1/2 Chief 2014/06/26(Thu)20:18 No. 581430 ID: d470e9
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"Do you know who the corruptor is?"
>"A little. Mostly that I've been told not to worry about him for the time being."
"Anyways, I might still be hallucinating. I thought that Arbiter still had an alliance token we used to have in stages past. I also once had Arbiter's horn dangly parts, and it let me speak to ghosts."
>"Ah, yeah, okay then."
"Who designed Area 3, Rulekeeper? It was... unnecessarily over the top."
>"One of my predecessors, I suppose. That, or me before I was a conscienceness."

Rulekeeper leaves.

Chief won't say Rulekeep, but that may have simply gotten his attention. Rulekeep may still be listening in, so Chief motions them away for a moment.

>Explore the place
It looks like a single large house with communal and private rooms, kitchens, so on and so forth. It most likely is the equivalent of 3 houses in Area 3. It seems like this area knew full well that a single person in the jewel pool could intentionally delay things by a day and, should everyone be less coordinated and more self serving than they are, could turn this into an Area 3.

By the time they get back, they see Emerald and Loviro out on the field.

2/2 Chief 2014/06/26(Thu)20:19 No. 581431 ID: d470e9
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Arbiter goes to greet them, while Chief speaks to Glitcher once they're in a room. Glitcher seems fixated on the wall.

"Do you understand why there are so many extra contestants this round?"
>"Alison told me everything."
"Didn't that look like the shopkeep baron?"
>"I... don't remember that."
"Oh. Nevermind, then. How did area 3 finish?"
>"I just waited. Eventually that external sense just said Time Limit Reached. All players advance. So... yeah."
"Why couldn't he see what I see?"
>"Who?"
".... the npc."
>"Rulekeeper?"

Chief wasn't sure how to tell Glitcher not to say that, but Rulekeeper doesn't show up.

"The one who popped up in front of us a few minutes ago."
>".... oh. I don't know. I don't really.... no. I don't know. I could find out. I just need to see him again. Then I can yank a wire out of him. That's how I made this radio, you know. I made it out of myself, because all of the mass from the last stage decayed after a few thousand years."

Chief will refrain from hugging or otherwise touching Glitcher.

Alright, maybe we should talk to Alison after all. Glitcher is making me a bit worried about her.

>>581431
Uh. Okay. Since he skipped the Broken AI Test, how about you give it to him now? Describe the board to him and ask what number he'd pick. If he doesn't pick 2 then we're in trouble because an insane Glitcher is NOT OUR ALLY. On the other hand if we can get him through this stage his personality will likely reset and it'll be fine.

Also tell him he's kindof scary right now. Would RK even notice if Glitcher yanked a wire out? If not, then he may as well do it. Also um, it occurs to me that if we don't alert RK to Glitcher's presence, wouldn't RK notice that there's an extra person he can't see, due to the number of people he CAN see in certain areas not adding up with events? Like, for instance, if all four of the people currently here sent say Arbiter on ahead, RK would show up and go "How did you do that?! There's only three people here!" and we'd be fucked. So, we should either send Glitcher ahead first or wait until we have more people before sending anyone ahead.

If we're gonna summon Rulekeeper we should do it by going "I wonder what Rulekeeper will do if one of the gates gets deactivated for a day and 10 people get through the final gate in the meantime. If all gates were disabled that would be more fair."

...He should probably replace that wire at some point, it looks like it might have destabilized him a bit, and his body wasn't exactly stable in the first place.

And if anyone was wondering and don't feel like digging through past threads, I found a good image of the Shopkeeper Baron. >>/questarch/436140 Aside from seeming to lack a tail, he looks just like the Baron Alison recruited, right down to the book he carries.

You know what we should summon rulekeeper right now and ask him about people delaying this part of the stage. Just say that you are curious if that was the intent and chat with him a moment. That will give Glitcher time to tag him so he can have a link to him.

Glitcher being a bit insane is something we are used to. He might have some memory problems now that he has all the memories from his previous lives and 10k years of loneliness inter-spaced with Alison singing. Just treat him nicely and as usual never get to close to him unless he ok's it first.

Oh there is a chance when he grabs a wire out of Rulekeeper something might happen. Like Rulekeeper suddenly knowing about Glitcher or something. If that happens make sure he does not think we are attacking him. Will have to roll with the punches as it happens.

