Enter the forest.  The first fork in the road, you can go north to the mice, or southeast.  Go southeast.  

Next screen, southeast.  

Next screen, there is a darkened path leading northward.  

3 in central forest (by the shop, left of Dustin, top right)
3 in lake/ruins (by the ruins, Augustus's island, lake screen bottom left)
1 in plains (by coyotes)
1 in north (near apple tree)
1 in dark forest (the darkened area that isn't the mice or Fen)

You trigger the scene by interacting with the box, but it's only possible at some points in the game and not others.  It's fairly early in the game, but not at the very beginning--maybe just before you go to the tavern?  Regardless, if you get a different message when interacting with the box, try advancing the plot a little and coming back later.  

One big thing is not to use the "Attack" action when it dares you to attack--the counterattack is harsh.  (If the kobolds are with you, they'll warn you.)  Use spells, items, or defend instead.  

Otherwise, use damage-over-time effects and keep healing your team--I generally like to use Forest Song, Spring Water for mana regen, and have Lyric heal as needed.  The HP keeps fluctuating, but it does eventually come back to manageable levels.  

Make sure you've gone into the Class menu and selected some chimera genes for each of Hero's forms.  I don't know if there's an in-game instruction to do this, and it's a significant buff.  

Remember that you can always go back and grind for more levels if needed.  I was level 30+ when I faced Chaos; that might be overkill though.  

It happens basically any time I search with at least three tags/filters.  Someone else mentioned it here:  https://itch.io/t/4848013/free-in-browser-idle-429-error?before=4#post-12799330 
It started roughly a week ago (give or take), and since then search with 3+ tags/filters has basically never worked, even if it's the first time I'm hitting the site that day.  I don't doubt it's a DDoS protection measure, but there seems to have been a configuration change about a week ago that set the threshold to trip even on a fairly standard search.  

I am also consistently getting the same error the past few days whenever I try to search with three or more tags/filters, and not when I search with fewer.  

I realize that that error pops up _occasionally_ in general due to anti-DDoS measures, but this is on every query with that many tags, even if it's the only search I've performed that day.  

You have to complete the Anastasia storyline (become mayor, get your third Master point).  At least for Iron Wood; probably a number of other advanced resources as well.  

I would also prefer not having this restriction, since I typically want to use those resources sooner in the game.  

If a job has workers assigned, advance time (buttons in the top-left).  A progress bar for each of the jobs should appear on the left.  

What about the Reaver that's being held in the Savannah camp?

It's under Pouch->Utilities.  (It might show up only after you meet Kwolo; not sure.)

Pouch -> Utilities -> Item Burner

OK, I think I missed an area.  I went through a full playthrough and never saw the Lurkers or Seastrider Kai--I'm told that they are in a "cave" and "underground", but the closest thing I can find is the Underground River area under the dungeon at the Glistening Streams, and that seems empty.  

(Also, is there a way to find a key for the door at the back of the fisherman's shack that sometimes appears in the Glistening Streams?)

Once you help the snakes, there will be a trader you can get them from.  

Hi devs, 

I've been waiting for this update since last year, and enjoy both this and Grove.  There's a substantial chunk of new content, and I like it a lot, and the plot development.  I like the dynamic of having various third parties other than you and Interloper-controlled creatures, whether they are allies from the start (Hu-Mina) or able to be won over (the snakes).  

And the defeat scenes are hot.  Can't forget that, of course.  :)  

I had a few comments/suggestions, which are mostly not about the main gameplay itself, but the UI:

• Menuing feels a little clunky--it seems like there are more menu steps to get something done than needed.  Some of this feels like "game engine defaults", so I don't know how easy they are to change--but if you can change them, they would help make the player experience feel smoother overall.  A few examples:
  • Exploration menu - it would be great to just have a single list of all possible destinations (or, one for main destinations and one for side destinations), and be able to select the one we want.  As it is, to get to the Swamp we end up having to select "Next" several times, each of which loads a new menu with a single option.  
  • Crafting - I played last year's version, and allowing crafting using materials from storage is a welcome improvement.  Ideally, the crafting menu would (1) not have a separate display/craft submenu for each individual item, but rather would display all the info upon *highlighting* the item, and select-to-craft, and (2) give a handy heads-up display not just of the required materials, but how many of each you have (including both inventory and storage).  That way I don't have to remember the recipe, check inventory, *and* check storage to figure out what materials I still need.  
• Related to menuing is text speed.  I'd appreciate a configuration option for instant text speed--but at the very least, consider instant text for non-dialogue (e.g. for showing the description/recipe when crafting).  Yes, I realize I can just press a button, but why make me press that button?

