The Bombing

Steps

1. The explosion

The even will happen during on morning early on the 3rd third of the game, after the player is able to create a file on their own.

One morning during the daily morning meeting, an explosion (camera shaking, sound, flash) will happen, interrupting Mr Jameson in what he was presenting at the time.

Lots of discussion will happen until Jameson will get an incoming phone call to which he will answer. After he few seconds, he will hang up and tell everyone that it was a terrorist attack and that everyone needs to evacuate for the day.

2. Meeting at the bar

Everybody:

• Maho
• Emil
• Zahirah
• Mr Jameson
• And the player

will meet at the bar. The Barman will ask if everyone is here due to the explosion, then will let them sit.

The conversation will be like this:

• What happened ?
• Now what ?
• This is the first time we get to drink with you, Mr Jameson, that’s nice
• Then a few questions about his personal life will be asked, and he will answer all while being a bit annoyed. Note: he is annoyed he is trapped there and it doesn’t give him much choice but to “entertain” the colleagues. But he doesn’t mind answering questions since it’s outside of the office’s scope. He will tell this himself when asked.
• After a while, Jameson will receive another phone call, shorter that the previous one. Once he hangs up, he will say that the situation has been handled, and that we are free to return to the office. Before adding “Or you could go back home and come tomorrow morning”.
• Then he will warn that the police will ask question tomorrow, so to not be surprise to see people in uniform in the office when they’ll come

3. Back home

Once at home, the player will be able to see through the news headlines what happened. Basically, a group of complotists managed to bomb one of Pythia’s board members car, and it is rumored to be the last heir Pierce. Those very rumors are also accusing P&S Technologies to have organize this terrorist action, but there’s absolutely no proof of anything.

At this point, the player can go through the “dark” forum to get more infos about Pythia’s history.

4. The day after

When the player will commute to work, some smoke will be visible from the train’s windows.

Once arrived, 2 policemen will talk to the character, and basically ask them their name.

Maho and Emil will intervene, Maho saying to back off, because the character is mute, and Emil give the character’s name to the policemen, and saying that everyone in this office was together before, during and after the explosion, so they’re basically loosing their time. The policemen will thank Emil then go away.

The next morning meeting will happen without problem, and Jameson will make a job about hoping not being interrupted this time.

After the meeting, Jameson will come and talk to the character at their desk. He will say that he has a special mission for our character, something he’d do on his own if he had the bandwith, but the explosion made the Government create tons of requests that are all more urgent than the other.

He will say that our character needs to create a set of files to handle what happen: investigate, send workers fix whatever was broken on the explosion site, define a cost, everything I’d see fit. He will also tell the character that he trusts their jugement.

5. The file

Due to the fact that the event appeared in every possible news channel, there are tons of infos to see, filter and handpick. The player will be flooded with data, too much to fit the left part of the software’s slots, so they need to be cautious on what info to pick in order not to miss anything.

There are 3 possible ways to complete this living thread:

• Don’t see the report about toxic liquids and don’t provide adapted gear: triggers The Fired path. No matter if they are following the Empty or Empathic path. Too much is at stake to make an error like this, and Pythia Solutions will have no difficulty defusing the situation by publicly saying the player is responsible.
• Provide adapted gear regardless of if the report was seen or not: the character is safe and will continue on the Empty Path
• Sabotage available, saw the toxic liquids report and didn’t provide adapted gear: the character is safe ans will continue on the Empathic Path.

Note: the deadline for this is extremely short: 15:00 while the file request is being sent at 10:00.

Following the Empty Path

• The player spotted the toxic liquid report, acted accordingly, and submitted the file before the deadline
• The next day, the workers will pass a message to thank the character’s office for the support, and that everything went well
• About 2 days later , the news will say that everything, terrorists included, have been handled
• This marks the end of the living thread

Following the Empathic path

• The player spotted the toxic liquid, didn’t include the adapted equipment and submitted the file before the deadline
• The day after, the workers will send a message saying that one of them almost died due to the toxic liquids, and that such incompetence will not be forgotten. Jameson will convoke the character to his office in order to understand what happened. While he will look like he is about to fire you, he will download your file as well as all the related documents to see what you saw. He will be shocked by how many files there are. What follows is basically him trying to reproduce the file the player did, and taking a lot of time to do so. This will probably include a transition with him finally getting it done, and realizing that they were bound to fail (according to him). He then will tell you to go back to work, with no more comments.
• The next day, the workers’ anger make the news, putting Pythia Solutions in a very bad light. Various coworkers will ask the character if they’re ok, and will read the answer on their face (spoiler: about to puke). During the morning meeting, Jameson’s phone will ring, and the Government will be on the other side of the phone. Jameson will openly take the character’s defense, saying that they had no right asking his department to take actions with so little time an so many documents to read back to back in order to get things done correctly. He will repeat again and again that sending so many documents and expect perfect results in such a chaotic situation is a “you” problem.
• He will end up hang up on the speaker’s face, and tell everybody to leave the room, the character included.
• During the following days, the colleagues will debrief over this at the bar, and the news headlines will end up dying down on their own after several days
• This marks the end of the living thread

Reward

Following the Empty Path

Since Pythia Solutions has proven once more that they are reliable in a Partnership stronger than ever, finishing this living thread will trigger the Empty Path ending, provided Pythia’s health is nearing 200. In any case, Pythia’s internal health with greatly improve

Following the Empathic Path

If this is the last active living thread, Maho’s already being resolved, then this will trigger the Empathic Path ending, provided Pythia Solution’s health is low enough. In any case, Pythia’s internal will take a big dent.