Hello! I'm always curious to hear Bailey's opinions on all kinds of things 🫣
I was wondering what you think about this too, if you don't mind. When the PC has to choose between taking part in Avery's ritual to become Elk-scarred or sabotaging Avery's plan, which option do you think Bailey would prefer? My guess is that, since he hates Avery, he'd be pleased to see any of Avery's plans ruined.
But then again, since he also hates the whole town, maybe he'd actually prefer seeing it falling apart. Perhaps not saving it at all would satisfy Bailey too?
Hello! I hope you're having a good day, thank you for the ask.
I think Bailey is actually very anti-cult/anti-corruption and pretty obviously anti-Avery. There's some intersection here since Avery is part of the Cult of Auriga because of his ambitions. But for the most part, Bailey's hatred for both is separate.
This paragraph is purely speculative, but the cult and the corruption it brings likely had a hand to play in the fate of his crush and whatever happened in the loft. Bailey's hatred for Avery is even more fun for me to speculate on. Psychology-wise, people tend to hate people most similar to themselves and there's a lot of similarities between Bailey and Avery. The constant social climb, the endless and insatiable greed, the need to keep up appearances, the desperate clawing for power... but the similarity that I latch onto is that Avery is confirmed to have been disgraced from his rich family and kicked out from the fortune. He then spent the last decade in this town rebuilding his wealth. Bailey comes from old blood (House Bailiff, Bailey Mine) but grew up as a commoner/orphan. I like to think Bailey is either a bastard or that their family's wealth dried up and he is left stranded with a legacy that he picked up the mantle for. I like to think that Bailey and Avery clash where they are most similar and a lot of my characterization of Bailey is based off of Avery and how they two sides of the same coin on most matters. ANYWAY...
If you choose to get elk-scarred, you can tell Gwylan that you did it to spite Bailey, in which case Gwylan admonishes you because they thought you'd recognize there are bigger threats than Bailey. Or you can say it's because you want to spite the entire town, which makes Gwylan say you sound just like Bailey.
Choosing to get elk-scarred might make you similar to Bailey, but that doesn't mean he supports the decision. The Elk-scar causes the town to become more corrupt and allows Avery to become more powerful, which runs counterpoint to Bailey's goals. He doesn't want Avery to be more powerful, for sure. He also has protective wards on his apartment and at the orphanage youth ward entrance and these are intended to keep corruption out.
I think the ultimate choice is to sabotage the ritual and let Avery fall, leading to a less corrupt town and to the scene where Bailey smiles and burns down Avery's mansion within hours of their death. That is definitely the most satisfying ending for Bailey here.