These seem like little things, and they are--but they add up over the course of a playthrough and I think can make the game *feel* a lot better to play.  

I answered the survey question about play time, but I wanted to caution against using raw play time as a metric without context.  The things I mentioned above--as well as things other commenters have mentioned about limited storage etc. causing a bit of a feeling of "grind"--serve to artificially lengthen play time, but reduce the quality of that play time.  

Despite how much of the above is criticism, though, rest assured that I do enjoy the game and am looking forward to future updates!

I also had trouble.  

If you can craft the bowgun and/or better armor, that might help--unfortunately I don't recall where I picked up the schematics/parts.  Other than that, apples heal a bit more than berries, and play around with cooking--there are some foods that slightly increase your speed, attack, and defense, and last all day.  So you can eat them in the morning and still carry a full stack of healing items.  

For the automated turret, the key is to stay in the shadows or behind cover.  Use your dash ability to get between shadows, and once you start getting close to the turret, pay attention to the timing.  If it can see you (green targeting reticle), it fires three times and then pauses--so get in a location where it can target you but there's something blocking its fire, let it shoot the obstacle three times, and then you have a few seconds to push the block before getting back behind cover again.  

Yeah, to be clear, from the main mansion screen, click the occupation of anyone currently at the Mansion (by default, "Rest").  That will bring you to the occupation screen.  You should have an icon for each of the quests that you can then assign workers to.  It will take some number of turns to complete them (which can be non-contiguous, and/or with different workers).  

The quests you list both use Physics, so workers with better Physics will make faster progress.  Other quests you can get from the job board are similar but use Wits or Charm.  

If we believe Asterion is telling the truth during the drinking game in Chapter 17, he has never fucked a guy (the question includes the caveat "without using a charm", but I'm pretty sure he has never had a charm), nor has he sucked a dick.  

Now, there are some general implications about Asterion and Phroneos in the backstory vignettes, but as far as I know we don't know exactly what happened.  That could have stayed platonic.  

(Strictly speaking, we also don't know anything about any potential relationships with women.)

you send him once in the valley, you are rail roaded to the ruthless route. i don't know what you think is "not true", the ruthless route doesn't start then and there, that's not what i said. but when it's time for the route split, you will be sent down the ruthless route.

At what point?  I'm still playing through, but I am skeptical that I will be railroaded into the ruthless route at this point, given that I've put on the ring.  Regardless, it didn't jump to the "Ruthless" chapter at the same point it did if I gave a different answer to Argos, which indicates my original point:  if you give one answer to Argos, then at the end of Chapter 12 you get an abbreviated/summarized concert scene followed by the timeskip to "Ruthless".  If you give another, you still see Asterion brood for a while, but you then get a full concert scene (without hug), and move on to chapter 13 where you put on the rings.  

the time jump i refered to is just how i interpreted the 1st ruthless chapter, seeing as it felt like mc was being abusive for way longer than we see play out.

In the case where you *do* jump to Ruthless at the end of Chapter 12, there's not too much "interpretation" necessary--the text suggests pretty strongly that there's been a timeskip of approximately a week.

there were implications of a neutral route but with build 0.5 when the split was first implemented, it simply wasn't there. if you were on the neutral route you would be switched around to the good one. a difference of dialogue is not an indication of a different route. there'd be inumerable routes if we considered each slight variation, and that's simply not useful.

OK, then consider this rephrasing that doesn't say anything about "routes":  After sending Asterion out once, if you answer Argos one way in Chapter 12, then at the end of that chapter, you go to the chapter entitled "Ruthless I", where it is stated that the Master continued sending him out to the valley in the week after the concert.  Whereas if you answer a different way, you continue on into Chapter 13, where the Master takes an oath that (not technically, but in practical terms) prevents him from sending Asterion out ever again.  This is a marked difference in how the game progresses, and is only dependent on how you answer Argos, which I argue should not be taken as a true indication of the MC's intent.  