Tell him to do the wire thing next time that guy shows up. Then ask if using his own wire hurt him any. And finally can he replace it?

Oh, and in case nobody else realizes it... this is why Corruptor made sure Alison lost. If he hadn't, Glitcher wouldn't have had her company, and most surely would have gone insane. Of course it's also possible that Corruptor did it to ally (temporarily? Or permanently?) with the admins, which is why they don't have to worry about him right now... but Alison keeping Glitcher sane through those 10,000 years would be worth it as well.

Hmm. If there was always an endurance test like that, then I can't imagine any cycle with Glitcher getting anywhere if Alison *wasn't* dead during that area. I think we're starting to get an idea of why there have been so many victory-less cycles.

1/2 Chief 2014/06/26(Thu)21:23 No. 581452 ID: d470e9
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"This is area 5. You weren't in area 4?"
>"I guess not?"
"I'd like to see what you would answer with."

Chief shares the puzzle, noting there was no communication with them.

>"............. I guess people wouldn't go to three. So I guess 2."
"Good. You might want to put that thread in you away."
>"Where's the thread? I'm not leaking."
"In your eyes."
>"No, I'm looking at the threads in the walls. They're... a little different than usual."
"Would Rulekeep notice if you pulled a wire out of him?"
>"Maybe, if he's looking. I mean, he can't feel it, but if he looks around, then yeah."
"Okay. May I talk to Alison?"
>"Yes."

Glitcher pulls a thread out of one of his ears and wraps it around a base of the radio.

>"Alison?"
>"Hello again, Glitcher. How are you doing?"

Chief may have remembered everything that happened before area 3, but in truth, he only remembers his own retellings and writings of those events. He remembers them as a story, not as something he lived. Hearing Alison's voice, unlike Arbiter's, brings back those original experiences that Chief thought he had lost.

>"I've advanced areas. Chief is here, he was asking for you."
>"Chief! Are you okay?"
"..... yes, Alison." Chief pauses for a long moment. Area 4 and 5 were sprung on him, and the weight of finally leaving area 3 is just now bearing down on him. "Are you fine? Glitcher makes it sound like he kept you busy for a long time."
>"Years! But I enjoyed talking with Glitcher. Has he told you how far he's come along? He didn't waste his time at all. If his personality is reset, I won't complain, but it would also be a shame to have lost all that experience, even if it wasn't a good one."
>"I'll be fine, Alison. There's someone called the rulekeeper, apparently a manifestation of the stages. Uh, he doesn't seem to notice me. That's probably why I had to spend so long in area 3."
>"Is your condition any different, Glitcher?"
>"No, and I don't think there's any more areas like that. It should be fine."
>"I hope not. Chief, is there anyone else around?"
"We're at one of these funneling final areas. So far I've seen Arbiter, Emerald and Loviro. I don't know who else is here besides a bunch of belenosian refugees. Don't worry, those guys are still loyal to the emperors, so getting you back is going to be damn easy. We're just going to have to go the mile to make sure none of Bones' groups gets in and wastes our resurrect slots."
>"Okay! Keep me updated, but most importantly, keep hanging in there! I want to hear what everyone's gone through, but in person. And Chief, I don't know how long you spent in that place, but however long it was, thank you very much for remembering me."
"I'll be talking with you again, soon, assuming Glitcher doesn't destabilize from too many uses."
>"No, I made him promise me that he was telling the truth when he said it doesn't harm him at all. Goodbye, Chief, and good luck!"

She doesn't sound like a day has passed.

"Glitcher, are you going to recover from using your own threads?
>"I... could, but not on my own. I'd need threads from the Corruptor. Maybe the Savior would work, too. I can use their threads to replace mine, and they'll rebuild theirs on their own."

2/2 Chief 2014/06/26(Thu)21:23 No. 581453 ID: d470e9
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"Rulekeep!" Chief says, having Glitcher stand away.

The Rulekeep comes back, facing away from Glitcher.

>"Yyyyes?"
"Can I assume it's intentional that a single person could delay this part of the stage for extremely long periods?"
>"Yes."
"What if that happens, and in the meanwhile, others have 10 people get through the final gate? If all gates were disabled, that may be more fair."
>"Hm.... good point! This is too chancey. Ah, I know, I'll make it so that the gate is deactivated for a full day upon a successful Pass as well as an unsuccessful. It's better, I believe, since otherwise people would be punished for others' bad coordination."

