#s97

Yeesh, that's brutal. Why'd you have to do John like this, Hussie?

The Quest Bed seems to have a set of Kernel Spires - but for what purpose?

Maybe the god tiers give you full access to the prototyping powerups. It'd be cool to see John challenge Jack as an equal.

During the Windy Thing, the Vagabond told John that he couldn't die yet - but is there hope for his hero, even now?

-.-- --- ..- / … - .. .-.. .-.. / -. . . -.. / - --- / … .- …- . / ..- … -.-.--

Rose doesn't have a monopoly on light.

Dream John seems to be in a parallel Quest Bed on Skaia. Due to the timing of the scene, I'm not sure if these wounds are concurrent with Real John's, or there's a slight delay between deaths.

Does the resurrection fail if he's on Prospit, or will the game fetch you for your destiny?

This is a big deal. Much bigger than I expected, to be honest.

The god tiers aren't just silly bonus levels - they're the real deal, and the power they grant John might have far-reaching consequences.

i didn't dream this! :O

guess you got my back now

He never mentioned it was beautiful.

Oh, it's the Breath costume from the opening! I love how the hood evokes a gust of wind, and I'm trying to figure out if it's fully a Breath outfit, or if there's some Heir stuff too.

So - this is a John who's started to tap into his true power. He was already summoning hurricanes, and it looks like that's not even scratching the surface of his potential.

𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟔 𝐒𝐩𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐲 𝐖𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐝

Goodnight, John.

Sweet dreams. ::::)

I'm not going to pretend I'm not shocked - but I expected some sort of twist, so I didn't get as blindsided as I would have been.

I highly doubt Vriska's decided to betray John - if nothing else, she'd be gloating about it a lot more. No, this legitimately has something to do with the god tiers, and John's story is about to continue.

Wait ...oh, god.

She wanted Tavros to kill her, didn't she?

AT: [...] mY TAKE ON THIS IS, AT: tHAT YOU CREATED OUR IMPOSSIBLY HARD BAD GUY, wHO WANTS TO KILL US, AT: aND BY ASSOCIATION, i GUESS THAT MAKES, AT: yOU THE BAD GUY TOO, AT: iNSTEAD OF A GOOD GUY WHO'S JUST MEAN, AG: Nice deduction! AG: Wrong, excruci8tingly linear, and laced with the sort of a8solutes morons like to throw around…….. AG: 8ut nice!

"Only a loser deals in a8solutes!"

It's hard to characterize Vriska as cleanly as Tavros is trying to - but we don't need to psychoanalyze her to know she's a liability. Vriska is actively impeding the team's attempts to deal with Jack, and she's not even pretending to blame causality anymore.

AT: i THINK, AT: i AM GOING TO HAVE TO STOP YOU, [...]

I like where your head's at, Tavros - but if you really want to stop Vriska, then you should drop that lance and run.

Make a beeline for the common room, and explain to Karkat that Vriska caused the Mistake. He'll fly into an incandescent rage, rallying the remaining trolls against her - including Terezi, who can actually stand up to her.

If you fight her yourself, you're fucked. An analysis would be a complete waste of time, and not just because your psionics are useless here. I could give you Bec, and I'd still bet on Vriska.

AG: Tell you what. AG: If you can find me in this la8, you can have at me. AG: I'll even give you a free shot! No funny 8usiness or anything.

Lady, you can survive a bomb to the face. This 'free shot' business is basically just a taunt, and everyone knows it but Tavros.

AT: oK, AT: tHEN, AT: hERE i COME,

Damn it, this is not where you want to be aiming your confidence. You can still reconsider. Please reconsider.

Or maybe you can take her, I dunno

Hello, Jade. What business could you possibly have with your other self?

More extracanonical shenanigans from Hussie, I take it.

Looks like this recap's going to be Vriska-themed. She seems to be controlling Hussie to write it, so I hope it's from her PoV - I have a feeling she'd be a very funny storyteller.

