Secrets, favours and lies

Hi everyone. Writing work proceeds smoothly, and I've had some great ideas this past week for new stuff to go into the upcoming quest.  We'll be hearing all about that soon, including a character dossier on Angel and a look at a new school location, the Saint Alancia's isolation room.

However, for today, let's take a look at what to expect in the upcoming quest, starting with what we know already.

You would imagine that a fight between two factions of schoolgirls would not be an especially cerebral affair. A but of hair-pulling here, a catty remark there... but Alancias girls don't roll like that, and the popular girls have long ago raised themselves above the level of teenage squabbling.

The coming battle between the bad girls and popular girls will be a war of information. And given that this isn't the bad girls' strong suit, and they're now up against the most ruthless popular girl in school, Poppy has a sharp learning curve ahead of her.

This story will have a heavy focus on blackmail, though this time, it won't necessarily just be Missy that's getting blackmailed! Each side will be looking to pick the other's members off, and every advantage they can gain may be the difference between victory and slavery. The tactics employed this time will go far beyond planting drugs or hacking laptops, and I'm hoping that this will be a much more clever story than either of the quests that made up part one, with some twists and surprises along the way.

In the middle of all of this: our hapless protagonist. No matter which path you chose last time, Missy is going to find herself drawn into the centre of this maelstrom, and may, by the end, hold the balance of power for the entire school in her hands.

You'll experience this quest differently depending what your relationship with the bad girls and the popular girls is.  I've thought carefully about how the different paths will intertwine and weave together in this story to mean that a player that has made an implacable enemy of Poppy and paraded her naked through the park can play the same quest as a player who kisses her ass every day.  There will also be decision points in the quest where you can change sides.

However, in the end, much like last time, you will have to choose who will get Missy's help to win.  The battle between the factions is hotting up and becoming a more desperate and cutthroat affair.  It may be that the actions of one first year can once again swing the balance of power.

Trinian