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Malevolent: Chapter 212 [POLL] (Patreon)

Published:
2024-05-09 11:00:05
Imported:
2026-06
Tags:

Poll

Malevolent: Chapter 212 [POLL]

  • Give Up the Talisman 72
  • Hold Out Longer 306
  • 2024-05-06
  • 378 votes
{'title': 'Malevolent: Chapter 212 [POLL]', 'choices': [{'text': 'Give Up the Talisman', 'votes': 72}, {'text': 'Hold Out Longer', 'votes': 306}], 'closes_at': None, 'created_at': datetime.datetime(2024, 5, 6, 21, 10, 41, tzinfo=datetime.timezone.utc), 'description': None, 'allow_multiple': False, 'total_votes': 378}

Comments

Heather Bruce

Having little to no agency in this situation is making me crabby. She can find it her own self. "He'll kill me if I do, he'll kill me if I don't." (Anyone else know the Stinky Cheeseman and Other Fairly Stupid Tales? Anyway). It's in her house and I don't feel like helping her when she's gonna screw us anyway.

Hyde, World’s Best Shoggoth

That woman is absolutely not letting us go just because we give her the talisman, she’s dead set on turning Artie into an incubator. The only reason she didn’t yet, is because she needs the talisman’s location. That’s our only bargaining chip, we can’tjust give it up!

bones.mt

I’m going with the idea that if we don’t tell her and Yorick snitches then she’s not gonna like that and we’re gonna be in an even worse situation, so if WE tell the truth, Yorick can’t snitch lmao

Gareth Bradshaw

Hold out, it's our only bargaining chip and we need a way out.

GigiD

Hold out a little longer— maybe John could strike a deal?

Red

Hold out! It's the only leverage John has right now, and bargaining with her is really the only feasible option right now.

PinchOfpeppers

Hi everyone! I don’t post often in poll chat but I’m feeling very passionate on why we should keep the talisman’s location hidden. The context of the hag and John’s discussion BEFORE demanding the talisman is very important. `Though the bugs had all but eaten my flesh, she allowed them to give me life. And in return, I give them life back. Humanity… as you so proudly proclaim a blessing, is a curse to the living. And a blight on this world. Now. Where is it? Where is my talisman?’ (To quote her exactly) She says that humanity is a blight and curse on the land. THEN she demands the talisman location. I feel like with that additional context reflects John’s assent or dissent on their argument of humanity. Give the talisman: yes I agree that humanity is a blight Keep the talisman: no, I will continue to fight for humanity Lastly, the talisman is our only remaining bargaining chip. I don’t see it in the hag’s heart to just… let Arthur and John go once she gets it back. It seems like a categorically bad idea to give her the talisman.

Jeanette

It’s literally: Give Up Hold out longer Never what! Never Give Up! So we gotta hold out longer!

DuckDuckDuck

I would instantly vote hold out longer, but doesn’t Yorick know where we put the talisman? If we choose to withhold the location, would he just tell her? I don’t really know and want to be convinced to hold out!

Nicky
>>137525493

So far Yorick has stopped talking as soon as John tells him to. Also, we have no control over what happens after the choice/how it plays out, just the path chosen. The hag used the talisman on Prince, and it seems she needs it for her plans for Arthur. I see no reason to just hand it over. Do we want to see John acquiece to her demands (and opinion that hunanity is a blight to be purged)? Or do we want to see John fight for Arthur (and humanity) with ever fiber, even if it’s futile? He has tended to give up pretty easily before, but he’s deciding who he wants to be in this moment.

Nicky
>>137525493

Also, we couldn’t hear John’s side of the conversation with Yorick at first… he seemed to be working on a plan when the hag’s spell to make him audible took effect. Just like in the finale where there were plans we didn’t know about until they kicked off, there could be some planning / scheming between John and Yorick (the nature of that “Yes” 👀) that is yet to come to fruition

