One Knight Stand - King Arthur x Among Us Apocalyptic Road Trip (WIP 1.2M+ words)(UPDATE 12/1/25 74k+ - Scouting the Heist)

I came back over a month later with the craziest OKS theory I’ve ever created. I just submitted this theory to the author on Tumblr, but it’s going to take a while for the author to respond and I have to share this crazy theory with more people… Like, now.

Part 1 of my theory:

Percy is Elaine of Corbenic and Bg1 is Percival, that’s why the player gets Bg1 points when they’re Percy’s soulmate. As I mentioned before in another post, I doubt Percy is Percival, but I couldn’t think of another reincarnation that would fit Percy… And then, out of nowhere, while I was watching TV: Elaine of Corbenic!
A soulmate isn’t necessarily romantic, they’re both prophets and it would make sense to gain points with Bg1/Percival MC since they were family/cousins. Elaine is the Lady of the Grail and Percival is one of the knights of the Grail, who was the original bearer of the Grail before choose his free will. I also imagine that since Elaine is a Grail Lady, it would make sense for the player to need to have those requirements to be Percy’s soulmate (high cuckoo/prophet points, be a rising hero, not to be a bad person, not to be arrogant).

I was headcanon my MC as Elaine of Corbenic, but now i’m going to have to find someone else because I can’t get Elaine!Percy of my mind. (ADRIAN, YOUR WIFE WASN’T ME! YOUR WIFE WAS PERCY! :scream:)

11 Likes

Party 2 of my Theory:

I was thinking that Bg4 was Elaine of Corbenic, Ninianne or Morgause, but now I think it’s very likely that it’s actually Morgause:

1-/ She’s one of the most powerful and well-known magic users (who’s actually SPECIALIZED in magic, not just a sword-wielder with magic or someone who has magic but isn’t an expert), and there aren’t many people like that in Merlin’s guide. 2-/ It would make sense for the romantic route with Arthur to have a warning about possible incest (* cough cough * Arthur and MC flirting with each other in the Arthur route in the Camelot dream * cough cough *). 3-/ It’s mentioned in Merlin’s guide that Morgause is a prophet/clairvoyant and two of the 4 reincarnations seems to have that ability (if the guide is correct… Bg1 and Bg4/Morgause, which also seems to be the reincarnation specialized in magic). 4-/ If you use magic to locate the enemy Fae in the Camelot dream, MC says they’re human and that choice doesn’t block you from any of the 4 reincarnations (unless that’s a false clue, but I don’t know if MC would say they’re human without being sure, especially since it was said while MC was explaining why their magic isn’t as strong as a Fae’s). 5-/ Some people have the theory that one of the reasons Adrian is afraid of MC’s reaction to finding out who Adrian was in a past life is that Adrian did something bad to each of the reincarnations… If Adrian is Lancelot… Well, anyone who’s read Merlin’s guide knows why it would be “funny” Morgause/MC with Lancelot! Adrian, especially if they’re a romantic couple. (Morgause!MC: :clown_face::unamused_face:, Lancelot!Adrian :clown_face::face_without_mouth:). 6-/ (As someone said to me here on the forum) It is said in Arthur’s fun facts that his first love was a red-haired woman he met on his way to Lothian. Morgause, Queen of Lothian, has red hair.

BONUS: Hey, if MC isn’t Mordred, at least MC can be Mordred’s MOTHER!!!

Edit: I have more theories, but the forum won’t let me make more than 2 consecutive posts. Could someone save me from this? :clown_face:

12 Likes

So if I tell Adrian to fuck off before going to the apartment on day 1, there is no way out of Dead End 1, is it. :angry:

2 Likes

When Merlin first appears in Chapter 1, Adrian’s expression might suggest he already knew he’d meet them sooner or later.

My trust level isn’t high enough to add images. Some blockquotes below are from the in-game text.

They twirl before your eyes, spinning in an unseen vortex between the pair of you and the still smoking wreckage. The shadow of a person begins to coalesce within its midst. A figure in white, pale hair wild and flaring around their face, long white trench coat rippling in an unseen breeze. They step forth from the heart of the storm with eyes of lightest alabaster staring straight at you.

At your side Adrian is faintly smiling, a grim smile with a look of resignation in his eyes.

Adrian and the Second Circle

If you pass the mind+charm check at “Did he make contact with any others while there?”, the MC will notice that Adrian isn’t telling the whole truth.

Unfortunately… or maybe fortunately for me considering what happened, I didn’t make contact with anyone from the Second Circle," Adrian tells you. “I was mostly lurking around there trying to figure out what was going on while sightseeing a bit.”

It’s only the faintest flicker of his green gaze behind the lenses of his glasses that gives him away as he jams his hands deeper into his jeans pockets.

He’s lying. Or… not quite that. But also not telling the whole truth either.

From this, we can build a theory about Adrian and Gawain’s reincarnation. I’ll bring over what I wrote in the Patreon comment (WARNING: Spoiler for a far future snippet on Patreon).

I think Adrian met Gawain’s reincarnation (maybe Asher) in Cape Town! In the snippet “Contact”, Anwar said he was the second strange one Gawain’s reincarnation had come across. Since Arthur probably hadn’t started awakening at that time, it’s unlikely the first strange one was him. Out of the characters who’ve appeared so far, Adrian seems the most likely candidate.

In the Free Time Hub scene where the MC asks Adrian about his past connection with Cape Town, Adrian says he didn’t make contact with anyone from the Second Circle, but if you pass the check, the text suggests he might not be telling the whole truth. So maybe he really didn’t meet a member of the Second Circle, but instead crossed paths with someone else who was connected.

That said, considering there are still so many characters whose names haven’t even been revealed yet, it’s also possible that both the first strange one Gawain’s reincarnation met and the person Adrian met in Cape Town are characters we readers just don’t know about yet.

I vote for Morgause. Also, the materials publicly available on Tumblr seem to hint at certain things…

Pay attention to how Queen Morgause of Lothian’s appearance is described in the drabble snippet, and to Arthur’s First Love/Crush.

If all the other variables besides bg are red herrings, could bg1 possibly be Galahad?

Summary

I checked every option involving bg1 and Lancelot, and bg1 doesn’t seem to like Lancelot very much.