Chief isn't sure if this is much better, but given how long people had to wait in Area 3, this will most likely be a fraction of the time at worst.

During this time, Glitcher takes a look at one of the Rulekeeper's threads, then puts it back in the Rulekeeper.

>"Oh, yeah... his threads are kind of blocky on the edges. Most people's are smooths. This is a system individual, and... he was made out of the shopkeep baron. They figured he was obsolete, so they erased his old self and retooled him, binding him in with the system manufacturing systems. Ah. I understand. The system stages could never see me, but they listened to the triggers and acted on whoever used them - so if I triggered something, then the trigger would act on the invisible force, which was me. But, this person... he often looks at people instead of the triggers. So... he wanted to individually pick out people. That's... yeah, he individually brought out everyone in area 3, but just thought that my stage was broken, and left it alone. So... I guess if he keeps trying to do things manually, I might be left out. I didn't pass through the gate normally."

>>581453
Then we need to tell Rulekeeper about Glitcher's existence. I figured that might be a problem in this stage... WELP, I hope this goes well. Hmm, actually... we should start this conversation by telling him that we know about the broken stage he ignored for 10 thousand years, and there was someone in it. Someone who he can't normally see.

I still want to talk to Timekeeper and tell her about Goat.

Might be left out is to much of a chance. We either need to figure out a way to get him to trigger the end of the stage normally or make him aware of Glitcher so he gets a fair chance.

We hopefully should have some time to figure that out so thank Rulekeeper for the update and ask him if he talked to everyone individually after the last stage like he did with you. We want to find out why he is manually doing things so ask him some questions about what he thinks of the contest so far and the contestants he has met.

After your talk with Rulekeeper have Glitcher look into other options for him finishing the stage. Maybe he can bind himself to one of you or disguise himself as a normal contestant for awhile.

Ask Glitcher what's different about the threads in the walls.

I like the idea of reuniting Time and Goat for a short while if possible. Ask about that later.

>>581453
On one hand, him not knowing about glitcher is an asset: if we need to keep breaking the stages in the face of a rulekeepr who actually intervenes, a player he can't see is incredibly helpful. On the other hand, it means Glitcher might get himself stuck at some point.

Meanwhile, I find it interesting that Rulekeepr specifically looks at people rather than just at rules interactions. Almost seems more relatable that way.

>Glitcher would need threads from Corruptor or Savior
Well, both are actually friendly with Glitcher, so that's not so much of a problem. Harder than that might be getting to them. (We'd need a new teleport, I think, to Corruptor's location. Savior we could summon, so long as we have access to King, Mint and/or Pepper). Although I could see either Savior / Corruptor declining, on the basis that they need to be at their full strength to fight the other.

>so they erased his old self and retooled him, binding him in with the system manufacturing systems
We had at least one shopkeep baron in our resurrection chain, though. Don't know if he's still alive (either in the stage with us, or one of the group we left with savior) or dead (killed in the CAI battle, or in the stage). I wonder what would happen if he were to communicate with Rulekeeper? (Either in person, or via ghost talk).

>I didn't pass through the gate normally.
Actually, if the stages can't see him, what's stopping him from just advancing on his own, no matter what the rules say?

Wait Glitcher saw memories from previous lives before he killed himself originally. Does he remember anything about Rulekeepers previous incarnations? Might not remember that far back but you never know. People tend to be similar between resets so might help to understand his personality.

He only does that if he has an object that makes it through each iteration of the cycle. Key cards and notes qualify. People do not.

>>581471
From Glitcher's explanation, Rulekeeper shouldn't have previous incarnations. He didn't exist until they took the Shopkeep Baron apart and rebuilt him as Rulekeeper. Well, unless this as happened more than once? But from the explanations earlier in the stage, it sounded like the system was trying drastically different than usual in order to cope with how badly we broke things this time around. I don't think anyone every pulled off that big an evacuation of a CAI-battle before, or there would have been a hell of a lot more conflicts / duplicates announced.

...actually, come to think of it, that might make Rulekeeper closer to Glitcher than anyone else. They'd both be people without backups, derived from others, who only exist in stages where they're created. Granted, Glitcher has two 'parents' and Rulekeeper only one.