Liz

All right. Let's begin with what we know. Firstly, let me preface this by stating that Harlan has made clear that tries to make sure that all of his characters have motivations that we can determine and understand, and that what they're likely to do, or mean to do, is possible to understand from what they've said and done so far. If you need proof of that, you can refer either to the Season 4 Q&A where I believe that he discusses this with Ren, or you can go back to the time before Harlan-and-Jo poll chat's creation, where he intervened in the vote about whether to leave Scratch's stone with Oscar or to take it with us, by asking about what each of the character's involved wanted and what we knew - for a fact - about the situation, rather than going too deeply into speculation or assumptions. So, keeping that very good (and not necessarily Harlan-specific) advice in mind, what do we know about the situation in which we find ourselves? 1) We know that the talisman is currently hidden behind a loose brick somewhere in the Hag's labyrinth. 2) The Hag knows very little about Great Old Ones and their powers, and is unimpressed with the example that is trapped in human flesh before her. 3) The Hag was once a human infant that was transformed into what she is now, and she is bitter toward humans for how she was abandoned as a child. 4) The Hag has been given a fairly accurate rundown of the items in Arthur's bag and how they function, including the Glass of Leng, and had experienced how the Pallid Mask works. 5) We know that there is actually a Castle nearby where people worship entities similar to the King in Yellow. 6) Arthur is currently placed on the Hag's workbench, where she also keeps her spell ingredients. 7) The Hag has expressed her very firm commitment to the idea that all of Arthur's things are now hers, and that Arthur will be used to incubate more of her maggots. We've been asked where the talisman is, and John now has the option of telling her, or not. Given the conversation we've just had with the Hag, we know she is not a fan of humanity, nor does she agree with John's decision to see himself as human, or attempt to emulate the best aspects of humanity. She is firm in her belief that humanity is worthless and harmful, and in her decision to make use of Arthur as a flesh-incubator. It's equally clear from this conversation, the fact that she hasn't made that conversion yet, and what we know from previous chapters (regarding Yorick's recollection of how the Prince was turned into a flesh incubator), that the only reason she has not yet converted Arthur into a replacement for the Prince is that she does not currently have access to her talisman, which is clearly required in some way. We've been repeatedly told that the Hag is far more clever than either Arthur or John. However, we were also told that the decision to hide the talisman was ingenious by Yorick. With just this set of information, it already seems that the talisman remaining hidden and away from the Hag is a benefit to Arthur and John. Although I'm far from confident that it's possible for that to be a permanent situation, I'm already hesitant to freely give away its location. So, given that the Hag wants the talisman back and there are three potential beings that would know where it is... what happens now? There are only three options for getting someone to tell her where the talisman is. Arthur is unable to answer, John can refuse to answer, if we so wish, and Yorick is a wildcard. So, let's presume that we choose to have John refuse to answer. What can she do? She can continue to negotiate with John. She can threaten John and Arthur. She can ask Yorick. She can do something that would bring Arthur back to consciousness to have him answer the question. Or she could consult the Glass of Leng. So. If you're very clever, and you want to just conclude this nonsense as quickly as possible, and would rather not converse with a rotten human, or an annoying god fragment? What would you do? That leaves Yorick or the Glass. The Hag has had the opportunity to notice that Yorick does defer to John's insistence that he shut up. Does she trust him? Or would she assume that he might mislead her, or refuse to answer if John tells him to shut up? The Glass can't be commanded to show something other than what it will show. So. Wouldn't she look through that and just see for herself where it suggests that she go to find her talisman? And how long would it take for her to figure out what part of her labryinth it is showing? Once she gets there, how long will it take for her to determine which brick it is hidden behind. To my mind, refusing to tell her where it is will buy us a fair amount of time. To do what, though? -- Before we immediately despair that there is nothing for John to do, let's review once more what we have at hand: 1) John has the ability to project. 2) John has many additional abilities he may not be aware of. 3) Yorick is close at hand and knows many things that John does not, or has forgotten. 4) John and Arthur are laid out on a table with all manner of spell ingredients, and potentially a hatchet. 5) John was clearly asking questions and exploring options with Yorick that we were not privy to in the previous chapter. Now what all of these things might mean is impossible to predict. I do not have the ability to guess what Harlan is going to do. What I do know is that he could use any or all of these things to create a solution to the problem at hand. If we're operating in a D&D-esque universe, the spell ingredients might be able to be used to create something along the lines of a healing potion. Alternatively, perhaps Yorick can inform John of some useful ability that John is unaware of, if John asks the correct question. Perhaps whatever John was asking Yorick about Yorick's ability to possess fresh bodies might be brought into play. Given that we've shown the Hag that we've seemingly got nothing up our sleeves, given how quickly John caved to all of her questions thus far, do we think she'd assume that we can do anything much if she were to leave us unattended while she searches for her talisman? That we're being anything other than stupidly overprotective of nothing more than a useless sack of meat? And if we can convince her to leave, (especially if it seems like it's entirely her own cleverness to notice that we stupidly told her what the Glass of Leng does that permitted her to get one over on us) and buy ourselves enough time, what might Harlan do with all that freedom to allow John and Yorick at act? (And if there's one thing that Dani's mom's insight has always seemed to indicate, the option with the most freedom is the writer's favorite.) Additionally, we can draw on precedent of previous votes to consider similar circumstances. We can be reasonably sure that the decisions that resulted in us getting stabbed by Kellin were not the most ideal choices. And those choices seemed to have been made out of potentially misguided over-cautiousness, that appeasement and compliance with a dangerous individual would keep him from harming us, and instead resulted in being brought to an increasingly dangerous situation, where he was going to do something terrible to us regardless of how well we appeased him. A more recent example would have been "Go willingly" or "Go unwillingly" where - on the surface - appeasing Larson seemed like the only option that would prevent Arthur and Noel from being hurt or killed. Then as now, we forgot (or didn't deeply consider) that Harlan was keeping secrets from us. Then by use of a time skip in which the Butcher had been recruited, and here in John's unheard dialogue during the previous chapter (which could have a plan that we don't know about). A final parting thought: The thing that is my sticking point is if we do give up the location of the talisman, how does that NOT end in her immediately going and fetching it and very quickly returning (at full power), with the intention of turning Arthur into a bug incubator?

