VN Ren'Py Eruption Imminent [v0.5.1] [MorriganRae]

[Commander Booty]

Delilah is the strongest suspect we have with the motive to do so in being a weirdo with issues who is obsessed with Ashe and opportunities to find out. The problem is that she doesn't seem to have the means to actually pull off the whole thing.

I agree that Delilah is the most likely culprit at the moment but I also agree that she seems unlikely to be able to pull this off. It really feels like she - along with the wannabe influencer - are meant to distract us from knowing who the real blackmailer is.

Out of all the characters we know who in your mind would be the most "holy shit!" for being the blackmailer? For me its Rachel.

I have suspected this too but I find it just as unlikely as Delilah. Possible... but my bet is on someone else.

I keep thinking about how Ashe is careful about ever exposing herself and prior to telling Fiona, only her mom and sister knew. The sister could have confessed to her bestie Isabella, or perhaps told her drunkenly one night by accident. Either way, Isabella seems more the potentially vindictive type who might also think duplos are bad people, etc. I don't know that she's a stronger candidate for the blackmailer but at least another person to consider.

Moira, on the other hand, probably had Ashe investigated after being told she was Vanessa's new girlfriend. If someone was tailing Ashe and watching her from afar, her duplo identity could have been revealed. Moira would definitely be capable of pulling off the blackmailer act and have the resources to track Ashe & know about the people in her life.


There really aren't many others that would make sense, unless it is a character we haven't met yet. If I am not mistaken, the mystery woman at the very end of the latest update has different nails than the influencer so even if the influencer is out to get revenge on Vanessa, the person we saw might be the one focused on Ashe and we just haven't seen them in the story so far. I really think it is most likely that we simply don't know the character yet. Perhaps it turns out that Ashe accidentally screwed them over in the past or there was some kind of innocent mistake that had unfortunately terrible consequences - hence the revenge plot and blackmail.

Speaking of people we haven't met.... we met Kate but have we met Delilah & Fiona's other mom? (I don't remember. Maybe she is dead or out of the picture. /shrug) Either way, if she's still around, the other mom could have found out that Kate & Ashe were fooling around together and maybe decided blackmail was a worthy revenge path. On that note, I assume the blackmailer shows up in the story regardless of whether or not you chose to have Ashe do things with Kate. So this too may be off base.

 

[BigOne24]

I agree that Delilah is the most likely culprit at the moment but I also agree that she seems unlikely to be able to pull this off. It really feels like she - along with the wannabe influencer - are meant to distract us from knowing who the real blackmailer is.



I have suspected this too but I find it just as unlikely as Delilah. Possible... but my bet is on someone else.

I keep thinking about how Ashe is careful about ever exposing herself and prior to telling Fiona, only her mom and sister knew. The sister could have confessed to her bestie Isabella, or perhaps told her drunkenly one night by accident. Either way, Isabella seems more the potentially vindictive type who might also think duplos are bad people, etc. I don't know that she's a stronger candidate for the blackmailer but at least another person to consider.

Moira, on the other hand, probably had Ashe investigated after being told she was Vanessa's new girlfriend. If someone was tailing Ashe and watching her from afar, her duplo identity could have been revealed. Moira would definitely be capable of pulling off the blackmailer act and have the resources to track Ashe & know about the people in her life.


There really aren't many others that would make sense, unless it is a character we haven't met yet. If I am not mistaken, the mystery woman at the very end of the latest update has different nails than the influencer so even if the influencer is out to get revenge on Vanessa, the person we saw might be the one focused on Ashe and we just haven't seen them in the story so far. I really think it is most likely that we simply don't know the character yet. Perhaps it turns out that Ashe accidentally screwed them over in the past or there was some kind of innocent mistake that had unfortunately terrible consequences - hence the revenge plot and blackmail.

Speaking of people we haven't met.... we met Kate but have we met Delilah & Fiona's other mom? (I don't remember. Maybe she is dead or out of the picture. /shrug) Either way, if she's still around, the other mom could have found out that Kate & Ashe were fooling around together and maybe decided blackmail was a worthy revenge path. On that note, I assume the blackmailer shows up in the story regardless of whether or not you chose to have Ashe do things with Kate. So this too may be off base.

Yes Isabella is also on my list of potential suspects.
Delilah and Fiona's other parent is on a business trip.

 

[Buletti]

I agree that Delilah is the most likely culprit at the moment but I also agree that she seems unlikely to be able to pull this off. It really feels like she - along with the wannabe influencer - are meant to distract us from knowing who the real blackmailer is.



