2/4 Alison 2014/07/04(Fri)14:12 No. 582829 ID: d470e9
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>"There's two hundred of us in four brackets, and 1/4 of us will move on to the next. The other brackets didn't have as many allies, but the corruptor did have a bunch of Devotees, which of course resurrected the big guys. Swordsbane, Obliterator, and much of their team is around, as are a whole bunch of devotees even from foreign brackets. Oh, and I passed Mathematician on the way over here, and he asked me to hand this to you also."

3/4 Alison 2014/07/04(Fri)14:12 No. 582830 ID: d470e9
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Scanner passes Alison a laptop on it.

>"The computers here seem mostly blank besides some pretty generic games and software. He did generate this image. It doesn't have critical information or anything like that, he just wanted to visually represent the diminished numbers over time. Each pixel represents five million contestants in the first section, then one thousand contestants for stage 4 and beyond. With the exception of stage 7, it doesn't factor in stage overflow. He also said Stage 7 and 8 are approximate."

4/4 Alison 2014/07/04(Fri)14:12 No. 582831 ID: d470e9
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Glitcher, in the meanwhile, has taken turns studying everyone's threads. He said, long ago, that the future might be deterministic, it would just take ages to figure out where it would be going. In actuality, it isn't truly deterministic. It can be predicted, and if done so by an outside force that doesn't intervene, it would come true. In other words, if Glitcher shares his findings, just knowing that could change the outcome.

Unfortunately, to determine the future, he would need access to all relevant threads involving all elements that would influence what might happen. He didn't have much in stage 7, but he did have time, and now that he has access to more, he doesn't have time. He plans on taking various strands from Sevener, Radmin, Alison and Smuggler to look at, and will also want to see Devotees and, ideally, Swordsbane and Obliterator.

For the time, he has finished looking at Rulekeeper's threads, and is currently examining Radmin. Alison noted that Rulekeeper, this stage, looked and acted differently. Glitcher says that the Shopkeep Baron form was a starting point, but the personality and look will be changing for each stage and each safe zone. From what he has found out so far, stage 8 Rulekeeper personality will be encouraging everyone to do their best, while Stage 9 rulekeep will not care in the slightest for the contestant's plight. So far, that is predetermined, and was easy enough to figure out in advance.

Iso is in charge of passing on Glitcher's messages to Alison while she's busy with trying to coordinate everyone.

>"Ah..." Iso starts saying, after coming back. "He says he can tell quite a bit from Radmin's threads, but wants to know more before he writes a report on his findings, since he says a lot of information can be misleading. He wants to know if he should keep worrying about that, or if he should, uh, try to examine the rules in advance for stage 8, although he says the rulekeeper might not like that. The rulekeeper won't tell us what Stage 8 is about."

There are also other concerns Alison has, such as attempting to speak with Swordsbane and Obliterator, trying to get the independant brackets on her side, or other matters.

Shouldn't we try to speak with Bones? We did save his life. That might be an in for us with Corruptor if he's still sane, or still cares about that deal. And even if Corruptor's not willing to deal, Bones might be able to provide some information and insight into what's been going on on the other side.

>>582829
Geeze. So there are only 3 stars in the sky now. Pretty depressing.

>>582831
If we get an advantage on stage 8, Rulekeeper will penalize us. So that'd be a wash. Don't worry about the stages. We need to examine the system as a whole, and find the backups. Find the way out, the way to save everyone.

Have we found everyone that was resurrected, yet? Also, has anyone explored to see if there are any more easter eggs?

We have heard that stage 8 might be a full on free roam with real physics. So be prepared for actual combat and blood and such. No idea if that is true though. Unless Glitcher can find out the solutions to the puzzles beforehand its probably not worth the possible backlash from Rulekeeper. Most of our team has a decent amount of experience with everything we could get our hands on so will be able to think on our feet.

We need to keep on learning everything we can and trying to get Corruptor and Savior on our side. Until we learn otherwise using there powers together is still our best bet.

If they are reprogramming Rulekeeper from behind the scenes we probably can not get him on our side like we did Shopkeep. Still worth a try but odds are against us.

So have Glitcher work on getting as many threads as possible for his research. If he finds anything about stage 8 he should keep it to himself unless he can get it to us secretly.

Alison should see if she can talk to Bones and try to learn more from the other leaders. We have all sorts of info to bargain with that they might want.

Looking at the Stage 8 rules will just make Rulekeep mad, so let's not do that. We have a lot of other things that we need to get done anyway. In no particular order we need to:

1)Investigate/Take over the Upper Echelon.
-Maybe ask Glitcher what a take-over would even give us. King's logs imply it does something, but don't actually say what.
2)Get Savior's/Corruptor's threads
3)Find a way to stop the reboot
-Corruptor said corrupting the Savior could permanently destroy him. Could he and Glitcher just break some critical function?
4)Investigate the Ghost
-We might be able to get a Corruptor/Savior/Alison truce for this, if only for this safe zone. The Savior, at least, should be easy to convince, since we'll be investigating a dangerous anomaly.
5)Get more logs
-Corruptor seems to have a way of getting them that doesn't require keycards. If Glitcher or Savior can do something similar, then we can get Swordsbane's logs through Emerald, which might help us deal with the Corruptor.
6)Gain allies from independent groups
-Swordsbane and Obliterator should have got a lot of people through, and with Devotees and their resurrections coming from other brackets, we'll need all the help we can get.
7)Alison apparently stopped hugging eight cycles ago. Ask Glitcher what happened.
8)Convince the Corruptor that condemning the contestants of all future cycles to running the stages as they were meant to be run by destroying him and Savior is a horrible idea.
-We probably shouldn't actually bring this up unless Corruptor broaches the subject.
9)Find out what's up with Sevener's second #1901 log.
-Corruptor might have let her bypass the one log per cycle rule, but it's still worth investigating.

And where did that map come from? Is the system actually handing out maps that refer to specific factions?

>7)Alison apparently stopped hugging eight cycles ago. Ask Glitcher what happened.
To be fair, Chief has been hugging in her stead.
>And where did that map come from? Is the system actually handing out maps that refer to specific factions?
Keep in mind, it was Scanner who brought the map... She probably checked things out and filled in the blanks.

Alison 2014/07/04(Fri)22:30 No. 582871 ID: d470e9
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Alison passes the message back to Glitcher, to not try to find out anything about stage 8 and simply study individuals more. She also sends him a request to focus on a few things in particular.

What he can tell about the Upper Echelon, if anything.
If corrupting the savior could break a function that reset cycles.
Why Alison stopped hugging 8 cycles ago.

>And where did that map come from?
Shopkeep was handing it out for free. Safe Zones sometimes have small brochures with a map, and the number of contestants and exits.

With the note to glitcher sent, Alison sends out more of her allies to attempt to sway independent groups and factions to her side, as she is now outnumbered by Corruptor's forces.

Bones is on her safe zone branch, and she goes to meet him.

"Hello, Bones."
>"Alison."
"How are you feeling?"
>"Cheated out of any chance of winning stage 7, but I suppose nothing is ever fair. Why did you have me resurrected?"
"Corruptor asked me to."
>"I know that. Corruptor also said you are the enemy."
"I don't know why, and I want to talk to him. I'm hoping to change his mind."
>"If he doesn't, I'm still loyal to him. Resurrecting me would be a mistake."
"Is there any way you can summon the corruptor to talk?"
>"No. He might come to me anyway, or to Swordsbane or Obliterator, but we have no method of summoning. I overheard glitcher has a radio that can talk to ghosts. I suggest if you want to talk to corruptor, you have him create one that can talk to the living."

Talk to him for a bit and see what he is like. We never got the opportunity to do so before because he was unwilling to try. Maybe a few hundred years might have worn down his sharp edges a bit.

I know we are not going to get him to see things our way quickly or maybe ever. But if we can get him to understand the futility of fighting each other we might get some help.

Regardless if he is a ally or enemy he is one of the few leaders that make it this far regularly. So if he is at all open to talking we should give him the basics of what we have learned. Nothing to in depth but enough to make him be interested in working with us to learn more. Just be careful with what you tell him and do not let anything slip that you do not want everyone knowing.

The fact that his style of leadership is so completely different than ours is why we might need him. He got this far with thousands of very loyal followers for a reason. Would be nice to have a adviser like him to help us see things in a different light. Not going to trust him at all for a long time but you do not have to trust someone to be able to get them to help you.

Bones, do you know why Corrupter would want to be enemies with us this cycle? Surely you've read that really important memo that got spread around right? We've had no desire to fight him in the past, merely escape any potential attacks against us, which initially was caused by paranoia from a vague note, but now it seems completely irrational. Retaliation and counter attacks have never been a part of our strategy, simply get the fuck out of dodge when dodge comes right for us has. So, terminating us is quite pointless at this point. Attacks aren't a proper detterent like with regular adversaries, if he still feels we're adversaries for some reason.

We're all trying to get out of her alive. There shouldn't be such a thing as an enemy at this point. We all know what regular progression will lead to, so it's not an excuse to be dog-eat-dog anymore. Merging with the CAI is pointless. Fighting the CAI is pointless.

The fuck is up? Why aren't we all cooperating already? It's the only way to survive. Killing and fighting is seriously just hindering our problem solving skills, it is a distraction to the real and important the problem. The fucking loop. WHY ARE WE FIGHTING! So much of that has been done in the past cycles. Let's not contribute to the definition of insanity and try something new for goddamn ONCE.

It's weird looking at the sky now, their are so few stars left. It's almost like they're a timer counting down how much time we have left until the end. In a way I guess they are.

But on to actually important things. Does Bones have any idea why the corruptor is gunning for Alison? I mean we have our theories but if we can get an actual answer to why corruptor is trying to take us down we'd know exactly what to focus on to try and convince him to work together with Alison.

Try and keep the conversation with Bones brief and businesslike if possible. He has a blatant distaste for us and if he wants to be left alone, we should give him that right.

After we wrap that up I think we should check out the independent brackets, see what's up there. Swordsbane and Obliterator probably want nothing to do with us.

We need to keep in mind the brackets for the stages, too. We might not be able to keep everyone along for the ride, depending on how things go.

Lastly, we need to think about stage 9. "PLEASE STOP STAGE 9" isn't good news, and neither is the fact that the Rulekeeper won't care during it. Something's amiss, and I think it's worth looking into, especially if we get around to talking to the Corrupter again.

...do you still want to see me put in my place? I understand loyalty is something that's very important to you, and that you took my 'betrayal' personally. I was hoping you might see that my situation wasn't so cut and dry, now. Corruptor turned on me based on the contents of his note, and didn't leave me with much choice. And then after we contacted him again and seemed to work past that, he seems to have betrayed us again and sabotaged the CAI-fight, trying to trap me inside.

Did he tell you why he considers me an enemy? Can I ask you when you last saw him, and how he seemed? I'm... not asking you to betray him, but I worry about him.

>phone that could talk to the living
That would be useful, if we had one, admittedly.

>other stuff
Should find and hug shopkeep, after what he went though in 7-5. (And see what's for sale this time around). Glitcher might need hugs you couldn't give him through the phone, but those can wait till you see him next, since he's busy.

Alison should also probably meet the rulekeep at some time, due to the role he's going to be playing.

>>582882

If Rulekeeper is programmed to not care during stage 9 and we have a note about it being horrible then it probably is really bad. Could be something involving having to betray your comrades to move forward or some even nastier mental test.

Maybe while Glitcher is looking at threads he could try and see if its possible to stop the system from overwriting Rulekeepers personality between stages. Twist his threads around so the update never goes through. Then we would have a sympathetic judge for that stage instead of a impartial one. If it really is that horrible it might push him over the edge towards helping us.

You know I never betrayed Corruptor right? I am still just as loyal to his cause as you are. The only thing I did was not let him murder me after he got a suspicious note. What would you have done in my situation?

I did not betray him then and I dont plan on doing it in the future.

1/4 Alison 2014/07/05(Sat)10:55 No. 582902 ID: d470e9
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"That would be useful, but I don't know if we have the time for that anymore. Mostly what I want to know, is why do we fight? I understand your loyalty, so you may only be fighting me because the corruptor wishes to fight me. But please look at the sky. It's already nearly empty, and there's 4 more stages to go like this. If there's any chance at all that we can have an escape from all of this, it's going to go away if all of us still fight each other. I don't believe corruptor wants the cycles to continue. Please, tell me why the corruptor decided to turn on me?"
>"He came to a conclusion, and would not say what. He didn't need to make me understand, and I'm not the one you have to convince that fighting seems counterproductive. I do not like you, but that is not why I would kill you given the chance. He is a special contestant, above myself and above you. I will take my chances with him."
"I understand, then. Maybe you can't tell me why he decided to turn on me, but how was he acting?"
>"Confident. I can honestly say that his presence was given to him by his capabilities, not his personality. He did not say 'we must do this action', he says 'doing this action will give us the greatest chance based on limited information available to us, but I can't promise it's the right choice.' For your fate, however, he was confident."
"Okay. It's a little bit strange hearing that, since when he forced me to lose the CAI fight, he seemed very apologetic about it. I never did try to betray him, but he attempted to murder me based on a note. What would you have done?"
>"I would have died. I don't believe corruptor ever wanted to kill you, but felt it necessary. Again, I do not know this."
"Alright. Thank you for talking to me, Bones. You're welcome to stay or to leave this island, I wouldn't stop you even if I could."

2/4 Alison 2014/07/05(Sat)10:56 No. 582903 ID: d470e9
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Alison moves away from Bones and her island to check on some of the independant brackets. She sees Shopkeep in the central plaza as well.

>Hug Shopkeep

3/4 Alison 2014/07/05(Sat)10:56 No. 582904 ID: d470e9
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>"Hello!" Arbiter says, intercepting her just before she crosses a bridge into the independent zones.
"Hello Arbiter. How are things going?"
>"We're still conducting talks, but I think we've got numbers. There were 7 devotees that survived across the two independent brackets, and they've all resurrected 21 council members. That leaves 52 regular independents. The problem we're having is that corruptor's devotees have been trying to get them on their side throughout stage 7. There's some confusion on their part as to why both of us are aggressively trying to get them on our factions that are fighting each other, when both of us keep saying our end goal is to save everyone."
"There's confusion on my part about that, too. Are we letting them know that we would like to work with the corruptor?"
>"Definitely. That fact is giving us an edge. I think it would also help if you show up. The collector has been talked about like some kind of deity, but most of the contestants sound like they want something more... realistic."
"I was on my way there, actually."
>"Hold on." someone speaks, coming out from another island.

4/4 Alison 2014/07/05(Sat)10:56 No. 582905 ID: d470e9
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"Swordsbane?"
>"Yes, it's been awhile, Alison, at least for me. Have you heard from corruptor?"
"Not since safe zone 7."
>"Hm. He might be dealing with things on his own end. The rulekeeper has said he won't allow any more devotees to be constructed."
"Are you going to fight me as well?"
>"Ha. That's a little pointless, don't you think?"
"That's what I hope everyone will think. Are you going against corruptor's wishes, then?"
>"Yes, at least until he explains himself. I'll tell you one thing you already know, he was always open and honest with us. Autonomy and everything, right up till the end of the safe zone. In any case, that only leaves 24 people loyal to me. The rest are devotees and stubborn contestants I've never seen before."

Hmm, ask Swordsbane if this sudden personality change and antagonistic behavior might actually be programmed into him to appear in the late-game for the CAI experiment. He was put in here after all as an experiment, and if he doesn't act to certain perimeters at certain times, might make the experiment defunct, because we still haven't understood the experiment's purpose.

Also establishing a collection of the real people's notes that were put into the game might also fetch a solution. Ask Swordsbane if anyone prominent been collecting them besides us?
And how having a duplicate from the belosian sim feels too, I guess.

Tell Swordsbane if he wants to cooperate with us, we're glad to have him.

Tell him Bones is alive, though still loyal to Corruptor, if he wants to talk to him. Ask him if he has any idea what Obliterater's take is, as we haven't spoken to him much.

Does he have logs he's willing to share? We're willing to share ours.

We may also want to introduce him to Emerald, seeing as how they're supposed to be the same person. (Sans memory wipe and picking a different name and body).

>The rulekeeper has said he won't allow any more devotees to be constructed
Honestly, I'd be interested to see if he can stop that. There have been cycles where Savior couldn't prevent himself from being corrupted, against his will. I'm dubious as to how well Rulekeep can protect himself.

