Lifeline 2: Bloodline

## Description

The Lifeline series continues to capture the imaginations of countless players worldwide with compelling real-time storytelling.

Lifeline 2 raises the bar with a new suspenseful story from Dave Justus almost twice as long as the original, with many more choices and paths to explore. Lifeline 2 features a 28-minute original soundtrack and is fully optimized for Android Wear, delivering the best Lifeline experience on Android Wear yet.

The second story in the Lifeline series connects you with Arika, a young woman on a deadly quest to avenge her parents and rescue her long-lost brother. Your choices will keep her alive and help her succeed as she faces mortal danger on her way to a final, fateful showdown against the forces that threaten all of humanity.

Lifeline stories play out in real-time. As Arika travels to complete her quest, notifications deliver new messages throughout your day. Keep up as they come in, or catch up later when you’re free. You can even respond to Arika directly from your Android Wear or your Android lock screen, without launching into the app on your phone.

After completing any story branch, you can rewind to earlier parts of the story, or speed through parts you’ve already read. See what happens when you make a different choice: will you guide Arika virtuously, or cut corners to gain an edge? Seemingly simple actions can deeply affect the outcome.

## Plot

(The previous game, Lifeline, can be found here)

Arika casts runes, Latin spells, and bloodletting to summon a connection with whom she initially thinks is Rand, her younger brother. She assumes he is talking to him through the Quintessence but finds out by being confronted by the player or through figuring out that she's not talking to Rand herself. She lets herself share her pain and strength as well as her science fiction and pop culture with the player and says that she is not a witch but a mage. She shows herself in the form of sarcasm, saying her parents died in front of her, opened Rand into the Quintessence and couldn't retrieve him, waited a decade to rescue her brother while learning magic in the Pacific Northwest, and is finally on her mission to do so.

Arika says that she grew up in New Tenacity, Washington, which was a small town very isolated by design and was an enclave of magic-users who sequestered themselves from the rest of society and where no one would bother them. However, one day, everything changed. The town was eventually destroyed by "them," her parents were killed, and her brother and herself were targets of "them." Arika says that she accidentally sent her brother into the Quintessence to protect him from "them," but after a decade, Arika is now coming to her hometown to fix her past, through thick and thin, whatever it takes. Arika says that there are three objects of intense, mystical power in the region from an unspecified area of Oregon to her hometown. The first place Arika says she needs to travel to is the Orphan Girl, located on the outskirts of Portland in a town called Happy Valley (yes, certainly an ironic name!). Arika describes having personally been raised in the same orphanage the Orphan Girl is located in once her parents died, and the orphanage was run by the Sisters of Mercy. Arika describes the orphanage as a Floodland due to the rundown conditions of water and mud building up from rainy weather. Arika says that Leila had something subtle about her that felt wrong, and it took time for Arika to notice the supernatural aspects to her. She seemed to possess arcane powers, and Arika describes her as a "mageless power," like having possession of raw power without the ability to focus or refine it. Leila eventually took control of the entire orphanage, and the orphanage has become something haunted. Arika suspects Leila somehow had access to the lost souls in the Quintessence. One day, Arika escaped the orphanage along with two other kids and wanted Leila to join, and even begged her, but even when Arika was eleven, she recalls Leila responding by saying to her while looking through her that "I can't leave, Arika. Floodland is where I belong. It's where I've always been. It's where I'll always be. And no matter how far or how fast you run... ... you will always be here, too." Leila turned around, and Leila walked into the shadows. Arika says she needs to go to the orphanage to retrieve a ribbon Leila possessed that she wore around her left arm and tied at her wrist. While Arika does not know much about the ribbon, she recognizes its strong magic. Arika then says that after getting the ribbon, she must retrieve a key later on, and both are necessary for each to fit with her plan.

Arika then asks which means she should travel, whether it's by instantaneous and painful teleportation magic in the realm of dark arts, hitchhike, or walk. If using blood magic, Arika mentions that her family and lineage practice blood magic, but it requires scars and mental tolls as well. Dark magic acts like karma, and the cost of excessive use can hurt loved ones as a result. When Arika finishes traveling, she mentions that she feels nauseous.