Even if my steps flag at the thought of approaching him. bg1 +1

Cheer for Lancelot. bg1 -1

I keep walking without a single glance back. bg1 +1

“Should we not wait for Sir Lancelot before e’er we travel too far?” bg1 -1

Meanwhile, bg1 is keeping an eye on Lancelot,

Although I had been watching all along and know the exact route he has taken. bg1 +1

knows him quite well,

…he shall start acting strange again, shan’t he? As he ever does. bg1 +2

As is oft his wont. bg1 +1

“Shall your visit linger here for longer than a day or two or this time?” bg1 +2

and quietly feels competitive toward him.

At the last, I feel a pang of regret for not challenging Lancelot myself. bg1 +1

Forget all this spectating… I stride forward and challenge Lancelot to a spar myself. bg1 -1

It looks like how a child might feel toward a father who has achieved great success but abandoned his family responsibilities.

9 Likes

There is a way out but you need to have a high body stat to escape.

3 Likes

I just looked into the code and I’m afraid high body stat is just a sliver of what I need (and don’t have):

*if ((((((health >= 50) and not(mindcontrol)) and (not(mc_hurt_leg) and not(mc_hurt_ankle))) and ((body >= 25) or ((body >= 15) and (talent = "agility")))) and (((fear_level < 17) and (fear != "fear")) and ((fear != "dark") and (fear != "death")))) and (boozecount < 2)) and not(clothing_long)

Sooo, my choices are, basically, let Adrian in or (if((((stubble=ginger) and not (pigs_fly_eastward) and ((money > hookers + cocaine) or velocity(african_swallow) > 14.9g where (walrus = I am (goo-goo g’joob!) SELECT DISTINCT hobbits FROM Isengard)))))?

You know what, game? Challenge accepted. And yes, I’ve seen the code, mad respect, by the way, but that stalker ain’t setting foot in my apartment. :fu: :angry: :fu:

19 Likes

Dracela, the forum posting etiquette here from what I understand is that you continuously edit your last post to avoid posting consecutively.

I agree. Anyone who has read “The Devil’s Causeway” on Patreon should be thinking the same by now. Additionally, there are drabbles on Patreon that are brief POVs of each of the 4 Camelot backgrounds, and one of them… well, let’s just say I think we know how Arthur’s first crush happened.

Imagine the hilarity if Adrian was Mordred and MC was Morgause.

Morgause MC: You know Adrian.

Adrian: Stop.

Morgause (Lust?) MC: It’s okay if you want to call me “mommy.” ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Adrian: STOP!

About Galahad

The issue with Galahad being the MC is that Galahad can’t be a reincarnation, as far as we know. Galahad ascended to Heaven and became an angel, so he’s a being similar to Merlin now. So if the MC was Galahad, that would mean they are not human, and not a reincarnation… which I think disqualifies them from being a Harbinger? BG1 IS extremely sussy, though. Especially since the fourth-wall breaking Liar gets a ton of BG1 points. I’m going to comb through the code and compile all of the Liar’s meta dialogue here for the community’s perusal, because I think that might help narrow down who BG1 is.

I laughed way too hard at this. Audibly. :laughing:

I have the hidden fae luck stat so I kept resetting in that moment until the dice rolled in my favor.

10 Likes

Just to let you know I believe there are two checks and the second one has reduced requirements.

3 Likes

update_schedule_banner

  • Greater Circle: Available Now
  • Lesser Circle: Available November 10*
  • Public Beta: December 1*

*Updates occur in Eastern time and may be delayed in case of emergency or sickness (or computer going up in flames).

The new update, Closed Beta Version 0.25 is now live for the Greater Circle tier. This includes some clarifications to Merlin’s Guide, a more streamlined customization in Chapter 1 (the cost of which was only an abomination of coding), and Chapter2-5 - The Reconnaissance (of both a normal museum and a ‘normal’ city hall)

A bit more info on what’s included in the update on the free Patreon post here.

  • Current Word Count: 1.5 Million (including code) | 1.2 Million (sans code)
  • Current Average Playthrough: 88,000+
  • Total Update: 128,000+ (with code) | 74,000+ (without code)

Thanks for all the stats + comments + answers to the coding/stat check questions before I got around to them!

There’ll be a facial hair variable covering the basics (for flavor text during kisses and such), but it won’t be too detailed. Just short beard, mustache, goatee etc. No Disney Merlin beards that can’t fit under face masks.

Your guide mostly seems to be just compiling the variables that are already present. It’s up to the reader to bring their own conclusions to what that means, so it should be fine. :smiling_face_with_horns:

What happens depends upon the group in question. Some groups need to pass a stat check to keep mum. Some will always keep MC’s secret, and some never will. So the stat check isn’t always happening.

I checked the code and it’s working as intended. You’re neglecting the second part of the stat check…

*if (fear_level >= 13)

If the MC has been coming on strong, then Adrian will automatically back off here… unless the MC is so noticeably rattled by recent events that Adrian’s comfort/protect instincts override his flee into the night (and fall off the couch) instincts.

High fear ain’t always a bad thing. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Is that someone’s Freudian slip showing?

In the best of times (which definitely isn’t the apocalypse) Merlin can be like a snake, going weeks between proper feedings. But soul-eating is inherently dangerous to the one being fed upon. There’s no feasible way to be Merlin’s long-term sole food source, and Merlin would automatically break it off (for their partner’s own good) with anyone trying to push for it.

You can already walk in to the after effects of Merlin superficially nibbling on people in the game. Merlin would never let someone accidentally walk in on a full feeding, however. Terribly rude for all involved!

It’s a bit like the difference between drinking a glass of water and trying to drink the same amount of water spread over a 30-foot trough instead.

And browser crash. Good thing this forum auto-saves the posts you’re typing!

Mordred: ( ≖_≖)

I took the quiz as Merlin, and despite some of their very-unlike-Merlin answers (going into battle with magic? pssht, they’re taking a turnip with them!), they did indeed end up as Merlin.

Merlin: Of course. The very best result. ԅ(≖‿≖ԅ)

Should be fixed in the newest update. I must’ve been really zonked out to miss that when I was double-checking the code.

What’s that I see? A new guide to link in the FAQ? (On Tumblr, since I can’t edit the FAQ post on the forum anymore) And now it let me edit the post again! squints suspiciously

But I don’t remember what was in the last update that it didn’t let me post last time, so the Tumblr version is still probably the most up-to-date one.

