Aw geez, is this "I'm an excellent host" like in Homestuck all over again?
46242: Aston Whiteman - Monday, March 10 2025 - 5:45 AM
Oh hi there Maria Ghoul!
46243: someone - Monday, March 10 2025 - 6:28 AM
more like hosting freaky shit
46244: Whispers of Sorrow - Monday, March 10 2025 - 7:35 AM
Maria's emblem on the Smile's various screens was a skull wasn't it? I'd been thinking mortician, necromancer or perhaps even a pirate, but planning to die would fit quite well... but why?
46245: LUPIPUPI - Monday, March 10 2025 - 10:07 AM
I have never seen her face from the front, she kinda cute with those huge gaping eyes full of secrets.
46246: oskarloko - Monday, March 10 2025 - 10:34 AM
Classic RPG.
Loot the bodies.
46247: player_03 - Monday, March 10 2025 - 1:55 PM
"Or were you planning on dying ... ?"
On page 1170, we can tell by process of elimination that Maria's icon was the skull. In the past I wrote this off as meaning she's a saboteur, but that doesn't fit the pattern. All the others represented something more fundamental to the character.
But if her whole reason to join was to die, and she expects to accomplish some larger goal that way, then it makes sense. Perhaps she's been antagonizing other players in hopes of getting one to kill her, most recently by coming at Shalhia with that knife.
46248: player_03 - Monday, March 10 2025 - 2:23 PM
We know the experiment requires a magic user, presumably to die and summon a ghoul. If Maria really killed Infinite, that just backs that up.
I wonder if the experiment is about trapping a ghoul. This maze is the bait: a playground full of victims, with non-lethal traps because ghouls only gain experience from living victims. But the maze is large enough that he'll have to spend a lot of time to hunt them all down.
Meanwhile, Smile did something to this mine. Possibly several things, most of which Xzalclock seems to be unaware of and/or taking for granted. On pages 4076-4077, he talks about the high-level "gifts" he received: extra experience and the ability to revive nearby. But what if he revives nearby because Smile has him trapped here?
And then we have the "host" who seemingly wanted to die here. Perhaps the final step is to siphon Xzalclock's powers into Maria's body, turning her into one of the "anomalous esper-like entities" she mentioned on page 4117.
46249: Aston Whiteman - Monday, March 10 2025 - 2:45 PM
Oh hi there Ghoul Maria!
46250: Lurker - Monday, March 10 2025 - 9:11 PM
No announcement for a dead "player". Is that because she is the host? Or because Shalhia is hallucinating all of this?
46251: RandomFan - Monday, March 10 2025 - 11:10 PM
Oh dear. Maria doesn't give the impression of someone who intended to die, but Shalhia's right. I mean, I can absolutely see Maria being willing to roll those dice, but...
There's going to be a second deadly threat down here. The other. Something Xalclock doesn't like very much. Very likely it's whatever happened to Holsten, but. Maybe not just that. Host is a word with two meanings, after all. Perhaps Maria was hosting something inside herself.
Aw geez, is this "I'm an excellent host" like in Homestuck all over again?
Oh hi there Maria Ghoul!
more like hosting freaky shit
Maria's emblem on the Smile's various screens was a skull wasn't it? I'd been thinking mortician, necromancer or perhaps even a pirate, but planning to die would fit quite well... but why?
I have never seen her face from the front, she kinda cute with those huge gaping eyes full of secrets.
Classic RPG.
Loot the bodies.
"Or were you planning on dying ... ?"
On page 1170, we can tell by process of elimination that Maria's icon was the skull. In the past I wrote this off as meaning she's a saboteur, but that doesn't fit the pattern. All the others represented something more fundamental to the character.
But if her whole reason to join was to die, and she expects to accomplish some larger goal that way, then it makes sense. Perhaps she's been antagonizing other players in hopes of getting one to kill her, most recently by coming at Shalhia with that knife.
We know the experiment requires a magic user, presumably to die and summon a ghoul. If Maria really killed Infinite, that just backs that up.
I wonder if the experiment is about trapping a ghoul. This maze is the bait: a playground full of victims, with non-lethal traps because ghouls only gain experience from living victims. But the maze is large enough that he'll have to spend a lot of time to hunt them all down.
Meanwhile, Smile did something to this mine. Possibly several things, most of which Xzalclock seems to be unaware of and/or taking for granted. On pages 4076-4077, he talks about the high-level "gifts" he received: extra experience and the ability to revive nearby. But what if he revives nearby because Smile has him trapped here?
And then we have the "host" who seemingly wanted to die here. Perhaps the final step is to siphon Xzalclock's powers into Maria's body, turning her into one of the "anomalous esper-like entities" she mentioned on page 4117.
Oh hi there Ghoul Maria!
No announcement for a dead "player". Is that because she is the host? Or because Shalhia is hallucinating all of this?
Oh dear. Maria doesn't give the impression of someone who intended to die, but Shalhia's right. I mean, I can absolutely see Maria being willing to roll those dice, but...
There's going to be a second deadly threat down here. The other. Something Xalclock doesn't like very much. Very likely it's whatever happened to Holsten, but. Maybe not just that. Host is a word with two meanings, after all. Perhaps Maria was hosting something inside herself.