>what else do
Arranging a meeting with the council might be a good idea. And we might want to try talking to one of the devotees, directly. It's possibly Corruptor left a message with them, or he can communicate through them.

Well we would love your help in getting Corruptor to explain things. If he has solid evidence for what he is doing I am willing to listen to it. While I like Corruptor and want to work with him I can't blindly follow his lead.

Lets head over to the independents and give a speech. Tell them what your goal is and that you have found quite a bit of info about how the simulation is run. Go over the highlights of your adventures and that you have a lead on how to possibly save us and the admin brackets. Make sure to mention that the admins are stuck in a game just as nasty as ours.

If they ask about your faction and Corruptors fighting just tell the truth. That you used to be one big happy family but everyone started getting mysterious notes out of nowhere and it caused a rift between you. You have been trying to fix things but it takes time and being in separate brackets did not help.

Does this mean you're going to team up with Swordsbane? Represent your "Team" as "Swords and Snakes"? That would be kinda cool, actually.
>Lets head over to the independents and give a speech.
If he agrees to it, bring Swordsbane with. The whole reason the independents are leaning towards siding with Alison is that she doesn't want to fight. Having "The enemy" right there with can help convert them more easily--to either of the two teams.

so quick question then, how bad has this reset the admins threw at us screwed everything up on the corrupter's side of things? From what we learned it is the first time something like this has ever happened so maybe we're doing something right this time around. And dipping a little into politics what do the other houses think of Alison? Are they only after her because the Corrupter told them to or is it a little more personal then that. If I recall correctly Alison was one of the less popular houses back in our time in the corrupted sanctuary.

Other then that let's go see what the independents are like, and maybe we can get a better idea on why the corrupter is out to get us from one of his devotees if they really are still connected to the Corrupter.

Perhaps, Alisons death is not the goal. Instead Corruptor wants to get rid of as many of his people as possible. I don't know why, but it's a possibility.

1/3 Alison 2014/07/05(Sat)19:46 No. 582996 ID: d470e9
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"I have a couple more questions. Is there any chance there is some force that changes the personality of the corruptor?"
>"Of course there's a chance, but there's no evidence of that aside from the change itself."
"And do you know of anyone that has been collecting notes other than myself?"
>"Just corruptor. I'm sure I've crossed paths with other people who have tried, but they weren't successful. Do you know what happened to Bones?"
"Oh, yes, he's on my island if you'd like to see him. How is obliterator? Do you think he would cooperate with me?"
>"Not even a chance. I've heard of Mongrel from your party a long time ago, his description matches obliterator. Stubborn and full of fight, but unlike your ghost, this one made a flag to put people under. And the collective, specifically the leaders called the council, may have mixed feelings. They're a democracy, and to date they've always respected the majority decision, but there's no telling how long that may last. The current decision is to stick with the corruptor through thick and thin, but from what I gleaned from the collectives in this bracket, that has some cracks."
"Thank you. Say, if you haven't heard, you apparently used to be part of the belenosian simulation."
>"The what?"
"Ah... I'll tell you the story in a little while, if you like. Oh, would you care to exchange logs?"
>"Mine was a waste. It appears that I've been putting many of my logs under the Warlock for some reason. All the eggs are in that dropped basket."
"How badly did the admin purge hamper corruptor?"
>"It was a setback, but it seems like the corruptor still has the power to reach across brackets. I don't know the details yet."
"Alright, that's it from me, until we speak again later. I'll tell you more things I know, but I have a lot to do. If you see the corruptor, please let him know I would like to talk to him."
>"Will do."
"Thank you."

2/3 Alison 2014/07/05(Sat)19:46 No. 582997 ID: d470e9
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Alison makes a trip to the independent brackets. She gathers everyone that is willing to listen, and shares all the information she feels comfortable sharing with newcomers. She mostly focuses on what her faction, and how she is going to go about doing it as best as she can.

It soon turns into a few devotees trying to denounce her efforts as misguided, but they completely ignore her when she asks to elaborate, or try to communicate with them whatsoever.

3/3 Alison 2014/07/05(Sat)19:46 No. 582998 ID: d470e9
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Some of the collectives, however, are willing to see Alison.

They all appear to have badges that would imply rank, and the one with the most stripes comes to greet her.

>"What would you like assistance with?" His words are polite, but his tone is flat as though he is doing so out of a duty he'd rather not have.

>>582998
I disagree with trying to sway the Collective. Like Swordsbane said, they could just sway back and backstab us. Instead, why don't we just try to get information about the stages from them? How do they function in the stages anyway? It's not like all their board members are able to be in the same Area all the time.

We might not be able to sway them but should at least let them know whats going on between us and Corruptor. That we still want to work with him but he is currently acting somewhat confusing and contradictory. The more we can shake up Corruptor's power base and make them all realize that he is being unreasonable right now the better.

Finding out what information he might have got that is confusing him so much would be wonderful. Whatever it is must be big to trump all the other info we have found.

Just wild speculation but must be something to do with Alison's nature. Say in stage 9 she always has to make a choice between murdering Iso or killing Bones and Corruptor has rock solid evidence we need to keep Bones alive. He knows that even if Alison could do something like that it would hurt her immensely. So he tries to get rid of us through proxies because he is afraid to tell us and would rather have Alison get stuck in the Belonosian sim rather than see her hurt.

Something like that might explain his conflicted nature about this and why he is avoiding us. Something is coming that he does not think we have the strength to face. But if we learn about it early enough we might be able to find a way around it.

>>582997
So... we can't dialog with them, which is bad, but when pushed, they can't (or won't) defend their positions or explain themselves. That gives us a leg up in trying to win over undecideds, I suppose.

>>583000
>they could just sway back and backstab us
That's equally true of basically everyone we've ever reached out to. That hasn't stopped us from offering a hand to as many people as possible. Even some of those who have back-stabbed us.

>What would you like assistance with?
Sounds kind of one sided, when you put it like that. I'm looking for a dialogue, to see if any exchange of information or cooperation is possible between our groups. Or at least to know where we stand, if that's not possible.

My goal is still to try and find a way to break the cycles and get as many people possible out of this, and I think we have better odds if more people work together instead of dividing up to play the game. (If they argue that staying alive or winning the stages is worth something- it's not. Only three people make it to the end, and then everything resets, starts over again).

>other things to do
Hug various people you haven't seen for a while as you come across them.

See how Polatt is adjusting to our side of the sim, since you haven't seen him since the CAI battle.

Make the token effort to talk to Obliterator, even if it's not going to work.

Check if what the shopkeep has for sale (just body mods still?).

Consult with our leaders and thinkers, see what they think our options are.

well if he doesn't want to be here we might as well try to make this a painless as possible. Thank him for his time and maybe ask if they're is anything they'd like to ask of use. We're trying to build bonds here not have people feel like we're just using them.

I'm also wondering why the devotees aren't trying to back up they're statements. I mean it could and most likely is that they have nothing to back them up with but I can't help but feel if their's something more behind it. I mean they could just lie and since not many people have heard of us until now it would just be there word against ours with the only people to call out or support these claims would be those who already chose a side and therefor couldn't really be trusted themselves.

>>582903
>>582902
Alison has SO MUCH TAIL and she is using it for hugs. I am loving this ^-^

Well, she started it off as 3m long including her top bit, then bought an extension to the maximum length allowed to contestants a while back. I forget the exact length but small she isn't.

>>582998
Well, first off you're adorable looking. So... hug?

1/2 Alison 2014/07/06(Sun)12:51 No. 583091 ID: d470e9
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"I'm not really here to just take away, it's not one sided. But I would like to know more about your faction."
>"Such as?"
"How do you all assist one another in the stages?"
>"We make sure as many of us survive as possible, of course. When there's too few exits and too many of us, the higher ranked individuals go first, and in the case of a tie, we draw straws, roll dice, or that sort of thing. Otherwise, just the same as any faction. How do you do it?"
"I have been forced to be choosy about who lives with this resurrection, but in the end, I'm intending to make a widespread escape so that no one has to do that."
>"So I've heard."

Alison goes on to explain the recent developments with the corruptor, which this individual claims is news to him.

"I understand if you're still loyal to the corruptor, but I don't believe anyone here has reason to fight unnecessarily."
>"We're not a fascist faction like Bones', but we are survivalist. Right now, I don't believe any of us have any personal quarrel with you, but we will do our best to survive on our own. If you can't beat us, I doubt you'll be able to save much of anyone from another cycle."

>Hug
He still sounds flat but that isn't going to stop Alison. She hugs and thanks him for the chat, and moves on.

2/2 Alison 2014/07/06(Sun)12:51 No. 583092 ID: d470e9
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A brief pass over into the Obliterator's territory is met with someone saying that Obliterator says that she is entering enemy territory, and her attempts to talk her way in are not well received. She won't force her way in, so she moves on again.

>Check what the shopkeep has for sale
Body mods as usual, but he says that there might be actual items for the stage itself, but they shouldn't be until after the safe zone time.

Alison returns to work on her to-do list that seems to get new items as fast as she finishes them. King approaches her.

>"Alison, I got word from the Savior saying that he will be here shortly, and would like us to gather everyone under us that would like to move to the paradise."
"I believe catatonic's friends will move there. Oh, Iso! Would you like to move with Flute to the paradise?"
>"Um... maybe Flute would, and I'm very happy to see her again, but I don't really want to leave you either."
>"Oh, thank you, by the way!" Flute says. "You didn't have to do that, and I'm not really good at these stages, so I think I would just die... I won't go if you don't want me to, but I don't know how helpful I would be, and I don't want to drag Iso along when he doesn't want to."

It would be much easier if Savior allowed people to come and go as they please, but he doesn't seem like he likes to bend his own rules.

Only come along if you want Flute. The next few stages could get nasty so it might be better to relax with Savior given the chance.

See if you can butter up Savior a bit so that Iso can hang out in paradise with Flute until a few hours before the start of the next stage and then get dropped back off. We still want his help but would be nice to have some time to catch up with his old friend.

As for your list get the stuff started that will take the longest first. Talk to Glitcher about a possible Corruptor radio as that might take awhile to make. I know Chief is a bit burned out but we have plenty of people here who can help lighten the load. Save your efforts for the big stuff only you can do if possible.

>It would be much easier if Savior allowed people to come and go as they please
Well, he technically can't do that, even if he wanted to, I think. Remember the system Sevener put in place last stage? People who bypass stages will be auto-slain on entering safe zones. So anyone who ducks out can't duck back, unless they do it fast.

That was forcing even Corruptor to run stages again. So if Savior is coming here, that means he either has a way to bypass that protection, or he's been forced to run stages too.

Setting up a phone that works with his place might be convenient, if we're going to store people there, though.

>Iso
Hug him. Sorry, you didn't mean to put pressure on him. You'd be happy to have him at your side, or to have him safe with Savior.

When Savior comes, you'll have to ask him if he has time to talk at all. (I'd say he might be busy with rounds to make picking up people in different brackets, but there are only 4 brackets now. And he can't go to one of them without confronting Corruptor).

>>583092
Iso you'll be very useful there.
We're intending to experiment on reviving as many people as we can on Savior's Paradise because the system wouldn't care as long as none of those revives leave. I mean, yeah okay, maybe they'd care about system slowdown but at this point maybe they wouldn't. It's supposed to be a paradise after all. And Iso knows about as many people as Alison, so when Glitcher goes there he can do the revive process with your threads. Essentially we need a representative of our faction there.

If shit goes down in the paradise somehow, we do need a leader there, and well he honestly the best pick to go to the paradise as he's the one that's like Alison the most on a personality level. Hopefully Glitcher may be able to reactivate Smuggler's powers there too and get an economy going. Savior's Paradise may eventually be a key location in preventing the loop as it's essentially the primo neutral territory, corrupter may try and attack there as well, and there's admittidly no one you know that would be content in the Paradise and have good battle knowledge besides Iso.

He fills a lot of roles, a good Jack of All Trades. And we kinda need him there.

"If you can't beat us, I doubt you'll be able to save much of anyone from another cycle."
I suspect this sentiment, along with gaining points with the admins, drove Corruptor to force the loss in the CAI Fight.

Something worries me about Iso, actually. He said he doesn't want to leave you. Is he fighting for you, or to save everyone? If it's for you... tell him about you and Arbiter. If he wants to continue this fight, it can't just be for you.

...is it just me or is Alison's tail length now beyond legal values?

>>583092

Even King is ogling that sweet tail now. Alison does seem to be getting bigger doesn't she? Isn't the only one that can get beyond normal size limits Corruptor?

Quick go check to see if you can corrupt something. Maybe she got some of his threads mixed up after the mess in the Belenosian sim.

>>583171
>>583181
Something I've been wondering is if The Corruptor's previous names were ever revealed. Maybe, as Alison was the Snake Queen, Corruptor was known as the Snake King. Still looking through the archive on it.

>>583185
Corruptor's never used another name, so far as we're aware. I suppose it's possible he called himself something else very early in the competition, before he realized his abilities, but if so, it's never come up.

>>583197
Yeah, gonna pop over to discussion.

1/2 Alison 2014/07/06(Sun)22:50 No. 583208 ID: d470e9
File 140471224722.png - (17.80KB , 800x800 , SZ8-15.png )

"Thank you, Iso, for your loyalty, but it's that kind of thing I might actually want in the savior's paradise. If you wanted to fight for me, are you doing it to save everyone, or are you doing it for me?"
>"I'm... well, I mean, for you, but your ideology is good, so also for that, but... because of you. Uh... I mean, it's a really good cause. So... both?"
"Thank you, again, but I think I would like you to be in the paradise. If you want to be in the stages, then --"
>"Nono, the paradise is fine! If you want me there, then I want to be there."
"Okay. I hope it doesn't mean you can't enjoy your time here. King, could you ask Savior to come back soon before the timer here runs out?"
>"There's four brackets left, I would be disappointed if he couldn't find it in his heart to find the moment. Yes, I'll ask."
"Thank you. I'll try to convince Savior to let me just visit later, but I'll be back soon, Iso."
>"Thank you." He hugs her for a long time, but Alison has minutes to spare.

2/2 Alison 2014/07/06(Sun)22:51 No. 583209 ID: d470e9
File 140471226171.png - (192.67KB , 800x800 , SZ8-156lip.png )

Alison eventually summons the rulekeep.

"Hello, Rulekeeper."
>"Greetings. I've heard quite a lot about you, Snake Queen."
"Please, call me Alison. I noticed that my tail sized is longer. I like it, but is it legal?"
>"Yes, I've lifted a few specific size requirements. Of course, you can still only be so big, but I don't mind if there's not so ridiculous things. Like tail size, or big hands or really tiny feet. I'm willing to make judgement calls for it, at the risk of making biased decisions. You're about at the max, though, because that is one long tail. Are there any other concerns?"

Thank him for allowing the longer tail, you like it.

Comment on rulekeep's own appearance change.

Ask him about his new look. Also find out how he plans to stop Corruptor from making new corrupted devotees. We do not want him getting eaten.

Maybe bring up what we have found about his personality shifts? Ask him what he feels about it and if there is anything we can do for him.

Finally bring up our concerns about the ultimate pointlessness of the contest in general. He might not know what we have learned so ask him how he feels about managing a contest that if we play by the rules we can not win. Basically is it worth being a Rulekeeper when the people who follow your rules get cheated in the end? With as many resets as this simulation has had almost everyone still alive probably has a duplicate in the Cai thus winning is pointless.

Basically try to feel him out so we can decide if its worth having Glitcher mess with his threads or if we can influence him normally.

If his new look is intentional, compliment him on it.

If it's the system playing games on merged coding between expired characters, help him through the existential crisis that's probably about to happen. With hugs.

>>583209
Ask him if he cares if people are resurrected into the Paradise, where they can't leave and reenter the stages.

