Page 1110 - Debranching Paths

30th Aug 2018, 6:00 AM
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Debranching Paths
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Author Notes:

Newbiespud 30th Aug 2018, 6:00 AM edit delete
Newbiespud
There was really only one way this was gonna go.

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44 Comments:

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Fury of the Tempest 30th Aug 2018, 6:04 AM edit delete reply
Honestly, who's surprised at this? Newbiespud already shown us that he's more than willing to depart from show's story.
Hankroyd 30th Aug 2018, 6:05 AM edit delete reply
OK ... What ????
Discord 30th Aug 2018, 6:21 AM edit delete reply
What they don't know is that I transfer the pain to someone else.
A smaller pink version of Sunbutt to be exact.
Sensei Le Roof 30th Aug 2018, 8:37 AM edit delete reply
I would totally watch a show with a character named Sunbutt.
ZhonLord 30th Aug 2018, 3:39 PM edit delete reply
You transfer the pain instead of negating it? Rather predictable don't you think? A god of chaos randomly making someone else hurt instead of them?

Though I am curious. Rainbow's text box is "cursed" same as everyone else. What did you do instead of getting her to bail out?
Everglue Horace 2nd Sep 2018, 12:47 AM edit delete reply
Maybe Rainbowdash now thinks she is Sunbutt. The delusion is completely imperceptible to anyone except supernatural beings beyond mere ponies unless she tells someone about it.

Kind of like the following clip...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PiD2imqGMlU

Except everyone else sees Rainbow as a more three dimensional, yet somehow much sillier character...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzblgyVwgCs
Rakaydos 30th Aug 2018, 6:56 AM edit delete reply
New prediction- "so heads up, everyone has a curse of opposing their elements." "Not me, I kicked his ass" "that's also what a cursed RD would say." "Not fair, guys! I won!"

Meanwhile gm and dgm have a talk, dgm learns about Fluttershy ooc triggers, and resolves to apologise after the session.
Tarrangar 30th Aug 2018, 2:49 PM edit delete reply
Eh Fluttershy rather clearly pushed his triggers, just as much as he pushed hers, from how that scene turned out, it's rather clear to me that Discord GM have a trigger, that's called being accused of railroading, probably because he has been accused of it many times before, when the truth is he don't rail road, he's just good enough at predicting his players, that they rarely go massively outside the rails.

Discord might have pushed Fluttershy's buttons a bit initially, but then Fluttershy pushed back at least as much, with her little speech about what she do not mattering, after all that was insulting his pride as a DM, he's a good DM he always give you a choice, he also try to predict what you will choose, but in the end it's because you choose it, he don't railroad and make your choices not matter.
Vegetalss4 31st Aug 2018, 2:08 PM edit delete reply
That seems very unlikely to me, because GM's that are good at predicting their players don't feel remotely like railroading. The players actions aren't arbitrarily stumied and forced into certain outcomes you see.

The only exception is when the predictive GM uses their predictions to place insurmountable walls in the way they are likely to take, but that only feel like railroading because it is railroading.
Tarrangar 3rd Sep 2018, 12:41 AM edit delete reply
Might also be that he don't let them rage quit the plot, outsmarting the plot or otherwise beating it in unexpected way are fine, but deciding to planeshift to the the Plane of Earth, the first time complications show up in their Underdark adventure is not.
FanOfMostEverything 30th Aug 2018, 7:21 AM edit delete reply
DMcord's retribution will likely be swift and terrible. "It's not my fault I took the kid gloves off. Little Miss Red Option insisted."
tolich 30th Aug 2018, 8:13 AM edit delete reply
tolich
Maybe it's a Discord dressed like RD?
Guest 30th Aug 2018, 8:54 AM edit delete reply
RD: "Unfortunately, now there's another me where my back half is supposed to be."