Arthur (and Vivian) aren’t so much hidden ROs as minor ones in the first game, since they’re both still sealed away (not to mention Arthur being comatose, although that doesn’t stop his dreamwalking).

adrians_hopes_and_dreams

Everything about the First & Second Circles in the Free Time Hub is currently accessible if you have the stats and/or burn the time slots for it.

Is that how it’s spelled in the game? checks code Goddammit, I just updated too. Oh well, hopefully no one was playing through the chapter2 file when I fixed the typo.

There’s actually three separate stat checks if you fail the first two of them to escape the Monster Under the Bed. That said, going by the stats sent in, this is still one of the hardest achievements to get.

Plenty of different ways to pass and fail!

And then another browser crash. At least it isn’t any BSODs today. Yet.

The MC is contractually obligated to be a guy in this potential timeline.

I see someone took advantage of that advice that the changeling’s luck isn’t just flavor text, but effects the stat checks too. :smirking_face:

19 Likes

Weirdly, I avoided the monster even with a hurt ankle. It was after my sword-dancer greed!mc run.

Make sure you select catapult out the bed.

2 Likes

(╥﹏╥)

FINE, Adrian, keep your chastity.

FOR NOW.

I’m glad you see the vision. (๑>؂•̀๑)

If you have it, use it! (ノ◕ヮ◕)ノ*:・゚✧

Fae Lust MC: Now if only I could figure out how to use it to attract Adrian…

Far Future Snippets - Camelot MC POV

The Perils of Jousting - Guinevere (feat. Lancelot and Gawain) (pretty confident about this one)

Fighting off the Medieval Stalker - Mordred?

The King’s Bath - Percival? Dagonet?

First Meetings - Morgause (VERY confident about this one)

8 Likes

Imagine if Percy is Lancelot all along, he just thinks Lancelot’s a poser and prefers Percival (and acts like him).

5 Likes

I also think it’s more likely to be Lancelot!(or Mordred)Adrian meeting Gawain than it being Gawain!Adrian.
I have a crazy theory: What if the “man” who was supposedly Gawain was actually Lorelei disguised as a man? I think Lorelei would suit Gawain, it is said that Lorelei disguised herself as her brother to compete in the men’s category and she must travel a lot because of her Olympic career.

“First Love/Crush: Potentially a certain red-haired lady that he met along the Roman roads leading to Lothian.” Arthur’s first love is a REDHEADED WOMAN he met in LOTHIAN. HOW DID I NOT THINK ABOUT THIS BEFORE??? :exploding_head: I think I’m going to enter my era of roleplaying my MC as Morgause.

What are these 4 drabbles? I’m almost spending all my birthday money on OKS’s Patreon. I think when I get a job I will become a regular member, if my money allows (My country’s economy is not very good :clown_face:). If there’s a WIP that deserves it, it’s OKS; OKS is the most insanely good WIP I’ve ever played.

Or if he is Lancelot…

Morgause!(Yandere?)MC: Hey, you killed my sons and did other bad things to me, but you are strong, big and hot, so I forgive you Benoni.꒰⁠⑅⁠ᵕ⁠༚⁠ᵕ⁠꒱⁠˖⁠♡
Lancelot!Adrian: I don’t think you should…:clown_face::-1:t2:

The author is evil, the author chose the reincarnations carefully to cause maximum chaos!

STOPPPPP :sob::sob::sob::clown_face:

How can I do this?

(Guys, I think I already have all the requirements for trust level 2, but I’m still at 1. :sob:)

7 Likes

Here’s another one for you!

Lying About Amnesia Secret unique lines

#I give Adrian an uncomfortable shrug.

Digging through the painful memories with Adrian isn’t going to help make you feel better, so it’s best to just move on instead of lingering over any potential trauma.

*if (liar) Or other things.

# “Thanks for the escort mission!”

“No problem,” Adrian lightly replies as Foreshadow plods beneath him. “Just please don’t be as bad as the escort missions from Metal Gear Solid 6.66.”

“I don’t think it’s possible for it to go that badly,” you say.

“Never say never,” Adrian responds.

“At least I promise not to get stuck in random walls? Or the floor?” you proffer as both of you slowly approach the awaiting trailer. It’s the least you can offer.

*if ((cuckoo >= 7) or (inhuman)) or (magic >= 5)

*set ground_omen true

Yet something tingles at the back of your mind at the mention.

*if (liar) Something that seems almost like silent laughter.

*elseif (liar) Despite the silent laughter echoing within your mind.

*else

“No promises,” you say. “Sometimes you just got to get stuck in some random walls. It’s a siren call. A call to the wall.”

Not to mention the floor. Sinking into it like quicksand is another way to go.

*if ((cuckoo >= 7) or (inhuman)) or (magic >= 5)

*set ground_omen true

And the very thought of it sends tingles of premonition down your spine.

*if (liar) A feeling of grim amusement that almost seems not quite your own.

*elseif (liar) The grim amusement that flares in your mind at the thought almost seems as if it’s not your own.

“Why don’t we split the difference?” Adrian suggests from somewhere off to your side. “We’re out in the open too much here. If something came into the stairwell that can see in the dark, we’d be complete sitting ducks. And we’re still not far from whatever was attacking the lobby.”

Something on the stairs.

You give an unconscious shiver at that. The complete lack of light here has left you both at a severe disadvantage.

Without vision, you’re so… vulnerable.

*if (bold > 80) or ((bold > 50) and (killer))

It’s a maddening position. You’re not used to being on the defensive like this.

*elseif (bold < 20)

A familiar feeling. But you’ve never been in quite as much physical danger as this.

*if (liar) Not in this lifetime.

#“Is it just me, or did they seem familiar to you?”

You’ve never met that white-clad stranger

*if (childhood = “amnesia”) and not(liar)

before, at least as far as your scattered memories can be trusted.

*elseif (liar) — not in this lifetime.

# I just stare with narrowed eyes at our so-called rescuer.

This all seems terribly convenient. Too convenient that you’re coincidentally rescued just in the nick of time. Almost as if things had been planned that way from the start.

*if (liar) A voice in the back of your mind whispers that you can’t even suspect how true that truly is.

You scramble backwards several feet from the jittering pile of furniture as you mentally count down within your mind. How far enough to safety? How long before it begins?