I have suspected this too but I find it just as unlikely as Delilah. Possible... but my bet is on someone else.

I keep thinking about how Ashe is careful about ever exposing herself and prior to telling Fiona, only her mom and sister knew. The sister could have confessed to her bestie Isabella, or perhaps told her drunkenly one night by accident. Either way, Isabella seems more the potentially vindictive type who might also think duplos are bad people, etc. I don't know that she's a stronger candidate for the blackmailer but at least another person to consider.

Moira, on the other hand, probably had Ashe investigated after being told she was Vanessa's new girlfriend. If someone was tailing Ashe and watching her from afar, her duplo identity could have been revealed. Moira would definitely be capable of pulling off the blackmailer act and have the resources to track Ashe & know about the people in her life.


There really aren't many others that would make sense, unless it is a character we haven't met yet. If I am not mistaken, the mystery woman at the very end of the latest update has different nails than the influencer so even if the influencer is out to get revenge on Vanessa, the person we saw might be the one focused on Ashe and we just haven't seen them in the story so far. I really think it is most likely that we simply don't know the character yet. Perhaps it turns out that Ashe accidentally screwed them over in the past or there was some kind of innocent mistake that had unfortunately terrible consequences - hence the revenge plot and blackmail.

Speaking of people we haven't met.... we met Kate but have we met Delilah & Fiona's other mom? (I don't remember. Maybe she is dead or out of the picture. /shrug) Either way, if she's still around, the other mom could have found out that Kate & Ashe were fooling around together and maybe decided blackmail was a worthy revenge path. On that note, I assume the blackmailer shows up in the story regardless of whether or not you chose to have Ashe do things with Kate. So this too may be off base.

A couple of pages back we also have discussed Victoria.

Oh yeah no worries, I enjoy bouncing ideas around.

Yeah I wouldn't dismiss it, I just don't think we've uncovered a good enough reason for Victoria to do what she's doing, hence why I also noted that there's a chance the blackmail is hinging on information that we don't have access to, perhaps a shared past event between Ashe and whomever the blackmailer is that lies as an unseen trigger for that character.
And yeah as you said, it's more like a game than conventional blackmail which makes it a bit difficult to pinpoint whom the blackmailer is and why they are blackmailing to begin with.

I did ponder the idea of Victoria potentially doing it to show that Ashe isn't a good fit for Delilah, I think out of all the reasons for Victoria to blackmail, that one makes the most kind of sense in a twisted way. Mainly because we don't really know Victoria or what she's like, so it's absolutely a possibility and gives an adequate reason for Delilah to be involved other than Victoria being a sociopath.


I think a character as wired and apparently into Ashe is a bit of a coinflip in terms of how they would react or do things in that they either take WAY too long to mentally build themselves up and think of plans, or they do things WAY too quickly and rashly. The current blackmail and Delilah's behaviour would fit into the latter where she might have jumped the gun and she isn't really sure where to go with things or what she's doing, and only really thinking that she wants Ashe to turn to her.

I think it's the strongest theory involving Delilah atleast since it would explain her erratic and almost unhinged behaviour a bit better than most I've seen thus far, and it would also fit in with how much she seemingly romanticizes Ashe.



Yeah, I think Fiona is a fairly weak possibility, but it's also one I have a hard time letting go of completely with all the media I've seen/read that involved a best friend blackmailing someone. But yeah it is basically the weakest out of all the 'possible' ones, but given that the blackmail started after Fiona potentially got a handjob, there's always a small possibility that it triggered something with Fiona.



Oh yeah, Moira has the means but that's about it, you pretty much perfectly pointed out why it's not feasible.
If it turns out to be Victoria then hot damn that situation will be complicated going forward.. you're potentially banging her wife, and her daughter is into you to an unhealthy degree and now you're getting blackmailed by that person. That's a LOT of potential drama and potential to blow up several peoples lives.

Rachel would be the worst case scenario, fully DEFCON 1 status and would probably cause me to drop the game.

 

[Birdnman993]

Why is there a debate about the blackmailer? It's obviously Delilah, it's out of character for her, sure. But all clues lead to her lmao

The only thing Delilah is guilty of is loving Ashe too much and being very beautiful, she looked spectacular going to the party.