> not a bug, you send him once to the valley, you get in the ruthless route.

That's simply not true; I just went back and verified that you do NOT get the one-week time skip into the "Ruthless" chapter if you send him out once, are generally nice, and answer Argos using one of the first two options ("I didn't mean to hurt him" or "I didn't think I had a choice").  

> there is no neutral route currently

I don't know how well-developed the route is, but there's at least one conversation that's different from the "good" route when you hand him the bottle of wine (haven't played beyond that).  

I can only put one tag on this, but wanted to put "spoilers" as well, and maybe even "bug report".  

I'm on my third playthrough, exploring the various backgrounds/guests.  My first two playthroughs I was kind.  This time I decided to go for a "neutral" route, so I sent Asterion out to the valley once at the very beginning, and then was as kind to him as I could be after that.  

Then a "ruthless" chapter started, and (after an apparent one-week time skip) Luke and Kota were talking about how the MC had sent Asterion out to the valley "again", and was generally abusive, etc.  Excuse me?  No, that didn't happen.  

From what I can tell, I got the ruthless route due to giving a "bad" response when Argos asks why the MC sent Asterion out.  But I don't think the answer to that question (except for maybe the "I am a sadist" option) should be taken _by the game_ as the MC's true motivations.  Given what the MC knows about Argos at this point, it's reasonable to give an answer that the MC thinks Argos would accept, rather than a fully truthful one.  

So I do think it's a borderline narrative bug.  I sent Asterion out *once*, before either Luke or Kota arrived, and intended to never send him out again.  But because I tried to deceive a deceiver, suddenly the game ignored all of my actions toward Asterion since then, and skipped ahead to a time where I had sent him out multiple times in Luke and Kota's presence.  

OK, this seems to happen consistently if I choose a Harian character to start, but not if I choose a Figura.  Is anyone else seeing this behavior?  

oooh, interesting.  Thanks for the info, and the quick reply!  I'll wait...  ]:=8)~

"Immortality" is a strange concept to talk about when the afterlife is known to exist.  (Remember, Asterion isn't "alive", and hasn't been for thousands of years!)  

I think that immortality in the sense of *living* (in the real world) forever would be both unlikely, and problematic for a lot of reasons.  (Remember Asterion's backstory, and what happened when someone *else* wished for immortality....)  But given that there are many afterlives, it seems reasonable to hope that the MC and Asterion end up in the same (pleasant) one.  

It's plausible that this could be Hades--it's where Asterion should rightfully be.  Logically, since the MC has firsthand knowledge that the Olympian gods are real, has offered a sacrifice to them (at Argos's behest), and might plausibly take future actions that could be regarded as worship of at least *some* of them (e.g. actively participating with Asterion in a pre-meal offering to Hestia), it's entirely possible that the MC could end up there as well.  They could either go to the Asphodel Meadows, or the gods might decide that both the MC and Asterion took such heroic actions with the hotel to warrant Elysium.  

An alternative is that the Labyrinth itself is, in a very literal sense, Asterion's personal hell.  But we're not entirely sure what the power of the gods *with* the ichor is, and the extent to which *they* can break or creatively bend the contracts.  Maybe a majority of the Olympian gods could rewrite the laws of the realm to make it pleasant instead, and the MC and Asterion keep running the hotel forever.  

Hi devs, love the game.  Looking forward to more (of both this and Prowler)!  

I have a lore question (or two) and a future-content question.  

Lore question:  What exactly are the lekta (the auxiliary commander's race)?

I had thought of him as another dragon, with the "tokadi" (Grove and most-to-all of the other characters) and "lekta" (the auxiliary commander's people) essentially being different ethnicities of dragon.  But he refers to himself as a different species, and having different anatomy.

(Related:  Are the bandits dragons as well, or some other race such as lizards?  They don't have horns, whereas all the other dragons--and the lekta--do....).

Future-content question (possibly related to the aforementioned "different anatomy"):  Do you have any plans for consensual sexytimes for Grove?  