>>581453
Hey Glitcher, from your perspective, have you been around longer in Area 3 than you have in all the loops combined? Will a majority of your memories now be from Area 3? Should we fail this loop, and in the future regain your memories for the loop that you spawn, what do you theorize your reaction will be?

Before you let him know of Glitcher, and thus possibly the contraband he has, let Arbiter and Loviro, and Emerald I guess have a chat with Alison. Good for morale and her sanity seems to have not degraded like yours so she could give them some tips.

Ask Glitcher the extent of his powers now, what can he do?

Honestly I don't think we should tell Rulekeeper about Glitcher, especially if it means he'd lose his radio. That thing is the only contact he has had with anyone at all and taking it away might be.... detrimental to him.

Plus its kinda made out of Glitcher Threads. It being destroyed might be a bad thing to his stability.

Chief 2014/06/27(Fri)13:39 No. 581531 ID: d470e9
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"That'll be all, then, Rulekeeper." Chief waits for him to leave, then turns to Glitcher. "What is different about the threads in the walls?"
>"They're a bit... stiff. Inanimate threads are usually soft and, well, like a thread. Ones from people are usually a little bit resistant, like a wire."
"I'd like to reduce chances of you getting ignored. Pass through the stage normally as you can. I'm going to show you to the stage soon."

Rule Change: Gates will close for one full day upon both successful and unsuccessful attempts to pass through.

"There's that. Before I attempt to make you known, I think that Arbiter and a few others would like to speak to Alison, just in case Rulekeeper tries to withdraw your item."
>"He's not going to. I'm not going to let him."
"And if he tries to kill you for disobeying rules?"
>"He can't kill me."
"He can leave you behind."
>"But I'll still have my radio. I'd rather die than lose it."
"... we'll have time to talk about it in the coming days. Right now, I have a question. There were two people in my previous area that were separated sooner than they should have been. Is it possible for you to link two ghosts together in the same call?"
>"It'll still be voice only. I'll need to borrow one of your threads to see who you're talking about."
"Is that safe?"
>"If it wasn't, then I could have killed Rulekeeper and the entire stage."
"Did you see his history?"
>"Yes, but there wasn't much. Just his creation, and an injection of the rules he was supposed to follow. That's it. He's never been made before, or at least, if he was, he's non-persistant through cycles, like... me."
"What's going to happen to you if you regain your memories now that you've been through Area 3?"
>"I... couldn't. I never regained all of my memories until I had the time to examine my own threads. Until then, I could only examine the history of notes and certain objects. I don't think I can pass this radio through. It wouldn't be my problem, though, just... future glitchers."
"You're more powerful now, I take it."
>".... yes."
"What can you do?"
>"... not everything. I can't advance stages, or resurrect, or... well, not that I'm aware of. Not in Area 3. I need a higher variety of threads. Radmin. I want his threads. And corruptors, and saviors. A belenos, too."

>What's stopping him from just advancing on his own, no matter what the rules say?
It sounds like nothing, however, if the Rulekeep tries to advance people to Safe Zone 8 manually, Glitcher may just take the gate into oblivion.

>I wonder what would happen if Shopkeep Baron were to communicate with Rulekeeper? (Either in person, or via ghost talk).
Most likely nothing, similar to the Smuggler and Shopkeep being two different entities once the Smuggler went rogue.

>"Chief, King's come through the gate!" Arbiter yells from outside of the house.

>>581531
Let's go say hi. Tell him Pepper was in your Area, so she couldn't make it. He can talk to her through the Radio if he wants.

I still think we could guilt Rulekeeper into letting Glitcher keep the radio... it's his fault he needed it at all.

Also let Glitcher look at your threads to orchestrate the reunion between Timekeeper and Goat.

Hmm, could he potentially blind rulekeeper to other people?
While he can't advance stages, that one function that automatically pushed him ahead in Area 3 might be able to push others ahead without destroying them. If he can find a way to trigger that again, that might be cool.

We might be able to find a hole and get a lot of people alive again if Rule keep ignores them. If he's doing most of this stuff manually, anyone flagged as ignore touching the final objective will probably be automatically pushed through to the stage end without taking out an exit value. He hasn't ever manage to fuck with the exits before, has he? That might be an interesting experiment.