Exactly what is this stranger planning to do?

*label countdown

*if (liar) One Rider of the Apocalypse - Pestilence

Nothing but silence now from the other side of the door.

*if (liar) Two Riders of the Apocalypse - Famine

The sound of your own breathing fills your ears.

*if (liar) Three Riders of the Apocalypse - Death

How much longer do you have to wait?

*if (liar) Four Riders of the Apocalypse — Now will it be Conquest or War?

You put it all from your mind, smoothly throw back the many locks to your front door, and slowly & firmly swing it open.

And then with great self-possession,

*if (liar) oh, if only you knew,

you point over your shoulder towards the tendrils of darkness that are even now undulating their way down your hallway.

# “Your parlor tricks won’t trick me!”

“Ah… I see. You require something a bit more hands-on, then.” The smile upon the mage’s face sharpens ever so slightly as they lean forward.

You don’t like that smile.

*if (liar) Something laughs at the back of your mind.

A quiet command. A quiet demand. Your names.

*if (liar) Names have power. But only as much as you give them.

And so you come up with a brand new pseudonym just for this encounter. This introduction. Certainly you won’t be stuck with it for an extended period of time…

*if (liar) right? You’d better like this name you choose for all the trouble it may cause you later.

For some reason you have the distinct impression that they haven’t been fooled at all. You favor them with an implacable stare in return.

*if (((inhuman) or (liar)) or (magic > 0)) or (((mind + charm) > 35) or ((job = “police detective”) and ((mind + charm) > 25)))

The corner of the mage’s mouth twitches ever-so-slightly upwards. A smirk directed right at you.

“When it comes to the power of ensorceling a mortal’s mind, both fae and demons alike can possess—” Merlin smoothly begins.

Your gaze snaps back upon the mage like a snake uncoiling. Venom burns within your vision, boiling like unshed tears at the back of your eyes, as you try to burrow a hole through the silvery-haired mage with your stare alone.

*if (liar) Denial is such a poison, isn’t it?

You roll back your sleeve and stare accusingly at your compromised limb. The bruise looks even darker than ever, as if it were absorbing every bit of the mystical light in the living room. A veritable black hole of a contusion.

Marked by a demon, huh? It figures.

*if (optimist < 20) Because of course you are. You wonder if you’re secretly possessed while you’re at it.

*if (liar) Not quite. You wouldn’t be here if you were.

You nod in understanding. “Got it. Find allies as soon as possible for the greater good,” you declare.

Simple, right?

*if (optimist <= 0) or (liar) Ha!

In the earliest renditions that used Merlin’s demonic ancestry, he was the son of a passing incubus sired upon a random woman with no greater threat or implications thereof. Merely one of many explanations for his supernatural powers. But in later versions, he’s literally the Antichrist purposefully created by Lucifer and other fallen demons as their representative on Earth.

Not exactly the most comforting thing to have on your side during a literal apocalypse.

*if (liar) Or is it?

# Galahad

“Hmm,” Merlin hums quietly to themself. “The successful Grail Knight. That shouldn’t be possible. Galahad never died… in the end he was taken body and soul off to his fate. To his preordained destiny.” And there’s a sharpness to the mage’s smile.

“At the conclusion to the Quest for the Holy Grail,” Adrian mutters. “Death or ascension, the stories never could decide.”

“Ascension,” Merlin confirms. “My sight reveals at least that much. And so Galahad should still be alive to this day as he was back in Camelot. Well, not exactly the same, but no reincarnation for that one. And in truth… I suspect he was the leader of the First Greater Circle in 2000.”

“Really?” Adrian’s tone remains subdued. “What makes you think that?”

“A great deal of research back when I first broke free of my seal. Only so much can be pieced together after literal decades had passed, but I’ve my reasons to suspect that he’s still in play,” Merlin replies, still somewhat enigmatically.

Interesting… it seems that Galahad won’t be a normal reincarnation like the rest of you. Or as normal as apocalyptic harbingers can be, that is.

*if (liar) And something laughs darkly at the back of your mind.

# Percival

You’re naturally drawn towards choosing Percival, even if somehow you sense this option hadn’t originally been there. As if the idea had just popped into your head. A whim of vagary, perhaps.

*if (liar) Even the weave of fate can have knots in the end.

*A/N: And by that I mean authorial brainfart where I picked the 13 most well known Arthurian characters with the most interesting reactions from Merlin/Adrian & plum forgot about Percival even with the cloudcuckoolander MC right there

# “The castle at the end of the world awaits,” I randomly announce as I go to pack my things.

Of course. The dawn waits for no one, after all. And in your mind’s eye you can practically see it. It’s coming. Or rather you are. How much longer now? This is one… nine, ten, eleven?

*if (liar) So close, yet so far away.

# I pump a fist in exhilaration. I’ve been waiting for this moment my entire life!

You pump a fist in the air in triumph. And perhaps give a rather indecorous hop or two as well.

Who’d ever think that you might be someone famous in disguise?

*if (inhuman) or (childhood = “amnesia”) Although with your past, sometimes you’d wondered.

*if (childhood = “amnesia”) and (liar) No, you knew. Have always known. I have…

# I’m having a terrible premonition here… I’m going.

Somehow you have a very bad feeling that you’re going to very much regret not leaving with your current companions. You’ve been recalcitrant up to this point, but still…

*if (liar) something is laughing darkly in the back of your head about things ending this way.

# “So anyone else feel up for a BBQ right about now?”

Adrian simply turns and stares at you. The judgment burns in chilled waves behind his gaze. Not the only thing burning tonight.

In the end, it seems that your joke is rather unappreciated.

*if (liar) Unseemly.

# …my SpyraThree WaterBlaster squirt gun.

Surely this will come in handy during your quest to save the world.

*if (liar) Oh, the irony. The most reliable gun available.

# …the small pouch of pearls of protection.

You eye the sachet of pearls once more. They clink together as you weigh the bag within your hand. Perhaps you should take them with you, after all? Merlin’s narrowed gaze burns into you even as you reconsider.

*if (liar) The price for leaving this behind won’t be paid by you.

# …my favorite figurine of Sir Gawain.

You carefully eye your prized figurine once again. It probably won’t help you during this

*if (liar) quest — or will it

# …my Magic 8-Ball.

*if (liar) Do you gamble on the luck of the dice? Or perhaps you simply mean to cheat in the end?