Not even Fantastica is safe from Lord English.

THE WINDY THING subsides, and clear skies prevail. You soar to the highest rung, and rule over your echeladder as the HEIR TRANSPARENT.

John's hit the level cap already?

Davesprite was killing Underlings for months, and he never hit his. Maybe he didn't have access to as much EXP, since his Underlings were only triple-prototyped.

You can also gain Echeladder levels by completing non-combat objectives - so actually, maybe Davesprite just didn't hit the proper milestones. His session was incomplete, after all.

With the Reckoning ticking down, the Players need to rush through the story, so they're probably just hitting Echeladder milestones offscreen.

The clouds have returned. The fireflies are still trapped. The spell remains unbroken.

Ooh, I'm loving this visual style. It feels even more Earthbound than when Karkat did it.

Anyway - whacha got for us, Vriska?

JOHN: for what? you mean… JOHN: that windy thing? did i actually do that somehow? VRISKA: Well, yes, you did. And I suppose congratul8tions are in order for that too. VRISKA: 8ut mostly, I am congratul8ting you…….. VRISKA: FOR GAINING ALL THE LEVELS!!!!!!!! ::::O

The Heir has tripped over the level cap, and can now accidentally cause a planetary cataclysm. Our protagonist, everyone!

However, it seems like he still has some more tripping to do. Some sort of bonus levelling system, I guess?

VRISKA: Yes. You are now ready to 8egin your ascent through the god tiers.

Apparently so.

This is probably why Future Dave considers him so uniquely accomplished. John's going to unlock a tier of power usually reserved for munchkins like Vriska - a tier which only the most competitive Players are even aware of.

VRISKA: The thing is, from this point on, you can't make any progress while you're awake. So you've got to get to sleep!

Sounds like the god tiers are only achievable with your Dream Self.

Rose's sacrificial plan will permanently lock her out of her full potential. Is she aware of this?

VRISKA: 8ut not just any 8oring old nap will do. You will need to go to sleep in a special 8ed. VRISKA: You must find your Quest 8ed, John.

I love these combination names. Breath/Light is an interesting one, because the 'Mixolydian' implies a musical theme, and I thought Time was the musical Aspect. Maybe it's not that simple.

I'm also wondering if I should read into the prices here. Like, is the expensive Breath/Space combination the strongest? If so, does that mean Breath synergizes particularly well with Space?

I guess there's only so much you can glean from a single menu. For all I know, each shop has a random selection of Fraymotifs, with multiple combinations for each price tier.

I can't wait to see these in action - not least because the presence of combination moves implies the kids are going to start fighting as a team. That's a development which is well overdue.

The Quest Bed isn't exactly hidden, is it?

I was assuming the god tier mechanics were obscure, since no one's brought them up before. Maybe the Quest Bed has other uses.

EB: i am not sleepy at all! [...] AG: Would you like me to put you to sleep? [...] EB: you mean, you're asking me this time, instead of just doing it? EB: what happened to you wanting to be responsible for me becoming a hero! AG: John, I am clearly involved in your rise to power now regardless. That can't 8e changed! AG: I am giving you the option, 8ecause at some point a hero has to start making choices. AG: Once you take a 8r8k from hunting treasure and stop getting distracted 8y side quests, you eventually realize that's what this game is all a8out. AG: The choices you make affect the destiny of the universe you cre8te, as well as the type of hero you 8ecome.

Plus, you're modelling him as Better Tavros, so you're trying to make him a little more decisive.

I'm not sure what to make of all this talk about choices. The comic is really emphasizing it, but it really seems to fly in the face of what we know about Paradox Space, which is really all about lack of choice - or at least, lack of meaningful choice.

You can choose 'the type of hero you become', but you can't opt out of being a hero entirely. You can shape your universe however you want, but you never chose to burn your world and light the Forge.

