Maybe if Merlin isn’t Merlin they are actually a Pretender.
Adrian and Percy can be Rulers who in the Fate universe are supposed to be impartial overseers of the war and have no desire for the Holy Grail. Usually they are summoned as saints (though this is kind of a gray area). Percy I can sort of understand. I don’t see Adrian being impartial, especially when it comes to the MC.
I assumed Merlin meant “mother” as like an incubator for how incubus/succubus are born. Perhaps they had a human mother and a demon father (like Rumi in KPop Demon Hunters lol!).
Lord, Merlin isn’t Merlin, what if Galahad was a saboteur, Circles aren’t doing what Merlin said they’re doing, can the foreshadowing just be telling? My head hurts
Sussy Galahad
Ngl can’t remember where this came from. But him being the leader of the Circle that supposedly takes on the greatest burden and still being the only one to survive is sus
Adrian going: “MC, I’m afraid we will have to kill that incubus” at the slightest opportunity
BURNNN.
But since it’s Saber or Ruler maybe it’s route dependant? Like Adrian on certain routes doing certain things. Depending on the outcome of his subplot? Pretty sure Adrian would have a wish for the Holy Grail, the difference would be whenever he feels like he deserves to have it fulfilled. Or maybe he’s one ROs that would sacrifice MC for the greater good in the end and then fall on sword or it’s just because he’s ready to sacrifice himself!
The reason Adrian didn’t join the Lesser Circle in 2020 was because his “role” at the time was to watch the chessboard, not make any moves. He was reporting everything that happened and information about the players involved back to his “patron” (Sebile) and then she was doing what she does best… manipulating people’s minds and emotions from behind the scenes, just like she did in Camelot (Gaheris…). I’m sure the Harbingers being teenagers rife with hormones didn’t help.
Maybe she also manipulated Adrian into believing that what she was doing was helping, and when he realized the truth that was the catalyst for him running away from her to find MC and make sure things go differently this time.
Hints that Sebile was meddling in Camelot’s affairs
I can’t post it, but the September Q&A on Patreon has a lot of clues…
Basically, Sebile only needed ONE well-chosen inciting incident to involve herself in, and as long as she chose right, all the pre-existing rivalries/enmities would do the work for her. A domino effect.
And she picked to possess Gaheris into killing Morgause and Lamorak, taking the latter two out of the picture, and Gaheris was also then locked away in prison, so he could no longer mediate for his more hot-tempered brothers.
Oh, oh this is DELICIOUS. Cassandra not beating the “Morgana incognito” allegations. Percy not beating the “Percival” allegations (uhhh… were those ever “allegations” to begin with?) Adrian… surprisingly dodging his allegations here, good job buddy!
“One version of the MC” being prioritized by 404… Liar, is that you???
Theory about Audrey III and Magic 8-Ball
I wonder if Audrey is a spy from Sebile and the Magic 8-Ball might be a spy from the Summer Court (or perhaps Oberon directly, if he is the Changeling’s father?)
I’ve long suspected the Magic 8-Ball might be Puck. It would be funny.
My MC with Adrian (after he finally accepted that they are “married”)
Time to head to City Hall. It’s totally normal. Totally.
It’s Percy Time as the Non-pocket Menagerie makes its proper debut
Chase after suspicious ice cream trucks, indulge in Pigeon Football, & punch unsuspecting children in the face.
Subway monsters. Disney Sing-alongs. Time slippage. Try to 1v1 that dubious statue. First contact with two different factions of the fae if you can figure out which subbranch they appear in!
Time to scout out the Philadelphia Museum of Art for shiny bling-bling* worth looting during a certain upcoming nighttime activity.
The long + short versions of the customization scene in Chapter 1 have been streamlined to have multiple selections on the same page.
Some clarifications to certain entries in Merlin’s Guide.
There’s now a checkpoint between Chapter 1 & 2 which I will never update, so hopefully all saves made there will also never corrupt.
All the typo & bug-fixes to literally every previous section of the game except for Chapter1-2-2 (second half of polo club meeting) & interlude_adrian. So it’s quite possible that all saves except in those sections might break this time.
