Chương 112: 4.2 Carry on Wayward Son - Kansas (5:23)

THREAD: [Zeke-Run] Emberveil USER: Malv0lio Malv0lio Alright let's go!!! I don't know how much of this has made the rounds on the forum yet, but I'm the next primary for Zeke's fanfic. Assuming that he checks in soon, I plan to steer him away from Frontiers and the Deadlands and towards a new game ASAP. I'll tell you all right now that I'm taking this gig a whole lot more seriously than some of the other primaries have.

If I'm giving the guy advice, I want that advice backed up by facts and figures and not just some half-remembered nonsense stapled together from twenty-year memories. There's way too much at stake in his story to be winging it, especially since he's treating this whole thing like he's a normal person traveling through the Fracture-verse and not an anime protagonist. Because of that, I've been lurking on the forum for the past couple days and compiling all the info that I can.

I hopped on the Null Protocol threads and asked questions about how an ordinary dood with no cybernetics or augmentations could realistically survive the world for longer than a week. I jumped into the Tech Reign threads to brainstorm how someone would handle all the gangs and organized crime that infests the setting. I've been checking out old challenge runs, reading through speedrun notes, and overall gathering as much information as I can. You wouldn't believe how many tabs I've got open right now.

I've got maps, strategy guides, dev interviews, archived forum posts, and so so so so so much more. And that's just counting the Null and Tech stuff. But I don't actually want to send Zeke to either of those games. That was just me doing my due diligence as the new primary. Where I want him to go is to Emberveil. While I might be biased because it's my favorite game in the series - and obviously the best that Severance put out - I also think that it is the best option for him.

The way I see it, if there's anywhere in the Fracture-verse that his Rockstar class would most shine, it'll be in the game where literally everything revolves around magic. There have been theories being bandied about that his music is similar enough to spellcasting that what works in Emberveil would work for him. That means if he goes there he can actually start learning how his class works instead of just wandering aimlessly from setting to setting.

Before everyone starts celebrating, I will say that I haven't checked in with Zeke yet. I'm not sure yet if he is going to head to Emberveil or not. As per his last update, he's still in the Deadlands hanging with the Pale Regiment after killing Corva. He's at the base, eating food and reading books and trying to center himself. Before he does anything else, he'll most likely head back to The MIZ to check in with Patch.

He'll also need to figure out his supply situation and prep for what will be the biggest journey he's taken so far. There's every chance that he decides that Emberveil isn't the best place for the next few arcs in his story. What I plan to do is create a concrete plan I can pitch to him so he doesn't have to think too hard about next steps. That's why I'm coming to all of you. I've got my copy of Emberveil installed, I've got the maps all downloaded and the city layouts from the wiki bookmarked.

I've been brushing up on the quests he can do and the sheer amount of writings that I've compiled would intimidate a lesser man. Thankfully, I've stocked up on enough redbull and nicotine to power my way through. So let's assume that Zeke is actually going to listen to me and head off to Emberveil to do a training montage. How do we get him from The MIZ to there while still keeping him alive?

StealthieGurl101 I'm just imagining Mal sitting in his room with six monitors up and a bunch of notebooks scattered about his desk. He's got screenshots taped to the wall and everything is covered in red string as if he's investigating a conspiracy. He's treating this whole thing like a second job, and it's going to be hilarious when he pitches his idea to Zeke and Zeke is like "welp… accidentally got on the wrong bus and now I'm headed to Shards."

CrumhatB | He's treating this whole thing like a second job, | Let's be serious here. No one with a full-time job has the kind of free time that Mal obviously has. He just said he was keeping up with three different Zeke-run forums threads, is replaying Emberveil, and is peppering the forum with posts that casually say he's got city layouts from the wiki bookmarked. That is the hallmark of an unemployed man. TrapG00blin | How do we get him from The MIZ to there while still keeping him alive?

| Such a low bar you're setting there Mal. You absolutely can get Zeke from The MIZ to Emberveil alive. But depending on how he travels, he could arrive there broke, seasick, traumatized, or sunburned. Ironborn_Legate My first thought was to get Zeke headed to The MIZ first, and then from there have him attach himself to a merchant caravan.

If you all remember Syndicate's Wake - the only game where all the regions were connected together - there were trade routes that you could follow from The MIZ up into Emberveil. If he talks with a merchant, there's no doubt he can find someone happy enough to have an extra pair of hands. SpicyShoyu Yeaaa. The biggest problem with that is we still don't know how Zeke is able to move between the different games.

