and shows a bit of character development as she stepped forward as an example against bystanderism, the exact thing Taylor chewed her out for after she stood up against bystanderism for Charlotte’s sake.

Mannequin showing up did help the chapter become more interesting at the end, though it was primarily setting up the next chapter.

So, next chapter, it’s bug girl versus bug-blocker. Well, that can only go well, right?

Okay, but seriously, it’s not like Taylor hasn’t been up against enemies who are mostly immune to her bugs before. She’ll probably think of something good to get around it! 🙂

See you then!

Plague 12.6

Krixwell JaceLeave a comment

Howdy! It’s that time again!

Last time, Taylor made her way home to make sure her dad would be okay when the Shattering hit, and made arrangements to save as many other people as she could along the way. She sort of succeeded at the first part, though more because of what she did in 11.1 than what she did in 12.5.

But now Coil wants her to prioritize her territory next. It’s time to take a look at what sort of carnage Shatterbird has made out of the people Skitter swore to protect.

Hopefully Charlotte’s warning managed to spread and save a share of the people there, if that’s even where she was when Taylor called, but it’s also possible that people didn’t believe her.

In retrospect, this is probably exactly why the Slaughterhouse Nine chose right now as the time to let Shatterbird go through with the Shattering of Brockton Bay. Most of the nominees and people who might be around when they were warned would be away from their territories in order to attend the Lake Heroic meeting, many of them not going back in time to take measures to protect their territories from the attack.

…oh jeez, I wonder how Bitch is reacting to what just happened. If she’s realized that her base, full of dogs, probably got hit too. Though that’s on the edge of town furthest away from where Shatterbird roughly seems to be, so maybe the song didn’t reach it. They did say it would reach most of the city, not all of it.

Anyway, yeah. Skitter’s territory, massive carnage, painted crystal red, though maybe not as much as it could’ve been if things went well for Charlotte. That’s pretty much what I’m predicting for this one.

Let’s jump in and take a look!

End of Plague 12.5

Krixwell JaceLeave a comment

That was a very good chapter.

We had a nice sense of urgency running through the first part of it as Taylor saved as many people as she could on her way home. Then the Shattering hit, just too late for Taylor to really save Danny from it like she was trying to, but fortunately, Danny’s a smart cookie and knows to take Taylor seriously.

Then at the end we had a bit of paranoia directed at some paramedics who, indeed, turned out to not quite be what they seemed. I liked my explanation for why they could be regular paramedics, but that wasn’t what the story needed right now. Right now it needed someone who could bring Taylor the message that Coil wanted her to take care of her territory.

And with another painful departure from the Hebert family house as Danny begged her to stay, Skitter took off to do just that.

So next chapter, it’s time to find out how badly things went there. I’m going to refrain from speculating much right now because I fucked up and did a chapter in one really long session again, and all I really want to do right now is go to sleep. More on what I expect for next chapter in next chapter’s intro post!

Until then, I leave you with this:

image

See ya!

Krixwell JaceLeave a comment

Plague 12.5

Hello, everybody! This is the guy who reads the thing, back to do more of that!

Last time, our main girl had to leave a hurt friend behind and run off to tell other people, like her dad and the people she decides over, about the fact that the glass bird is going to do bad stuff to the whole city soon.

This time, I think we’re going to see how that goes for her, and probably get a first look at how much of a hurt the glass bird makes. I hope she actually finds her dad and we get to see her try to tell him about the trouble without giving away the hidden truth of how she learned about it. Or better yet, forget completely about that and get caught off guard by her dad asking about it.

And then she’s going to have to tell the people in her area about it. That’s a lot of people, but she has a lot of small creatures, so she might be able to tell them in a way at least some of them will accept. She doesn’t have time to ask them all to come to one place so she can tell them in person, which would be the best at making people go and be safe.

In the bit at the end of last time, I also talked about Tiny-Run using her small creatures to lower the hurt done by the glass bird, such as by having them be in the way of the glass to slow it down. I still think that’s a thing she might do.

So yeah, without further waiting, let’s stop talking like this and get on with it! 🙂

End of Plague 12.4

Krixwell JaceLeave a comment

Alright, so they did come to talk. We still got some action, though, what with… Tattletale… being… grievously injured… yeeeah. That’s not good, though I’m sure she’ll live at this point.