*Bling-bling actually exists in the museum and was previously suggested for the purloining by players, so go see what your fellow IF enthusiasts want to run off with!
Make sure to clear your cache and reload the game start page for theoneknightstand.cowebsite, then check that the game is displaying Version 0.25. Finally, check the Status menu to make sure your stats haven’t been reset to default.
If your stats are showing the default ?¿?¿?¿ values, it means that particular save has corrupted, and you’ll have to use another one (as proceeding with a corrupted save will just give you a bunch of nonexistent error messages & you’ll auto-fail every stat check).
(Since there were bugs & typos fixed throughout Chapter 1 & 2, your current saves are probably going to reset to the beginning of each section of the game. If things get too wonky, you might want to try restarting from the beginning. )
Note: You can view the game code on my site the same way you could on Dashingdon (R.I.P. ) just add /scenes to the end of the URL.
Additional Word Count(Sans Code): 74,000+
Additional Word Count(With Code): 128,000+
New Total Word Count(Sans Code): 1.2 Million
New Total Word Count(With Code): 1.5 Million
Average Playthrough: ~88,000+ words
Uh, yeah, about that… *stares at all the files except for two updating*
Man, I hope the new checkpoint that I added between Chapter 1 & 2 can help with this as I hatessss it too. From what I’ve seen, saves seem to corrupt when both the startup file and the chapter file where the save has been made both update, similar to the bug with CoGDemos save system.
Since the startup file is almost always going to update, that just leaves stabilizing the game file where the save is stored. This didn’t seem to happen on Dashingdon anywhere near as much. I wonder if Dashingdon somehow managed to force all the games to load the updated startup file from the beginning?
The skill stats should be pretty finalized now, outside of the Free Time Hub. It’s probably just fear_level and health fluctuating a lot at this point. Of course, if you’re trying to minmax the more obscure hidden stats…
Otherwise, all the theories…
Adrian:
But nothing is ever taming that hair.
He’s had years of practice doing obfuscating obliviousness in some routes.
Merlin: (✿ ︣⓪ ᴗ ︣⓪)っ🔪 Bad juju in that family. Punch her in the dick.
Arthur would like to point out that, despite everyone having a fit of the vapors over the High King riding out in his later reign, he too is a knight.
I see you finally found the single line in the main game proper that references the name “Sebile”… You never brought it up before amongst all the other Sebile theories.
That’s certainly one way to describe the fallout of the Lancelot-Orkney confrontation that destroyed the Round Table.
You know, I was about to say that Kukrushka seems pretty sweet in Gnosia and-- OH DEAR GOD THIS EPISODE.
As soon as he finally gets that enchanted antique bastard sword in Chapter2-6-2 he is never putting it down. It will be a new roomie then… MC, Adrian, and Mr. Stabby-kins* in the master bedroom.
ahh so the story genuinely did update, i actually shat myself and started a silent 2nd-degree breakdown when i got kicked out of the story just when i was on my 2nd try on getting to the free-time hub update— on one side, i get a longer update, on the other, much miserable side— i have to try again from the very beginning for the 3rd time. I suppose i should’ve looked at the forum first before diving in without the knowledge that it would update this very day
My condolences for the confluence of terrible timing. Have all your previous saves also corrupted too? (Probably only a save in the second part of the polo route or during Adrian’s interlude would be safe this time). At least if you’re using one of the longer customization options, that should go quicker now.
Otherwise, definitely try saving in the new Checkpoint between Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 and hopefully that helps!
Sebile is my Pepe Silvia at this point I’M LOSING IT!
My MC: (suspiciously squinting at where Adrian is spooning Mr. Stabby-kins… “It should have been me, not him! It’s not fair!”) He’s thinking about how much he loves Arthur more than me, isn’t he!?
Oh ho? Perhaps my fairy princess MC will get to escape the museum on horseback after all? I mean… “Not now” isn’t the same as “Never”
Loves the update, Percy bonding time was great. Hopefully all of the dancing and tomfoolery my MC did will not end up biting them in the ass later (though it would probably be more fun if it did)
What You Did
City Clock City Wildlife City Talk Pigeon Football
Museum Start: Rocky Steps Museum Dance Special Exhibit Perelman Building Happy Arch West Entrance
Da Trail: 0 Owed: false The Sus: 0 The Cough: 0 Objection!: 0 Foozit: 22 Cafeinated: Yes Fed: Yes
If you have ridiculously high mind + charm, you can notice something about Merlin when you ask them why they can’t put the museum in a time bubble for the heist.