Arika travels to the Floodlands to get to the Orphanage possessing the ribbon. When she approaches the Orphanage, however, she starts having trouble approaching the Orphanage. Despite having trauma from the place, Arika says that she literally cannot enter, and she realizes that a spell has been cast upon her, swirling dead leaves and blowing them into her face, body, and lungs. Finally, the leaves in her lungs disperse, but Arika says that the remaining leaves are covering her almost entirely, including her pockets possessing her swiss-army knife or bloodletting knife that could help her pry the leaves off. These leaves also seem to have an effect of preventing her from speaking incantations as she says that attempting to cause her voice to dry up. Arika says that this sort of wizardry maybe not a spell but a manifestation of her inner desires, her wants, and whims. She says that it's like that statement Hamlet said, that "There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so," and Leila's thinking of bad thoughts makes the magic make them so. Anyway, Arika realizes that as she approaches the entrance of the Orphanage, the rocks, the decorative stones in the walkway, started to pull up off the ground from the mud to then float in midair to spell out the words: WELCOME HOME ARIKA. Arika then enters but discovers that she can go upstairs or downstairs. If going downstairs, then choosing the dining hall, Arika discovers the rotten leftovers of the dining hall and thousands of flies swarming over the discarded food including a plethora of mold, something Arika says looks like the backstage of a Marilyn Manson concert. Arika finds what she thought was rice is maggots and finds rodent footprints, only to then find small human footprints that stop abruptly. Arika suspects these footprints to be from Leila, who has powers, unlike anything she's seen so far, where she is able to float, a power Arika says is not the power of a mage. Arika leaves the dining hall to go to the great room, only to discover that the room is filled with unfinished toys and forms of entertainment, like old board games, knitting needles, coloring books, Mod Podge sets, Monopoly, a Jenga tower, and a game of Operation with Cavity Sam were still spread out, indicating that Leila was able to take control of the entire Orphanage and all of its people there evidently disappeared all at once. Arika then says she felt a pinch on her hand, which was resting on the light switch. Arika says that she was bitten by a spider, only to realize that the room with what she thought was paint was filled with millions of other spiders. While there also seems to be a single humongous spider controlling the rest of them, Arika decides to leave and says that she could control them via spells if only she could get the leaves preventing her from casting spells off.

Arika then goes upstairs. While going upstairs, on a grand staircase, Arika says that the staircase is redone but that the staircase is run down. Since Arika needs to cut sigils to perform a spell, the player advises using the broken staircase with its sharp edges to be used to pry Arika's leaves off her. Arika also says that she remembers that screws were placed all across a wall across the staircase, and when she spots them, she uses the screws to tear off the leaves and rid herself of the leaf binding. Arika then reaches the top and says that she goes to the study rooms. She sees the place of study almost as what could have inspired Pink Floyd's The Wall because it was set to such detail. Arika says that in the center of the room is a huge portrait of "The Big Guy," which is Andrew William Harvey Taylor, the founder of Floodland. He also apparently brought the Sisters of Mercy here as well as a bunch of orphans. While the room seems normal, Arika says that the portrait has everything it usually does except a gaping hole in the mouth of Mr. Taylor, making Taylor look like he is in pain. Other paintings of Saints located elsewhere are not damaged. Arika then goes to the boys' room, only to say that while the Saints surely prevented mingling between the sexes, the smell of sweat socks fills the room and that plenty of comic books ranging from Daredevil, and Doctor Strange, Master of the Mystic Arts were sold in a shadow-like market economy amongst the boys in that room. Arika notices that people in this room seemed to abandon it all at once. Arika then goes to her former girls' room but notices that there are portraits of dead women whose eyes are torn out. Arika says that, like the great room and boys' room, the girls' room has people abandon their belongings instantaneously as well. The player and Leila suggest a possible exodus as an explanation. Anyway, Arika says that she just had a memory of her special dart from her old room, lucky number 13. She was able to retrieve it and says that she was magically able to use darts when she was in the orphanage, but the Sisters put the darts away. However, Arika retrieved one dart left under a partially opened floorboard and says that she can use that dart against Leila.