1/5 Alison 2014/07/07(Mon)19:05 No. 583285 ID: d470e9
File 140478515893.png - (198.41KB , 800x800 , SZ8-17.png )

"I like your new look. Do you get to decide what you look like?"
>"Thanks! And not in a conscious sense. Much like how I am constructed using the stage itself, so is my form. The one before was, as it turns out, just a placeholder for the first area."
"I did hear a little bit, but I did also want to hear it from you. Do you mind having these personality shifts?"
>"Not at all. I don't have any problems with how I am now, but I know I won't have any problems with how I am in the future, either."
"You said you knew about me, did you also hear that I believe this contest is causing strife for no good reason?"
>"Yes, and that you may try to convince me to join your side, to fight with you, and so forth. But I'm sorry, I just don't have any interest, the system made sure that my number 1 and only priority is to uphold the stages."
"How do you feel about people going to the paradise?"
>"As long as they don't come back, then I don't mind. I think it's good, actually, that they can still enjoy themselves even if they lose a stage. It's just unfair that only those who the savior approached get the opportunity. Anyways... if you or anyone you know goes, then I won't stop you, but I won't let you back in either."
"Thank you. The savior doesn't allow that either, but what if people did come and go during a single safe zone?"
>"Oh, if people came back in time for their stage, then that's okay."
"Everyone who follows the rules is cheated, though. It's not entirely clear, either, if the 3 winners get anywhere."
>"It is pointless, I know, but it's also my purpose and my life. Is there much meaning to life in general? I don't think there is, but we live and survive as long as we can despite that, just because that's what we want to do. I know that your own lives are unfulfilling and are little more than testing your own self preservation, and you have my sympathy for that, but it's my own wish to uphold the rules. It's selfish, I know that, but they'll just kill me if I let myself live my life for you. I don't want to be your enemy, but all I can do is minimize how much I get in your way. I'm sorry."

2/5 Alison 2014/07/07(Mon)19:07 No. 583286 ID: d470e9
File 140478524508.png - (134.10KB , 800x800 , SZ8-18.png )

Alison doesn't think that talk alone will sway the Rulekeeper, at least not now. Alison moves in for a hug, which is swiftly reciprocated.

"Thank you for your time, Rulekeeper. I'm going back to my place for the moment, but we'll talk again later."
>"It was my pleasure. Oh, ah, I haven't really shared it with anyone yet since it's so soon and people are still settling in, but if you want, I can change your island around a little bit. I won't break the rules, of course, but if you want certain kinds of rooms, a bigger place, more star in the sky or really anything to help make your hundred hours more pleasant, just call me over. Just say, 'Rulekeep, Please!' and I'll recognize it as a summon."

3/5 Alison 2014/07/07(Mon)19:08 No. 583287 ID: d470e9
File 140478529180.png - (21.99KB , 800x800 , SZ8-19.png )

Alison goes back to her place and hugs Polatt, making sure that he is doing alright. He says that he is, and will be doing what he can to, as he puts it, kick the enemy's asses. Alison takes that moment to make sure that everyone knows the current relations between all factions.

Iso also shows up to spend time with Alison before Savior comes by, and rides on her tail.

4/5 Alison 2014/07/07(Mon)19:08 No. 583288 ID: d470e9
File 140478533680.png - (29.27KB , 800x800 , SZ8-20.png )

"Hello. Glitcher. How are you doing?"
>"I'm okay. You?"
"I'm well."

>What can he tell about the upper echelon?
>"Uh... not much. I kind of only know how to deal with everything regarding our simulation, but the upper echelon just sounds like everything on the outside. It might be past the ring shell, which I also don't know much about."

>If corrupting the savior could break a function that reset cycles
>"I don't think so. I mean, again it sounds like Savior is contained in here, while the cycle is triggered by an upper echelon thing. I don't think Savior has anything like that, but he'd have to let me see his threads to find out."

>Living person radio
"Your ghost radio is really useful, Glitcher, is there anyway we could use it to talk to the living?"
>"Well, yes, but it kind of... well, I don't know of a way to do it discreetly in a way that won't break the law. But it can work like that."
"Well, I was hoping to talk to the corruptor."
>"Oh.... I couldn't do that at all, anyway. I need to know where a person is, and most people are easy to find, but the corruptor... he's off the grid. I wonder if he got a new sanctuary."

>Why Alison stopped hugging 8 cycles ago
>"I think you stopped being able to trust people at one point."
"When?"
>"Stage 9, as usual."

>See if its possible to stop the system from overwriting Rulekeepers personality between stages
>"I think I could, actually, but... well, I wouldn't really be able to stop it from happening, but maybe I can revert it to a point? Do you think that would help?"
"Maybe in the future, but even this stage's version of the rulekeeper seems dedicated to her job, so I'm not sure if she would have a change of heart for stage 9 or just give her a personality that would have an awful time there, like it sounds like it will be for all of us. Is that thread dangerous to touch?"
>"Single threads and threads that belong to you are okay, it's just when multiple threads from an outside source interact... uh, I guess it's like electricity. If you touch one conduit it's okay, but if you then touch another conduit at the same time, then the electricity will run through you and... is that how electricity works?"
>"Not really!" Engineer shouts through the wall.

5/5 Alison 2014/07/07(Mon)19:09 No. 583289 ID: d470e9
File 140478535289.png - (19.13KB , 800x800 , SZ8-21.png )

>Glitcher might need hugs
Glitcher hugs back.

"There's no need to stop what you're doing right now, but do you think you could find any hidden items like Likol's entries around the stage sometime?"
>"He's one step ahead of you!" Radmin says. "In that corner, there. We're gonna need a whole glitcher photo album at this rate. Nice threads by the way, little guy. Clothing threads. Not shiny gut threads. Oh and thanks for that res, Alison. Good to be back."

Hmm if stage 9 is the one where Rulekeeper gets reprogrammed to be uncaring and we occasionally stop trusting people then finding out more about it is a higher priority than whatever stage 8 might throw at us.

Might be a stage designed to test people's loyalties or you might have to betray people to move onward. Or because of the huge cut in numbers could just rattle any weak links in our structure. I think this round we have a very solid team. There are a few people who have not been here long but even if we do get betrayed we just have to remember that things can get nasty this close to the end.

Go give Radmin a hug and take a look at the info that Glitcher has found. The more we know about the outside world the better our chances if we ever manage to contact a true system admin.

While looking at the info chat with Glitcher and see what he thinks about the whole getting Savior to cleanse Corruptor plan. Will even that be enough to save us? And if we do pull it off what do we have him change?

Next time we see Rulekeeper we can ask if she wants help staying like she is. Would much rather have this version than the uncaring thing they turn her into. Even if she is a system character like Shopkeep we never gave up hekping him.

>>583289
I just thought of something. Can Glitcher find out if the Ghost is real?

>they they they
...wait, who's pulling rulekeeper's strings, anyways? Didn't the admins basically shoot themselves in the foot, last stage? They broke their own powers in order to completely change the rules. Even Sevener could barely do anything before being locked out.

>but if you want certain kinds of rooms, a bigger place, more star in the sky or really anything to help make your hundred hours more pleasant, just call me over. Just say, 'Rulekeep, Please!' and I'll recognize it as a summon
That's really convenient. Be sure to pass that on to the others. (Say, Engie or Math could really use a computer room or something. Let them solve whatever problems they may be working on much faster).

>is that how electricity works?
Well, current doesn't flow so long as the circuit isn't closed, yes.

>thanks for the res
You're welcome, Radmin.

So... what are our option now, besides planning ways to survive the stage?

any photos in that album that stand out? Can never have to much information.

>>583289
Hmmmmmmm
Does the Likol content have any threads of interest? I forget if we tried any of that.

>is that how electricity works?
Well, additionally two circumstances must met:
1. There is a potential difference so the "current" has a direction to flow
2. There shouldn't be a much easier link to travel on for the "current".

But as glitcher referred to it as electrical current, is he also able to link or redirect thread-currents with some sort of bridges?

Forgot to ask this, but has Alison inquired about Arbiter's logs? More particularly, log 177, about bringing rock candy to stage 8? Perhaps Glitcher can find out more about it now, we should really be pouring over the logs for any clues left behind, it is what let Sevener have the upper edge in the belenos sim after all.

1/4 Alison 2014/07/09(Wed)19:04 No. 583564 ID: d470e9
File 140495789529.png - (27.86KB , 800x800 , SZ8-22.png )

>Hug Radmin
"You're welcome, Radmin."
>"Hey, nice to see you, too."

>Can Glitcher find out if the Ghost is real?
>"Not without any leads. It sounds almost like an upper echelon thing anyway, in which case... no, probably not, not right now.

>Does the Likol content have any threads of interest?
>"Maybe? They're different than anything else, that's for sure, but... well, I don't know anything offhand, but each piece seems similar to each other, but different in its shape. Also, the item's history is kind of... fuzzy. I'm not sure what to make of it."
>"Ever think it's like a jigsaw puzzle?" Radmin asks.
>"Maybe. If it is, I don't even have enough pieces to even know that."

>Is he also able to link or redirect thread-currents with some sort of bridges?
>"Yeah, yeah.... but... usually things reject other things. I can make similar entity objects, but trying to mix between stage material, or people, goes poorly."

>Who's pulling rulekeeper's strings, anyways?
>"The system, definitely. They gave up a lot of power to do the purge, but they made sure they still have some amount of power over the stages, which means the rulekeeper."

"Did Arbiter ever get studied under you? I'm wondering about his logs, and the one that said to bring Rock candy to stage 8."
>"Yeah, but I don't know yet if that's going to apply to the current stage 8. Stages keep the same themes. That's... well, mostly a constant. But the rules might change gradually, except in this cycle, in which case drastically. So I don't know if specifics like rock candy are going to be helpful. I guess if Shopkeep ends up with some in stock, go for it."
"Thank you very much, Glitcher. Is there anything I can do, though, to help you study everything?"
>"... no, Alison, not now. You've done well with the rules up to this point, but they're maintained too closely, now, to do much with it. Eventually I'll have something, I think, but for now... just survive. I'll take care of myself and everything I alone can as best as I can."
"Okay. Thank you once again."
>"I should probably be the one thanking you."

2/4 Alison 2014/07/09(Wed)19:05 No. 583565 ID: d470e9
File 140495790902.png - (17.55KB , 800x800 , SZ8-23.png )

Alison lets Glitcher and the rest know about Rulekeep's offer to change the stage as they want, and Alison moves to Engineer and Mathematician to do the same. They do wish to have a basic computer room for such things, and so Alison calls the shopkeep.

>"Hello, Alison. What can I do for you?"
"My friends here have a request, but first, could I ask if you would like help staying like you are now?"
>"Oh, I'm still getting used to this new way of looking at the world. I think it's too soon for me to tell, although I suppose there may not be any rules against it so long as it doesn't compromise my ability to keep the rules themselves. I'll get back to you on that, although I can't help but wonder what the point will be. Ah, well, later on! Let me know what you'd like, you two."

3/4 Alison 2014/07/09(Wed)19:05 No. 583566 ID: d470e9
File 140495792946.png - (413.68KB , 800x800 , SZ8-24.png )

The photos are examined.

"The salikai is friendly. His name is Vanski. We can't decide if it's too friendly or not. Maybe the tales were exaggerated, maybe he's trying to grow our trust, or maybe it's simply as mundane as him being pleased he has labor to work with other than his arkot count of a few hundred. He shows us simple tools that, frankly, shame us in how simple yet effective they were. Somehow we managed to learn the secrets of cameras, cannons, space around our planet and other such things, yet a wheelbarrow eluded our grasp. Then again, it's hardly useful outside of the salikai's clearing.
I feel better knowing my camera amazed the salikai. He is having us systematically develop pictures for all of his Arkot. He is in every shot. This is the 17th picture, and he looks as legitimately happy as he did in the first. He is getting better at sitting still in the pictures, but the arkots remain fidgety."

4/4 Alison 2014/07/09(Wed)19:05 No. 583567 ID: d470e9
File 140495793670.png - (22.89KB , 800x800 , SZ8-25.png )

The salikai is not alone. There's an entire network of salikai, although Vanski does not like us mingling in the affairs between Salikai. He has treated us well, and as we expected, our alliance is working out very well for us thus far. We have to stay on edge, though, to make sure that won't change. Still, we have met a few of his salikai friends to take pictures with. These Salikai seem to like the idea of immortality, and the idea of having their visage stuck for the records seems to get their imaginations going. On the left, Ilomo, who conducts negotiations between many trades between his Voklit mining facility, and Vanski's arkot's and jungle goods. On the right, Stirra, a female, who we believe has had children with Vanski, although we haven't seen any.
Vanski says that we should start having lots of kids, as well, because there is lots of work to be done and lots of food to go around, and he does need to impress his children for when they return, lest they get any grand ideas.

>>583567
...I wonder if we can make cameras too?

Well this looks like the history of whoever created the Cai. Keep reading everything you can about these people because in here somewhere might be the answers to who made you and why.

Besides the fact that its good to know more about the outside world there might be clues we can use in this information. I have a feeling this was not scattered around in the sim on accident. Whoever put it there wanted there story to be told and remembered.

We have few leads to follow until we can get in touch with Corruptor again. Maybe learning this secret story is a test of some sort. So learn everything you can about these people and remember there names. Depending on how much info we have this could be very important soon. And if not reading a new story is a pleasant way to pass the time.

all right, we seem to have found glimpses of the world outside the sim... but why? It's telling us a story that much is obvious but so far it doesn't really tell us anything other then so random facts that have nothing to do with the CAI. Well unless we can find more of these or if glitcher can find a way to do something with them soon that he can't now I guess their's not much for us to do with them at this point.

Might as well see if anyone needs your help and maybe ask shopkeeper if he has any rock candy in stock. Might as well look and with nothing else but body mods that we don't really want anyways it's not like we're saving up for anything.

Ok made a list of things to do before the next stage starts so we do not forget the big ones.

1. Find out as much as possible about stage 8 and 9 without making Rulekeeper angry.

2. Find and read every bit of the history of this Neuomono tribe and there Salikai allies. Might be more in later stages but better find everything we can here before its no longer available.

3. Figure out what Iso will be doing if anything while at paradise with Savior. Maybe Glitcher can make a radio so we can keep in touch with him. And let anyone on our side know that we will not think badly of them if they want to go there with him. The next stages could be brutal. Plus if we can get the radio working might be able to still get advice from them.

4. Get a hold of Corruptor if at all possible. If not possible try to figure out when his bracket meets ours.

5. Talk about how the smaller bracket size will affect the next few stages. We could end up having to choose people in our party to leave behind. Probably will not come up until stage 10 but worth discussing.

6. Introduce Swordsbane to Emerald and such. Also see if Glitcher can identify any of the mystery duplicates. If I remember right one of them had been pulled out 8 times apparently.

7. Get your hugs in while you can. If the next stages are nasty make sure to enter them with no regrets.

body mods might be useful prep for the rumored physics-sandbox stage.

Maybe body mod back jetal body? It's been forever since we last looked at body mods, i don't even remember the limits on them.

Oh yeah, we need to show Historian the new books!

>>583566
>>583567
Well, since we know how this eventually goes down, the only real question is whether Vanski is acting, or if he's earnest and just goes mad with power later.

(Moving megalong post into Discussion thread, since it didn't have too many recommendations for immediate use)

Ok, i have strange idea right now.

Acording to Seveners logs, the Pomi simulation does not work correctly. perhaps someone meddled with the stage by removing some threads.

Ask Glitcher if there would be a possibility to look into this in the future.

1/9 Alison 2014/07/12(Sat)15:22 No. 583966 ID: d470e9
File 140520373016.png - (22.52KB , 800x800 , SZ8-26.png )

>I wonder if we can make cameras too?
It is possible, but Engineer needs sufficient supplies and time to make such an object. The supplies can most likely be found, but the time is questionable. Plus, Rulekeeper may not allow those things into stages.

>Find and read every bit of the history of this Neuomono tribe and there Salikai allies.
"Glitcher, is that all there was in this stage?"
>"Yes, I'm sorry. I did notice something, though... there are a few too many threads."
"Oh?"
>"It might be nothing, but it seems like there's some superfluous information to them. It might be hidden information, but.. I have no idea how to go about unlocking it. Which is bad. Either I know how to do it, or I don't, I rarely figure anything out, just how to do things better.
"I'll think about any possibilities too, but doing what you can is all I'll ever ask. Oh, and could you look into any of the duplicates that were pulled out of the belenosian simulation?"
>"I could, but chances are, they're just dead."
"Alright, that, and if you have some spare time somehow, Sevener said the Pomi simulation didn't work. I'm curious why that is, but don't worry too much about it. You've earned some rest."

2/9 Alison 2014/07/12(Sat)15:22 No. 583967 ID: d470e9
File 140520373772.png - (18.65KB , 800x800 , SZ8-27.png )

Alison moves to another room.

"Rulekeeper, Please!"
>"Yes?"
"Would you mind if we got novelty item storage again? It would be nice to be able to carry keepsakes between stages, like pictures of one another, or these photos, or things like that."
>"That's been requested! It's in the works, actually, and if it all goes smoothly, you'll be able to hold things by the time you get out of this safe zone."
"That sounds good! Also, can we get a library for the historian?"
>"Absolutely."