Yeah, I generally agree with all of your points.  There's certainly context to explain why he acts how he does--he's in a fraught state in general (recall that in the middle of all these events, he calls his father, who refuses to believe it and instead verbally abuses and basically disowns him).  Also, he doesn't really know what the MC is like or how the hotel is currently run--all he knows is that the last Master kicked everyone out violently.  So it's understandable that he acts alone to find the feather--he's hopeful about the hotel, but he doesn't have reason to trust the current hotel management, so better to rely on himself.  Then he sees what he believes is the same snake that prompted Clement's breakdown just casually wandering the hallways, and by the time he confronts Asterion, he's just Done With It All.  

Now, to be clear, I said that the context helps *explain* his behavior--it doesn't excuse it.  He's still responsible for his own actions (except perhaps when there's a smell of rotting flowers in the air...).  His actions are *understandable*, but that doesn't mean they're appropriate or justified.  

And that's fine--good, in fact, in a work of fiction.  A character can be capable of good (see: interactions with Oscar), but also be far from perfect.  And that makes them more interesting.  

(Re: point 1, I very much doubt Pedro knew that it was a shrine to Hermes--he just knew it was a creepy cavelike room in the sub-basement.)

Seems to be basically any sex interaction in both the downloaded version and the web version.  

Hi, 

First, I wanted to say that I am quite impressed with the game.  It isn't my usual style of game, but I downloaded it after seeing a number of recommendations, and I really like the writing style.  

In terms of feedback, there have been a few points that seem inconsistent in terms of either the plot/narrative.  Maybe these are things that have in-game explanations that I've missed (I've done two playthroughs, so I haven't seen everything), or are planned for more exploration in future builds, but they struck me as odd enough that I thought I'd mention them.  

• The biggest one is the revelation in Ch. 19 that the old man from the beginning is Poseidon.  I went back on my second playthrough and paid attention to the initial scene, and the dialogue and description seem to point to it being Clement.  While there are certainly some lines that would make sense for either of them (e.g. expressing regret at past actions), some seem to indicate Clement pretty strongly (spending summers in a vineyard, referring to being a child at one point, referring to "throwing away" the hotel, etc.).  
  • Theoretically it could be Poseidon pretending to be Clement, but...why would he do that?  It doesn't matter to the MC, who doesn't know Clement.  And if it's a manifestation of senility, then why would it specifically be Clement and not someone else?
  • There's also a *lack* of sea imagery in the description, which seems odd given the general writing style (especially with how much there is when describing Asterion).
  • Shouldn't Asterion know if Clement is alive?  He felt when Jean-Marie died, and says in Ch. 1 that he always knows who the current Master is.  Yet he is as surprised as anyone else to learn that Clement has been dead for months.

• The other part that seems inconsistent is Pedro's confusion in the music shop.  Admittedly, he is very drunk in this scene, which undoubtedly contributes--but still, while he (until now) hasn't been wealthy, he hasn't been absolutely dirt-poor like Oscar either.  He's held at least one decent, fairly stable job that probably had benefits like a retirement plan.  Yet he seems completely baffled by the very *concept* that being rich means that someone doesn't have to work.

So those were a couple of things I found confusing.  Overall, though, good work--I'm looking forward to the next build!  (Here's hoping that Kota manages to finally find Onsen....)

In a new game on v0.20.0, I go back to my quarters with my XO after the three tutorial battles, and instead of seeing my XO's status on the right, there are three boxes labeled "Test Name".  Upon leaving the scene, I'm stuck without options or usable buttons on the main screen (the same behavior as in the XO desk scene in the previous version).

Have you been able to put the same character into a combat slot before?  If not, make sure they have the "combatant" training.  If so, are they injured from a previous battle?  (There should be an icon in their status if so.)  In that case, they won't be able to fight until their injury heals.  

The equipped weapon matters for damage/reach, but shouldn't matter for whether or not you can place a character into a combat slot at all.

The gym is built through the R&D system--I think it's one of the default options that's available once you unlock R&D through story progression.  The way R&D works is that you don't choose something specific to work on initially, you just accumulate Tech, Contract, and Materials, and once you have enough you'll have the option to cash them in for an upgrade for the hotel.  The gym requires 20 Tech and 15 Materials (and 0 contract).  Tech is accumulated by assigning someone to R&D, and Materials are accumulated by assigning someone to exploration.  