Arika then goes to the nursery room to find Leila, floating with the blue ribbon on her left hand. Arika says that all of the furniture is slammed up against the walls, with crib slats splintered, mobiles broken, mirrors cracked, and the changing table split in two. Arika says Leila placed all of the eyes of the dead women portraits in the girls' room, that Leila is blindfolded, and that her mouth has Andrew William Harvey Taylor's mouth where Leila's mouth is. If Arika tries removing one of the eyes, she is attacked by Leila by being punched in the kidney. Arika has the idea to summon the millions of spiders from the great room and cast them to cover all of the dead women portraits' eyes to swarm the nursery room. Arika then uses the dart she has from where she found the floorboard and summons it to directly pierce Leila. Arika says that Leila soon after taking the blow fell to the ground and started to bleed a lot. When Arika tries to take Leila's ribbon off her, Arika notices that Leila appears to have been looking badly for a while, where her eyes are kind of sunken, her cheeks are gaunt and hollow, her hair is thinning, and her skin is cold to the touch. However, Leila's left hand, possessing the ribbon, feels normal and not pale and cold and clammy like the rest of Leila. Arika says that she can't untie the ribbon around Leila's left hand manually, and as soon as when Arika starts using the scissor feature of her swiss army knife, Arika is horrified as her left hand immediately separates from her body, as the ribbon seems to have been the only thing keeping Leila's body intact. However, when Arika tries reaching for the ribbon, Leila's former hand starts protecting the ribbon from Arika by attacking Arika. While she says that the hand is stronger than her, when Arika tries getting the ribbon one more time, the hand latches onto her arm and starts digging as if chewing onto Arika. Arika uses her swiss army knife to pierce it into the knuckles of Leila's hand. The hand starts screaming once stabbed and says that the hand got a little mouth on its palm, allowing the hand to scream. The mouth even has little baby teeth and everything. However, the mouth stopped screaming and said to Arika that she cannot kill the hand. The hand tries convincing Arika that Leila's body was insufficient for the hand, but that the hand, with its darkest rituals, could unite with Arika and join its powers to accomplish anything. The hand tries tapping into Arika's desires once the player says the cost is too high and says that the union of the hand can help Arika reach New Tenacity to destroy the Greens and open the Quintessence to find her long-lost brother. The player taps into Arika's reason and convinces her that the hand is too easy an approach, and upon thinking how to kill the hand, she summons the Fabula Dagger, the dagger used to summon the player and pierces it into the hand's little mouth and the hand pinned to the floorboard writhing around but trapped to the dagger. Arika then finds the ribbon and leaves the Orphanage. Upon doing so, she summons a spell that drags the entire Orphanage into the sea, almost like a funeral with a burial at sea. Arika says that all her memories there are of a building in Floodland will be gone from the Oregon earth. Arika then goes to sleep.

Arika wakes up and says that she cast a healing spell on herself to patch up her body. She says that her next stop is a lantern from the magical Curiosity Shop. While less dangerous than her quest for a ribbon, Arika says that this lantern has the magical ability to remain lit indefinitely and under any circumstance. If traveling via car, she finds a Nissan Quest and is able to hotwire it. Arika arrives at the shop and mentions that the owner of the Curiosity Shop is a known gambler, but she is unaware of how much one can use for the game to be influenced by magic. Arika enters and searches all around the shop for the specific lantern she is looking for. Finally asking the owner, and while there are plenty of other lanterns in the shop, the owner calls her bluff by knowing that she possesses power by entering the shop and knows which lantern Arika is looking for. It is only when Arika says her full name, Arika Lanphear, do Miles and Ratcliff know her parents and immediately her backstory. Upon knowing her childhood, they open up to her, and then they learn of her mission. The owner, Carter Miles, says that he and his assistant, Ratcliff, are familiar with all sorts of magic and countermagic casts but that he is willing to place a bet if she bets all or nothing for the Fabula dagger and the magical lantern, all or nothing in a game called Cho-Han Bakuchi. Miles says that it's a Japanese game popular with the yakuza. Basically, the game is two out of three, a dice is randomly altered in an even-numbered cup, and one person calls even or odd and both players have a 50-50 chance each per round. Arika is surprised that Miles has value for the Fabula dagger since Arika says that you can only use that dagger once, which she used to summon the player. Upon saying that the game is not rigged, Miles says that he typically wins all games with an exception of a couple of good luck. In this version, Arika loses by betting odds when the answers are even. Miles says tough luck and to take that lesson to heart, and Arika leaves with less than she had before. Arika then falls asleep in the spacious backseat of a purloined Nissan Quest.