3/9 Alison 2014/07/12(Sat)15:22 No. 583968 ID: d470e9
File 140520374853.png - (68.56KB , 800x800 , SZ8-28.png )

"So, Iso, what do you think you'll be doing while in the paradise?" Alison says, moving on.
>"Ah, I don't really know... what do you think there is to do?"
"Well, I do hope Savior has a lot of control, sort of like how Rulekeeper can make rooms for us here. Plus, there's got to be a lot of people in there by now. I'm sure you can make a lot of friends."
>"Mm, I hope so. Still... please tell me if you want me to be in the stages!"
"I will, but I still think you'll be helpful for both of us if you're there."
>"I know."

4/9 Alison 2014/07/12(Sat)15:22 No. 583969 ID: d470e9
File 140520376918.png - (191.47KB , 800x800 , SZ8-29.png )

Alison finds Bones in the central Plaza, talking to Emerald.

"Hey, Bones and Swordsbane."
>"Yes?" Bones asks.
"Has there been any word from the Corruptor?"
>"No."
"Okay, keep me updated. Swordsband, Emerald, what do you two think of each other?"
>"We have mutually agreed..." Emerald answers, "that we just don't see the resemblance between each other."

>If not possible try to figure out when his bracket meets ours.
Last Alison heard, the brackets themselves are still going to go as typical, in which case, Corruptor will be met in stage 10.

5/9 Alison 2014/07/12(Sat)15:22 No. 583970 ID: d470e9
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"Hey, Shopkeep!"
>"Oh hey Alison. What's going on?"
"I was wondering... it's a longshot, but is there any chance I could turn back into a jetal?"
>"Uh.... noooo, a jetal is a whole category of robot, not just an appearance. I mean, you could look like a jetal, but..."
"I know, it was a longshot. Thanks anyway."

6/9 Alison 2014/07/12(Sat)15:23 No. 583971 ID: d470e9
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Alison goes back to her house. She checks in on Chief, who is still sleeping. Alison likes his sleeping look.

7/9 Alison 2014/07/12(Sat)15:23 No. 583972 ID: d470e9
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There is already a lounge that some of her friends are around in, having nothing more to do. Talks for independents are still going on, but a few have entered Alison's own house. She'll let them take their time, and so she begins discussing with a few individuals about the future of the stages.

"I'm not sure what's going to happen through stages 8 and 9. Things are always in flux, but I can't do much if Glitcher can't do much, and if Corruptor doesn't show up. At this rate, a lot of us are going to die again. I don't want to make a ranking system like the council, but everyone, including myself, should be ready for death."

8/9 Alison 2014/07/12(Sat)15:24 No. 583973 ID: d470e9
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>"Alison." Recluse says. "Anyone left with you is already willing to die for either you or your mission, or both. If you want us to go to the paradise, you're going to have to order us. And some of us would argue."

9/9 Alison 2014/07/12(Sat)15:24 No. 583974 ID: d470e9
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Several hours later, the Savior comes to visit.

>"Hello, Snake Queen! I hear that a few people would be joining me?"
"Yes, please."
>"Ah..." Glitcher come into the room. "Can I see some of your threads, Savior?"
>"Hmm, you ask that so terribly casually. But I'm afraid that the answer is absolutely not."
>"You're... kind of glitching out."
>"Yes, and I'd rather not do anything that would accelerate the issue, if you understand."
>"I can put your threads back perfectly."
>"I insist no. I can handle a small particle mismatch here and there, I'm at a harmless stage of it. Any chance of anything going wrong is not worth the risk!"

Well ok, but if it stops being harmless please consider it.

Ask him if his destabilization is because he had to live through the time gap for the last stage. Or if it is because he and Glitcher are linked and Glitcher was stuck for 10000 years.

Who knows what might be happening to Corruptor at this point if its something that effects all the special contestants.

Maybe you can plead with Savior to let Glitcher take a look at his threads. You do not want either of them coming to harm but it could be important to see if they are still linked. If Glitcher had a thread to the paradise he might be able to funnel people who die in the next stages there. The possibility of saving more people might convince Savior.

Also ask if he has any lead on where Corruptor is or what he is up to. We have not heard from him in awhile and are starting to worry about him.

Make sure Iso has a radio if he is going to the Paradise. Give him a hug and a kiss and tell him he will be your eyes and ears there. While we would love to have him in the stages with us we need someone trustworthy to be our liaison to Savior. And to say hi to Scholar and the others for you.

>"I will, but I still think you'll be helpful for both of us if you're there."
Why is this exactly? We already have allies (Friendgy, for instance) in the Paradise, so having Iso there wouldn't help much as far as representation there is concerned. Wouldn't he be able to help more in the stages?

Show Savior the pictures and tell him about the hidden information that's likely in them. If there's anyone that thinks they are especially good at decryption they can look at them as well to see if there are any secret messages hidden somewhere in the data we can access. It's possible there's a secret passcode or some method of manipulating the pages that will reveal the hidden information... Or maybe we just have to gather all the pages together for the information to reveal itself? Wait a minute, why is it that the pages in this safe zone were all in one place? The zone is symmetrical, there should be 5 other pages to find unless somehow they were hidden just for us. Glitcher should be able to travel freely around looking for other pages... Wait, what would happen if you took a picture of the picture? Maybe that's it. Prove that we can do what the author did.

As for Savior's threads, tell him that only Corruptor can fully glitch him so he has nothing to worry about. Also that Glitcher has 10,000 years of practice.

Also, maybe we should tell him about all the cycles and how this one is way off the track so helping you end the cycles now may be the best chance for success. What does he have to lose from helping anyway?

>Snake Queen
Alison, please.

Ask why Savior is Glitching out, a little. Did the system try to shut down his sanctuary? Was he experimenting with something? Did he get in a fight with Corruptor, already?

...actually, does he know where Corruptor is? We haven't been able to talk to him. Does he know when the two of them normally get into a fight? It's supposed to happen at some point.

Do not ask if he's been Corrupted. Sevener's logs indicated Corrupted Savior is Bad News, and we don't want to set him off. Maybe ask Glitcher if he could tell if that were the case, after Savior has left.

If he's worries about being damaged further, is there any way to help repair what's happened so far? You know Glitcher and Corruptor could work together to do impressive things, could Savior and Glitcher collaborate on anything?

>other stuff
Discuss if he'd be willing to allow a phone or something so 'safe' people could still communicate with friends in the contest.

Then Alison needs to talk philosophy and ethics and stuff with him. Start with the his opinion from before. You guess he was right. The CAI battle didn't really fix anything, and you did lose, even if you know a lot more now, and won Sevener over. Not sure if the way the system changed everything is better or worse, though. What's he think of it?

>hidden messages
...aren't those barcodes on Glitcher?

...actually, wait. Savior did his appear in a burst of light thing, right? The thing that no one else can do, so we know it's him? Otherwise I'd wonder if the blurry appearance is due to Corruptor or one of his minions faking it.

You know, that's right. They DO look like barcodes. Hmm, I bet one of the former Jetals know how to read those. It's a useful trick to know in a regulated place that uses them.

Hey where has Sevener been for all this hugging and napping in piles? We spent forever working to get her on our side and I am not going to let her hang out and brood without us. Need to show her we do not hold a grudge for her being all grumpy in the Belenosian simulation.

Go grab her with a story about needing her and Radmin help Glitcher decrypt things and then drag her into the hug pile.

Unless she can actually decrypt things then wait until after to commence the hugging.

If we are going to find any secrets it might be by combining the abilities of Contestants, Admins, and one of the Glitchy special people.

Savior... The last three times people started glitching like this when they weren't Glitcher himself, they glitched to death. A slow, painful death, in the middle of a safezone. If you say no again, I won't push it further... But please, do consider it.

Alison 2014/07/12(Sat)19:01 No. 583988 ID: d470e9
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>Savior did his appear in a burst of light thing, right?
Alison wasn't in the room when Savior showed up, but she does think she saw a flash of light even from down the halls.

"Call me Alison, please. Do you know why you're glitching, Savior?" Alison says, slowly inching closer to Savior.
>"Oh, there's a few reasons, but there may be some link between I and Glitcher. So unless he plans on staying still for another ten th- Ah, you get my point." Savior stops, which Glitcher starts shaking at the thought of being trapped there again.
"Have you seen the corruptor? I've been wanting to talk to him."
>"Nope, and I've been wanting to not see him if possible."
"Okay, thank you. By the way, we found a few pictures, I was wondering if you would care to take a look at them?"
>"I don't think I have very much interest in those things, unless there's a particular reason for it?"
"There's a chance they contain hidden data. Maybe you can find something glitcher couldn't?" says Alison, moving closer again.
>"That is... not plausible. I think Glitcher has better eyes than mine for that."
"It's odd though that we found two photos in our own area, but none in the others."
>"Actually, no." says Glitcher. "One was in ours, one was in Swordsbane. I went over to fetch it from their end. These aren't... uh, evenly placed. It looked like just a couple photos with random distribution."
"Ohh. Thank you. Well, Savior, Glitcher does have a lot of practice with them, so I'm certain he won't be harmed. I also believe that Corruptor is the only one who could fully glitch you, and I think Glitcher looking at your threads may help us. It might even let him transfer dying people to your paradise, which if I'm right, you would prefer?" Alison is now in hug range.
>"Very much, yes, but the risk is still too much. I'm going to decline, no matter how much you ask!"
"Alright, I don't push it farther right now, but glitcher has said there have been some awful deaths from getting glitched. Is there any way, glitcher or otherwise, you could be repaired?"
>"A cycle reboot, really. That's the surefire way."
"That's unfortunate... I also wanted to say you were right about the CAI battle, it didn't really fix anything. I did learn a lot, though." Alison hugs him.

>Aren't those barcodes on Glitcher?
Glitcher spoke of them during his Area 3, but he doesn't believe they mean anything. They're more like scanlines in his opinion, and even if they were barcodes, Glitcher and no jetals around him could read them.

>Hey where has Sevener been for all this hugging and napping in piles?
Alison believes she's been around the independent sections. Sevener is summoned though to confirm that Glitcher's barcode lines don't mean anything that she knows of.

>>583988
Ask if you can see his eyes. Also you may as well tell him what the link is between him and Glitcher. Every now and then in one of the cycles, Savior is corrupted fully by Corruptor, in an attempt to kill him permanently. However, every time, the next cycle heals him and Glitcher appears, seeming to be the cast-off corruption. So Glitcher is... basically Savior, and appears to be changing to become similar in appearance to Savior.

I think that, given even more time, both Glitcher and Savior would shift in appearance to become very similar indeed. It might not even be dangerous.

Quick now that you got him in your clutches roll him up in your coils and swallow him whole! Then he won't be able to stop Glitcher from getting his threads!

Or not.

Well tell him to think on the idea of trying to have Glitcher route dying people to his Paradise. If we can't look at his threads ask if Glitcher can look at the threads of something in his paradise or someone else there. Might be able to do something if Glitcher has some info.

Tell him that if Glitcher did find a way to do it then it might be available earlier in new cycles. Would the possibility of saving that many people in future cycles tempt him?

Then let him know what you learned from your adventures and the Corruptor logs you found in Arbitors name. He might not be comfortable with Corruptor but those logs are one of the most complete sources of info anyone has put together. And we need to bring up the idea of working with Corruptor at some point. Best to talk to him now so he has time to think about the idea.

Then send Iso off but make sure you have a way of talking to him first. And make sure he is really ok with leaving. If he goes it means no more dates or hugs unless you win.

>I've been wanting to not see him if possible
...didn't you want to quarantine him, before?

>other thing
Maybe ask if he could help finding Glitcher a place. The last stage didn't really process him right, and we'd prefer to avoid that, if rulekeeper doesn't come up with somewhere for him to stay during stages.

>Also you may as well tell him what the link is between him and Glitcher.
He already knows Glticher happens when he gets corrupted. It came up the last time he was here, when Chief was in charge.

>What say
Savior, you described your sanctuary once to me as a kind of reward. That people deserved a place to go and enjoy themselves after surviving enough of the stages. ...but what about the cycles? Don't we reach a point where we've done enough of this? Where people deserve something else?

I mean, I know you're committed to doing what you think is right. That you have duties and you're supposed to do them, and that you want to help people, too. But... who decided on your duties? The people who made this place? Maybe the one person who made you? In the Belonosian simulation, I met people who had made things. Programed simulations, built robots, jetals. Scientists, creators, caretakers. Some of them were good, some cared about those they were responsible for, one of them even saw his creations as his children. But not everyone was so good or responsible with their creations. How long can you cling to directives from people you never knew, who don't understand what's happening inside here?

You remember your past better than the rest of us. How long can you tolerate it, if even we've had enough?

...between Sevener's and Arbiter's logs, I know we had a way out, once. That I somehow got you and Corruptor working together, only to betray things myself, when the cost was too high. There's no way I con convince you to work with me again? To find something else? Something better?

>...didn't you want to quarantine him, before?
Broke the game, or had some other form of bad consequences, according to logs.

Come to think of it, is there a way that Savior could purify Glitcher? That might be bad, since Glitcher is the shed corruption, but I'm fairly certain he adopts more than just "Corruption" once he's made into a contestant.
>one of them even saw his creations as his children.
From what I read, everybody treats Jetals as the children of their creator, Loviro was not alone in that... Though he might be a rarity in actually doting over them.
>...between Sevener's and Arbiter's logs, I know we had a way out, once. That I somehow got you and Corruptor working together, only to betray things myself, when the cost was too high.
ARBITER #652: ALISON IS NOT CAPABLE OF ENDING THIS, BUT SHE MAKES IT TOLERABLE
ARBITER #1308: CORRUPTOR CANNOT COME WITH US IF WE BREAK OUT OF THE CYCLE
ALISON #1314: WHY?
Still not seeing what you're talking about, but it does look like Arbiter claims Alison has nothing to do with opening the exit or not, just that Corrupter cannot come with.
SEVENER #1901 - COULD HAVE SAVED THOUSANDS. SNAKE QUEEN WON'T HAVE IT
Is this what you're talking about? Because it's the only log that implies Alison ever skimped out on rescuing anybody.
Corrupter: She forms the bridge to the Savior I need. Yet, she is also the bridge that collapses under us at the end. She does not want to kill them or merge with them, and I see her reason. There is nothing stopping from a new series of cycles from being born. Whether we kill the CAI or merge with them, then we will simply move to the other side of the coin, and our successors will be a trillion members slowly conspiring to kill us. There's no telling if our logs will persist in a new cycle of cycles. We won't last as long as our predecessors if they do.
This is the only full out mention of it all, and this is Corrupter's log, not Arbiter's or Sevener's.

If Alison agrees to bring it up with Savior, she should only do so if she fully accepts that it will mean destroying or merging with CAI. Corrupter cannot be brought along, and anybody else who cannot be brought along, for whatever reason, will remain in the competition, eternally.
Furthermore, Corrupter, Glitcher, and Savior would end up being deleted, permanently. No trace of them will be left behind. Again, this is from Corrupter's own log.

>and this is Corrupter's log, not Arbiter's or Sevener's
No, it's the log Corruptor encrypted inside Arbiter's log, if you're going to quibble details with me. I worded it the way I did deliberately- focused on information we only got because we risked the CAI battle.

And there's sure as hell supporting evidence from Sevener. The fact that we had a way out, and that we betrayed it when we found out what it would cost, several times. Kind of came up, repeatedly, in the CAI-battle.

>If Alison agrees to bring it up with Savior [...] blah blah blah accept destruction, replacement, death
No, we don't need to accept any of that to bring this up.

We need to search for real solutions, and that involves making an effort at getting people who can help on board. Not dwelling on past failures or preemptively resigning ourselves to bad solutions. We're reaching out. We're not deciding anything.

The solution we really want is for Alison to get full Root Admin access before the next reset.

Without that power we will probably have to make sacrifices somewhere. Either loosing memories or not being able to save system members like Shopkeep and Rulekeeper or worse.

With Root access we can halt the resets and combine the Contestants and the Cai without overwriting people. Also would let us convert any temporary or special contestants into permanent ones.

Saaay Alison, how long has your sequined dress been doing that with the sparkles?

Alison 2014/07/13(Sun)00:25 No. 584018 ID: d470e9
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>Saaay Alison, how long has your sequined dress been doing that with the sparkles?
For as long as she's had it, although the safe zone lighting does often change the dynamic of the sparkles themselves.

"Is glitcher looking at your paradise threads out of the question, as well?"
>"Correct."