Summary
*set temp3 "museum_no_bubble"
From what Merlin had previously explained regarding the mechanics of ${timebubbles}, they seem perfectly suited to performing just such a stunt.
The group could force their way into the museum without a care in the world about what damage is done, far beyond the eyes of normal people, and safe in the knowledge that no one would notice and that everything broken during the attempt would be reset to new in the end.
*if (merlin_timebubble)
"I did already once warn you that such is beyond me at the moment,"
*else
"Ah yes,"
Merlin ruefully replies, ${m_their} lips twisted in a faint moue. "That [i]would[/i] be the optimal path here and is, indeed, what such things were oft used for when mortals cast them in the past. But, alas, even for one so small that it encompasses a singular building, the energy expended would be too great to bear in this case."
*set merlin_timebubble true
*if ((mind + charm) > 70) or ((cop) and ((mind + charm) > 55))
And despite ${m_their} calm words, the nonchalant way this is dismissed, you can faintly sense it more than see it. This inability disturbs ${m_them} far more than @{merlin_plural they are | ${m_they} is } willing to let on.
What @{merlin_plural aren't they | isn't ${m_they} } telling you here?
If you don’t mind spicy scenes, there should be the option for one at the end of chapter 2. Merlin’s been losing a lot of HP lately…
# "What is a 'sheep with the heart of a wolf'?"
*if (dream_mute)
*gosub dream_mute
"A prophesy," the king tells you. "Even though I've always been terrible at such things. Perhaps consider it the vision of a dreamer trapped within an endless dream. Something... someone... is approaching you. Someone with the manner of a gentle lamb and the heart of a pitiless wolf. I don't believe they hold any truly good intentions towards you."
*if (tell_infiltrate)
"That sounds like the saboteur from Merlin's warning is definitely coming," you mutter, half to yourself.
Or are they already here?
*else
*if ((((sass > 55) and not(t_serious)) or (t_sass)) and (((optimist < 50) and not(t_optimist)) or (t_pessimist)))
That's just great! As if things weren't bad enough as it is!
*else
Sounds like things are about to get a whole lot worse.
To clarify, the above is what a Lucid Dreamer MC has access to at the end of the Camelot dream sequence in Chapter 2.
What it is referencing, though, is a line Arthur says to the MC in the nightmare in the prologue:
"They are watching, always watching." The king's voice is a mere rasp of sound as blood oozes from his lips. "They are already there. They have already found you. Beware the broken lamb with the heart of a wolf."
There’s been a lot of theorizing about who Arthur might be referring to here. Most readers (and indeed, the MC themself) believe Arthur is talking about the Saboteur.
…but, IS he, though?
This would be a pretty sweet opportunity for some misdirection, if I were a crafty author.
Arthur never explicitly says he is talking about the Saboteur. And just because the MC can be the reader’s self-insert, does not mean they have no biases/the reader can believe everything they say without question.
Just something I’ve been chewing on today. Back to the spreadsheet with me.
Hmm, maybe it’s because I’m late to join, but I had no idea the theory was that Arthur was talking about that. I’ve always read that as Arthur foreshadowing multiple mysteries.
@Notice_me_senpai Were you the one who noticed you also have fae luck? I can’t quite remember.
Anyways, I like to think of luck as being unlucky, which is fun.
Memory. I had “eidetic memory” (jury’s out if it’s real) when I was younger. I still think it’s a good skill to have to collect evidence.
Endurance is second. The talent the author mentioned forgetting the most.
) just add 
You never brought it up before amongst all the other Sebile theories.
That’s certainly one way to describe the fallout of the Lancelot-Orkney confrontation that destroyed the Round Table.
Have all your previous saves also corrupted too? (Probably only a save in the second part of the polo route or during Adrian’s interlude would be safe this time). At least if you’re using one of the longer customization options, that should go quicker now.
I’M LOSING IT!