SavageIvyy

I think others have done a better job describing why not telling her is the best option. So I'm just going to leave it at 'I'm feeling spicy and she can find it her own damn self'

DuckDuckDuck
>>137525493

Good enough! Voting to hold out. The character arc reasons are reason enough, and also it's better to give John a small fighting chance than almost no chance at all. Also, John and Yorick scheming would be a lovely reveal if that were in fact the case!

Nicky
>>137525493

I have a certain level/type of faith in that funky lil skull guy 💀

Nicky
>>137532844

I’m not sure which side this is directed to, but I think most of us, regardless of stance on the voting choices, do not, in fact, want him dead

Nicky
>>137516763

We have no guarantee what Yorick or anyone else might do. This vote isn’t about them or what they do, it’s about John.

SavageIvyy
>>137532844

Assuming you're talking to the majority vote here, nah we don't want him dead. Things aren't promising either way and it doesn't make sense to give up. We need bargaining chips in our hand and to not just give them away. If we're donezo here either way I'd rather go down kicking and screaming

Positive

Nuh uh, lady, first stabilise John's emotional support loser you just stabbed, and then we'll talk.

Aebriel

I learned my lesson with the 'keep the stone/leave the stone with Oscar' vote, and with the 'go willingly/do not go willingly' vote, we are not going to just hand that talisman over and make things easier for her to hurt/kill Arthur.

PrettyBoyDevito

guys PLEASE reconsider your vote. if we don't tell her where her talisman is she's either gonna start hurting arthur to get john to tell her or she's just gonna use the glass of leng to see where it is!!!!!!! the boys are in a very, very vulnerable position and the witch is clearly not impressed by john and will have no problem doing whatever it takes to get her thing back.

SavageIvyy
>>137544586

As far as we can tell she needs A: Arthur alive, and B: the talisman to do anything. Or she wouldn't have wasted time. Unless she can distinguish one of many identical walls shell at least be gone for a while. I'm not giving up and bending over to give the worms an easier route in

PrettyBoyDevito
>>137544586

she may not kill arthur, but she is definitely not above hurting him. perhaps if she decides to search for her talisman, it would A)not get her any angrier with us (she already thinks humanity is a pox and that john is nothing) or B)while she's searching it could give us a moment to gather our bearings (and like you said, all the walls look the same so it could take her a while). idk i'm just worried that being difficult with her right now will only lead to punishment. she has all the power in this situation.

PrettyBoyDevito
>>137544586

i see where you're coming from. i feel, however, that if we don't play along with her, she will hurt us. arthur is so vulnerable right now and already hurt. i think the best thing for john to do right now is keep a level head. but this is just how i see the situation.

Isi

Yeah since when has willingly doing what an aggressor wants EVER gone well in this podcast? That was my stance in the do not go willingly vote in part 40, and it remains my stance now. John doesn't owe her shit; she's not going to suddenly decide to not follow through on filling Arthur with bugs just because we deigned to give in to her demands without a fuss.

Rook

Lol I'm so glad most people have agreed that we should be petty little shits and not tell her. We're probably screwed either way but making it more of a hassle for her at least gets us some gratification before we become worm food.