This was a fairly interesting one. We learned about the Slaughterhouse’s tests, got a little further characterization of Cherish, Bonesaw and Jack (and a confirmation that Siberian is a cannibal), and brokered a deal that I’m not entirely sure was a good idea, even before the Nine lay down their demands.

Bonesaw remains the best Slaughterhouse member. She’s so adorrible and I love that.

Trickster’s in for a surprise when he finds out what everyone else has been up to.

So, next chapter: It’s a race against time – Taylor has less than 30 minutes to warn the people she cares about of Shatterbird’s incoming glass nuke, primarily including the citizens of her territory and her dad. In the latter case, she doesn’t seem to have given thought to how she’d warn him without cluing him in on the fact that she has connections who could actually genuinely tell, but of course that’s not as important right now as keeping him alive.

As for warning the citizens, I’m fairly sure she’s going to use bugs to direct them away from any glass she can find, either via text or via actively chasing them away from the glass – time is of the essence, after all. She might also cover the windows in bugs to block the glass and slow it down.

Somehow getting the Endbringer sirens going might help by getting people all over the city to evactuate to the shelters, but it might also create a panic, and no one’s actually manning the shelters and making sure the evacuation goes smoothly. Plus, there’s probably not enough time to do something like that, let alone to let people evacuate, and Shatterbird might decide hurrying up her plan is necessary if people all over town start moving away from where they can see and feel it.

Whatever happens, though? Unless it covers a shorter span of time than I’m expecting, next chapter’s gonna have a heck of a body count (though mostly offscreen). Quite likely a much bigger one than Extermination as a whole.

See you then!

Prague 12.4

Krixwell JaceLeave a comment

Ahoj všichni a vraťte se do další kapitoly Worm!

…

*ahem*

Hello, everybody, and welcome back to another chapter of Worm!

So – last chapter, the Undersiders and Travelers discussed strategy and board games, but their temporary conclusion that they should attempt to capture and control one of the Nine through indirect confrontation seems to have been rendered irrelevant for now by the fact that half the enemy team appeared at the figurative doorstep of the meeting. Whoops!

I believe the Slaughterhouse Nine are done simply talking. It’s time for testing to begin, and the Undersiders have two of the nominees in their ranks (though they only know about one of them for now). Tellingly, the two members who picked those nominees are among the four who showed up.

The Undersiders – specifically Tattletale – almost found out about Bitch’s betrayal at the end of the last chapter. Tattletale might actually have, but immediately gotten distracted by what came after that: “Bitch’s new dog is a wolf > she got the wolf from Siberian > Siberian is here > so are three other Slaughterhouse members > shit oh fuck”. But regardless of whether she did, there’s a decent chance something the Slaughterhouse members say or do in this chapter will tip the Undertravelers off on this front, leading to internal conflict after this immediate situation has been dealt with (if it goes well enough).

Some of the foes in this situation are quite powerful, especially Siberian. Unless the Undertravelers are quite lucky and the Slaughterhouse members do just want to talk, they’re in quite a bit of trouble, but at least they’re together. Well, except for Trickster, who is downstairs and doesn’t know what’s happening yet, and Genesis, who is recovering at Coil’s base. They’ve got numbers on their side, if nothing else.

But there’s also a middle ground: I suspect there’s more to testing than just plain fighting, at least with some of the testers. What sort of trials might Jack, Siberian, Bonesaw and Cherish have come up with for Regent and Bitch? I don’t really know (Cherish might have something about letting go of your emotional attachments to people outside the team?), but I’m interested to find out.

So without further dawdling:

Shit. Oh fuck. Let’s go.

End of Plague 12.3

Krixwell JaceLeave a comment

Well, that was unexpected, even though I actually predicted it at the start of the chapter. Huh.

I guess the testing is about to begin.

This was a pretty solid tactics chapter. I especially liked the whole board game analogy – that helped to spice things up a bit. I also like the idea they eventually ended up at, capturing a Slaughterhouse member and having Regent take control. That ought to be interesting.

Before they can do that, though, they have to deal with the fact that Siberian and Cherish have brought friends to their location, presumably for the sake of the testing of Bitch and Regent. We’ve got the king, the queen, a cardinal (combined bishop/knight) and a (loose) cannon… yeeah, this is not ideal for the Undertravelers.

Unless of course they’re just here to talk. But let’s be real – they’ve done enough of that in the Interludes. It’s time for some action.

This is not an exit. But it’s time for me to take my leave – see you next chapter!