AW:DoR Final: Nest Egg

All right. No question that this is a final mission. I mean, where would they put Chapter 27? The third bonus map is in the only possible escape!

It's been a while since we had one of those.

This map is massive, and filled with properties. We won't have much in the way of time to claim them, though.

I mean... I think the most important question here is "do you have a control group?" What are you even doing here?

Anyway, let's have a talk about this place. This is the Nest, and oh boy is it a monstrosity.

And it's aimed directly at us.

AWDoR Chapter 25: We're Owl Exterminators!

When last we left our heroes, they were on board a plane that was crashing to the earth.

Not sure what we're going to be doing now, then.

If this title is any indication, running a hamster wheel.

The game is going to use this title for our location, but it's using a generic outdoor background, so I'm not sure I'm taking it at its word there.

Oh gods, who the fuck let these two talk to each other? If there's one person that cares even less about people than Caulder, it's the Mayor.

Not gonna lie, I'm totally cheering for Caulder here. Does that make me a bad person?

AW:DoR Chapter 24: The Value of Life

...Well, that is certainly a map preview. What the hell am I supposed to work with here?

One thing's for sure, this map is going to be the bomb.

Really picking up in the middle of conversation, are we? I suppose that is to be expected of Cyrus. Anyway, what we are talking about is what Isabella was like before we found her.

And that explains the "special interest" in the military. She was intended as less of a human and more of an advisor, using real facts and figures in order to shape what her advice would take. No wonder she wound up "better" at the job than Lin. She breathes the kind of intel she has to gather manually.

Will decides that Isabella now has a personality to call her own. Bold words, but certainly not ones without merit. She has expressed wants for herself- largely Will-centric ones, but wants nonetheless.

That's... basically Will's main goal here. And admittedly, it's a pretty important goal even if he were still commander. Just different reasons here.

Good question. Cyrus could just as easily be walking Will into a trap.

AWDoR Chapter 23: Will of the People

Ooh, this one looks like quite the involved naval map. Although, with that said...

I'm not entirely convinced I like that title.

So, the opening of this chapter is going to be spent unpacking the reveals we got at the end of the last, that might have otherwise appeared in a post-battle conversation that didn't happen.

Somewhat odd to not do so. They usually save this cloudy background for post-battle conversations.

Either a clone made from Caulder's genetic material or a donor's. Somebody had to give his clones the genetic material to take on female forms, or even just forms not identical to Caulder.

Morris is going to be spending some time discussing some of the semantics on clones here. Cloning is actually a subject that came up in the Wars World games, but the clones were very much tropey depictions used for reasons that could ignore the science.

AW:DOR Chapter 22: Commander of the Mysterons

Oh boy... if there was ever a map to say 'welcome to the final leg of the story', this is it.

IDS loves it some owl symbolism. And now we're about to get them in full force.

With Greyfield dead, Waylon not interested in fighting us, and no other obvious opponents to fight, Caulder is going to step up and be our antagonist directly. And that means it's time to become more familiar with these three characters, Tabitha, Cyrus, and Penny.

Given how they didn't name her in Chapter 6, I'm surprised Penny just unceremoniously gets a nametag now.

Caulder doesn't even call us by our name. Merely by how we performed. Say what you will about his opinion on the subject of impartiality, you can't deny he's actually doing the legwork to claim a valid position.

The funny thing about this is, Tabitha is not actually the opposing CO in the next map. She does participate in the plot, so Caulder isn't exactly going back on his word, but it is very funny nonetheless.

You know, somehow I get the feeling I'm not going to like this toy nearly as much.

AW:DoR Chapter 21: Weeding

Ooh, a Lin map! And it looks like we're playing naval units today.

...You know, taking another look at this map, I notice something: This is going to be a Fog of War map, as it happens, but the properties that begin the map pre-owned by the yellow faction are already coloured in yellow.

So, what is it that Lin's got cooked up for us today?

...Well, it seems we've got to spend some time with these two loathsome creatures before we can get into that. Very well, let's hear it.

At the very least, Greyfield is upset with Caulder. Hopefully one of them kills the other and simplifies things for us.

Well, that answers a few questions there. It seems that Dr. Caulder is playing the role of the NRA's Dr. Morris. Although given what we know of the man, I highly doubt Caulder's lack of success is credited to the difficulty of the task.

Greyfield's interest in a cure is founded in a pragmatism so far removed from conventional morality that he has managed to eschew pragmatism to avoid it. While executing the infected is, indeed, a method of containing Creeping Derangea (the same way that weeding maintains a garden), it is the only upside to the tactic, with several downsides I don't feel bear mentioning. I'm assuming, if you have a functioning brain, you can come up with a list with more items on it than Greyfield has medals on your own.