Arika wakes up and says that her last quest before she encounters her old town again is to gain a key from the Timeless Monks. She says that there's a lot of legends about them, but from what she's heard, they are able to mess with time. Being a mage, she along with the monks are Latin based (to cast spells, of course). Arika says their actual name is Ordo Fratrum Artificis Temporis or the Order of the Brotherhood of the Architect of Time. Arika says that she needs that key from them because that's how magic works: the ribbon with the key would open the portal to the Quintessence. Arika says that no news has been said about the monks, so they might be dead by this point. She also says that the leader of the monks is named Clepsydra, who brought them over from the Old World. Arika drives the former Nissan Quest but runs out of fuel. She attempts to hitchhike and encounters a driver willing to pick her up: a woman hippy-dressed with too much jewelry, blasting Veruca Salt, and is around 20. However, she turns out to be part of the green, Arika walks there or uses magic.

Arika, once she arrives at the Monks, says that the entrance to the place is gated. Finally using a spell to open the gate, she walks a half-mile farther to find some trees, some stone, and a building, perhaps a monastery. Being hungry, the player advises Arika to eat one of those trees, which is an apple orchard tree covered in weeds. There is a worm in her apple- half a worm in her apple, meaning that she ate half of the worm when eating the apple. Anyway, Arika reaches the monastery which turns out to look like a medieval Gothic abbey. She says that it looks thousands of years old despite it being built in the year 1972. She says that the Gothic building has a tower with a big clock in it around 100 feet tall. She enters the building, and while talking regularly, has a pause in her voice in an awkward position. Things get slow on the player's end but not on Arika's end, and Arika realizes that the Timeless Monks are still around and are capable of altering time. Arika says that the entrance hall to the abbey is something she believes is a narthex, and asks the player to google that word to be correct, which she is correct in doing so. A narthex is an antechamber or large porch in a church. Arika gets specific and says that the narthex looks like a big stone hall with some columns and arches over a trio of doors on the far side. In addition, the main church is called the nave. However, images of cogs and gears are everywhere in the masonry detail work. Arika describes it as flitting. Arika says that in the nave, there are around three hundred cuckoo clocks in there. She says that the clocks themselves are unique and that three doors go beyond the nave. Upon choosing the covered walkway deal, the covered walkway, or cloister, looks over a grassy open square area or garth. Upon climbing the cloister, Arika notices a destroyed tower that perished a long time ago with stones being its wreckage. Arika climbs the stones more, although she says that the rocks are slippery. She also suspects a big tree stump by her as being over 100 years old despite the place around her being built in the year 1972. She concludes that the building predates 300 years, which was before European colonists even came by this region by the Pacific Coast.