AG: It would have 8een nice if someone was around to explain all this to me, and let me have some control over my own f8. AG: I had to do this a much less pleasant way. I'm sparing you that indignity. AG: 8esides, it's not like you're some loser who doesn't know how to make tough decisions.

And I really don't know what to make of this.

Something obviously happened between Vriska and Tavros - something we keep alluding to, which may or may not have involved her Quest Bed. She can't put herself to sleep, I guess - so did she want Tavros to knock her out? Drug her with Sopor Slime?

I'm getting 'em all this time, dang it!

I love that John plays along with the Consorts' programmed ignorance of him. He's such a good sport.

These guys really love their Important RPG Terms. It's sort of like a species-wide typing quirk.

SALAMANDER: Our great elder, the magnificent Secret Wizard was one day graced with the First Rag of Souls from the clouds. SALAMANDER: He donned the oily, humble cloth and assumed the countenance of a simple beggar. SALAMANDER: But lo, he beheld a great pillar of rock, and on that pillar he beheld an impossibly tall white tower belonging to the fabled Heir of Breath. SALAMANDER: And so our leader ascended this pillar and this tower, but found no sign of the heir. SALAMANDER: He did however find the Heir's floating blue servant, and she laundered his robes, and so the Rag of Souls was born anew. SALAMANDER: Such was his magnanimity, he employed the Heavenly Machina to duplicate this relic and distribute robes to his many followers across the land, so that they too might be beheld with a beholden eye of admiration.

What I'm getting is that Nanna started a salamander cult for the bit.

Talented though he is, John will have a hard time living up to such a prankster's legacy.

Ooh, we're back in the old style - it's like a game-within-a-game!

This thing does an uncomfortable amount of damage, even with John's maxed Gel Viscosity.

Still, at least it doesn't one-shot him like I expected. These Imps aren't quite as scary as I originally thought.

I can even time-freeze it with Fear No Anvil! There's a shocking amount of polish here for a one-panel walkaround.

It's tough, but John's fully capable of taking it down.

Hopefully once he's scaled the god tiers, Imps will go back to being fodder - although we don't know for sure if the god tiers increase your stats. I assume they're distinct from the Echeladder levels in some way, but I can't really speculate.

SALAMANDER: I'm so hungry. Alas, I have not a single boondollar to pop my bubble with. JOHN: i've got loads of boondollars! here, i will treat you to a nice lunch.

Such a good dude.

Is that some LOHAC contraband I spy?

The Consorts must have opened an interplanetary trade route.

SALAMANDER: Do you hear that? He is still asleep, thank goodness. SALAMANDER: But when the Windy Thing was kicking up all that fuss, it sounded like he was not happy at all. SALAMANDER: It makes him absolutely furious when anyone other than him bends The Breeze to his will! It is not pleasant for anybody. SALAMANDER: Luckily there is only one person who can do that, and he is surely a mythical figure, who only morons believe in.

Now this is interesting. Typheus claims authority over the Breath element, and can't abide anyone else wielding it...

SALAMANDER: Luckily there is only one person who can do that, and he is surely a mythical figure, who only morons believe in.

...which means he's basically calling John out by name.

The Heir is the only person in the Medium even capable of drawing his ire - and thus, the seeds of their inevitable battle have been sown.

SALAMANDER: It's said the Heir will wake the denizen by playing a magical song only he can play, and when he wakes up, the Heir will meet the terrible beast face to face! SALAMANDER: It is then that he will be offered The Choice. The nature of the Heir's triumph depends on what he chooses!

How much choice do you really have, when your future's set in stone? Choose anything that hasn't been pre-approved, and you're sent careening into an offshoot timeline, before being dissolved into nonexistence.

Maybe this proper-noun Choice is a real choice, then - a decision that can violate fate, but won't doom the timeline. The implications could be staggering.

SALAMANDER: Then the Heir will lead us all to a beautiful place, with the most bristling insect furrows and the richest, dampest mushroom soil you could hope to farm.