Look, giving Malin ideas is generally great and all but FFS think first!
Donāt mess around with Dr. Mortumās gun at the auction. Thereās something already in there 
Way too late man. Weāre compromised. Sheās been seeing all our fanart and fanfic on tumblr. She already knows danger to the Rat King hurts us 
1 Like
Yup. But we shouldnāt worry too hard, since I suspect no rats, dogs or other cute smol fluffy things will actually be harmed in the making of these books.
As for me, Iām still trying to guess at who the third party isā¦
Summary
Considering theāah, features of Dr Mortumās gun, I have to assume that the one who had it in their possession this entire time until now knew what they had in their hands.
I canāt imagine anyone with sufficient greed enough to take it in the first place not putting the gun to personal use otherwiseā¦ So the real question to be asked is; why now? What secret motives are at play in the background, and why did Dr Mortum not bring such a suspicious point up?
We all need to put our best thinking caps on for this oneā¦
1 Like
I like your suspicious nature.
We know the gun was a joint project with another mad scientist, who kept the actual thing. At some point it was taken and used in a desperate attempt to ward off a very big very bad villain. I donāt think the person who used it survived. How HG got their hands on it and why they decided to sell it are my big points of interest. Did they know what the gun did and who was inside? Do they benefit somehow from the release of this villain, keeping the Rangers focused on that and not on them? 
I kinda suspect Ortega was getting into something HG didnāt want him to, and this was a way to keep Ortega out of her hair (and make a ton of money and destabilize any potential competition with the assumption the baddie would kill them before going on a rampage).
2 Likes
There is that, but my personal take is that HG, and even the Farm are just too obvious as scapegoats in this whole thing. What if it were a certain ex-ranger that has been getting frequent rumors made about them lately? If they were there at the battle, and personally saw what happened, who better than a flyer to take it and run, I wonder?
I suppose that could work though itās a bit of a gamble. Said baddie is an absolute brute, sure, but itās also very injured. If it were to get out Somewhere where it could be easily fought or some where not ideal (the middle of a certain highly secure auction attended by numerous criminal organizations and influential companies, for example), then it either wouldnāt be much use, or itād do far more harm than good. Iām not sure the risk would be worth the reward here. There are many other, more reliable ways of causing a distraction. Hell, why not just let the new comer do it for them. They donāt even have to pay us and they get to judge how big a threat/asset we might be.
Personally Iām much more interested in Shroud. I wonder if sheāll be hanging around and sticking her nose where she ought not to be sticking it. Specifically investigating this āAceā of hers.
Really I just wanna fight shroud villain-to-villain without anything getting in the way. I think itād make an interesting scene. Not entirely sure if itāll happen, though. Bigger fish to fry and all that.
3 Likes
As long as we donāt know āwho dun itā every possible speculation made is fanon. This is why I could throw out an otherwise unknown character like Sentinel as a possible suspect for the return of Dr Mortumās gun. Do I really think he did it? Well, that depends on my viewās current angle of suspicion, overall likelihood or not.
I agree with ApplePi that HG has better ways of getting what they want.
Summary
HG is very much unknown outside of that one scene you read from the first bookās epilogue, and the rest of what we know is based on the MCās secondhand knowledge of what HG has done in the past. What we can rely on to determine HGās personality so far is that they take a more passive approach to things with a preference for low-risk, high-return gambles. Such that they might as well not be āgamblesā at all, imo. HG is very much an āobserve first, decide laterā character.
Why damage their own reputation in the underworld territory that they are trying to control? More specifically; why do this after that attack on their own diner that most probably happens regardless of whether Ortega & the puppet are there to witness it or not? Damaging their own highest paying eventāeven with the express instructions that the winner of the gun is givenāis far too great a personal risk.
This in itself could be a double-bluff on HGās part, or it could be a fraction of the truth. The whole of which we will not learn until meeting HG in person. At any rate, I donātāor rather have very little reason toābelieve HG is responsible for the presence of Dr Mortumās gun at the auction.
3 Likes
So in the first game I named my villain Sidestep because I wanted to have Herald as my nemesis and piss people off. Now in the second when you get the option to change your alias, the game completely blanks out the fact that you first called yourself Sidestepā¦ It seems a bit off, like it never happened. I like the drama of it but I donāt really want to be called Sidestep throughout my whole villain carrier !
Edit : I replayed while still being named Sidestep and I have to admit the whole thing is kind of awkward sometimes. All these variables ā¦ I have no idea how you manage to keep it all sorted out !
The entire auction scene where you go as your villian persona seems a little odd continuity wise. Originally, you are going in there to screw things up to send Hallow ground a message, but if you go there and discover the regenerator, the text seems to indicate that stealing the regenerator was your goal all along, despite the fact that you only found out about the regenerator during the auction itself, which in turn creates a sort of recursive paradox where you have things planned in advanced to allow you to steal the regenerator, even though the first time you heard about the regenerator is right in the middle of the auction, where itās too late to make any changes to your plans.
Additionally, the objective of your villain visiting the auction in person can be a littleā¦ nebulous. Ostensibly, itās to send hollow ground a message, but itās entirely possible for you to show up, buy the shrink ray, then proceed to cause a black out so you canā¦ beat up a couple of mooks and run away. Which doesnāt really send much of a message.
10 Likes
Its odd because is still incomplete, she said so in the update, she will correct later.
8 Likes
Hi how do you get ortega to talk about the funeral? Ive been romancing ortega but i never read any convo abt funeral, might have missed that
Itās a new addition, and itās a small section when Sidestep goes to see the rangers at the base after Argent attacks with the help of that motorcycle guy(forgot his name). When you are talking to Ortega in his private office he mentions a guy in a picture.
4 Likes
I had a similar experience where I was going there exclusively to snag Dr Mortumās gun, but then the game seemed to forget that was my goal, and sent me after the Regenerator instead. There will be bugs to work through, but overall Iād say what we have of the auction so far is very nicely done.
Side note: Rat-Kingās participation this time absolutely melts my heart! 
This next bit is more about how a certain older scene feelsā¦ Not going to fuss over it if a change would be too much work, though!
Summary
Also, this could just be me, but Iāve always personally felt like these two response options are a bit polarizing in this situation. Sidestep obviously didnāt have any strong feelings one way, or the other for an old hard-ass of an acquaintance, so I donāt really know why they would seem to fake a smile here, or ātake it out onā Ortega if they are feeling a little more on the grumpy sideā¦ It just seems that every time I come to this scene, I feel like Iām missing a more neutral response to the news about Owlās life.
5 Likes
Ooo thank you!! Gonna replay the game again
OMG. This update has tickled my thirst for more argent romance fluff. 
And I almost couldnāt believe that choice to remove my MCās helmet. (how could I resist) How is Sidestep going to explain that scar to a romanced Ortega? Especially after that alley scene?
4 Likes
Hold on. How can you talk to Mortum as your villian persona? And at the auction? The only familiar face my MC saw was Argent/Oryx.
When meeting her as Puppet, donāt offer her help and instead tell her to buy the gun. Then when you go to the auction, she will be there and you can talk to her.
7 Likes
Easily. Just blame Ortega for it. Itās not like they were paying attention during the make-out session to see if they were being too rough or not. Now try figuring out an explanation without the alley scene. Thatās where itās going to be fun.
2 Likes
Also how Lady Argent not realize the scar in the elevator
Is against the forum rules to ask stuff like this, specially answering straight to the author!
This game is on the alpha phase at the moment, which means Malin is building the bare bones of it, asking for a release date at this early stage doesnāt make much sense. Also, Malin will let us know when the game will be available as soon as they know.
21 Likes