Suddenly, a man in a long brown robe appears on the stump in front of her, which almost makes her fall. She connects his voice to the connection between Arika and the player. The monk says that Arika is searching about time and that magic is a useless word. The monk knows Arika by her full name and that the monk says that he only believes that the Universe operates in celestial clockwork, like the music of the spheres, like a cog in a mechanism, as the monks themselves are. Upon asking more questions, the monk instantly disappears. Arika climbs some more and finds a room called the refectory or kitchen. Arika does not find much but finds baby food in the cabinet. She finds it strange but takes some with her as she herself might need it due to her lack of food and wealth at this moment. Another monk appears, saying that Arika possesses a hidden power, and Arika again critiques the monks for not calling that power magic, to which the monks reply saying that magic is a meaningless term and a null set. The monks offer her into their project. Arika says that she doesn't have the Fabula dagger so can't attack the monk. Arika approaches the monastery past the refectory and in mid-sentence "The hallway goes on forever and ever," Arika notices that time wasn't working quite right and the player informs Arika that 5 hours passed by. Arika finds the dorter or bedroom of the monks in the monastery and says that these beds are modern despite everywhere else appearing older. Arika also says that she has some claustrophobia and that in this passageway after the dorter, clerestory windows narrowly pass her by. Arika reaches a T-junction from the dorter to the chapterhouse. Upon choosing one path, she finds a monk at the end of the hallway making a twisting motion, and she feels sick inside, it's like warping and wefting, but sideways. Arika gets back in time to find that she was where she just entered the T-junction. She chooses another path to find the same thing. And again. It is only when Arika suggests doing the same path twice as from the Doctor Who episode The Armageddon Factor. Arika does this and gets back on track to the chapterhouse. Finally, a monk approaches in a shining light and says that the monk looks normal to her surprise and says that he just lacks hair on his head after shaving. She says that his eyes, however, are cold, utterly cold, and devoid of emotion, and with a black iris. The monks ask her to climb the staircase for her to seek her quest and to climb the staircase and that they will not stop her yet from what she's doing. He says that Clepsydra, the leader of the monks, lives where she is heading, where he did his work. The monk disappears, and Arika has some baby food to gain some energy for the possible spelling of a cast. Finally, Arika reaches the big clock on the tower. She says that there are a dozen monks, one for each hour. She says that all monks look the same, and Arika grabs her swiss-army knife, waiting for what she'll do next. Arika starts to spell-cast, but something happens where the monks appear scared. They leaped for her, but Arika's spellcasting prevented them from reaching her. Arika says that she asked in her spell to be able to move really fast, where having to move one step is in reality ten feet. The monks look and come for her in slow motion. Arika then grabs the keys, However, Arika trips and falls right into the clock mechanism on the tower and gets hurt badly. As she is about to get hurt by the monks, Arika reaches for her key and a hand appears from nowhere and takes the key. The hand was human-like in iridescent light. Arika could barely hear or see what went on. A voice said "Back in two shakes, Arika," and it took the key and vanished. Both Arika and the monks are totally surprised, but then the hand came back even quicker and said "Here you go, be careful with this" in yet the same distorted voice and passed her the key. This happens apparently in just three seconds. Now that she has the key, the monks are mad and Arika makes a break exiting the building. She finally escapes and finds a place to rest.

Arika then plans on an attempt to have a dine-and-dash situation at a place she went to with family at a restaurant described as this greasy spoon in Battle Ground with great burgers. Upon spellcasting to get there, she happens to see her and her parent's favorite waitress, Maxine. Maxine recognizes her immediately and says that Arika looks very unhealthy. Maxine personally thought Arika was dead, so she gave Arika a proper meal and asked for her to pay later, once Arika gets her act together again. Arika then has to travel to New Tenacity, and possibly chooses to walk there, and does so with her morning workout playlist.

Finally, Arika is 200 yards from New Tenacity. However, Arika finally lays out the details of what happened at New Tenacity as she left. She mentions that her old hometown became corrupted. Among a population of 300 people in that town, it was initially perfect, according to Arika. Now, New Tenacity is of the darkest of dark magic. One day, a new family of a young couple and baby of novice mages without much experience in magic arrived. They called themselves the Green. The Greens acted normal, but she figured out that the Greens were not human beings far too late. She isn't exactly sure what the Green exactly are, but the Green spread themselves throughout the town slowly but surely across the entire town. Everything initially seemed normal but people became suspicious of the Greens, but once they arrived, the townspeople changed as if they were infected somehow. Scars were around people's mouths. Peoples' eyes started to become green, including possibly their mouth scars. One day, New Tenacity was finally gone. Arika and her family weren't infected, but the town of its 300 townsmen composed of mages marched to her family's home. The town itself, the trees, the vegetation, and the wood was also possessed and approaching her home. It was screaming and swallowed up the outskirts of New Tenacity. Men, women, and children were screaming and possessing green eyes. The people spoke in one voice and the family the Green with its young couple and the young child began to merge and meld together into a single thing. Arika says that she, being more than ten years younger than she is now, along with her brother, left as demanded by their father to escape the single creature with six eyes, six mouths, six arms, now clawing them. The Green laid out four green bioluminescent creatures. Arika believes that's how the creature infected, one parasite per person, and four of those creatures for each of the four members of Lanphear's family. Arika's mother used an obfuscation spell to protect the creature from them and the father made a net to try to capture the creature. Arika heard her parents back in the room screaming and scared as the whole town went closing on them. A sea of green took control of the place, and Arika used dark power to try to protect Rand, but it backfired. Arika got distracted when her home burst, the Green creature came seeping out of it carrying her parents like a trophy with beaten, bloody bodies. They were still conscious, and Arika, in a state of panic, tried protecting her brother by sending him into the Quintessence, although temporary until Arika snapped him into the Quintessence. Once Rand was shut in the Quintessence, the green creature tore her parent's body in half. All Arika had was her swiss army knife, which she got from a Christmas present earlier. Arika warped and fled the monster, returning back today to defeat the creature and rescue her brother. Arika then saved up for months for the Fabula dagger from an ancient woman, a hundred-year-old mage who promised to tear a hole in the world to connect with a person she needed to talk to most. Arika thought it was Rand, but it was the player. Arika was originally dismayed that the old witch lied to her, but realizes that the player was indeed the person Arika needed to contact the most.