 

[Rexermus]

Counter-argument, subversion of expectations is one of the most commonly used tropes in storytelling, meaning that while everyone assumes that this is a red herring and is overly obvious, it can still very much be her due to that trope.
Delilah isn't exactly someone who's experienced, nor that intelligent it seems, so it would be entirely plausible that she just fucks up hard when trying to stay incognito as the blackmailer.

Subverting expectations without any way for the reader/viewer to back track and find/pick up the clues is just sloppy writing. The thread has to be there otherwise the writer just pulled it out of their ass. If Dellie isn’t the blackmailer the only thread leads to Kate, she’s an exhibitionist and gets off on it, so “torturing” Ashe in public makes sense and there’s a very slim chance she saw Ashe’s vagina. The thread cannot lead to anyone else based on how Morrigan has written the story thus far.

 

[Ciaran8023]

Subverting expectations without any way for the reader/viewer to back track and find/pick up the clues is just sloppy writing. The thread has to be there otherwise the writer just pulled it out of their ass. If Dellie isn’t the blackmailer the only thread leads to Kate, she’s an exhibitionist and gets off on it, so “torturing” Ashe in public makes sense and there’s a very slim chance she saw Ashe’s vagina. The thread cannot lead to anyone else based on how Morrigan has written the story thus far.

I mean there is a thread though. There are a LOT of things pointing towards Delilah either being heavily involved or doing it herself, and the expectation you are subverting is the viewers expectation of it not being Delilah when it seems so obvious.

I don't really see Kate having a strong enough reason to blackmail Ashe given that they're already (if the player chooses so) intimately involved with eachother, so what would Kate actually gain from blackmailing Ashe?
She wouldn't really gain anything by making Ashe do any of this and on the other hand, she'd actually lose on it if she pushes Ashe to the point where she shuts herself in again given that she's an anxious mess. She's clearly known Ashe for many years and likely knows that Ashe is anxious and timid with mental health issues.

I genuinely think that the end result of the blackmail arc is that it's someone who we've never met or heard of that decides for some random reason to blackmail Ashe after finding out about her status through one of the few people that knows, likely Delilah or Rachel, and that Vanessa is the one to 'pop' the blackmail figure since she got caught in the crossfire and got spied on during their date, which I don't think someone like her would enjoy.
This would feel even worse than a subvertion honestly given that it wouldn't be a cathartic payoff for the amount of stress that the blackmail has put Ashe through, but it's what I think will happen since outside of Delilah, there aren't really any strong candidates and it gives Ashe a "win" while also losing which seems to be the devs MO with the storylines thus far. One small victory for several huge losses.

 

[Alley_Cat]

Looking forward to this a lot!

The party/club scene in Having a hard time was done pretty well imho. It has a similar big cast as EI. There were a lot of shots that showed the dynamic of a full Dancefloor while you could clearly make out the several known characters and random people.

Would be cool imho if the dev might consider collabs with other DAZ devs and have some of their characters as randoms dancing in the Background.

Considering there's already a reference to Futagenesis Unveiled in-game, I would not at all be surprised if there was a collab between the two. The only issue is being both devs being not willing to share the DAZ files

I mean there is a thread though. There are a LOT of things pointing towards Delilah either being heavily involved or doing it herself, and the expectation you are subverting is the viewers expectation of it not being Delilah when it seems so obvious.

I don't really see Kate having a strong enough reason to blackmail Ashe given that they're already (if the player chooses so) intimately involved with eachother, so what would Kate actually gain from blackmailing Ashe?
She wouldn't really gain anything by making Ashe do any of this and on the other hand, she'd actually lose on it if she pushes Ashe to the point where she shuts herself in again given that she's an anxious mess. She's clearly known Ashe for many years and likely knows that Ashe is anxious and timid with mental health issues.

I genuinely think that the end result of the blackmail arc is that it's someone who we've never met or heard of that decides for some random reason to blackmail Ashe after finding out about her status through one of the few people that knows, likely Delilah or Rachel, and that Vanessa is the one to 'pop' the blackmail figure since she got caught in the crossfire and got spied on during their date, which I don't think someone like her would enjoy.
This would feel even worse than a subvertion honestly given that it wouldn't be a cathartic payoff for the amount of stress that the blackmail has put Ashe through, but it's what I think will happen since outside of Delilah, there aren't really any strong candidates and it gives Ashe a "win" while also losing which seems to be the devs MO with the storylines thus far. One small victory for several huge losses.

As far as I'm concerned, all the evidence points not to Deli being the blackmailer, but being blackmailed/coerced to help the actual blackmailer herself. So maybe Kate or Victoria.