Alison also shares the logs of Corruptor.

>"I hope you realize the unreliable nature of these logs. They are, in an effect, the final focused thought of a being before they either die or are reset, after all. And corruptor, well, his logs sound lucid, yes, but his are unreliable for obvious other reasons! I just can't feel that acting on logs is a great leap past fumbling in the dark."
"But it is better."
>"... I suppose, so, yes."
"I thought you wanted to quarantine him, not avoid him?"
>"Well, normally, yes, I would! But normally the cycle isn't at the last quarter, either. Near the end, it's not worth the risk, and would rather just let things play out."
"I'm afraid that glitcher has no place good to be other than safe zones. He seems to be invisible to the rulekeeper, and that's why he was stuck in area 3 for so long."
>"I'm sorry, but that is something that the corruptor might be better for! The paradise is the only place I can hide from the administration, and they could delete any new places I make."
"Okay, thank you. About yourself, though... who decided on your duties?"
>"I can't remember."
"Can you ever come to change those duties, knowing that eventually there's no reason we should have to go through so many cycles?"
>"Nope. I can't say much about it other than that I'm well made. The rules and constraints of my own game might seem arbitrary to the outside, but they are there, and breaking them, to me, is absolutely unfathomable. I'd sooner let Glitcher investigate me to his heart's content, inside of the paradise itself! Which I hope I am making clear that that is never an option, so please understand the scale I'm working on."
"Yes, I understand. In the other direction then, and this isn't an idea I want to act on, but is there anyway for you to purify glitcher?"
>"Nope. Like me, just a reboot will work! Not even the system's personality reboot would affect his state. Now, if you don't mind, I do have a lot of work to do, and would like to get to it! Please say your goodbyes, now." Savior does feel impatience from him, so Alison will retract her inquiries and inputs for the time being.

>Make sure Iso has a radio if he is going to the Paradise.
Iso has received a direct radio to Glitcher. Alison will make some last goodbyes as well, if there's nothing else she should do before Savior leaves.

>>584018
I would still like to find where where all of our data is stored in the system, if possible. We might be able to reboot both corrupter and savior completely, like a cycle reset completely quarantined to those two.

Hey Alison... you could happen to pluck anything off of savior during your hug without him noticing, would you? A strand of hair, perhaps?

How bad would it be to make Savior an enemy?

Clearly this is an oppurtunity to force the issue, but it would permanently undo any relationship between Alison and Savior.

Glitcher can still do that time manipulation trick, right?
it might be possible for him to timestop, and examine Savior too fast for savior to notice.

Alternately, does the savior shed?


IMPORTANT: Glitcher should make sure to 'grab' the lightning flash when Savior leaves. He may need to manipulate time beforehand, so that he can 'watch' the process in slo-mo.

>>584018
Saviore, are the rules of your own game confidential?
If you can't tell us, there anyone that you could tell your rules to, such as Shopkeep, or the Rulekeeper?
It seems sad that you have to deal with that all alone and can't share your burdens.

It is strange that your 'rulebook' can't be divulged in any way shape or form, which makes me wonder if that confidentiality is a programmed inhibition, instead of a hard rule.

Why would Savior be vulnerable to glitch death?

We knew he would be a hard nut to crack. But if you can not convince everyone with just one speech. Maybe seeing the pain and suffering from the next stages will help push him over the edge.

Having Iso in his paradise will be a big help. We can keep him busy there meeting and befriending the people there. If we can spread our factions message and what we have learned there it might help Savior to realize that his methods are flawed.

Also am sure that every other person there has a sob story about a friend lost or having to do something horrible in a stage to survive. The more we can make Savior see just how cruel the simulation is the better.

Plus with the radio connection Glitcher should be able to track down the location of Paradise. If a emergency happens where we need access to his threads we probably can get them one way or another. Would be a big breach of trust though so that's a last resort type of thing.

So give Iso a goodbye kiss and see him off. Then go lure Sevener into a group hug somehow. Also ask Emerald what bones wanted from him earlier. He does not talk to us much so am curious if he might open up to someone else.



After thinking about it a bit I am not sure Savior is actually designed to save anyone. If anything Corruptor tries harder to fix things than he ever does. I am starting to suspect that Savior is a program the Salikai put in here to help keep the simulation in check. Corruptor was the virus that was supposed to help break the Cai out of the loop while Savior is only here to keep the status quo going.

1/2 Alison 2014/07/13(Sun)09:26 No. 584045 ID: d470e9
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>You could happen to pluck anything off of savior during your hug without him noticing, would you?
That would be rude.

>How bad would it be to make Savior an enemy?
Alison can't say for certain, but she doesn't want to make enemies, nevermind that it would be very bad.

>Glitcher's time dilation to investigate savior/his flash of light
Even if Alison was okay double crossing the savior like this, there's no telling whether or not the savior could detect it happening.

Alison gives Iso a long goodbye hug and kiss.

2/2 Alison 2014/07/13(Sun)09:26 No. 584046 ID: d470e9
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"Are your rules confidential, Savior?" Alison asks.
>"Well, the rules don't say they're confidential, but I do prefer people not worry over them. Now then, Iso, you have non-stage items on you.... what is that?"
>"Uh... it's a radio, I'd still like to be able to talk to Alison." Iso says, pulling it out.
>"Oh, no, no, no, I can't allow any glitcher made items in the paradise, even if they're not made out of his own threads. Please leave it behind! If you want to see Iso again by the end of the cycle, you'll just have to come to the paradise yourself. I'm afraid the paradise just can't have anything to do with Glitcher. But you know, the remainder of the system brackets have become rather understanding of me. I may yet be able to convince them to let dying individuals be picked up and put into my own paradise. Ah. I think corruptor is coming here. I have to go, now."

I... your call Iso. I'm not going to force you.

Savior, thank you for listening, and goodbye for now. Go, and be safe.

Then head outside to meet Corruptor. I wonder if he has anything to say,or if this is an attack, or if he's just coming for Savior?

Hmm while loosing the radio would sort of ruin some of our plans the whole idea behind sending Iso there was so he could visit old friends while still keeping in touch with us.

Plus with Corruptor coming out of the blue and Savior being more glitchy than normal I am getting a bit paranoid over Iso's safety. Hate to start worrying about betrayal from Savior of all people but Iso is our oldest friend and one of the most important people to Alison.

I guess in the end its really up to Iso at this point. But right now am sort of getting creeped out by Savior. And the idea of not being able to see Iso again without throwing the contest makes me sad.

Oh and one final thing. Do we know anyone trustworthy that has actually gone to the Paradise and come back? Because sending him off into the unknown with no way of ever talking with him worries me.

Savior really ought to try to make communication methods though, somehow.
Might get a lot more people on your island without people constantly worrying about their friends still in the contest. That's got to be a constant problem in the paradise?

1/2 Alison 2014/07/13(Sun)11:12 No. 584063 ID: d470e9
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Iso looks over to Alison.

"It's up to you, Iso."
>"I... I kind of got prepped for going and everything. I, uh..." Iso is doing that Iso thing where he wants to say more but can't find the words, but it seems clear that he's leaning towards going to the paradise but doesn't want to actively leave Alison.
"Go with your friends. I'll see you again before all of this is over."
>"Okay!"

Alison can't realistically say she definitely will, but she's sure going to be trying.

>Do we know anyone trustworthy that has actually gone to the Paradise and come back? Because sending him off into the unknown with no way of ever talking with him worries me.
It is worrisome, as there has not been any confirmation of people enjoying their time in paradise. Nonetheless, even in the worse case scenario, Alison can't expect that savior has been lying about all of that.

"Be safe, Iso, I'll miss you."
>"S-same! Goodbye, Alison."
"Goodbye. And savior, please do try to allow us to speak to our friends."
>"I can't promise much, but I do promise to try." says Savior.

2/2 Alison 2014/07/13(Sun)11:12 No. 584064 ID: d470e9
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As Savior leaves and Alison turns to meet Corruptor, Chief is standing in the door.

>"Do you think he's a friend, Alison?"
"I would like to think so, also, hello, Chief, how are you feeling?"
>"Feeling absurd that sleep is an integral part of artificial intelligence's health. Other than that, better than ever. I don't think he's our friend or ally. Eccentric or not, that person is hiding a lot of secrets he doesn't want you to know."
>"I'm gonna agree with that." says Sevener. "I'm also gonna go with you to see Corruptor."

>Feeling absurd that sleep is an integral part of artificial intelligence's health.
I guess even our brains need a break once in a while, even if they aren't real.

>I don't think he's our friend or ally. Eccentric or not, that person is hiding a lot of secrets he doesn't want you to know
You're right that he's hiding something, at least. Still need to find a way to deal with him, though. I'm not sure how we find a solution to the cycles without him, or at least understanding what he's doing.

>I'm also gonna go with you to see Corruptor
Thank you.

Well lets round up the gang and go see Corruptor.

One thing to remember Alison is that you and all the contestants were made with few to no limits on your personalities. Given the chance you can be whatever you want and change over time.

For the system characters like Rulekeeper and the two special programs Savior and Corruptor they where created with a job to do. While they are complex enough to change its going to be much harder for them. Might be a good idea to find out what "Rules" Savior has been following so that we can find a loophole in them. And if Savior has rules then that means that Corruptor has something similar guiding him.

Anyways with luck everything will work out with Iso and maybe he can rub off on Savior a bit.

Here is to hoping Corruptor is not a mess. And that we still have enough Corruptor points to give him hugs.

Maybe it sets it to defrag or run maintenance when you go to sleep.

>Maybe it sets it to defrag or run maintenance when you go to sleep.
Or it's just to cool down the hardware.

more and more and more questions, someday we'll get some straight answers, someday.

But yeah for the corruptor thing, did he show up? cause we've been trying to call him and he still hasn't answered yet. Hell at this rate the only way we're going to get to speak to corrputor is to either wait till stage 10 or see if we can't convince all of the houses to either go neutral or side with us.

Hmm, interesting, perhaps Corruptor is chasing after Savior? Could use him as bait in future if so. Also hold up Sevener, are you going to be... diplomatic about things? We are trying to salvage what is essentially a quickly sinking relationship after all.

Anyway tell Chief it's good to see him feeling better and then start rounding people up.

Oh, make sure someone tells Bones about Corruptor's arrival, if he doesn't know already.

>rounding people up
I'm not so sure a big delegation is the right approach, here. They won't really help in a conversation, and they won't help at all if he does something aggressive with his powers. Massed forces aren't the optics we want anyways- we want a diplomatic meeting, here.

Better to keep the others out of the way. Increases our odds, and it leaves them still in a position to do something even if Corruptor takes Alison and Sevener out of the picture.

>is Sevener gonna be diplomatic
Of course not. That might be what we need, here, though. Between her and Alison we've got a pretty natural good-cop bad-cop approach.

>>584064 Well, with computers, information becomes increasingly fragmented as it is continuously used, requiring a system reorganization (or 'defragmentation process') to speed up data entry as well as conserve space.

So it's entirely possible when an AI sleeps, its memories are being defragmented. Going long periods without a defrag may in fact be what was causing the... super-insanity and apathy you all suffered from in the... that awful stage.

>is Sevener gonna be diplomatic
>Of course not. That might be what we need, here, though. Between her and Alison we've got a pretty natural good-cop bad-cop approach.

More like good-cop, awesome-cop

Alison 2014/07/14(Mon)22:10 No. 584218 ID: d470e9
File 140540100912.png - (394.11KB , 800x800 , SZ8-41.png )

"You can come, Sevener, but this is a diplomatic mission, please remember. I'm trying to keep a good relationship going, despite how many rocky turns it's had. Duelist, please come as well, but I want to keep my numbers small. I hope to not appear too threatening, and that corruptor isn't messed up, or had his effects accelerated like the glitcher."

Bones is reported to have immediately travelled to the corruptor. Alison makes her way over, but the bridge to the island in question has a group of several individuals blocking the path.

>"Corruptor houses only." says the one in front. "No exceptions."
>"What was that about hoping corruptor wasn't a mess?" Sevener idly whispers under her breath.

>>584218
You know, technically Alison's house is still a corrupter house. We never said we left, not have we ever betrayed or harmed the corrupter in any form. We even brought Bone's back, so it's pretty clear we're a corrupter house, right? Still allies? We haaaaaaave hugs!

Well, how about Arbiter's house? He's still a corrupter house right?

>>584218
Ask for Corruptor to come out and see you here, then.

>Corruptor houses only
Technically, I am still the Snake Queen, and I still lead my house. None of you have unseated me, nor has the Corruptor.

...if they won't let us past, the simplest way past is to retreat, and then summon rulekeeper, please. Ask him to modify the the geography of the safe zone so the path can't be so easily blocked. Making the paths really wide, or expanding the central circle will make forming a human barrier impossible with just safe zone rules. Granted, Corruptor could simply change the ruleset, or deploy Outsiders to erode the terrain, but let's see how much attention he's willing to devote to this.

So you speak for Corruptor then? He no longer wishes to speak to people himself and instead lets his minions decide who is worth his time?

Or maybe you think he is weak and you need to protect him from me? In a safe zone no less? In the middle of hundreds of his own people?

Anyone who wishes to see corruptor should be able to pass. Have you forgotten his ideals? Or have they changed and you are no longer free to think and act for yourself?

If you can not shame them into letting you cross summon Rulekeeper and politely ask if he could widen the bridge or something. Tell him you would like to talk to Corruptor and would rather not start any sort of incident.

well this all seem cheery, anyways you are the snake queen and I never heard about anyone saying that your house was no longer with the corruptor so unless he's making it official that your house and his are at war with each other there should be no reason for them not to let you pass.

Say all these things, but avoid using the word "technically", that's implying weakness of confidence when we need boldness.

Alison 2014/07/18(Fri)14:10 No. 584593 ID: d470e9
File 140571785718.png - (299.90KB , 800x800 , SZ8-42.png )

"You're speaking for Corruptor, then? He used to speak to anyone."
>"Not anymore."
"I thought I was still one of his houses."
>"You're not. Neither is Arbiter."
"Corruptor's ideals were also about autonomy, wasn't it, so is this more of your choice or his?"
>"When available, things are autonomous. Things are different."
"Rulekeep, please!"
>"Yes, Alison?"
"I'd like to widen the bridge."

The corruptor's speaker steps forward.

>"And we'd like it preserved the way it is." he says.
>"Ah.... uh..." Rulekeeper thinks. "Well, I'm sorry, I'd put it up to a vote, but you're outnumbered, Alison, so... sorry. I'm actually trying to evict Corruptor, anyway."
>"Snake Queen." the speaker says. "The corruptor has said not to allow just anyone through, and explicitly said you especially were not invited. And that if you managed to break through, he would immediately leave the safe zone. You're never going to see him again."

....

Why?

>>584593
Is that last bit what Corruptor said, or is that the speaker's conclusion? Because Corruptor could easily just come right out here to talk and not break any of the rules he set. If Corruptor really won't see Alison... then we will have to just treat him like an enemy. Either that's what he wants us to do, and this is some weird plan to our longterm benefit, or he is really our enemy.

Of course, the OTHERS aren't banned specifically. What about Sevener? What happens if she breaks through?

If we truly never meet again that will be because we find a way out and Corruptor decides to not be a part of it. Not because he blocks a bridge.

Well I will not force the issue now. If he really wants me dead he underestimates how good I am at surviving. And the fact that he will not even come to see me means he is ashamed of his actions and is worried he will falter if he meets in person. That or he has some complicated plan that involves turning me against him.

Tell him that either way its not going to work. I am to hard to kill and even if he betrays me again and again I will still do everything in my power to save him along with everyone else.

So if he changes his mind and wants to talk he knows where we are.

Settle down in a coil to wait. If there's one thing the last stage taught, it was patience. We can wait till he changes his mind or leaves.

Tell the guards: my goal hasn't changed. One way or annother, that means Corruptor's going to end up having to face me, eventually.

Ask rulekeeper to be careful trying to expel Corruptor. Might be better to leave it, since he's probably not going to stay, anyways. Tell Rulekeeper if he really wants to pursue it, and nothing else works, he can use us to chase Corruptor away, if he's really gonna run from us. Otherwise, we'll wait here.

>>584593
At least until he changes his mind and wants to see us, correct?

Is corruptor even alive anymore, you guys, or have you been faking us out entirely? If he doesn't want to see us, can he at least respect us enough to give an answer why? We deserve that much. If corruptor kicked one of you out like he did us, you'd want an answer too, wouldn't you guys?