# I just loom in ominous silence. I don’t like kids.

*if (childhood = “amnesia”)

*if (liar) Too many lies entangled in that period of your life.

# My thoughts are my own alone.

*if (mindcontrol) Riiiiiiight?

*if (liar) Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!

*elseif (liar) Oh, are they, then?

# Ask Merlin what their specialty is since it’s not ${merlin_specialties}.

Once more, you find the nominal leader of the group gliding along the fringes of the RV, their fingers lightly tapping out an unheard tune in the air or along its metal siding. They pause at your approach.

“You’ve said that you’re not the best at ${merlin_specialty1}, ${merlin_specialty2}, or ${merlin_specialty3}. So what kind of magic do you specialize in?” you curiously ask.

A conundrum that’s been building up reveal upon reveal as time goes on and the mage disavows this and that sort of magic.

“Hmm…?” Merlin replies, a faint smile curling at the edges of their lips as they turn towards you, eyes gleaming bright in the shadow of the motorhome. “Now, now, MC.” They edge ever closer, expression darkly amused as their voice purrs within your ears. “Can you not guess what the specialty of an incubus might be?”

Their smile is insinuating.

*elseif (liar) Now don’t be led astray.

# Evocation?

“Interesting,” Merlin murmurs as they regard you. “While evocation — or rather summoning, as most laypeople may be inclined to call it — is most certainly one of the more basic forms that magicry can take, one wonders where the impression that I possess it comes from?”

*if (liar) Where indeed?

*if (current_status < 3) Have you looked too far ahead?

*else Did you remember what you should not?

# Theurgy?

Merlin veritably cackles at that suggestion.

*if (liar) And theirs isn’t the only laughter resounding in your head.

“Twould be a very good way to get smited,” Merlin replies as their

*if (liar) chuckles

finally begin to recede. “And I don’t mean that in the ‘smitten by love’ sense.”

# Demonic diablerie.

But if they refuse to use it, does that still make it their specialty? A hidden one, lurking in the darkness?

*if (liar) No, this isn’t hidden. It’s the concealer.

“In the end, as the Veil falls and both magic and the fae return to this realm, your otherworldly heritage will start exerting itself more and more,” the incubus says, both warning and promise.

“As you are now, surrounded by humans in their human cities, in their human civilization, and bound by their human laws of nature, what else can you be but something inherently human?” Merlin continues. “But that will change with time… and perhaps with your own will as well. Think long and hard what parts of you are deemed sacrosanct and what you’re willing to allow to be washed away in the pursuit of power.”

Something to keep in mind for another day, perhaps. It doesn’t seem that the Veil is likely to come crumbling down within the next few weeks at least.

*if (liar) Yes, we have a few months at that. The breadth of a Midsummer Knight’s Dream.

# Ask Merlin if they could possibly help with my mysterious ongoing amnesia.

*if (liar) Truly, you like to live dangerously, don’t you? While you can… enjoy it.

Merlin leans closer, hovering above you, like a soaring bird on silent wings.

“Close your eyes,” they whisper as their own gaze bores into you like ${favcolor} fire. An easy enough command with which to comply, as your eyelids slide shut to block out the blinding light of the sun.

*if (liar) Not the sun. Not quite.

“This level of enchantment?” Merlin sucks in their breath through suddenly clenched teeth. Even with eyes seared shut, you can hear it in the sound.

*if (liar) Even though no breath is ever needed.

“The level of a binding geas here is phenomenal. Obscuring. Constraining. Perhaps not even my power is enough to properly break it… not as I am now.”

Your tongue is leaden within your mouth. Your hands lay shackled at your sides. You briefly feel the weight of the world pressing down as an invisible sea continues to swirl around you.

“Not that something such is even under consideration,” Merlin mutters, right beneath your cheek. A thousand miles away. “This is a fortress for the weak to beat feebly against. This is a trap that the strong may break themselves upon. There may be dire consequences for you and whatever outsider who might attempt to remove this spell.”

The waters recede, as does Merlin’s presence, their starry essence withdrawing from you even as their fingers fall away. You scramble back up to your feet in their wake, heartbeat beating in your throat as the phantom touch of chains bites at your flesh.

But there’s nothing there. All is normal once again.

*if (liar) Indeed. Bind yourself to the earth.

“A human enchantment? Fae magicry? No, tis something else, more primal than that,” the mage tells you. Only that as their parting words upon taking their leave.

*if (liar) Ah yes… we did spook them, didn’t we?

Merlin stretches, the indolent limbering of a panther about to pounce.

Beneath their half-lowered eyelids, ${favcolor} eyes continue to gauge your every movement.

*if (((mind + charm) > 55) or ((cop) and ((mind + charm) > 40))) or (magic >= 20) Perhaps your every thought.

*if (liar) No superficial ‘perhaps’ with this one.

Once more, you flag down the leader of the group to ask an entirely innocuous question.

It feels a bit like randomly quizzing new buddies in

*if (childhood = “amnesia”) kindergarten —

*if (liar) does it? Does it truly?

“Ah…now there’s the question.” Merlin lifts a single elegant finger into the air. “Where is the foreknowledge coming from that informs a clairvoyant’s mind? And what is its true source? While your dreamwalking may appear to be prophetic to an outsider’s eye, tis no true clairvoyance. Not enough power behind it. Not enough of a curse follows in its wake.”

So you might ape being a soothsayer in Camelot with knowledge of more than a millennia in the future, but it would still only be an imitation, then?

*if (liar) Riiight?

# I suspiciously search for the sarcasm in the mage’s tone but hear none in the end.

Despite the current topic of discussion, the mage’s tone remains as serenely unruffled as ever. Neither seemingly troubled by what happened, your discovery of it, nor any biting implications beneath the compliment given.

*if ((mind + charm) > 55) or ((cop) and ((mind + charm) > 40)) Although one wonders what it would take to truly get past that ever-present mask of tranquility there. Somehow you sense far more powerful people than you have tried.

*if (liar) Did they?

Still, you’re somewhat happy that you don’t have to do this in the midst of a flush of teenage hormones like the members of the First Circle.

*if (liar) Right?

And for a moment, there comes the flash of pearly teeth, half hidden behind the mage’s hand. A serpent bares its fangs only amongst the concealing leaves.