Basically, once the R&D system is open, keep assigning people to both R&D and exploration, and after a number of in-game days you'll be prompted with the option.

Great, thanks for the replies!

Hi, 

I only recently found this and Carnal Coup, and have enjoyed them both.  Looking forward to updates!

I had a few questions and bits of feedback:

• Is it currently possible to fail a duty mission?  I usually try to keep the success percentage high, but I've succeeded in plenty of missions that are marked at 60% or lower, and can't remember ever having failed one.
• What sort of pregnancy content is currently in/planned for the future?  There seems to be groundwork laid with the Breeder trait and associated explanation, but I've only seen a single piece of dialogue in the intro that depends on it, and no relevant game text even when in "relations" with a compatible partner.
• Similarly, some of the sexual traits are described as enabling certain interactions/content.  I've mostly just seen this occasionally turn a 20% chance of hooking up with a crewmember into 40%, if we happen to have aligning fetishes.  Are there other places this is--or will be--used?
• I wanted to mention that I'm also seeing the same behavior as another commenter where there aren't any options after selecting bend over/get bent over with your XO.  This is both in the downloaded version and the version embedded on the page.
• Can there be a way to convert requisitions/points between career tracks?  The general requisitions can be frustrating when they give you an officer you don't need--and then if you turn that officer back in, you get back a req/points for that same career track, which doesn't help you fill the position you actually need to fill.
• I know the popup at the very beginning means there's still a lot of balancing to be done, but a number of the traits just seem...actively harmful, with little benefit.  Duty missions seem to be a big part of the game, so the penalties to the success of duty missions seem pretty rough.  (That's if I'm interpreting "success" correctly--see my first point.)
• Crew members frequently have stat blocks that don't really match their positions very well (e.g. Cultural crew with 0 Charisma) and/or traits that don't make sense (e.g. Wet and Ready on someone without a vagina).
• I'm not sure if it's just my current playthrough, but all of my officers are gaining career XP much faster than sexual XP--there are a lot of duty missions that grant the former and comparatively few that grant the latter, and the other ways of gaining sexual XP don't seem to make up the difference.  The 20% default chance of hooking up with them myself means I don't end up helping very much overall, the amount granted by the ship stations is small, and my XO can only do so much....
• Why can we only "wait" at our designated base in each system?  I frequently find myself traveling back and forth in a system simply to pass time.
• While the available options for one's own actions during sex generally make sense, a number of them seem to be unavailable when making a request in a number of poses.  (One example:  if you have a vagina and your partner has a penis, you can't ask them to penetrate you while in a missionary pose--even though you can make the same request in a cowgirl pose.)
• Miscellaneous UI-related things.  There's a mix of things in here, but several of them fall into the category of "things that feel just a little clunky on their own, but add up".  
  • I *think* there's already a UI difference between "enabled radio button" and "disabled radio button", but even specifically looking it's difficult to see.  Could this be made clearer?
  • It isn't always obvious when there's a story-relevant image available--I assume it's available under "View Scene Image", but that button is a little buggy to begin with, and it's enabled a lot of the time to show a background setting so just the fact that it's enabled doesn't clue the player in that there's a new (and/or particularly steamy) image available.
  • Can the crew overview screen devote less space to the search/filter, and more to showing more of the crew at once?  If streamlined a bit, you could include the XP and Seduce buttons here as well, eliminating the need to click through to the individual crewmembers.  
  • The battle commands are generally "add X% of attribute Y to a character's next action".  While there is a display of the attributes along with this, it would be handy if the game did the calculation and presented the result when choosing commands.  
  • I get that particularly for space battles it makes sense for there to be distance between the parties, but it would be very useful to see both your team *and* the other team at the same time.
  • In general there seem to be a lot of confirmation popups (e.g. when closing out of ship view, or when confirming that you want to progress travel).  I would personally not miss these if they went away.  

...wow, this ended up a *lot* longer than expected.  Hopefully you'll take it as a testament of how much I do in fact like the game, though.  :)

Seems to be because Khenbish doesn't have a "proud" set of poses defined.  (The game recovers fine if you just hit "Ignore".)

