We seem to have lost contact with the Control Tower [Grinding Noises][Part II] (855)

108 Name: (*゚ー゚) : 1993-09-7741 21:33

>>103
Thank you. Consider your post high-fived back.

>>105
Good question! Well, the most obvious candidate is Cassandra, isn't it? She clearly has access to necromancy, as evidenced by the fact she reanimates the cat monster near the end, and she does meddle with your allies a little elsewhere (like setting four Mecha Alexei clones on you back at >>/863). However, this would also imply that she could force Continue-chan to obey her will; surely, if this was the case, she would've used it during the final battle. Or would she? Perhaps she didn't want Conundrum-chan to know that Continue-chan was actually under her control.

This brings us on to some more insidious ideas: what if, for instance, she had already given Continue-chan some commands after reanimating her, and before letting her rejoin you? It might be as little as not telling anyone who reanimated her, or it could be something like "if you ever know me to have died, you must kill whoever killed me". With some sort of insurance like that in place, she mightn't think direct control over her during the final battle necessary.

Of course, it might've been someone else who reanimated Continue-chan as well. At least one of the armed guards is shown to have access to pyromancy; why not necromancy as well? Alternatively, the enigmatic Jacqueline may even have had some involvement - perhaps to undermine Cassandra's plans by indirectly aiding her enemies, or perhaps to give you an unpleasant reminder of what you did, or perhaps just for fun. You simply can't tell with Jacqueline. It's always the quiet ones...

>>106
I'm glad you asked. As it happens, I had a whole backstory worked out, although I never directly incorporated into the story in the end.

Alexei, Jacqueline and Cassandra were members of a team of researchers in some sort of scientific facility, investigating various strange and unnatural scientific concepts. Whereas Alexei and Jacqueline were content to stick to largely theoretical topics (such as dimensional collapses), Cassandra delved into ethically questionable work on cloning, including imprinting cloned personalities onto non-organic substrates (such as the robotic Alexei revealed at >>/560). Jacqueline's research led to the ability to create small holes, or voids, into other universes, which absorb all matter and have unusual effects on living beings that look into them.

Over time, Alexei and Jacqueline fell in love with one another. Cassandra, being a manipulative little so-and-so, naturally took advantage of this in minor ways, for instance keeping them apart with labwork/etc unless they do as she asks. Meanwhile, her research became ever darker, going as far as cloning her fellow researchers without their permission, and trying to manipulate the personalities of clones.

Having had enough of this, Jacqueline and Alexei took a stand against Cassandra, which ended in catastrophe. Alexei escaped, but Jacqueline was held captive by Cassandra and used to attempt to lure Alexei back. In a fit of megalomania, Cassandra used Jacqueline's own research against her lover, fusing a void to herself and using it to summon forth countless eldritch horrors from other universes, killing many and destroying much of the facility as collateral, simply to take revenge on Alexei.

Against all the odds, Jacqueline escaped - briefly - from captivity, and succeeded in creating a heavily modified clone of herself. This clone awakened on a cold, hard concrete floor, with no memory of how they came to be there, left to explore an abandoned facility full of dangerous otherworldly creatures, with no idea what's going on.

Name: Link:
Leave these fields empty (spam trap):
More options...
Verification: