I think I should chime in here.
The story, or at least, the future tentacles to which this story may spawn, has changed several times over. This is a natural part of story telling, since it relies on who joins, who does not joins, who joins but leaves, what each person does, and so on. Flexibility and creativity is part of what makes us all the awesome roleplayers that we are.
However, regardless of how many times the story changes, especially in an open thread that is partially free for all, I think sticking to the actual story rather than to the end result is more important than anything. Yes, Shery might not be freed by the end of this thread, and that is fine. She might be freed, that is also fine. Either way though, I really want to stress that whichever of these two happens, it has to be plausible. I'm sure we all loath endings that happen with no actual reason, build up, or logic.
Keep roleplaying, people. You're doing awesome. Don't worry about the IC outcome
![Smile :) :)](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)