 

[BigOne24]

Considering there's already a reference to Futagenesis Unveiled in-game, I would not at all be surprised if there was a collab between the two. The only issue is being both devs being not willing to share the DAZ files

As far as I'm concerned, all the evidence points not to Deli being the blackmailer, but being blackmailed/coerced to help the actual blackmailer herself. So maybe Kate or Victoria.

Delilah being forced to help would make her dodgy behavior make sense. And if she is the blackmailer she's probably guilty about it but not guilty enough to stop.

 

[InkAndSaliva]

I would prefer it if Delilah were the blackmailer because I think it would take a character I find unappealing and make her far more interesting (and Fiona's constant foreshadowing of Del's behaviour and true nature sets certain expectations), but from a very meta perspective, I think we would've gotten the confrontation and confirmation in this latest update when Ashe realised Del was lying if she were actually the blackmailer. There's no reason to leave it as a cliffhanger for the next update if there's no complications and everything is exactly as it appears.

Delilah being an unwilling accomplice to the blackmailer while still having a more obssessive darker side to her personality would be a nice compromise between her being innocent vs guilty, I suppose. I wouldn't be thrilled by her lack of agency as a character in that scenario, but it would leave more room for those who already like her to find her sympathetic and forgive her.

 

[Hungover00]

Considering there's already a reference to Futagenesis Unveiled in-game, I would not at all be surprised if there was a collab between the two. The only issue is being both devs being not willing to share the DAZ files

As far as I'm concerned, all the evidence points not to Deli being the blackmailer, but being blackmailed/coerced to help the actual blackmailer herself. So maybe Kate or Victoria.

Delilah being forced to help would make her dodgy behavior make sense. And if she is the blackmailer she's probably guilty about it but not guilty enough to stop.

I agree that Delilah is the most likely culprit at the moment but I also agree that she seems unlikely to be able to pull this off. It really feels like she - along with the wannabe influencer - are meant to distract us from knowing who the real blackmailer is.



I have suspected this too but I find it just as unlikely as Delilah. Possible... but my bet is on someone else.

I keep thinking about how Ashe is careful about ever exposing herself and prior to telling Fiona, only her mom and sister knew. The sister could have confessed to her bestie Isabella, or perhaps told her drunkenly one night by accident. Either way, Isabella seems more the potentially vindictive type who might also think duplos are bad people, etc. I don't know that she's a stronger candidate for the blackmailer but at least another person to consider.

Moira, on the other hand, probably had Ashe investigated after being told she was Vanessa's new girlfriend. If someone was tailing Ashe and watching her from afar, her duplo identity could have been revealed. Moira would definitely be capable of pulling off the blackmailer act and have the resources to track Ashe & know about the people in her life.


There really aren't many others that would make sense, unless it is a character we haven't met yet. If I am not mistaken, the mystery woman at the very end of the latest update has different nails than the influencer so even if the influencer is out to get revenge on Vanessa, the person we saw might be the one focused on Ashe and we just haven't seen them in the story so far. I really think it is most likely that we simply don't know the character yet. Perhaps it turns out that Ashe accidentally screwed them over in the past or there was some kind of innocent mistake that had unfortunately terrible consequences - hence the revenge plot and blackmail.

Speaking of people we haven't met.... we met Kate but have we met Delilah & Fiona's other mom? (I don't remember. Maybe she is dead or out of the picture. /shrug) Either way, if she's still around, the other mom could have found out that Kate & Ashe were fooling around together and maybe decided blackmail was a worthy revenge path. On that note, I assume the blackmailer shows up in the story regardless of whether or not you chose to have Ashe do things with Kate. So this too may be off base.

Yes, the Victoria theory is starting to gain some traction!

There are so many clues pointing to Delilah being involved, but conflicted about being involved. And who could get Delilah to act against her crush? Someone they love and trust just as much, like a parent. Kate doesn't make much sense, but Victoria has been off screen so far and a writer could fit them in however they want.

And while I was originally going for secret cameras in Kate and Victoria's bedroom (either to watch Kate tease her while she's away on business trips, or spy on Kate to see if she steps out on their marriage), it could be as simple as Delilah saw Ashe's duplo status and called her, asking for advice. And Victoria has been managing things ever since, with some assistance from Delilah.

I can't recall what pages p229 and on for a few pages, we really went back and forth on the theory, but we went fairly in detail, pointing out strengths and weaknesses.