You blink away the strange mental image.

# AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Ahhh!

Talk about a random jump scare from your imagination.

It was your imagination, right?

*if (liar) Ha ha ha ha ha ha…

Why not get eaten by the most abysmally eldritch abomination that you possibly can?

*if not(liar)

It can even be an achievement…

*if (cuckoo >= 40) One can never have enough of those!

*if (liar) Do you really want those that badly?

“But of course, there’s me. The safest and most dangerous of all,” Merlin says with a mild smile that sharpens ever so slightly at the edges. “Much of what applies to other incubi does not apply to me… but, always remember, I am trying to protect you, MC.”

*check_achievements

*if (((choice_achieved_deadend1) or (choice_achieved_deadend2)) or ((choice_achieved_deadend3) or (choice_achieved_deadend4))) and ((cuckoo >= 30) or (liar))

*if (liar) Perhaps they’ll be better at it this time?

“One by one, the group of friends fell to temptation and were cast away to make the long journey back to Camelot in defeat. If not worse, for those who would never return at all. And then came Lust.”

Definitely the favorite vice among a certain contingent of the population. Presumably including the incubus right before you.

*if (liar) Oh? Is that right?

“I may indeed be an incubus, but you believe that makes me an incarnation of Lust then?”

Percy mutters something beneath his breath.

*if ((mind + charm) > 60) or ((cop) and ((mind + charm) > 50))

It sounds suspiciously like ‘wrong vice’.

*if (liar) Indeed.

# I prep myself for the inevitable rejection.

You just knew what was coming here even before you started. But some latent masochism still made you do it.

*if (liar) Yours or someone else’s?

# And through it all, I can’t help but think about trains derailing here.

*if (liar) Cover your eyes and close your ears. Not yet.

And what else could you’ve expected here? Shot down. Spurned. Rebuffed. Fail. Fail. Failed.

His loss then. Better to have never tried at all.

*if (liar) Is that right?

But that’s not how the saying goes, is it?

Besides, the apocalypse has just begun. Who knows how things may turn out in the future? Somehow you sense this wasn’t a complete loss here.

*if (liar) Not yet.

“Memories are an inextricable link to who we are as people,” Adrian gravely tells you.

*if (childhood = “amnesia”) "Perhaps something you already know. Or at least suspect. They

change you. Their presence. Their absence. People back in Camelot could live for a very long time.

*if (childhood = “amnesia”) And you don’t have many memories of your own to counteract them."

*if (liar) You don’t… do you? Do I?

# Actually, never mind him being a stalker; I’ve just got a bit of indigestion, and that love confession was entirely platonic, as friends will sometimes do. Completely. Utterly. No denial here.

*if (liar) Oh lord.

# “Feel free to stop me if I start suffering from other bouts of insanity like that,” I quietly bemoan my inevitable fate.

“Yeah, you do seem to have gotten into the habit of doing that lately,” Adrian mutters as he side-eyes you. It seems that your recent rash actions haven’t gone completely unnoticed by outsiders as well.

*if (optimist_go) But in that case, that means someone should be able to catch you in time before you do anything too crazy. Right? Right? Right?

*if (liar) Too late.

# So if someone Adrian knew were hypothetically not human…?

*if (liar) Ah yes… how discreet of you.

# Tell Adrian that he’d make a great househusband for some lucky person.

And you have a certain person in mind right about now. Someone very conveniently close. Someone who may or may not even be helping with the cleaning at the moment.

*if not(FT_adrian_confess) and not(adrian_crush_reject)

Someone who might just be waiting to get their past memories back as requested.

*if (liar) Indeed. But do you think that would truly help?

“Always liked sittin’ on high. Gives a good perspective of things. What seems insurmountable doesn’t look quite so bad up here. Just don’t go too high.” What began as a seemingly idle comment grows in quiet intensity as Percy half-shifts to regard you. One eye nearly hidden by a long streak of dark blue bangs briefly glints like a star. “Lose more than just perspective if you go too high.”

An enigmatic warning.

*if (cuckoo >= 40) Of course, you already know.

*if (liar) Do you?

# “Are you ready to deal with the castle?” I casually ask."

“Always,” Percy simply replies. As one does.

Always prepare. Always be prepared. Always.

*if (liar) The chant within your mind echoes in a voice that’s not quite your own.

# This is definitely a bad idea, and I’m certainly not getting any closer to him. A very sensible thought to have as I rest my head on his shoulder.

*if (((merlin_denial) or (adrian_denial)) or ((cass_denial) or (gwen_denial))) or ((lore_denial) or (bro_denial)) Yes, a very sensible thought indeed that you most certainly never had about anyone else in particular. Definitely not anyone who might be lurking nearby at the moment.

*if (liar) And who is the true liar here, over and over again?

# And this required him to hang from the skylight to check?!

“Nothing better’n hands-on experience,” he mildly replies to your growing exasperation.

Your eyes narrow at that admission. If this was just his practicing, then what exactly is he planning that requires him to shimmy through the skylights? What, indeed?

*if (liar) You don’t like the sound of faint laughter that echoes within your mind at the thought.

# I decide this is the perfect moment for me to dive out the emergency window for… reasons.

*if (liar)

*if (greed)

But that’s not the same as a proper excuse, is it?

*else

Brilliant. You don’t even have a vice to blame this time.

# I vish to vash and vipe…

“The vindows,” Percy says with a sage nod. “All of them. And never forget the skylights.”

*if (liar) Never forget them indeed.

# I simply cackle ominously to myself as Merlin looks entirely unimpressed.

Yes. The knowledge is out there. You know it. However long it may take.

*if (liar) You realize that this is a dead end, right? The sort that wastes your time instead of restarting your life. By all means, chase your end.

# I’m quitting right here if I can’t summon magic by chanting, ‘These are magic symbols. Abracadabra hocus pocus, abracadabra hocus dabra. Newport news Walla Walla Washington. By the power of this magic junk, I have the power!’

“If those words can indeed help build your focus, then yes, they can be used so,” Merlin says, ${favcolor} eyes slightly narrowed as they regard you. “But I must warn you that most people tend to find themselves distracted by such comedy flimflam instead. Not everyone can be Dagonet.”

*if (mc_dibs = “Dagonet”)

But, of course, considering you’ve already claimed dibs on him, this can only mean that this was fated all along, right?