1/3 Chief 2014/06/27(Fri)15:33 No. 581542 ID: d470e9
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Chief goes out to meet King after letting Glitcher snag a line, telling him to let Goat and Timekeeper speak for one hour. He confirms, first, that Glitcher could make the system blind to certain players, although currently not recommend it. The Rulekeep overlooked Glitcher's pass as a nonconsequential error, but he did notice it, and will take measures if it starts happening on the final gate.

"Hello, King."
>"Chief, correct?"
"Correct."
>"I don't suppose you've seen Pepper or Mint, have you?"
"Pepper was in my Area 3."
>"So, she's dead now, then. Er... there is a blue line coming out from you."
"Intentional. Glitcher is making things happen. Including a radio that allows for ghost talk. In one hour, we're going to have a longer chat with Alison, you, I and every major player in this area. After that, there will be personal time that you can use to speak with Pepper and, statistically likely, Mint."
>"Really, then? I would appreciate that. There's no reason to place me at the front of the line. I got off relatively easy, it sounds like, with only 60 years in Area 3."

2/3 Chief 2014/06/27(Fri)15:34 No. 581543 ID: d470e9
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Chief confirms that everyone who needs to know knows about the Alison talk in one hour. There will be another talk in the next area, to cover any major individuals who were in the other half of the area bracket.

Only 2 people show up, and they're generic belenosians. Including Glitcher there are currently 8 individuals in Chief's island, and after 1 hour from the beginning of the stage, it's expected that it's unlikely there are any active gates left until tomorrow.

Chief goes back in with Glitcher, making sure his thread hasn't snagged on anything. His own thread is wrapped around the microphone. Timekeeper and Goat are having a heart to heart.

"I don't want to disturb you two, but we've got to use the radio in 15 minutes. Keep that in mind."
>"O-oh, of course, Chief! Thank you so much!" Timekeeper says.
>"Yeah, you're the best." says Goat.

3/3 Chief 2014/06/27(Fri)15:37 No. 581545 ID: d470e9
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Everyone moves in to talk to Alison. Radmin, Iso, Duelist, Recluse and a few others also join in. Most of the first hour is simply catching up while everyone's around. As that dies down, a plan for the stage starts being formed, with an order of people to go through the second gate.

1. Arbiter
2. Glitcher
3. Chief
4. King
5. Loviro
6. Emerald Emperor

Glitcher is on the list to pass through normally, depending on how the Rulekeeper reacts to Glitcher's presence when told. That is still on the to do list, but critical use of the radio should occur prior to leaving any chance of radio confiscation.

Emerald plans on staying behind to better coordinate incoming jetals from their half of the bracket. He has no doubt that he will have any issue getting through this gate, however, it will be difficult to say when there will be enough jetals here to do so. There should be at least one emperor, however, at the choke point before the end of the stage.

Sounds likev a good plan.

And good on you for letting Goat and Timekeeper reconnect. And King and Pepper.

...wait, why are Radmin's threads importan? He was on the short list of people we were going to revive, but what's special about him from Glitcher's perspective.

Ask Glitcher if he can modify threads in "you know who". Like change one of the rules he is supposed to follow slightly.

Then lets chat with Alison and tell her everything that has been going on. She might have some insights for us. Heck maybe we can have her talk with Rulekeeper for us if we want to get him on our side.

Oh here is a idea. We could ask Rulekeeper to leave 10 winners pendents on the last stage. If you pick one up you are automatically moved to the next safe zone. If he asks why tell him that what sort of contest does not have trophies for the winners. Might be a way of getting Glitcher out unseen. But could backfire and make Rulekeeper angry with us. Do not want that.

So long as we have 15 people at the last gate we should be okay. It is worth noting though that the more people we have there the better we can spam Activate to keep the jewels in our hands.

This Area seems pretty damn easy for those that have a large alliance running, which is definitely us.

Does anyone else have someone they want to talk to? Loviro and Emerald can probably manage to contact people that were in the belenosian sim.

Is the radio invisible to Rulekeeper like Glitcher is? I would rather have him holding it then it be sitting out alone. If Rulekeeper sees us all talking to a object he might come by and pick it up and ask whats going on.

If we loose that Glitcher might fall apart so make sure he protects it.

Since Glitcher made the radio out of his own threads could he bypass the whole risk of it possibly being confiscated by unraveling it and reintegrating the threads back into himself? Then when he gets to the other side he could pull the threads back out of himself and weave the radio back together.