I'm sorry, but an uncaught exception occurred.
While running game code:
  File "game/script_build07.rpy", line 11193, in script
    $Khenbish.change("emotion", "proud")
  File "game/script_build07.rpy", line 11193, in <module>
    $Khenbish.change("emotion", "proud")
  File "game/characters_objects.rpy", line 840, in change
    self.resetFilenames()
  File "game/characters_objects.rpy", line 808, in resetFilenames
    self.bodyFilename = "images/Khenbish/body_" + self.pose + ".webp"
TypeError: coercing to Unicode: need string or buffer, NoneType found
-- Full Traceback ------------------------------------------------------------
Full traceback:
  File "game/script_build07.rpy", line 11193, in script
    $Khenbish.change("emotion", "proud")
  File "renpy/ast.py", line 922, in execute
    renpy.python.py_exec_bytecode(self.code.bytecode, self.hide, store=self.store)
  File "renpy/python.py", line 2218, in py_exec_bytecode
    exec(bytecode, globals, locals)
  File "game/script_build07.rpy", line 11193, in <module>
    $Khenbish.change("emotion", "proud")
  File "game/characters_objects.rpy", line 840, in change
    self.resetFilenames()
  File "game/characters_objects.rpy", line 808, in resetFilenames
    self.bodyFilename = "images/Khenbish/body_" + self.pose + ".webp"
TypeError: coercing to Unicode: need string or buffer, NoneType found

If you've beaten Avy in the Underground, you can buy them from the announcer there.

Tribbing with someone after fucking them (with "cum stealing" enabled in the options)?

Riding a dildo after filling it with your own fluids?

Mineshafts, same place as Alex.

4. Have more egalitarian dynamics I know this is a BDSM game but not every encounter and relationship needs to be dom/sub also having that be the resolution to some characters mental health issues is offensive at best but more importantly is a dangerous precedent to even mention.

This would be one of my major points of feedback as well.  I certainly enjoy the game, but have found myself frustrated by the lack of egalitarian choices, as well as how certain choices that might *seem* innocent immediately put the player into a hardcore dom/sub dynamic.  

The most obvious/grating (to me) example is Tavi.  I've read the "director's commentary" on the Tavi-intro scene, and yes, Tavi has issues in a lot of ways, but the reason I dislike her interaction *isn't* that you have to be her sub--it's the way that choice is presented.  

She first asks to be friends.  Great!  Then she talks about "loyalty"--which is a little weird, but hey, maybe she's been burned in the past.  But once you agree to be a loyal friend, suddenly she's under the impression that you're automatically her subby bitch, demands that you serve her and call her mistress, and gets violent if you don't.  What?!  

After that, there's no option to go back and talk about things like adults.  There's no possibility of mutual respect.  The only way to get more Tavi content is to "Apologize" (for what?!) and accede to her whims.  That's what grates on me--it's less about being her sub _per se_ and more about the facts that (1) this comes out of nowhere, (2) there's no chance to talk about the relationship in a reasonable manner, and (3) the game itself--by having the only reconciliatory option be "Apologize"--seems to indicate that it's the player, rather than Tavi, who has unreasonable views of what "friendship" and "loyalty" mean.  

Similarly, you can interact with Rahi and/or Jacky as a supportive friend would, and suddenly end up with them as your slave, and you as their master wondering what just happened.  

I will say I like the Alex storyline, precisely because it's *not* this.  You (eventually) get to have plenty of BDSM, but it's clear (sometimes even *overly* clear) that it's consensual and respectful.  

The keyboard inputs don't seem to be working in the newest Web version...

Have you unlocked those options for the characters you're trying to date? 

 (Click the character, go to Character Info, then Training and Rules (the heart/drumstick button).  A panel will open up with various training options that you can purchase using the character's Loyalty; one of the basic ones is Dating.  Sex-related trainings are on a separate page.)

Do you have any quests in progress from those factions?  If so, you likely need to complete (or fail?) them before they'll post more.  If not, yeah, sounds like a bug.  You might be able to hack the save file to recover, depending on what exactly the problem is.