Arika finally enters New Tenacity to hear the voice of the Green, who recognizes that this is Arika Lanphear. The voice, coming from everywhere in the town, says that they intend to make her disappear like her brother and parents. Both the Green and Arika threaten each other, and the Green takes blows and Arika summons some spells. The Green also criticizes the notion of magic which the Green seems to not be bothered by. In the middle of this fight, a portal comes out of nowhere. Arika thinks this is Rand, but it is actually Carter Miles from the Curiosity Shop. He says that the Fabula Dagger nudged him and that he and Ratcliff chatted and determined that she can have the lantern since she will put it to good use, especially after everything Arika went through in her family. And he sends the lantern through the portal. Arika is very grateful and says that she'll hang around with them after her fight against the Green, and Carter says that he would be looking forward to it. Now with the lantern with indefinite fire, she sets it off and casts a spell to dry the entire air so all the Green and New Tenacity burns to the ground. Arika says that as the Green was dying, it kept saying that "Magic is a lie" over and over again. But now the Green is dead and it is time for Arika to meet her brother. She traces her steps and finds where her brother was cast through the portal. Now, the ribbon and key are threading through each other and glowing. The feeling Arika says is magical. The player says it sounds beautiful, and she says it is. She can't stop crying and says that no matter what happens, she wants to thank the player for everything in the past few days. Arika finally casts a spell and says that the brightest light she's ever seen is shining in front of her and that there are faces in the distance through a fog. She can't count them all, but she says that she recognizes them. A hand reaches out, along with a voice. A voice she says she hasn't heard in ten long, long years. It's Rand. Rand asks Arika to join him, as he has so much to show her. He's waited such a long time. Arika apologizes to Rand saying sorry it took so long and tells the player that she has to go. She is certain to do so, without a single question in her mind to do otherwise. She says goodbye to the player, but she suspects, just possibly, she will see the player again soon.

(The next game, Lifeline: Silent Night, can be found here)

## Characters

### Arika Lanphear

Pronounced ARR-uh-kuh even though many people just call her Erica, she is a mage on a mission to save her younger brother by traveling to a desolate land, where she must collect magical objects that can be used to defeat the evil creatures possessing that desolate land.

### Rand Lamphnear

The younger brother of Arika, Rand is trapped in a place called the Quintessence, and can only escape with the help of her sister.

### The Orphan Girl

The girl whose actual name is Leila Grace is described by Arika as creepy and surprisingly powerful. Possesses a blue ribbon that is believed to be of immense magical power.

### The Magic Shop Owner

Owner of a pawn shop, whose name is Carter Miles, the magical Curiosity Shop Owner offers some magical devices as a means for customers to purchase them. However, the owner is a well-known gambler and is said to be willing to win most games.

### The Magic Shop Owner's Assistant

A big, pierced man, whose name is Ratliff, assists the Curiosity Owner over possessions of the pawnshop.

### Jareth and Naomi Lanphear

Parents of Arika and Rand Lanphear, who Arika says died in New Tenacity.

### The Timeless Monks

Mysterious monks whose legend is that they are somehow in control of time and that they offer a key as a means to the Quintessence.

### Clepsydra

Leader of the Timeless Monks who brought the monks from the Old World.

### The Waitress

The waitress, Maxine, is a friend of Arika and of her parents, and she offers her some food for Arika's mission.

### The Green

Seen twice in the game, one portrayed as a female hippy who is seen offering Arika means to hitchhike, and the second one is a portrayed "rat-king" that captures the town of New Tenacity.

## Music

Here is a link to Lifeline 2's soundtrack can be found here.