I get the feeling the Radio is no longer Glitcher Threads but Radio Threads. They aren't 'alive' any more but static, built to emulate ghost talk but nothing else.

Chief, what's letting Glitcher pluck a thread from you feel like, anyways?

>>581566
>>581568
There's also the fact that in his current mental state, Glitcher seems very attached to that radio. I don't think we could talk him into unraveling it, even temporarily.

>with only 60 years in Area 3.
Wow, that is lucky.
>why are Radmin's threads importan?
Agreed, ask Glitcher about this before you introduce him to the Rulekeep.
>We could ask Rulekeeper to leave 10 winners pendents on the last stage.
These ten pendants should have the same rule as the gate, however. In order to stash one in the inventory, you have to pass the 30-second trial period. It could replace the gate, in such a way that the rules still work right, and give the winners a trophy. Of course, I'm still of the belief that we should allow Rulekeep to see Glitcher.
>maybe we can have [Alison] talk with Rulekeeper
Agreed. At the moment, it isn't against the rules, but if Rulekeep starts to say he'll make a rule against it, ask him to talk with Alison, first.

1/3 Chief 2014/06/27(Fri)21:48 No. 581616 ID: d470e9
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"Is this radio invisible to you know who, glitcher?"
>"It's part of me, so yes."
"Good. Can you also change his threads to change the rules?"
>"Well, yes, but not without the system knowing, and then they might just kill the rulekeeper."
"Can you not just put it back in yourself, then make a new one?"
>"It took... years. Maybe if I had better threads, but... no. Not now."
"Fine. Speaking of the system, then, what is special about Radmin?"
>"Maybe nothing anymore, but he did used to be an administrator. Their threads are also different."

>"Oh, Loviro, I had a question for you."
>"Yes, Alison?"
>"I thought you were going to Savior's paradise?"
>"Yes, but something is off about the Savior. I would rather not duck and cover. To be frank, I am becoming increasingly doubtful that any of my knowledge is practical in the real world. I have a good feeling that all of my extensive knowledge of jetals, artificial intelligence and technology in general is, well, fake."
>"We're going to need everything we have, Loviro, so please don't sell yourself short. I won't tell you to go to Savior's paradise, but please be careful."

2/3 Chief 2014/06/27(Fri)21:48 No. 581617 ID: d470e9
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The talks cease, and Chief decides it's time to bring the rulekeeper back.

>Chief, what's letting Glitcher pluck a thread from you feel like, anyways?
If Chief wasn't told about it or wasn't looking, he doesn't think he could tell.

>"You're certainly one that likes bringing me over. To be fair, at least it's not to complain all the time."
"No, and this time, you'll be learning something."
>"Yes?"
"First, I do have another question. I'd like there to be 10 trophies for winning the stage."
>"What? Why?"
"Competitions should have a reward."
>"Just... grab something off the shelves in Safe Zone 8. That'll work, because you obviously have to win everything beforehand to get that."
"Have you heard of the glitcher?"
>"The name is familiar to me, yes. Like the corruptor, not something for me to worry about."
"He's standing right beside me."
>".... perhaps I should invoke a personality reset sooner."
"Look at your hand."

3/3 Chief 2014/06/27(Fri)21:50 No. 581619 ID: d470e9
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>"Gah!?"

>"Tell him I said he's currently thinking of how to reassemble himself one thread at a time." says Glitcher.
"Glitcher says you're thinking of how to reassemble yourself, one thread at a time."
>"Uh..."
>"And..." Glitcher continues for Chief to recite.
"He also knows you're thinking of going to Administrator 7, but just remembered she's in the other half of this very bracket as a contestant."
>"You... oh. Oh. Oh no. No no no no! How do I get rid of him?! He's not supposed to be here! Tell him to get out of the stages! Anywhere but here, this is the worst place he could be!"

>>581619
>this is the worst place he could be!
The worst place he could be? This sounds like not only is he a thread to Rulekeep, but, in showing himself like this, to himself as well.

Tell Rulekeep that Glitcher has lost the power to just leave a stage, and wants to progress through it normally. If an invisible win is claimed, it is Glitcher, and if it is not, you will summon him to let him know of that.
Or, it might even be possible to "fix" Rulekeep's sight to be able to see Glitcher, so he can make sure he doesn't break the rules.

>doubtful of my knowledge
Fake understanding of computer programing and artificial intelligences and computer simulations is better than none. Even if say, the jetalium physics is non-practical, the belnos simulation still likely used real information where it could.