*if (liar) Yet why do you hear sighing in your mind as if a cold breeze is blowing straight through an emptiness in your head?

# Oh god, does that mean I need to start dancing around like an idiot?!

*if (dance_magic)

That’s right, Merlin had already briefly touched on this at the ley line. It seems that neither you nor Adrian are particularly inclined to manifest your magic this way.

*label uh_huh

*if (interpretive >= 2)

*if (liar) Are you?

“Fear of heights, hmm?” Merlin murmurs thoughtfully, a finger tucked beneath the elegant slant of their chin. “The most obvious way to counteract that, dear child, is to learn how to fly!” Bright silvery laughter follows the suggestion. “But barring that, hmm… I see, I see… stand right there where you are. Stir not an inch.”

You’re getting a very bad feeling about this.

*if (liar) Yes, you’ve done it now.

# What is that ominous creaking sound I hear now? Is the RV ladder starting to give way beneath my weight?

Because, of course, it would… That’s simply the sort of luck you’ve had these past few days, weeks, months, years… ever since you can remember…

*if (childhood = “amnesia”) Which might not be that long, granted.

*if (liar) Right?

You haven’t had much interaction with Percy to this point, yet somehow, some way, for some reason… your intuition is telling you that he might be the person to seek out when it comes to dealing with animals, phobias or not.

*if (liar) Your intuition is both right… and also horribly wrong.

“Why,” you simply say as you stagger back upright once more, still backpedaling with every word. “Why do you have a ${fear_animal} in your pocket?”

Why, indeed.

*if (liar) Why did you expect any differently?

Yes, asking the guy currently perched on top of the motorhome roof like an itinerant gargoyle to help with your little problem when it comes to heights seems like an eminently sensible thing to do.

Or perhaps you’re courting disaster instead. Those two things seem rather intertwined lately.

“Hrmm,” Percy eloquently says once you’ve communicated your problem to him.

As well as to everyone else within hailing distance of the vehicle.

“Try and come up the back ladder then. Far as you feel comfortable.”

Yes, that’s presumably how Percy himself climbs onto the roof, unless he’s sprouting wings when no one else is looking.

*if (liar) Would looking help or hinder there?

You may or may not be trying to sleep your entire day away here.

But it’s not as if you have anything better to do… right?

*if (liar)

*label go_go_slumber

Just a little further to reach him.

But what ends up catching your eye again and again while you perform your idle search queries is an advertisement for a new exhibit opening at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. It seems that they’ve taken out quite a bit of advertising for it, which is now targeted directly at you due to your current close proximity.

A new exhibit on medieval warfare replete with antique weaponry.

*if (liar) Here it comes, and so do we.

After all, what better option for stress relief than this? Napping?

*if (dreamer)

As alluring as the thought may be.

But it’s not as if your lucid dreaming is all that helpful in the real world… right?

*if (liar) There goes the laughter in your mind again.

# Actually, maybe I should be doing something a bit more proactive than simple stress relief at the moment.

You really want to put this off right now? Really? Truly?

*if (liar) Your funeral. And your frozen nerves during the next emergency.

# Research any further details available regarding the First Circle at Salisbury.

Yes, certainly something very relevant to research, considering your entire purpose now is to supposedly form one of these so-called ‘Circles’ to cast a magic spell that’ll save the world by halting the release of the Riders of the Apocalypse.

*if (liar) Oh, is that what’s supposedly going on here?

So very many headlines in January of 2020 scream about the disappearance of a certain fifteen-year-old while on Christmas holiday with his family in Cape Town. Asher Goldman, the only child of tech mogul Abe Goldman of ArchiTech King fame.

Ah, that’s right, you remember this.

*if (childhood = “amnesia”) Even if you have no memories of this specific week.

*if (liar) No memories, right?

# Do some background checking on a certain current companion.

Yes, the motorhome certainly is full of suspicious suspects at the moment. And that most certainly includes yourself as well.

*if (liar) Truly, in more ways than one.

# Post on social media regarding what’s happened to you lately.

Or at least a description vague enough for anyone outside of these circumstances to accept. The fire and a brush with the Midnight Mauler are wild enough tales without having to drag in demons, medieval mages, and apocalypses into it.

*if (liar) Truly? Something laughs darkly at the back of your mind.

# In general, I tend to view the fae in a negative light.

*if (inhuman) This may bode ill for your future prospects, but… you never had a choice when it came to the circumstances of your birth, right?

*if (liar) Never mind the mocking voice laughing at the back of your mind.

So it is. Your attitude might not change the circumstances of your nature, but

*if (changeling_attitude = 3) you still don’t have to like it one single bit. You and many others within this world.

*if (liar) Although with perhaps less hypocrisy on their part.

you’re still very glad that this is what you are.

*if (fae_attitude = “negative”) An oddity in itself considering your overall opinion of the fae, yet still comfortable

*else

Comfortable

within your own skin. Almost as if you’d chosen it yourself.

*if (liar) Indeed.

And here you are back again. To praise or perhaps shake your fists at the heavens. Because if there was a time that the Creator would intervene in the mortal world, it would be during the literal apocalypse… right?

Right?

*if (liar) Be wary what you wish for.

# I have faith in such things.

Even if you can hear the ghostly echo of Merlin’s sardonic laughter within your mind.

*if (liar) …that is just your memory of Merlin, right?

# That’s right, I hold a certain torch within my heart regarding Percy.

Somehow you can hear his soft voice within your mind suggesting that there are certain homeopathic antacids for heartburn like that. But that you seemingly know him well enough to have a mental Percy in your mind can only mean good things, right?

*if (cuckoo >= 30) and (liar) It’s getting far too crowded in here as it is.

I wasn’t able to include ALL lines because of the character limit. Based on my initial perusal of the Liar’s dialogue… they seem to know something about divine theurgy (but that doesn’t mean they are positive about it) lucid dreaming, and the events of the 2020 Circle. They are also (hilariously) supportive towards a MC who thinks Adrian rejecting their love means they have no chance with him, and are exasperated by Platonic/Crush Denial MC.

11 Likes

I have a theory about Amnesic!Human!MC: What if for some reason Amnesic!Human!MC also grew up in Otherworld alongside the Fae people, even if MC was a human??
In this case Human!MC would be an immortal “human” with magic just like Arthur because it is said in Merlin’s guide that humans who spend a lot of time in the Otherworld stop being human.