We didn't do a goddamn thing to him, aside from just now and try to see him against his will, which is reasonable considering the circumstances.

Agree to walk away, then ask Rulekeeper later for a secret passage to his abode. You'll do a favor for her if it won't get you or any of your peeps killed in exchange.

>>584593
...no, Alison is going to see him again, one way or another. Right now, when brackets meet, or next cycle, and the cycle after that, and the cycle after that, if you idiots are going to stop us from fixing things.

But look how easy it would be to force the issue. Rulekeep, you are trying to get Corrupter out of here, and these gentlemen just explicitly said he would leave if Alison got through to talk to him. Let's revisit that bridge discussion, shall we?

>>584607
Oh, and ask these guys to at least pass a message to Corrutor. That we still want to be friends despite all that's happened, and that we forgive him for killing Alison and our allies for whatever reason, and that we still want to work together to stop the reboot, if that's a part of any of his objectives.

Oh and that we don't give up easy. Corrupter has a hug debt that he's not going to be able to avoid. Our hugs are endless in scope, and relentless. Before this game is over he'll receive another hug, because you are very intuitive.

"...If we can't see the Corrupter, then deliver a message for us. We will always consider him an ally. Even if we must fight, we will still bring him back. I expect... No, I know he'll do the same."

>You're never going to see him again.
is that meant to be a threat? Because if so here's a future tip when you're trying to threaten someone. Don't show fear.

For whatever reason it seems that either the corruptor or at least his followers are hell bent on not letting us speak to the guy. If his plan is simply to avoid us eventually he's going to have to face Alison, either when he runs out safe zones to flee too (when all the brackets finally converge into one) or when we have to face the final stage. If you're saying he's planning on having Alison removed somehow (like his little trick in the CAI battle) since when has any of his plans in trying to get rid of us actually worked? They either backfire or we find some way around.

If you truly don't wish for us to speak to corruptor then we shall not force the issue, but know Alison and her house will not go away simply because you choose to pretend it doesn't exist.

As for what to do, it looks like we're going to have to take out the corruptor's allies, either by having them side with us or even taking them down if they won't lesson to reason just so he'll have to talk to us, since we'd be the only house he'd have left. Sigh, my only question is why now of all times did the corruptor chose to hide himself away from the world? Did that rule change really mess him up that badly or is it something else?

1/2 Alison 2014/07/19(Sat)14:04 No. 584729 ID: d470e9
File 140580388319.png - (241.38KB , 800x800 , SZ8-43.png )

"What about the others with me?"
>"All forbidden."
"I wasn't going to force the issue, but... you said the corruptor would leave even if I broke through?" says the speaker.
>"Yes."
"Rulekeep, you're trying to get rid of the corruptor?"
>"Yes?" she answers.
"I'd like to talk again about widening the bridge."
>"Yes, I'll be changing my position on it. The rest of you - let Alison through, or I'm going to banish you to a jailroom."

2/2 Alison 2014/07/19(Sat)14:05 No. 584730 ID: d470e9
File 140580390657.jpg - (325.24KB , 800x800 , SZ8-44.jpg )

They reluctantly move, and Alison makes her way to the house. She can see Corruptor poke his head out from over the roof.

>"Alison. Let me speak to my followers. It isn't fair, but I'm going to leave if you do anything that isn't leaving right now. We're no longer friends."

>"Please get him to leave." says Rulekeeper.

>>584730
"Can you at least offer me the courtesy of telling me the why we aren't friends anymore? That is all I want, Corrupter. The one thing I want from you. And then I will leave, for now. Maybe we can work together later to stop the reboot, I'm hoping. Your plan to work together with The Savior from an older cycle isn't a bad one if we can get it to work, if not the best plan any of us can come up with."

...I don't want to force you to leave without talking to people, Corruptor, but you're putting me in a very difficult spot. If I give you some space, will you give me anything in return later? A conversation, an explanation?

If he takes the deal, accept, back off, and apologize to Rulekeeper. You'll get him to leave when you're done.

If he refuses, fine. Tell Corruptor you're going to back off for a little while so he can talk, and then if he doesn't leave on his own, you're going to keep your word with Rulekeep and force him to go.

...and for the record, he doesn't get to choose to stop being friends so easy. As far as you can tell, it looks like he needs a friend now more than ever.

"Us being friends or not has no bearing on my need to talk to you. If you want to run and hide, that's your choice, not mine. But one way or another, we are going to meet again."

>>584730
"What have you done to yourself?"

Being friends does not work like that Corruptor. If one of the friends has a breakdown the other friend starts worrying more and more about them. Being friends means you try and help the other person even if they are scared and alone.

I deserve at least a explanation. If I don't get one I will keep hounding you until I can hug you into submission. Even if this whole game is pointless and we never find a way out there is no reason for us to be enemies.

"I'll leave but first I only want you to answer one question and answer it truthfully. Why? Why have you done this?"

Tell him you're sorry for whatever's happened to make him shun you and your friends, this cycle or otherwise.

1/4 Alison 2014/07/20(Sun)13:14 No. 584905 ID: d470e9
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"Corruptor, that's not how friends work. I'm just more worried, now. I'm sorry for whatever happened, or whatever I did, that made you shun me and my friends. I'll give you space, and we can just talk here."
>"Alison, I wasn't bluffing."

2/4 Alison 2014/07/20(Sun)13:15 No. 584906 ID: d470e9
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Corruptor vanishes without another word.

3/4 Alison 2014/07/20(Sun)13:15 No. 584907 ID: d470e9
File 140588732974.png - (359.36KB , 800x800 , SZ8-47.png )

>"What was that?" asks Duelist.
>"Fuck 'im. He apparently had nothing worth saying." Sevener says.
"No, he has a lot to say, and I had a lot to ask."
>"Well apparently we're going to have to beat the answers out of him."

>"Thanks, Alison. I can't really give you special treatment or favors though, I feel awful for that since you just did a huge favor for me."
"Don't fret, Rulekeep, I honestly wasn't expecting it to go like that."

4/4 Alison 2014/07/20(Sun)13:16 No. 584908 ID: d470e9
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Swordsbane comes out of corruptor's house.

>"I spoke to him some. He wouldn't talk about you much, but either way, he's not the same corruptor I knew before stage 7. Something changed him."
"Did he go through Area 3?"
>"He did, but he said he was able to force suicide on people, so I doubt that's the reason."
"If you see him again, please tell him I'm going to meet him again one way or the other."
>"He's turned into someone that isn't past shooting the messenger. Either way, I'm less inclined to follow him now. He was always unstable, but he also knew that I was allying with him as he was, and if he changed, I'd reevaluate my options. So, I'll team up with you."

Team Swords and Snakes is active.

"Thank you, Swordsbane. What about Bones and Obliterator?"
>"Bones might need more time, he wanted to know more from corruptor before you came along - unreasonable of Corruptor or not, he's going to be sore at you over him suddenly leaving like that. As for Obliterator, I'd trust him to be an enemy whether or not he's bearing Corruptor's flag.

Rulekeep, you have omniscience of the safe zone, what did you hear of the Corruptor's conversation with his followers?

>He [Glitcher] plans on taking various strands from Sevener, Radmin, Alison and Smuggler to look at, and will also want to see Devotees and, ideally, Swordsbane and Obliterator.
Now is a good time to make this thing happen.

>>584908
Yeah I wasn't expecting Obliterator to work with us. Bones... well, if he's angry enough to fight us, he doesn't have an army anymore. We'll be fine. Maybe some of Bones' questions can be answered by Swordsbane, though?

I think it's time we started planning ahead for the limited exits of the next stage. Set priority people to exit, so we won't have to discuss it when the time comes.

Well guess we're going to have to work on tearing down the corruptor's forces by either trying to get them to side with us or at least become neutral in the corruptor vs all things snake war. If he's afraid to talk to us then we'll just have to wait until he can't run away from us anymore. As for why the corruptor might be freaking out, think maybe he, uh, awoke like glitcher did, as in where he suddenly remembered the past cycles. that's the only reason I can think of for the sudden shift of personality. I mean when that happen to glitcher he want from pretty chill guy to completely suicidal almost instantly.

>>584920
The logs did seem to suggest that Corrupter can remember the past cycles after a certain point, so it would not surprise me. Give him some time and some space, like you did for Glitcher, and he'll come around eventually.

If we see Bones, we can apologize for interrupting in the manner we did. We didn't mean to deny others the chance to talk to him. If he accepts our apology, we could help keep him alive so he gets a better discussion, later.

>Corruptor running away
What's really odd about that is that if he really wanted us out of the way, it would have been trivial to kill us. He can break safe zones, and with all the illegal tier 3 stats gone, we wouldn't have been hard to overpower with those loyal to him.

>Swordsbane
What did Corruptor talk about? Was there a message or order for his followers? A goal?

>I can't really give you special treatment or favors though, I feel awful for that since you just did a huge favor for me
We're friends, Rulekeep. You don't have to feel bad about favors, even unintentional ones.

>now what?
We're running low on options to try and find a way out here. Savior hasn't been willing to bend yet, and Corruptor won't even talk to us. We have Glitcher, but there's a limit to how much we can do. We have enough allies to make it through the stages, but surviving that way is just a delaying tactic until the reset kills us. What we need is a way to come at the fundamental problem again.

Well we have to treat him and his followers as enemies but sort of had to do that anyways with how the stages are set up. Hopefully we can find out whats up with him before its to late.

Be careful about how much trust to put into any new recruits. Working with them should be fine but try to avoid putting them into places where there betrayal could royally mess things up.

Might want to find out what if anything Bones said to Emerald. He was the only one that Bones was willing to talk with earlier.

Ask Swordbane what sort of changes he noticed in Corruptor. The more we can find out about his personality change the better.

>>584908
Ask Swordsbane if this might be a part of a complicated plan to manipulate us? Because, well, we're kinda acting as predictably as possible. He knew that was going to happen. He knew we weren't going to leave. He knew everything. He didn't want us to leave him alone or do what he said directly to us. He's got a plan and is trying to be all politician, right?

Emerald, things he just did is totally like a politician and is probably trying to manipulate us into doing something, right?

I'm asking an old ally of Corrupter this and then a politician this, and the fact that they are from the same source has nothing to do with the fact I'm asking the both of them.

1/2 Alison 2014/07/21(Mon)11:33 No. 585126 ID: d470e9
File 140596759881.png - (388.11KB , 800x800 , SZ8-49.png )

"Rulekeep, did you happen to catch what Corruptor was saying?"
>"I'm sorry, but this whole segment was far too... well, you saw the effects. Everything was garbled to me."
"Alright. And Swordsbane, do you think corruptor if enacting an elaborate plan to manipulate or, or at least me? I honestly think that if he wanted to, he could kill me."
>"I wouldn't know. I'm not involved in his secret plans. I have no doubt that there are secret plans, but that seems farfetched."

Alison still does not want to set exact priorities on who lives or who dies, but just in case, she sets up talks with everyone to decide who they will defer their lives to, and who wants to live no matter what. She trusts everyone could talk about it and come to an agreement in the stage, but she doesn't know if there will be time.

Alison delegates Chief to work with Swordsbane for a loose set of priorities and fairness for those decisions regarding Swords-Snakes relations.

There is no sign of Bones, but Alison will give both him and Corruptor, if he comes back, some space.

2/2 Alison 2014/07/21(Mon)11:33 No. 585127 ID: d470e9
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Swordsbane is also shown to Glitcher for thread studying. Alison feels that as things are right now, she is going to be nearly entirely dependent on Glitcher. Many of her options for eliminating the cycles are closing off, and it seems like Glitcher is the only one who is willing to work with her at the time.

The Glitcher still says that he can't promise much, but if it's possible for him to find a way, he'll find a way. Until then, Alison just needs to survive, since glitcher feels she has a better chance of talking Savior and Corruptor into her goals than he does.

For the time being, Alison will wait at least this safe zone out and continue with what little she can, including keeping up to date with what Rulekeeper and Shopkeeper learns about the next stage. She also asks Emerald if he thinks corruptor is manipulating her, but he has a similar unknowing answer. 'It can't be ruled out, but that's just one of a hundred otherwise equal wild hypotheses.'

The next update will be a time skip - any suggestions between now and then will be employed during the time skip, before Stage 8 begins.

According to Corruptor's logs, Glitcher's abilities won't be useful past stage 10, so we can't count on him to get us through. I think our best bet is to slowly coax Savior to our side. Maybe even seduce him. Alison, go talk to Succubus about seduction.

>Timeskip
Boo!

Hang with friends, try to enjoy things. Since you lost your instruments with the rule change, improvise a harp with your tail and hair to play.

You know it's strange. Savior ran because he wanted to avoid Corrupter... and Corrupted acted the exact same way with Alison. Maybe the Corrupter is worried about being 'Corrupted' as well. Though given we don't have Corrupter's and Savior's innate ability to jump brackets we can't exactly do anything about it.

Though there is another possibility. Thanks to rulekeeper we know its possible to program in personality shifts and Corrupter is behaving in an extremely different manner. Maybe it's not Alison he wants to avoid but a Alison friendly glitcher who would be able to reset his personality to pre-personality shift.

We want to spend time building up relations with our new allies and learning as much as we can about them.

As for Savior we just have to wait and do our best when the opportunity arises. If you see Savior we want to quiz him on his rules and programming. Maybe watching the nastiness of the next stages will help convince him to help.

With Corruptor we try to learn what might have set him off and find out more of how he is getting through the stages. Talk with Rulekeeper about how she plans to stop him from unfairly manipulating the stages. And how she planned on making him leave if you had not driven him off. Maybe we can convince her to give us some advantages to stand up against him. Also find out if Corruptor has any other strong allies left. Maybe someone is manipulating him somehow.

Keep helping and working with Rulekeeper. If she is going to have her personality changed into something uncaring next stage we should try to have Glitcher stop that. If she is emotionally attached to people she will be more willing to bend rules and help out. The personality shift is probably so she will not be tempted.

Another avenue is working with the Admins if at all possible. They are dying just as fast as the rest of us and some of them might be willing to work with us if we reach out.

Don't loose hope yet. A lot can happen in the next stages and with the reset we are treading on new territory. Be on the lookout for anything new because it might be untested code that could be manipulated.

Oh and the biggest thing is to get some Sevener hugs in. We spent weeks being nice and having her try to back stab us in the Belenosian sim. She is not getting off with a woops I made a mistake sorry about hating you because of inaccurate logs. So lure her in later and get some group hugs before its to late.

As for logs it might be time to release Corruptors log to our allies and maybe his people on the island. But ask everyone what they think about it before putting the info out. Not sure if there is anything in there we want to keep private.

Glitcher is FALLING APART. He's going to die or worse soon if he doesn't work on putting himself back together.

I understand he's super busy at the moment, but he has way too many, if you'll forgive the expression, "loose threads" and it looks like he's going to outright unravel if he doesn't start being more careful.

The problem is that both of the people who can fix him are refusing to lend him their strings. Savior directly and Corrupter by avoiding us.

Is it worthwhile for Glitcher to have a look at Corruptor's house? Maybe he left some trace behind?

At the very least there might be more books there.

When hanging with friends, try include rulekeep. Maybe he'll change later, maybe he can't help directly, but hey, no reason not to be nice, right?

>As for Savior we just have to wait and do our best when the opportunity arises.
And hope leaving Iso with him have an impact.

Wait, can Alison explain what happened with Sevener after the belenosian simulation real quick before we enter the stage? I don't believe we ever learned what happened from her point of view.

>>585127
try to find more pictures of possible CAI past or salikai information.

1/4 Alison 2014/08/23(Sat)23:31 No. 590916 ID: d470e9
File 140886188736.png - (45.02KB , 800x800 , SZ8-51.png )

"Rulekeep, how were you going to get Corruptor to leave if I wasn't around?"
>"I have a few techniques, dear! But they're all rather... it's not clean. Him being so repelled by you was favorable."
"I don't think so. How do you plan on stopping him from manipulating stages, then?"
>"I can't, but I can manipulate the stage back."

>Alison, go talk to Succubus about seducing savior.
Alison doesn't think she has it in her.
Neither does the Succubus.

>Improvise a harp with your tail and hair to play.
It looks strange, but is surprisingly effective.

>Alison explain what happened with Sevener after the belenosian simulation real quick before we enter the stage?
Alison isn't entirely clear on what happened, Sevener left her to go deal with administration things and meet Chief without explaining herself fully.

