James_D_Fawkes
patreon
[Hereafter] Chapter CXII: The Wages of Guilt
🕑 Added 2023-07-23 13:21:55 +0000 UTCSo a certain Servant's return kind of got pushed back to next chapter. It just... This chapter as it is already does a lot, and while I could have squished the summoning onto the end and pushed this chapter out to about 7K or so, it would have felt like too much was going on and it probably would have felt out of place with the rest of the chapter.
As a result, the name of the chapter changed to "The Wages of Guilt." I got to do a few things with the characters and give a few characters some growth. As the editor put it, when Taylor finds out the full extent of what Marisbury has done to Mash and all of its consequences, she'd be ready to bust through the gates of Hell to ensure he suffered as much as he deserved.
EDIT: Moving down all the way 9/03/2023
Comments
Gifted-Monster
On a technical point: Given that Marie was reconstituted in a custom body after her soul was in the FATE system AFTER Rayshifting...would that make her a viable master candidate/ rayshift candidate? Sort of doing an end-run around her karma/ rules of the WORLD. Sort of like Gae Bolg-ing her reality with effect preceding cause.
Geoffrey Sullivan
Agreed - there needs to be more of both.
Gifted-Monster
True. I'd argue he did two good things. Gave us Marie and Mash. :D M n M's! :D
s22132
Very good chapter. I love the character interactions, especially between Taylor and Mash, and Marie and Taylor.
Caractacus
And yet, when you look at the stuff he is either outright stated to have done to Mash or at least implied, put it together with the things we *know* he did to failed Master candidates (a la the CCC event), and stand back to see the whole picture...it's not a bar Marisbury clears as comfortably as most people would like to. Like, his only real redeeming quality is that he did what he thought was necessary for the survival of the human species. So it puts him in the same company as Cauldron, which is why he's not *as* bad as the Nine.
Gifted-Monster
True. "Not as bad as murderhobo's influenced by extradimensional interstellar conflict engines" is not a high bar.
Caractacus
It's sort of implied when she allows in the narration that the comparison doesn't really hold up, she just doesn't specifically say that one of the reasons why is because the Nine were so much worse. Which is damning with faint praise, really.
Pandora
I absolutely love all of your interactions between Taylor and Marie (yes I am definitely reading a romantic subtext there but I also know that might just be me and i am fine with that)! And how both of them are supporting each other in improving as people! I am really looking forward to when Marie gets enough stability underneath her to start calling Taylor out on her b.s. the way Taylor is currently calling out Marie!
Gifted-Monster
The Wages of Guilt are Thirty Pieces of Silver. Actually, that raises an intriguing point. Comparatively the Slaughterhouse 9 were worse than Animusphere, what with Jack breaking Riley into Bonesaw to say nothing else. Realistically, wouldn't Taylor more be in te mindset of "I've seen worse." Or is she beginning to see Mash as her Eggplant Kouhai?