The other mysterious candidate would be Ashe and Rachel's aunt, who has been mentioned, but not seen.

 

[Hungover00]

Oh, someone else made this, but the mystery aunt is 'Kendra' according to this character map: https://attachments.f95zone.to/2024/11/4242624_EruptionImminent_CharactersEp4_4K.png

 

[BigOne24]

I do like how Rachel gets on Vanessa before the second or first date depending on if you count the 'first' one or not.
To me its like Ashe(or whatever you rename her too) has ZERO self confidence.

 

[Ciaran8023]

I do like how Rachel gets on Vanessa before the second or first date depending on if you count the 'first' one or not.
To me its like Ashe(or whatever you rename her too) has ZERO self confidence.

I mean yeah, she doesn't have any confidence.
She's naturally very anxious, the society she lives in heavily disagrees with what she is so she's had to live her life hiding from other people entirely which ends up cementing an avoidant personality or in the worst case scenario, agoraphobia which ends up making anything social be quite difficult for her. She likely has a very skewed and self-depricating view on herself that's been coloured by the society she lives in and the isolation she feels, she likely has major issues trusting people and the one person she thought she could trust (Rachel) ended up breaking that trust.

Like I'm honestly astounded that she works as well as she does, most people would straight up shut down entirely if they had to deal with all that shit.

 

[Dessolos]

I would prefer it if Delilah were the blackmailer because I think it would take a character I find unappealing and make her far more interesting (and Fiona's constant foreshadowing of Del's behaviour and true nature sets certain expectations), but from a very meta perspective, I think we would've gotten the confrontation and confirmation in this latest update when Ashe realised Del was lying if she were actually the blackmailer. There's no reason to leave it as a cliffhanger for the next update if there's no complications and everything is exactly as it appears.

Delilah being an unwilling accomplice to the blackmailer while still having a more obssessive darker side to her personality would be a nice compromise between her being innocent vs guilty, I suppose. I wouldn't be thrilled by her lack of agency as a character in that scenario, but it would leave more room for those who already like her to find her sympathetic and forgive her.

I want Delilah to be the blackmailer for a much simpler reason. I just want to get past this blackmail arc as fast as possible and I think she would be the fastest way to that end.

 

[Braga96]

People also forget she has survivors guilt about whatever happened to her mom/Jane and the car accident

 

[Braga96]

And Delilah being Mrs. X really doesn't make much sense narratively. I don't see anything to suggest that she is enough of a techwiz to get Ashe's contacts or be good enough of an actress to see Ashe and Zoey hookup and act like nothing happened the next morning when we see how flustered she got when Ashe and Fiona layed in the same bed or finding out Zoey flashed Ashe. Now being an unwitting accomplice is a better theory. Honestly I think whoever Mrs. X is she had a hand in the business that ended up outing Sun.

 

[xeivous]

Honestly I think whoever Mrs. X is she had a hand in the business that ended up outing Sun.

This actually makes quite a bit of sense. As wasn't what got out that outed Sun was a lewd image like what Ashe has been being made to take?

 

[Birdnman993]

And Delilah being Mrs. X really doesn't make much sense narratively. I don't see anything to suggest that she is enough of a techwiz to get Ashe's contacts or be good enough of an actress to see Ashe and Zoey hookup and act like nothing happened the next morning when we see how flustered she got when Ashe and Fiona layed in the same bed or finding out Zoey flashed Ashe. Now being an unwitting accomplice is a better theory. Honestly I think whoever Mrs. X is she had a hand in the business that ended up outing Sun.

I like that theory, maybe the blackmailer is a serial Duplo hunter who loves to take advantage of them, get bored of them and then expose them to the world, maybe the Duplo who committed suicide also went through the same thing as Ashe.

I want Delilah to be the blackmailer for a much simpler reason. I just want to get past this blackmail arc as fast as possible and I think she would be the fastest way to that end.

I find it a bit difficult to rule out the blackmailer so quickly in the story, especially considering the amount of discussion and interest it generates.

 

[Buletti]

Like I'm honestly astounded that she works as well as she does, most people would straight up shut down entirely if they had to deal with all that shit.

Well, she is a drug addict. So she definately did not come out without scars.

 

[Ciaran8023]

Well, she is a drug addict. So she definately did not come out without scars.

That's fair, but it's a harmless drug to be addicted to compared to the alternatives. Being stoned every day sure beats being a heroin addict.

That being said, it does come off as her smoking weed moreso to deal with her anxiety and stress rather than trauma.