2/4 Alison 2014/08/23(Sat)23:35 No. 590920 ID: d470e9
File 140886211191.png - (27.29KB , 800x800 , SZ8-52.png )

>Go hug Sevener

>"Don't you have important leader things to be doing, or did we just resurrect you so we could get a chronic constrictor?"
"I wish there was, but there's a lot of things that are escaping my power. We have to rely on Glitcher now. He's insistent that there aren't any more books in the stage, so we can't learn more about the outside world for the time being."
>"Did he even look?"
"He says he could tell."
>"Hrmph."
"I'm going to get to know our allies better, though. I'm thinking of sharing the Corruptor's logs with our more trusted allies that didn't get to see it."
>"Don't bother."
"Why not?"
>"Maybe you're clinging onto your hopes, but me? I'm sick of the false leads. First the notes. They sure did more harm than good. Then the logs. They're leftover thoughts from dumbasses who just went through a single cycle and left no proof that what they said was accurate. Now corruptor has some super-log thing? Can't trust that either."
"It's better than nothing."
>"Just make sure they know that it's probably bullshit."
"I will, but in my own words. Thank you, Sevener."
>"I didn't do anything."
"You're a good person."
>".... what the fuck, are you get us all in a circle and us all sing sappy ass happy songs next?"
"Only if you want to."
>"Get outta here, Naga!"

Alison will go meet her allies for what will most likely be smalltalk and answering questions as best as she can.

3/4 Alison 2014/08/23(Sat)23:35 No. 590921 ID: d470e9
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HOUR 90

>"Shop's open!" Shopkeeper yells at the front of Alison's door after a long, eventless period. "Everyone please gather together! I have the rules for the next stage."

Item gained - UNDROPPABLE - UNTRADEABLE - 500 zeny

Once everyone gathers, Shopkeep continues.

>"Okay, everyone has a bit of cash. There's probably going to be more in the stage, but this is the starter fund. So, it's gonna take place in a castle themed place. I said rules, but it's more like... let me just explain. It will be sort of like stage 3, for, uh, the loose majority of you who are familiar. Freeroam. It's basically gonna be a puzzle section. Not so heavy on the traps, but there's going to be puzzles to go from room to room. Everyone starts alone, but paths will branch together to a certain degree. 50 exits, as you know - either it's the first 50 to escape to the highest tower, or if there's only 50 people left alive, then they'll immediately be transported out no matter where they are. Lessee, what else..."
>"Would you like me to take over, Shopkeep?" asks Rulekeep. "It is my job now, after all."

4/4 Alison 2014/08/23(Sat)23:35 No. 590922 ID: d470e9
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>".... old habits. I... have been doing this for awhile. Please take over."
>"I quite liked your explanations, Shopkeep!" says Radmin. "Always enthusiastic, seldom rehearsed, and never while wearing pan-"

>"Thank you." the Rulekeep starts. "What shopkeep said was accurate, although this does give the notion that it is wise to sit tight safely in room 1 and hope enough people die that they will be transported as the remaining survivors. Unfortunately, the rooms will fill either with lava, or be overran by ghosts, depending on the layout. Since this is a freeroam stage, there isn't really much more to say here. Most of everything else will be explained in the stage on an as-needed basis. And please remember to ask for me, not shopkeep! Shopkeep will playing the part of shopkeep for the first time in a long while as checkpoints within the stage itself. For now, you may buy what you think will be helpful immediately, or save your money now and hope to survive to the first shopkeep instance with no items in order to make more informed choices."

Lava Immunity For 10 Seconds - 250 z - Allows the user to touch lava without harm for the duration. (Rulekeep note: What we call lava is not actually lava, it is just a red liquid that kills instantly on any contact. Clothes included! Please remove loose strands of clothing, and watch your hair.)

Rock Candy - 200z - Feeds Ghosts, pacifying them from their insatiable bloodlust. (Rulekeep note: These ghosts cannot actually pass through the walls! Perhaps a zombie or ghoul would have been a better word choice? Unfortunately, we don't have a vocabularian with us! Oh, and these ghosts have no relation to any other ghosts you may have heard of, by name or form.)

Rank 2 weapon - 300z - Upgrades weapon from Rank 1 (Rulekeep note: Your normal fists and body maneuvers count as rank 1 already, so don't think we overlooked something! This also allows a new weapon form, much like before. It can even have range! Up to 5 meters. Note that players start with defense 3, meaning you need a rank 3 weapon before you can engage in killing other players! Until that point, there are some baddies along the way you might need to fight. Still freeroam, so there aren't stats or HP or whatever! If you're near death, though, you'll know it, trust me. Oh, uh, pain receptors are at 20% with a modest sedative cap, if that means anything to anyone. Try to get used to it, all pain limiters are getting removed on stage 9!)

Magnifying Glass - 250 z - Gives a hint towards solving the current puzzle (Rulekeep's note: These are one-time use only! After use, the magnifying glass explodes. No refunds! If you are unhappy with your hint, then please summon the rulekeep.)

>>590922
Rock Candy, Rank 2 weapon.

>>590922
how much for a rank 3 weapon? Buy rank 2 and save the rest till you can get rank 3+

>lava kills on contact with lose clothes or hair.
At least Alison has fine control over her hair, and our normal stage wearing outfit doesn't have flowing bits.

We might need to help some other people temporarily redesign their outfits, though. Flowing cloth and dangly bits, bad. Stuff has to be removed, or tied off, or tied up, and skirts and dresses and robes swapped for pants and the like.

>purchases
Probably should stagger choices through the group, so some people save, and some people go for one option or another. The magnifying glass seems the chump choice, though.

...if we get a level 2 weapon, and make it ranged, and apply it to Alison's hair... does that mean we get prehensile hair that can extend to 5 meters? That could double as a grapple and do all kinds of crazy things in freeroam. And break the normal size limits to boot.

Well we have the rock candy hint so might as well buy one of those. And either save the rest or upgrade our weapon one rank.

The Pain receptor thing means that you had better get used to pain now. I am guessing these stages will start getting more and more like the real world. There are less people so the simulation can put more power into the physics engine as it were. Which means we have a slight advantage having been in the more complex belenos sim earlier.

You know that could be what makes the later stages so nasty. Imagine a true survival simulation freeroam with real world physics for everything. If you get a cut you can get infected. If you break a bone you have to set it and heal over time. And you have to protect yourself and find food while fighting other contestants. While you have seen some nasty stuff you have been sheltered from how bad it can get in the real world.

I like how Sevener just admitted she has been a dumb ass who was mislead by stupid previous cycles. But she does have a point. Lets not get so caught up in the idea that we have to get Corruptor and Savior working together that we ignore other possible leads. Even if we did get them to play nice we still are not sure it would get us what we want. Just concentrate on making it to the end.

You give that poor shop keeper a hug right now!

Lava Immunity & Rock Candy

if we don't know what to expect might as well get something that'll let us ease by potential threats should we make a mistake.

also, what sevener said about the notes and logs, since even if what is said on those are true the person speaking might have had a completely different mindset then they do now in this cycle and the fact that almost no one (or at least the people we need for our plans to work) is welling to work with us, I'm mostly just ignoring them until something comes along that proves them right but never completely disregard them since doing so could mean the difference between life and death. Or to put it simple something to keep in mind but not to act upon unless something comes along to suggest acting upon it would actually help.

Okay that rock candy tip is actually useful now, and we know it should always be a useful one. Pacifies the ghosts? Great!
And despite the tip saying that the ghosts in question are unrelated to the mythical Ghost, the rock candy might still pacify Ghost as well.

Having maneuverable hair is handy, but getting something ranged that won't insta-kill you for shooting through a lavafall is a must. After all, only body, hair, and clothing can result in instakill, not weapon contact!
Actually, ask Rulekeep about that, just to make sure.

Ask if the items are like zenny, untradable\unblockable?

Also how many items can a person hold at once.

As for what to buy? I think everyone should alternate items and only buy one of each while also upgrading weapons. Most of Alisons group has gotten weapons that work as utility as well as a weapon.


For Alison? I think the rock candy will help best. Ghosts might be able to eat each other and befriending one is going to be beneficial.

Question, are the lava immunity and rock candy one time use like the magnifying glass? If not, those are invaluable, get those immediatley.

Only worry for Alison is the length of her tail, it seems like a lot to lug around.

>>590922
How does the timer for the lava immunity work? If we touch lava for only one second, does the timer stop at nine seconds or does it just run down to zero regardless?

>>590985

Also is the lava immunity a activate-able item or does it automatically start the timer if you contact lava?

Alison 2014/08/24(Sun)17:43 No. 591056 ID: d470e9
File 140892741478.png - (21.90KB , 800x800 , SZ8-55.png )

"Rulekeep, please!"
>"What can I do for you?"
"Are all of these items consumable?"
>"Correct. The only non-consumable purchase are weapon ranks."
"So if I use a lava item, it'll only last 10 seconds whether or not I'm in lava?"
>"Yes, once used, the item is used up and the timer will go down whether or not you're in lava contact."
"And, if I get weapon rank 2 and get its range, would I be able to use my hair that far away?"
>"No, it would be more like... a whip, perhaps, you can whip your hair forward to its full range, but can't control it much until it returns again. Also, it will be vulnerable to lava and other hazards, so..."
"I understand. How much is it for a rank 3 weapon?"
>"That information is not yet available."

Alison will go with her fallback, acid spit.

Mathematician gets some final stats, and counts that Swords and Snakes have a count of 104, 25 under Swordsbane and 79 under Alison, including the leaders themselves.

Alison and 38 others get weapon rank 2, and at least one other item. Otherwise, people spread out their options relatively evenly.

Chief, Engineer, Recluse, Scanner, Smuggler and about 7 other new members did not purchase anything.

Ability Removed: Summon Shopkeeper (As Rulekeeper)
Ability Attained: Summon Rulekeeper
Items Received: Rock Candy, Weapon Rank 2

>Give Shopkeep a hug [once he is done shopkeeping]

Despite Alison's asking Glitcher again if there's anything more she can do, Glitcher says to just survive.

There are not many independents left, and those that remain are fiercely independent. Of those who chose a faction, Alison received a favorable share, with a minority going to the council and fewer still to the obliterator. Bones does not appear to have taken on any new members.

Of Alison's new group, everyone has been encouraged to get to know one another so that everyone knows who is an ally by face and name.

>Only worry for Alison is the length of her tail, it seems like a lot to lug around.
Alison may shorten it a little bit for this stage.

Continue to Stage 8? Y/N

>>591056
Y.

Go for it. I think we have done everything we can here.

We might want to see if anyone needs help designing or modifying outfits to be less lava-vulnerable before advancing.

Also, there's the problem of Glitcher. Did rulekeep find a satisfactory way to handle him this time around? Did the system set up a safe spot for him to wait out the stage, or is he gonna have problems getting through again?

all we can do now is move forward and see what waits for us

Y

>Alison isn't entirely clear on what happened, Sevener left her to go deal with administration things and meet Chief without explaining herself fully.

We should get her to explain what she was talking about at some point, then. Probably too late for that now, but maybe in the next safe zone.

>>591056
Before we go, can we have a quick talk with Savior? There's one point that I don't believe we've brought up. Specifically, our world could be threatened from outside the simulation. If the computer broke down, or someone on the outside decided to attack it, we could all die without even knowing it. If we escape the stages, though, then we might have a chance to save ourselves.

This isn't the best time to discuss the issue at length, but it would give him someting to think about.

1/3 Alison 2014/09/10(Wed)19:24 No. 593643 ID: d470e9
File 141040226792.png - (26.67KB , 800x800 , SZ8-56.png )

"Rulekeeper, have you found a satisfactory way to handle glitcher this time? He's here, if you want to talk to him."
>"Yes, well, this is still in the works, but until further notice, you can trust that he will be pulled out into a quarantine zone. He will wait there momentarily until stage 8 completes, and rejoin you all at stage 9. He does take a slot in the contestant count, so please be aware that we are going to try to include him in the stages with all of its perils as soon as we can."
>"No, no, no, that won't do!" Glitcher says, nearly panicking.
"Hold on, what's wrong, glitcher?"
>"I need threads from stage 8! There might be pictures and things there too. I can't go in a quarantine zone."
"Hm... Rulekeeper, it is possible for Glitcher to join us in Stage 8 as long as he doesn't interfere with anything that would change the outcome?"
>"As in, spectate?"
"Yes, and observe some of the walls and materials."
>"...... let me think...... alright. Glitcher. I presume you can still hear me?" Glitcher nods, and Alison nods for him. "Yes. I'll allow this, but, any help you give your allies will end in disqualification for them. Any hindrance to your enemies will be met with recovery of their state. Either case will end with you being ordered to a quarantine zone, and failure to do so will lead to further disqualification of your allies. Is this understood?"
"Yes." Alison says, after Glitcher nods again.
>"Good! I can still sense changes in the stage, Glitcher, so if you wish to communicate with me during your stage 8 stay, simply write in the walls. There will be plenty of those."

2/3 Alison 2014/09/10(Wed)19:24 No. 593644 ID: d470e9
File 141040227582.png - (19.38KB , 800x800 , SZ8-57.png )

Alison stops by the place King has called his own as well.

"Hello, King. Do you think I could speak with Savior?"
>"What would you like to tell him?"
"I want to make sure that he knows that we could be threatened from outside of the simulation. Even aside from the stages and all of this, we could die, permanently, at any point in time."

King pauses, and visibly calls out some patience for himself.

>"I can guarantee you that he is aware of it. Or at least, that he glossed over that fact. He won't care, his entire being doesn't care about anything outside all of... this."
"If you're certain of it, I'll trust that it would be pointless to say."
>"Yeah. Good luck."

Some time is spent making sure that if anyone has any loose threads, hairs or body parts, that they are well under control so they don't get lava on them.

With that done, Alison relaxes for a brief period before Stage 8 starts.

3/3 Alison 2014/09/10(Wed)19:25 No. 593645 ID: d470e9
File 141040231843.png - (50.71KB , 800x800 , SZ8-58.png )

STAGE 8 BEGIN

There is a green fire at the side of one wall. Its light does not extend more than a couple of meters outward before the space is completely pitch black, but it's enough to illuminate part of a solid wall, and a smooth stone underneath with writing etched into it.

You are in the caverns of a recreation of the ancient Ultrahive Citadel. Behind you lies the beginning of your route to the rooftop.

At the end of each tunnel, you will reach an intersection. Each path will have a red torch at its front, and only one path is correct. You will find a set of dials. Solve its puzzle, and the torch on the correct passageway will be lit. Following the wrong path will result an unfavorable outcome between inconvenience and death.

Each intersection also features a purple light in front of the dials. Lighting this torch will instantaneously align all dials - however, for every purple light lit aside from this one, a ghost will be raised from the memory of past contestants.

Well, better get on with the dial turning then.

>>593645
Ah, ghosts are present. Rock Candy was indeed a useful purchase. ...wait what? Memory of past contestants?! Doesn't that mean we can use the rock candy to speak with contestants from previous cycles and OH GOD does this mean the contest has a backup of the AIs from PREVIOUS CYCLES!? If it does, we could retroactively save people.

Summon rulekeep immediately and ask what "past contestants" means- confirm that means previous cycles and not just... contestants that died in previous stages.
Also ask how long Rock Candy lasts and how many ghosts it can work on at once.

Check out the dials while talking.

That's not a purple light at all.

Hmm ghosts of memories of past contestants. Might want to summon at least on if we find a hard puzzle. Could be enlightening.

Well search this room over for anything interesting and then carefully head on out. There will be the puzzles at the intersections but there also could be loot and traps all over. There are probably ways of getting more items and such.

1/2 Alison 2014/09/10(Wed)20:25 No. 593653 ID: d470e9
File 141040595255.png - (52.75KB , 800x800 , SZ8-59.png )

"Rulekeep, please."
>"Yes?" A mini rulekeep appears.
"What does 'past contestants mean'?"
>"Any contestant that has died."
"In any cycle?"
>"What? Oh, no, just this cycle. Well, all cycles, I suppose. You're the same Alison as any cycle, after all, just with a new set of memories and experiences."
"Alright. And how many ghosts does rock candy affect, and how long does it last?"
>"One ghost per rock candy, and permanently."
"Okay, thank you."

A look around the room is taken. It looks like a burial chamber, given by the mummified neumono. The etchings on the wall seem to revolve around a different idea of life and death. Alison hopes that if there is anything useful here, Glitcher will be able to report it in detail.