Back when he started his fic, he talked about waking up in that underground lab in a pod filled with water. He then said he ran out of there and obviously hit a portal that landed him on the Veilstrider. Then, the conductor basically dumped him out in Frontiers and from everything he said, we can assume that the timeline was roughly around the same time as the game. But what happens if he tries to leave Frontiers? We're assuming he's on a Syndicate's Wake style map where traveling between regions is possible.

What if he is trying to use the fic to argue that all the worlds are separate? What if he's going to argue that the worlds are all sequential, and heading up to Emberveil means going to a region that hasn't had to deal with that particular fracture yet? Reeses-witha' He could be doing a synthesis run. OOOOOORRRR, he could hit the loading screen as soon as he tries to move between the different regions. Can you imagine the freakout if he writes about a loading screen?

Lorem would go nuts and complain that the loading screen was just a way for the engine to not have to render everything at once. elote/corny Doubtful. He's trying to do a realistic run of the Fracture-verse. He's not going to talk about suddenly coming face to face with a loading screen. LogOff | What if he is trying to use the fic to argue that all the worlds are separate?

| The problem with the branching timeline theory is that we'd expect to see a linear throughline that ties the games together beyond just the magic system. We'd expect to see signs of say, Helix Industries or The MIZ in general across all games that occur temporarily "after" the split. Let's say they are all on the same planet - but I don't think they happen at the same time.

I think that floating around in a variety of universes are a series of places - not entire worlds, just part of them - that experienced a Fracture, and when they did they were jettisoned extradimensionally onto a single world. That phenomena is what makes something a Fracture in the first place.

The scale of devastation may be related, but I theorize that what makes an apocalypse a Fracture event specifically is that it literally "Fractures" a world and causes the split pieces to gravitate to the extradimensional gravity well that is the Fracture-verse planet. JimothyTheBarber Yeaaaaaaaaaa. What he said. I'm all in on that dood's theory. SpicyShoyu | He's not going to talk about suddenly coming face to face with a loading screen. | We don't know what he's going to do.

I agree that the loading screen thing doesn't make a lick of sense… but there are people on this forum that think the screens are canon and something to unpack. And based on what he's written so far - about weight and the Valley of Echoes and a second Fracture that none of us can check the provenance on - I wouldn't put it past Zeke to touch on the whole loading screen debate. But let's forget about that. A bigger thing is going to be the timing.

Let's say that we get him on a boat headed for Emberveil and he just skips past the whole loading screen. When exactly is he going to end up? Will he show up at the start of the game? Does he show up a year later? Ten years? Fifty? Does he arrive before the game begins and all the PCs start wrecking the political landscape? Or does he arrive after everything ran its course and half the world's problems have been solved by the new Caretaker?

Or does he choose to arrive in a world where the new Caretaker was a murderhobo who butchered the setting and really screwed everything over. We just don't know what he's planning. HexaDeweyDecimal Wow Spicy, way to put a damper on everything. What are you suggesting we do, just not have him go to Emberveil? SpicyShoyu No. I'm not saying that at all. I'm just pointing out that whatever plan we have won't survive first contact.

We can try to get him to head to Emberveil, but if he shows up there and then tells us the state of the world and it proves to be wildly different from what we all expected, there goes all our hard work. KetracelWhiteNoise | have him attach himself to a merchant caravan. | That's a horrible idea man. Merchant caravans are notoriously slow in Syndicate's. Plus, all the bandits have already mapped out all the routes. Zeke on a merchant caravan is Zeke spending weeks fending off bandits and monsters.

I also want to point out that Zeke has really focused on the reality angle of his story. That means if we stick him on a caravan, we're basically signing up for three weeks of updates of him just being like "yep, we're still walking. Weather is nice though." We need a faster and safer way to get him to Emberveil. Caboodle What about what Cole did where he just hired a bunch of adventurers? Sure they're expensive, but any half-way competent team could scare off anything short of an organized ambush.

It's a lot safer than just having Zeke make the journey himself. OldBooties You said it yourself. They're expensive. How much cash do you think Zeke's got at this point? He made a decent bit of coin trading all the Reclaimer loot to the Pale Regiment, but it sounded like he spent all of it on valuables. He bought books, Shearfang, the guitar from Riley, a ton of food and water and whatever else he needed to survive out in the Deadlands. More importantly, Zeke doesn't play like a normal player.

He isn't emptying every chest he comes across or stripping armor and weapons off mercs to sell it all in the city. We honestly have no clue how much cash he's got. Inkwell Just send him to Cliffhaven. Ironborn_Legate That could work. Have him head north to Cliffhaven, buy passage on the first ship headed to Emberveil, and tell him not to get distracted by anything else. Shit. I just typed that and realized that our boy has a bad case of ADHD. You know he's going to get distracted by something else.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. GrumpyNPC Ugh. Cliffhaven. The shittiest town in all the Fracture-verse. Have you all thought about that city from the POV from a Zeke-run character? Need I remind you all what a Zeke-run is supposed to do? We treat the games as if we've actually been isekai'd into them. I don't know about all of you, but when I think of Cliffhaven my knees ache.