TS: "If you eat, where does it go?"
Aeshdan 30th Aug 2018, 9:06 AM edit delete reply
Ok, so that begs the question: What is Discord up to? He's already shown that he can and will curse the PCs no matter what they do, so why didn't he just hit RD with a Dominate, force her to fly away, and declare that the PCs had lost their game? Even if RD later broke the Dominate, she'd have a hard time convincing the others. He must be up to something a little more roundabout, but what?
Best guess, he's playing to RD's impatience. He's just going to keep them in the maze, running around in circles, until RD gets bored and asks for her wings back. Either that or he's planning on hinting to them that he left the Elements outside the maze, and then as soon as they leave the maze he calls it a forfeit.
Tarrangar 30th Aug 2018, 2:53 PM edit delete reply
He's not shown that he will curse PCs no matter what they do, he's shown that refusing to play the game and insulting him will get you cursed, that's not all the same.

Fluttershy could probably have avoided the curse, but that would have involved playing though the session, and resisting whatever temptation he came up with, not surrendering, insulting him, by saying he's not letting their choices matter.ยจ

And yes I get that Fluttershy was triggered due to prior experiences, and that's why she did it, but that's the same for Discord, she hit a sore spot with him when she gave her little defeatist speech, and he got angry and did what she accused him off.
gappleto 30th Aug 2018, 9:34 AM edit delete reply
So, just a guess, but he cursed her to have wings again. Maybe there's a detail where she can't use them, but either way, the wings make it look like she lost and is trying to hide it, thus being disloyal. Maybe as an extra twist he's going to trick her into flying over the wall, forfeiting the game.
Needling Haystacks 30th Aug 2018, 9:43 AM edit delete reply
That makes the most sense of the guesses I've seen.
The Doctor 30th Aug 2018, 11:59 PM edit delete reply
to steal a quote, "Make sense? Oh, what fun is there in making sense?"
Mykin 30th Aug 2018, 10:13 AM edit delete reply
Mykin
"There was really only one way this was gonna go."

Yep. And I'm still grinning like an idiot even though I was expecting as much from RD. Wasn't expecting the whole "I punched him and his head exploded" bit but it's all good.
Archone 30th Aug 2018, 10:14 AM edit delete reply
Reminder: DGM was invited to liven the game up and make it more interesting. He's there so they can all have FUN. He's been targeting their "weak spots," not in terms of how to reduce them to blubbering messes but in terms of what will enable the most fun and/or personal growth. Rarity is all about the roleplay, Twilight loves a good problem to solve, Pinky just wants to be silly (even now she's not so much playing it serious as hamming it up and chewing the scenery), Fluttershy was ordered to voice her inner thoughts and be heard by the group...

...What would make things the most fun for RD?
Guest 30th Aug 2018, 11:18 AM edit delete reply
Having things to fight, of course.
HappyEevee 30th Aug 2018, 10:17 AM edit delete reply
Oooooh dear. RD, when you fight the GMPC and you totally kick his butt, be wary. Be very, very wary. There's a good chance he wanted you to do just that... and it's about to bite you in the tail in a way you didn't expect.
PumpkingKnight 30th Aug 2018, 10:53 AM edit delete reply
What
aerion111 30th Aug 2018, 11:48 AM edit delete reply
aerion111
Yaknow, if I was Discord, and if I trusted RD's player to pull it off, this'd be a good time for some 'Doubleganger' shenanigans; Beat the real RD, tie her up somewhere, and have the player take over Discord in RD-form to go mess with the others.
Rakaydos 30th Aug 2018, 1:27 PM edit delete reply
But they're EXPECTING a loyalty inversion. The distrust is supposed to tear the group apart.
ThatGuest 30th Aug 2018, 1:28 PM edit delete reply
Pretty sure the only way he could pull that off would involve some IRL felonies. Like -actually- tying up Dash's player somewhere.
ThatGuest 30th Aug 2018, 12:41 PM edit delete reply
Prediction, she's talking about OOC, not IC. There is now whipped cream and a headless corpse in the entertainment room.
Digo Dragon 30th Aug 2018, 1:20 PM edit delete reply
Digo Dragon
So really the only curse is cleaning whip cream stains from the carpeting.
The MunchKING 31st Aug 2018, 5:38 AM edit delete reply
The MunchKING
But she said he grew a new head, so my ammendium to your prediction; Discord actually IS a Chaos God/really powerful chaos thingie OOCWhich is how he can pull all the shenanigans he's pulled so far in the OOC (and why Fluttershy is afraid of him).