~😱~

Another clue to Adrian being Lancelot:

(This is when MC chooses to say that MC is Guinevere in chapter 1)

“That doesn’t bode well when it comes to which version of the tale was telling the truth about Guinevere,” Adrian says with a frown.

And if you pass the stats check: “A rather deep one considering the subject matter.”

Your reaction was quite interesting… Adrian DU LAC! :relieved_face:

And the meaning of hecatomb matches Lancelot or Mordred, although it matches Mordred more.

I thought about that possibility too. This code is evil! :sob:

I am between the parents of Changeling!MC be either Glorianna and Oberon or Arawn with a human woman, but I think it would make more sense to be Glorianna and Oberon because Arawn seems to be very much in love with that other fae (Unless he decided having a child with a woman he didn’t love because he somehow knew a harbinger was going to be born).

About Glorianna and Oberon: Oberon is half-human, so the human blood that MC needs to have to be a harbinger would have come from him. Glorianna is the Queen of the woods and light, MC can be a fae of light and darkness or nature, so the player would be choosing which power MC inherited. If I’m not mistaken, in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” Glorianna and Oberon make a changeling. Oberon was a changeling so I think he would know how to make one properly. And what was that about Cuckoo!MC starting to sing to Merlin and Adrian about Glorianna and Oberon in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”? Suspicious, very suspicious.
Extra: Imagine MC having these two as parents while dating Arthur, since Glorianna and Arthur had a little romance and apparently Oberon doesn’t like it at all . If the author likes CHAOS as I suspect, the author made these two MC’s parents. :relieved_face:

About Arawn: He is the supreme King of LIGHT and DARKNESS and King of the WILD HUNT. It is more likely that he knows much more about the prophecy of the harbingers than Glorianna and Oberon. The plot of game 1 will last for a period of 1 month or am I mistaken? Because it says in Merlin’s Guide that Arawn will battle for his beloved in 1 month, so he should appear in game 2.

And you can rule out Mab as MC’s mother. The author said that a child of the Unseelie court wouldn’t be able to stay a changeling for long, even if they were half-human… Or something like that, I don’t remember. :clown_face:

Adrian is doing Gaslight with MC :stuck_out_tongue:

Or Cassandra is actually Morgana AND ALSO the woman who “manipulates” Adrian, but is using an illusion spell so powerful that not even Adrian recognizes her (Or will he recognize her, but he’ll pretend he doesn’t). The author said that a very powerful magic user could do this.

Or maybe it’s Nimue’s reincarnation that’s “manipulating” Adrian.

@Notice_me_senpai Your idea of someone sabotaging the rival circle might come true: Maybe Adrian was part of the rival circle, sabotaged them and ran away to help us. If this is true, it would be interesting for the woman who “manipulates” him to be Nimue, even more so if he is really Lancelot.
If he wasn’t from the rival circle, but was actually Lancelot… It would make sense that Morgana was “manipulating” him since Lancelot was adopted(?) by Morgana’s mother.

But where does Adrian talk about this woman? I don’t remember :sob:

8 Likes

It’s from his interlude. I haven’t gotten it myself since I think you need to have low affinity with him.

*if (adrian_mad)
	*label adrian_mad
	*set long +1
	And he wonders if he misunderstood all along. If those precious memories of his had only been a lie. Presumptuous of him to think they could pick up where they'd left off.
	
	Perhaps severing all links to the past from the very beginning is best. He knows that's what [i]she[/i] would expect. It'll only make things easier in the end. 

If the RV gets damaged, its repaired by a mechanic named Fabron. In the Free Time Hub you can look up odd news and find out that Fabron has forgotten everything he knew about automobiles. You can then confront Merlin about the after effects of their feeding.

Edit: While I was looking at the code, I found you can sneak after Merlin at the mechanic’s and bump into them after they fed on Fabron. That’s probably what the author was referring to.

6 Likes

Don’t write off Lance just yet. Remember, he DID lance-a-lot of people. (˵ •̀ ᴗ - ˵ ) ✧

And Guinevere is one of the dibs that gets a +2 with Adrian Du Lac. Adrian not beating the Lancelot allegations here. Honestly, is he even fighting back at this point?

I like this a lot. (૭ 。•̀ ᵕ •́。 )૭

Maybe the reason he was in Cape Town was as part of the rival circle conducting the sabotage.

Maybe this was where he regained ALL of his Camelot memories, and suddenly he regretted the side he’d chosen.

When you join the Patreon, read the Interludes “True Name” and “Bug-a-boo.” Let’s just say, Merlin and Adrian have some… opinions on Fae MC’s parents. And neither of them seem to have a high opinion of MC’s mom in particular.

7 Likes

Can someone explain to me how this “Lying About Amnesia” secret works? Because I don’t understand anything.
The real MC/Protagonist is the player who in the game is a mysterious entity (Fae? D3mon? Yeti?) that is inside the avatar who is Modern!“MC” and Camelot!“MC” (who was also an avatar of this entity)? The second voice that speaks and obeys the player is Camelot!MC who was sealed by this mysterious entity/We players?

2 Likes

Liar MC (AKA, MC who has amnesia but is lying about it) is a separate character from the Player.

With any other MC, the Player IS the MC. The Player decides what the MC thinks, feels, and does. The Player is in complete control.

…the Player is not the Liar MC. The Liar has their own thoughts, feelings, and plans, and the Player does not know them, but the Liar is aware they are in a game and that the Player is puppeting them.

It’s a very interesting dynamic.

When I say “the Player” I mean you, the person reading the story/playing the game. There is no “and it was all a simulation” subplot as far as I can tell.

Something I find very compelling about OKS is that each Background and Secret combination is essentially it’s own “route” within the game, rather than the Backgrounds and Secrets just being customization. The Accident Serial Killer is a compelling revenge plot. The Abused Imposter is literally leaving their painful past behind them. The Abandoned Changeling and the Amnesiac Changeling are two distinct stories despite their commonalities. And this isn’t even getting into how each of the 4 Camelot backgrounds might influence things…

12 Likes

god forbid. exciting to have a planned update on the horizon!!! i am eagerly awaiting dec. 1. i would join patreon but money is…how it is.

3 Likes