People love traveling through the city because they're sprinting everywhere and bunny-hopping over the railings, but realistically we're going to see Zeke get halfway up the main staircase and start looking for the nearest bench. ResistanceIsAnnoying. That doesn't mean the city is garbage or unrealistic. Have you ever been to San Fran? I spent four days there for work last summer. I swear, every single street had me marching uphill. I needed an oxygen mask just to make it back to my hotel.

Cliffhaven is slightly exaggerated, sure, but cities with shit terrain absolutely exist. GrumpyNPC You misunderstand. I'm not saying the city is unrealistic. I'm saying it's a garbage city that has been built vertically. You know that once Zeke sees all those stairs he's going to jump on this forum and complain and then wander off to somewhere else. El_Espectador | he's most likely going to make his way back up to The MIZ to check in with Patch.

| I suggest we leave a tablet with Patch so we can stay in touch, and maybe so the natives can get help repairing what Zeke broke, using glyphs or something. Also, Zeke needs at least one musical weapon; while smashing enemies' heads in with his guitar would be very rockstar of him, he'd have to replace them too often. He should get something like Marceline's axe or Flynt Coal's trumpet from RWBY, the latter being capable of transforming into a weapon, even though that feature was never actually shown on screen.

Saltmines He's got Riley's guitar. The way he talked about it, the thing's got some heft to it. But I agree that he should get some more weapons. He has instrument mastery and he should be mastering ALL the instruments. Enemies need to look at him and see Dick Van Dyke from Marry Poppins waltzing down the road at them. Malv0lio We're getting off-track. I'm locking down Cliffhaven as the destination he heads to to pick up a ship. Where does he go next?

I'm thinking Brightharbor is the obvious spot, unless someone else has a better idea. TKTK_tktk Yeaaa. Brightharbor isn't a bad idea. It's a good spot if he wants a calm area to get his feet under him. He can pick up some quests and resupply himself there. But… it's sooooooo boring. Why not have him head to one of the turtle islands instead? He can get a ship from Cliffhaven to one of those pretty easily, and it would be infinitely more interesting than Brightharbor.

Craaazzzzy | Why not have him head to one of the turtle islands instead? | Because we're not trying to get him killed. There's no way he can navigate to a specific turtle island. It's nearly impossible to do in the game unless you've got a select few items and a navigation ritual. Also, not all the turtle islands are safe. There are some that are straight end-game content, and you want to send him there? More importantly, ships don't make scheduled stops at the turtle islands.

Chances are you're sending Zeke to a place where he gets stranded for a month. That might sound like a fun side-quest in a game, but it'll be miserable in real life. Blightsaber-Molly He can use that time to grind. Imagine just giving him a whole month to boost up his Performance, Athletics, and Melee skill. Dood would be badass. EdinboroughArchivist Before everyone gets all excited planning Zeke's magical vacation, do we know whether or not he can actually afford it?

You've got him riding a boat to Emberveil, but boats cost money. It's not like a captain is going to give him free transit. Other than OldBooties, I haven't heard anyone talk about the cost of this trip. Old made the point that Zeke isn't vacuuming up all the loot he's come across. That means he doesn't have the same cash reserves as a normal player. FinalBossIntern Oooo. Good point. At this point in a Frontiers playthrough, a PC is swimming in money and loot. What is Zeke worth right now?

If you're making a list of stuff he needs to buy: he would need food and water for his trip from The MIZ up to Cliffhaven. He needs cash for the inns he stays in while he's at Cliffhaven, unless you're expecting him to sleep outside every night. He needs to pay for passage on a non-pirate ship. He needs to pay for meals while on the water, unless all that is included in his ticket. Let's say he gets to Brightharbor. What's next? Are we magically assuming he has enough cash to rent a room?

Or are you just sending him there to be homeless? TrapG00blin See. This is why I love Zeke-runs. Most games and fanfics always handwave this stuff away. Fast travel makes people forget that moving between regions is expensive. A Zeke-run forces you to slow down and think about all those boring little details that are important to real life. Teabaggins420 | I'm locking down Cliffhaven as the destination he heads to to pick up a ship. | Yo Mal, you said you re-downloaded Emberveil, but have you started a run on it?