The BIG twist though, is it's not just him and the whole thing is a bunch of wacky toon-characters playing D&D rather than the humans we assumed.
ThatGuest 31st Aug 2018, 6:01 AM edit delete reply
It was never specified that the head grew attatched to the body. Therfore we might have a discord head crawling around on spider legs in the ducts like the Thing now.
Digo Dragon 30th Aug 2018, 1:22 PM edit delete reply
Digo Dragon
If this were my current group, they'd find a way to propel that "diamond" like a bowling ball and make their own paths through the bushes.
ThatGuest 30th Aug 2018, 1:29 PM edit delete reply
*holds finger up then drops it with a stunned look* Actually that seems plausible and not completely dumb.
Guest 30th Aug 2018, 1:54 PM edit delete reply
And then Discord makes a set of portals that the 'diamond' goes through, appears behind the ponies, and a wacky chase scene begins.
Guest 31st Aug 2018, 2:30 PM edit delete reply
To be fair, if the chaos god isn't expecting it, they're more deserving of the position anyways.
Opposite of Loyalty 30th Aug 2018, 4:01 PM edit delete reply
Seriously, how is that no one managed to see this... What is the opposite of Loyalty? sure, in the show Dashie and Dissy played a big show as she leave, but there is more ways to show it

Above all, Rainbow returning to the party.
Borg 30th Aug 2018, 6:05 PM edit delete reply
And here I thought his guts were made of marshmallow fluff, not whipped cream.

Shows you what I know.
T 31st Aug 2018, 12:31 PM edit delete reply
Rarity is the one made out of marshmallow
Guest 31st Aug 2018, 1:41 AM edit delete reply
Correct me if I'm wrong, but we never saw RD be confronted by the physical representation of her cutie mark, in the comic, right?

Methink Discord got one last trick in his bag.
Capn_Boxers 31st Aug 2018, 4:30 AM edit delete reply
Ah, and my faith in Discord DM is rewarded. I'm sure there will be consequences for abandoning Cloudsdale to its fate, but he let her make her choice, didn't invalidate it, and even gave her the enjoyment of a fight, knowing that it couldn't seriously harm Discord.
Digo Dragon 31st Aug 2018, 5:23 AM edit delete reply
Digo Dragon
Maybe Dash decides to leave the maze, thinking she killed Discord so there's no problem in leaving, and he pops back in with a "gotcha!"
Many theories 31st Aug 2018, 3:40 PM edit delete reply
There is the theory that just like Rainbow say, Cloudsdale was not important for her, there is also the theory that she think it was a bluff or that Discord could not do it, or there is the theory that Dashie is under Discord spell and we don't know yet and what she told the others is a lie to later betray them.
manicMagician 31st Aug 2018, 11:34 AM edit delete reply
If she actually escaped getting cursed, that'd be pretty cool. I'd feel bad for Fluttershy though, since she also wasn't falling for his trap and he cursed her anyway.
Captain Snark 31st Aug 2018, 5:50 PM edit delete reply
"You punched me! Picard never punched me."
SliderEclipse 31st Aug 2018, 11:52 PM edit delete reply
I feel like we're looking at this wrong....

Kinda strange that DiscordDM would happen to let Rainbow Dash return to the group not only without him.. but at the exact same time that the DM leaves the table to go check in? I get the feeling her Curse is already in play and it specifically involves her betraying the party while the DM's aren't looking.
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