2/2 Alison 2014/09/10(Wed)20:26 No. 593654 ID: d470e9
File 141040596216.png - (43.49KB , 800x800 , SZ8-60.png )

The tunnel goes down, then up, and fluctuates, but Alison is pretty sure she's gone upwards moreso than downward. She reaches an intersection, where she finds a rectangular notch with 3 dials inside of it, each one with etched numbers above and a notch around it. It doesn't look like the dial itself rotates, but the notch on the outer rim of each dial can rotate.

Anything in the chest\sarcophagi underneath that torch?

Also can you take the torch?

>>593654
Oh god damn it. A combination lock, but you don't know if it's right,left,right or left,right,left...
right,left,right: first is 2, second is 10, third is 3.
left,right,left: first is 10, second is 4, third is 11.

Try each, see what the passages it shows us are for each attempt, then light the purple torch to confirm which one it is (if you get different results), and feed the ghost.

Alison 2014/09/10(Wed)20:48 No. 593659 ID: d470e9
File 141040733482.png - (43.53KB , 800x800 , SZ8-61.png )

>Anything in the chest\sarcophagi underneath that torch?
It didn't look like there was.

>Can you take the torch?
It's ingrained in the wall too well, and the fire hurts to get too close to.

Alison doesn't know offhand how it works, but starts to work it like a combination lock.

Alison moves DIAL 1 clockwise by 1.

The rest of the dials changed with it. It doesn't appear to be a combination lock.

The previous image has been fixed - Dial 1 was supposed to have a red background on its number 12 spot.

>>593659
Um... try turning the middle dial right 1.

Alison 2014/09/10(Wed)21:00 No. 593662 ID: d470e9
File 141040803401.png - (43.51KB , 800x800 , SZ8-62.png )

Alison turns Dial 2 clockwise 1 notch.

I think I get it, those numbers at the top are multipliers. when we moved the first dial the second dial moved ahead 1 and the third when 2 ahead. When we moved the second dial both the third and the first dail jumped ahead two.

Try moving the third dial up one, if I'm guessing right the first dial should move ahead 2 and the middle dial should only move one.

>>593662
Well that makes sense.

Move Dial 2 six right so that it's pointing at 3, that'll move both the side dials twelve spaces, so they effectively don't move.
Move Dial 1 left twice. Now all dials are pointing at 1.

From there, move Dial 1 left one, and Dial 3 left one. Now both side dials are pointing at 10, and Dial 2 is pointing at 11. Move Dial 2 right one, and all dials will be pointing at 12.

Ok, so the first dial moved the first number one, the middle number one, and the last number one, and the middle dial moved both non-middle dials two. I would expect that the last one moves the first dial two and the other two one then, since it looks like the numbers above the dial correspond to the numbers moved.

We're probably going to find one of the numbers corresponds to green on each of the dials, one to red, and one to purple. If we get them all on green at the same time, I would expect the puzzle to be solved. As such, moving one dial over and over until we find the greens would work, then we can figure out how to align them without hitting reds or purples accidentally.

>>593665
The first dial moved the dials x1,x1,x2. The second dial moved them x2,x1,x2. It's just backwards.

>The etchings on the wall seem to revolve around a different idea of life and death.
Oh? I wanna know what it is now.
>>593664
Sounds good.

>>593666
Yeah I probably could have cut out like 75 words there.

>>593666
I think the target-position is relative:
1-1-2 moves the one left of it *1 and the one right on it *2.
If there is no right/left, it begins on the other side again...

The numbers above each dial indicate how the dial to the left and right of it will respond, but it wraps around.

(multiplier for the dial to the left), (multiplier for this dial), (multiplier for the dial to the right).

We could confirm this by moving dial 3 to show it matches the pattern, but the real question now that we understand how to control the dials is what combination is needed to solve the puzzle. 12-12-12 might be it, since dial 1 was red when set to 12. Doesn't mean it for sure, though. I suppose it doesn't hurt to try. Do this >>593664. If that doesn't work, is there anything that looks like a clue in the carvings in the wall?

1/2 Alison 2014/09/14(Sun)10:57 No. 594067 ID: d470e9
File 141071746932.png - (48.41KB , 800x800 , SZ8-63.png )

Alison turns Dial 2 clockwise 6 notches. Dials 1 and 3 turn 12 times in a full rotation.

Alison started fast, however, after a few moves, the notches started locking. Eventually, it force Alison to spend several seconds waiting between each turn. This wouldn't be so bad, except that she does want to get ahead of the curve. That, and it sounded like something behind her just crashed, and the sound of a liquid is starting to run.

Alison turns Dial 1 CCW twice. [1,1,1].
Alison turns Dial 1 CCW once. [12,12,11]
Alison turns Dial 3 CCW once. [10,11,10]
Alison turns Dial 2 CW once. [12,12,12]

Once all the notches are on 12, the brazier on Alison's left lights up red, so she will head in from that direction.

2/2 Alison 2014/09/14(Sun)10:58 No. 594068 ID: d470e9
File 141071749428.png - (25.71KB , 800x800 , SZ8-64.png )

The passage is nearly identical. It curves down for a bit before straightening out and raising once again.

The sound of liquid pouring is still heard. By the time Alison finished the last puzzle, it was taking nearly 15 seconds per notch turn. She may want to spend a bit longer to think everything through to optimize the number of turns it takes.

While turning the last dials, Alison believes that the numbers above each dial are relative to how far they move other dials. In other words, dial 1's numbers indicate that the left number, 2, will move the dial left of 1 - revolving around to dial 4 - two times. Dial 1 will move once, and dial 2 will move 3 times.

>>594068
It sounds like the 10 second protection from lava is a pretty bad item, if puzzles generally take more than 10 seconds. Rock Candy is fucking amazing because you can skip an entire puzzle with it. This stage is not very balanced!

Here's a solution that's optimal as far as I can tell:
Dials: 2,6,12,9
Turn dial 2 two right. Dials: 6,8,6,9
Turn dial 4 one left(x3). Dials: 3,8,3,6
Turn dial 3 one left. Dials: 3,5,2,4
Turn dial 1 one left. Dials: 2,2,2,2

>>594082
I think it takes less than ten seconds, it's just each time you turn a dial, the delay gets longer and longer. She simply was taking so many steps that the delay got that dang long.
That many steps, of course, included her test turns. Now that we have a theory on how it works, it should go much simpler.

>>594082

Yeah this looks like the fastest solution.

(I made a note card with 4 tiny paper dials on it attached with pins. And then someone goes and figures it out just as I finish. Why you ask? Because I like making things.)

>>594082
Yup, that solution works, and only takes 4 moves. Go for it.

>>594086
I started trying to build a model too, except I went digital. Then I realized it work take longer to debug and double check it that to just solve the puzzle by hand so... yeah.

>Rock Candy is fucking amazing because you can skip an entire puzzle with it. This stage is not very balanced!
Actually, we might be able to skip more than one puzzle. If the ghosts are based on dead contestants, we have a pool of several thousand dead allies who would not attack Alison, of their own volition, if summoned. Actually, that pool goes up to a million or few, if we count all the belnos sim people we rescued and who died last stage as friendlies.

...of course, most of the trillion contestants are dead at this point. So if ghost selection is completely random the odds of summoning a dead ally are on the order of 1 in a billion. Including the belnos sim people, odds improve to around 1 in a million. Odds get better than that if we assume there's a good number of dead contestants who wouldn't bear us any ill will, or that Alison could talk down.

Of course, all that goes out the window if people summoned as ghosts are compelled to attack us (sans rock candy).

There's also the fact that ghosts persist for the stage, I think. Even if we don't summon any ourself, we might need to pacify or deal with ghosts other people summon (and/or have already been killed by).

I would like to raise the possibility that perhaps if all notches land on a purple space then the purple torch will be lit and a ravage ghost will be spawned. If that is the case then at least one notch will have to be on a 2 for Alison to be safe.

>>594082
I think that we may only move one notch left or right once at a time, making that 5 moves.

I had tried to solve the puzzle with paper and pen, but in the end I just wrote a script to brute force the whole thing... feels a bit cheaty to be honest so I'll restrain from using it in future but...

2, 6, 12, 9
Move dial 3 left - 2, 3, 11, 7
Move dial 2 right - 4, 4, 2, 7
Move dial 1 left - 3, 1, 2, 5
Move dial 2 right - 5, 2, 5, 5
Move dial 4 left - 2, 2, 2, 2

Alison 2014/09/24(Wed)19:13 No. 595686 ID: 602cd8
File 141161120818.png - (28.20KB , 800x800 , SZ8-65.png )

Dial 2 CW twice.
Dial 4 CCW once.
Dial 3 CCW once.
Dial 1 CCW once.

Alison clears this one.

>Putting all notches on purple may activate a ghost
It doesn't appear that having all needles on the same color activates the color's effect; but if Alison ever had all the notches on the same number, and that number was purple, she could expect to have gotten a ghost. Or maybe the purple coloration is just for style and it did nothing, Alison can only treat that as a theory.

Alison goes to yet another section. If all the needles ending up on the same number or symbol activates that number's color, then this one looks far more dangerous for having all needles trigger a ghost, given there are only a few different symbols across 12 notches.

In front of the plaque is a small inscription that says 'Final Dial Set'.

>>595685
Irrelevant. This puzzle is impossible. The middle dial can only be moved in multiples of 3, which can never result in it reaching the red spot.

Call Rulekeeper to complain, if there is no alteration, just use the bypass torch and shove rock candy in the ghost's mouth.

I'm tempted to use rock candy to bypass this even if Rulekeep makes the puzzle possible.

If it was possible we could figure it out quickly enough but if we solve all the puzzles we have no chance to rock candy some ghosts.

Maybe the puzzle is that its impossible and most people get stuck here confused.

It isn't just the 3 movement dial. The 2 movement dial will never hit red either.

>>595690

The second dial should be fine because its movement base is 1. So can turn by itself to the red. Also the third dial can move it by 1.

The problem with the third dial is every move it makes or the other two dials next to it will always be 3.

Oh wait, new strategy. Don't summon Rulekeep at the puzzle. Immediately bypass the puzzle then summon Rulekeep while moving on. Make best use of time.

Alison 2014/09/24(Wed)20:13 No. 595702 ID: 602cd8
File 141161483007.png - (97.05KB , 800x800 , S8-9.png )

Alison would like to be moving while she does any rulekeep talks, but she hesitates at bypassing this puzzle, as this one has 3 purple braziers.

"Rulekeep, please!"
>"Mmmyyee- oh, this part. Yes, dial 3 does indeed only move 3 notches at a time. That is intentional."
"Thank you." She'll ask about ghost specifics when she's on the move. "Do I need to light all three braziers to bypass this?"
>"That's for you to find out, dear."

It may be good to double check the puzzle just for a moment, she thinks, before spawning what may be three ghosts.

Or it was just made to waste time thinking about something legitimately impossible only to have to spawn 3 ghosts anyway.

Ok so the 3rd and the 4th dial can never hit red if this puzzle works by the same rules as the previous ones.

Not sure what the significance of 3 purple braziers. If the puzzle does work differently from the others we might not be aiming for lighting the red torch on this one.

I would think outside the box on this one. Just because the first two puzzles did one thing does not mean this one is the same. Could be a trick to confuse you. So inspect the writing and the rest of the puzzle. Check for secret switches or hidden compartments. This puzzle has symbols instead of numbers. They might be the key to figuring it out.

After looking at everything I would try some movement tests if your inspection does not turn anything up. Try moving dial 2 counterclockwise once and then twice. Watch in between turns to see if everything moves as expected. If it does make the second turn and dial one should be on the red. Then see if anything new happens.

It could be that dial 3 and 4 are just there to confuse you and all you have to solve are one two and five.

>>595702
...man, the fourth dial can't hit red either. Also, I don't think dial 1 and 5 can hit red at the same time. Dial 2 is fine since we can freely rotate 3.

Alright just try rotating dial 2 CCW once. See if the dials move weirdly this time around. If everything moves as expected, just light one of the purple torches to see what happens.

...it occurs to me that you can use the resulting ghost to scout out the passageways. THAT is the optimal solution, I bet, if otherwise we'd have to light all three. Feed the ghost candy, then send it out to scout.

>dial 4
Hold, on, guys. Take a really close look at dial 4. That one's different than the others.

Now that is interesting. Dial 4 rotation doesn't have the 5th dial as being 5 like it should either. Lots of hints something is up with it.

Lets assume the V on dial 4 is the true goal to solving this puzzle.

Wait I just noticed that the fourth dial has a V looking symbol where one if it's X's should be. Also there are only 4 dials on the ground while there are 5 on the overhead display.

Ah ha just noticed something big! There are not torches on each exit like the previous ones. Just one to your left. You might not have to even touch the puzzle if there is only one torch that could light up.

>>595720

If the torch thing is right we can just go left because the puzzle is a death trap.

AH good eyes. My guess is the exit might pop up UNDER the puzzle. That would explain the third torch.

>>595720
...only one path has a torch on it? Then there is only one possible correct path. That must be the way to go.

I hope there are more opportunities to use rock candy.

Can any of these notches be moved, rather than the dials? Do the numbers above the dials slide?

Alison 2014/10/16(Thu)16:06 No. 598591 ID: 602cd8
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>There is only one brazier
Alison will have many complaints if following that path results in her death. Since Rulekeep seems amicable, Alison risks it, and follows the path the only brazier points to.

>"Rulekeep, please! What's bad about summoning a ghost?"
>"Well, they're told that if they kill the person who summoned them, they'll be revived. If you use a rock candy, then they learn that no, they're just ghosts, and won't come back to life no matter what. They can't attack you if they have rock candy, either, but it doesn't necessarily mean that they're friends. Oh, mind you, ghosts you summon are drawn from a pool of only people you've met or been in contact with, but there are other ghosts around that are randomly pulled... well, not really randomly, but random enough for you. Purple ones are unpacified, and blue ones are pacified."
"Alright, that'll be all, thank you."

Alison goes on throughout the tunnel, before she comes onto a chest with a zeny counter that is running down as she approaches it. Once opened with 221 zeny on the counter, she finds 221 zeny inside, leading her to believe that this was to reward swift completion of the previous segment.

Ahead, there is some kind of mural at the end of the wall with a floor hatch underneath.

>>598591
Hmm, interesting. So if you summoned a ghost, they might not even attack if they believed your life was more valuable than theirs. Which is fairly likely, since you were allied at one point with most of the people you've met that are now dead.

There might be something behind the chest-- check it out. Then go look at the mural.

>ghosts you summon are drawn from a pool of only people you've met or been in contact with
That really weights the odds towards Alison summoning someone who would chose not to attack her, even with the (false) incentive of revival.

>what do
Take zenny (has the contest used zenny before? Everything in the shops cost CU before) examine mural.

The real Dark Selection starts here.
Check behind that chest. Then attack chest. No risks!

Alison 2014/10/16(Thu)17:05 No. 598603 ID: 602cd8
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>Has the contest used zenny before? Everything in the shops cost CU before
Alison doesn't believe zeny has been used before, but she does know that zeny is the main currency used by... people. She guesses. And now her. She believes the system is using zeny instead of CU now, since CU was persistent, and she expects any zeny gathered here will be lost at the end of the stage.

>Check behind that chest. Then attack chest. No risks!
Alison already got the zeny from the chest. It didn't occur to her that the chest was some kind of trap, nor that anyone would be so cruel as to make the first chest in a stage be a trap. She'll try to remember the possibility in the future.

Upon checking the slot behind the chest, Alison finds another 50 zeny.

>Check mural
It appears to be a sequential series of events. Many ghosts are gathered and unable to cross through any passageway with a five pointed emblem that has a lit dot on each point. A neumono comes, holding that five pointed emblem, and 5 ghosts each enter one dot. The neumono then crosses the passage, and the ghosts are released, leaving the other uncollected ghosts behind.

The neumono brings them to another passages with the same five pointed emblem, but only dotted on the bottom three stars. The neumono tries to pass with all 5 ghosts, but the two ghosts in the upper points are kicked back out as the neumono crosses through. Lastly, the neumono passes through a door with a single dotted emblem, only carrying one ghost through. The emblem shatters, and the ghost ascends, or at least that's what it looks like.

Alison notices that one of the occurrences of emblem the neumono is holding is not part of the mural - it is an actual emblem that Alison can probably pry out.

Attack Emblem.
No risks!

>>598603
I think that we can resurrect one ghost during this stage. Grab the emblem. At the next puzzle that gives us any problems, we should summon a ghost.

Who's that standing on top of the mural? There also looks like a panel up there.