Because if you had, you'd know that you were skipping over the travel part of his trip. The road to Cliffhaven is meh. It's easy to speed through and I can see Zeke not wasting his time updating us on what happens there. But as soon as he steps foot on a boat, he's rolling the dice on whatever horrible things are waiting for him out in the ocean. The ocean in Emberveil is basically mid-game content.

By the time you're ready for it, your PC has already mastered a few schools of magic and they've buffed their skills up and got good at fighting. Think about Zeke. He's got a guitar and that's his only defense right now. You're basically telling him to get out on a boat and hope for the best. If he dies out on the ocean he doesn't get to just reload a prior savepoint and start grinding his way to strength. MetaMonger He does have a weapon. He's got two of them in fact.

He still has Corva's Axe and he's got Shearfang that he bought from the Pale Regiment. Remember him using it on Corva? Oh, and he has the guitar that Riley made him. CorlysVelaryonISABAMF You're suggesting he fights Krakens with a dagger? What do you want him to do with it, poke really hard? DungeonDad77 It's not just krakens that he's got to worry about. Out in the ocean are leviathans, sea hags, fog sirens, living whirlpools, pirates, reef drakes, and haunted wrecks.

The Emberveil ocean is basically the Deadlands on steroids. Teabaggins is right when he says you should warn Zeke about the dangers he's facing on a ship journey. Ironborn_Legate He killed both the Reclaimer and Corva. He fended off that Bone Kaiju back when he didn't even have a class yet. He escaped from the Black Teeth at the Chapel Pit AND he survived the hit squad they sent his way back in the Dead Corridor.

I know Zeke doesn't come across as all John Wick, but he's a far cry from the helpless loser that he started the journey as. Gormommie Oh man. I just realized that his kill count is kinda respectable now. He got those two bandits, the flare gun dude, the guy he punted off the Bethasha Tower down in the Under-MIZ, the second Fracture, and now Corva. Dood is putting in work. 7Spirals He killed the Reclaimer because Crush, Mushroom and I came up with a plan to deal with it without needing Zeke to get close.

You say he fended off the Bone Kaiju without a class, but he did get his Rockstar right before that. And he also didn't fend it off. He ran away and when the thing took a swipe at him, Corva pushed him out of the way and saved his life. You bring up the Black Teeth but he was in the back of the jeep the whole time, or he was smack dab in the middle of a convoy filled with a bunch of other targets. None of that makes me confident that Zeke can defend himself in the middle of an open ocean.

His melee skill is only rank 2. His gun skill is only rank 1. He doesn't have anything that'll protect him against pirates or krakens. Malv0lio Why are you insisting he needs to fight the kraken in the first place? Once he pays for passage on a boat, he'll have guards around him. If they get attacked, the best thing he can do is nothing. He just needs to choose the right boat. If he finds a merchant boat or a transport ship with enough guards, he'll be fine. He doesn't need to fight at all.

That's what the guards are there for. All he needs to do is find somewhere to hide and stay out of the way and pray that the guards know what they're doing. Besides, it's doubtful that he'll run into a kraken or a leviathan on such a short ride. HalfPintMage | it's doubtful that he'll run into a kraken or a leviathan on such a short ride. | Bro… have you read his story? Zeke is a magnet for everything weird and dangerous. You might as well call him murphy because he's got his own law.

You're sitting there, as his primary, and suggesting that everything is going to be okay and he doesn't need to worry? You know what… who is his proctor for the next arc? We're still doing that, right? Because Zeke definitely needs a proctor if you're over here trying to con him into riding a boat. Ilike2mung ^HalfPintMage. Remember when Mushroom was suggesting that we all play Zeke-runs before sending Zeke off to another game?

The whole point of that was to make sure we knew what he was getting himself into so we DIDN'T get him killed. Our objective here isn't to make sure that Zeke goes on the coolest adventure possible. It's to get him to Emberveil with all his limbs still attached. Shootingblnks Hmmm. I'm not against the boat plan. But if you're all worried about it being too dangerous, how come you aren't all suggesting that he get one of the tattoos from the stickmen. That's literally what they're there for.

He can definitely find one of them in Cliffhaven. Malv0lio Go on. All this is getting added to the document, so explain yourself. Shootingblnks Well, tattoo magic is passive, right? It barely uses any mana other than what the body naturally generates and it's something that probably won't interrupt the magic of his Rockstar class. He doesn't really know much magic, so having him get a magical tattoo would be the safest investment he can make.

Just guide him to one of the stickmen in Cliffhaven and get him protected and he's gravy. DuckDetective13 Tattoo magic is mostly just stamina regeneration or quick bursts of strength. I doubt a stickman is going to have a "stops you from getting eaten by a Kraken" tattoo. Shootingblnks No, but he can get a stamina tat. He can get a balance tat. One bad wave on a boat and he's overboard and we're not even sure if Zeke can swim or not. There's also grip tattoos which would be incredibly helpful to him.

Even if they only work for seconds at a time, that could be enough to save him during rough weather. If you're going to have him fighting on the deck of a ship, a grip tattoo would be handy. JupitareLanded Oh. Have him get a magic knife tattoo. That way he always has a weapon on him. Malv0lio?? But he's got a dimensional storage space. He already always has a weapon on him. Why was an expensive tattoo slot duplicating something he doesn't need? JupitareLanded What if someone steals it?

Malv0lio Someone steals his dimensional storage space? SlothTurtle Tattoo slots are precious and he shouldn't waste them just on convenience. He needs to make his way back to The MIZ and get all kitted out, sell what he doesn't need, make sure he's got enough cash for the trip, and then head to Cliffhaven to get a tattoo of something that he can't already do. OldBooties JEEZUS… you all got him trying to get a magical sleeve tattoo but I ask again, WHO IS PAYING FOR IT? Stickmen aren't cheap.

Boats leaving from Cliffhaven to Brightharbor aren't cheap. It all costs money. Food costs money. Inns cost money. Supplies cost money. I get the impetus to skip right to the cool stuff that we can make Zeke do, but you all keep forgetting that he needs to meet his necessities first. QuestBoardDandy Yo Old, why are you harping on everyone about money and then saying that Zeke needs to stay in an inn? It seems to me that there's an easy way to cut down on cost. Don't have him stay at an inn in Brightharbor.

In fact, he shouldn't be staying in Brightharbor at all. We should be sending him to The Hearth. The whole point of Brightharbor is that it's an easy early-game area. You run errands, gather herbs, and find somebody's missing pet. It's basic tutorial nonsense. Zeke's just spent months surviving in The MIZ and the Deadlands. It would feel strange if he did all that and then crossed an ocean full of things trying to eat him just so he can spend the next two weeks chilling in a tutorial village. BabyBloos ^Quest.

He absolutely should go to Brightharbor first and then he catches his breath and replaces his supplies. But then he should use that place as a staging area. If we're trying to get him to boost his Rockstar class and learn weird magic, then sending him to The Hearth makes the most sense. It's the only place in the setting that had magic before the whole Fracture. Everything creepy in the setting traces its origins back to The Hearth. Plus… it's free real estate.

DeadMienWalking Are you all out of your freaking minds?!?!!? I ask that in the nicest way possible. The Heart is a catastrophically dumb suggestion. I kind of get why you think that it's a good idea, but you all have a warped perspective of the place. When you play the game, your character goes to The Hearth and you develop this bizarre relationship with the place. The whole building is weirdly cooperative where the hallways arrange themselves to be useful and the doors open to where you need them to.

But that's just it. The Hearth benefits the player. Nothing that Zeke has shown us shows him as the player character. For all we know, he could be like any other random NPC who wandered into that nightmare palace. The stories about normal people entering The Hearth are never good. You've got someone walking through a doorway and they end up in a different city. You got someone walking through a doorway and they end up on a completely different continent.

You got someone wandering through the corridors for an hour and they finally find an exit only to learn that they've been missing for years. Why would you intentionally send Zeke into a place where NO ONE understands the rules? That's just asking for weird shit to happen. HandswithoutArms Am I misremembering something? Wasn't there a journal somewhere about a guy who wandered into The Hearth and then he came back to find out that his daughter was now older than he was?

I swear there was an NPC story like that in Emberveil but I might be remembering a different game. DeadMienWalking No. You're remembering it correctly. That was a real entry and it's one of the reasons why sending Zeke to The Hearth is such a bad idea. I'm not saying that he is definitely going to have weird things happen to him. But I'm also not not saying that.

PixelBaron The whole place kind of reminds me of that one Harry Potter quote where someone was like "never trust anything that can think for itself if you can't see where it keeps its brain." That's basically The Hearth in a nutshell. It might look like a benign building, but the place is a living city and nobody knows what it wants and nobody knows how it works and nobody knows why magic still existed in it before the Fracture. DeadMienWalking Yea.

And it's the place that let the Living Stories loose into the world. I know everyone wants to bring up the Reclaimer and Corva and everything and say that Zeke should be able to handle himself. But if he goes into The Hearth and finds some of the Living Stories that didn't get loose… I think that's the end of his fic. Malv0lio Okay. Don't send him to The Hearth. Got it. I think I've got enough to get started on a plan for him. I just hope that he checks in soon. I want him heading north as quickly as he can.