And even failing that, he's still a trained scientist. That mindset is useful.

>Anywhere but here, this is the worst place he could be!
Why is this the worst place he could be?

Where else would he go? One of the last acts of the stage seven administrators were to purge the various extra-stage locations, and as I understand it, the safe zones do not exist while stages are in progress.

(Savior managed to preserve his sanctuary, but let's not mention that. He said he couldn't let Glitcher in anyways, for stability reasons).

>>581619
Uh, ask why. This actually sounds important, though it could just be Rulekeeper panicking about Glitcher breaking his stage. Glitcher might want to follow that advice if it's not just that. I mean, we didn't want to use Glitcher to break the stages and Rulekeeper wouldn't like that either.

Also tell him that he left Glitcher alone for ten thousand goddamn years because of his negligence so he owes him a lot.

>Tell him
He can hear you. Your perception problem is one-way, not mutual.

Oh, and now that he's made his point, it might be polite if Glitcher put Rulekeeper back together again instead of leaving him to figure out how to do it.

He was stuck in the stage you thought was empty for 10,000 years alone. We wanted to tell you about him now so we could make sure he gets through this stage without breaking anything.

While his powers are great in many ways he is just a normal contestant like everyone else here.

We came to you because we did not want to hide him from you. Like it or not he is just as much a part of the game as any of us.

Tell Glitcher to put him back together.

"Ignoring the fact that the administrators destroyed everywhere he could go to, that last sentence warrants an explanation. Why is him being here a bad thing?"

Well there is one other place he could go. The admin bases still exist, and Corruptor is in one of them.

>>581629
Just because Corruptor's forces attacked the admin-areas, doesn't mean he stayed there. Especially since the last time we tested leaving someone there to bypass a stage, they were automatically killed (rip Mouse). Also, if he doesn't run the stage, Sevener's new token-safeguard system would kill him. (Which means, technically, we are getting trophies for advancing).

Which means Corruptor's likely running the stage. His abilities would make getting though these areas laughably easy, anyways. Pretty much every challenge this time around has been interpersonal, and he can just convert people into Corrupteds, and get them to do exactly what he wants. Or he can just rule-change every room to freeroam and murder his way though.

You know if we can get him calmed down and talking with us and Alison it would be a great time to tell him all about Corruptor and Glitcher and the side of the story he has not heard. If we can get him to realize how broken things truly are he might be a powerful ally. Sure he will have to play by the rules most the time to avoid admin wrath. But little things here and there would help.

>>581619
Why would he do that? He has no incentive to leave, and the admin forces have been nothing but antagonistic to his ideal existence. He spent 10,000 years in the last stage, you know, because you could sense him.
Besides, even if he wanted to, he couldn't. He doesn't have that ability.

>>581639
couldn't sense him

>>581640
Or maybe he could, through the recognition of glitches happening, but passed it off as the session being broken anyways. The game is able to recognize when something happens that shouldn't, the only difference is that Rulekeep looks to see who causes the trigger rather than reacting at the trigger to whoever's close enough.

Chief 2014/06/28(Sat)11:17 No. 581691 ID: d470e9
File 140397944110.png - (10.84KB , 800x800 , S7A5-22.png )

Glitcher lets go of the threads, and lets them return to Rulekeeper.

"Where could he go?"
>"Anywhere but here!"
"I'd say he earns a break. You couldn't see him, and left him in area 3 alone for ten thousand years."
>"That was him? Well, I'm sorry, but he's an unstable mess - "
"You can talk to him. He can hear you."
>"... you're an unstable mess, glitcher! Go.... I don't know, I'll convince the administrator to make a special area for you during the stages if that's what it takes. You can hide there during the stages."
"What's wrong with him being here? We're willing to have Glitcher do the stages normally."
>"He thinks I'm a bridge to the system again." says Glitcher. "And can make another road to attack."
"Are you afraid of another attack on a system bracket? Our numbers aren't in the thousands anymore. We can't do that as effectively as before."
>"He just disassembled me like it was nothing! He's a threat. That, or try to cross stage brackets, or whatever!"
"Rulekeep, were you paying attention to us on this island when we were speaking in a circle to others who weren't on the island?"
>"... that wasn't a shared hallucination, was it."
"No. I take it you didn't hear Alison or the other ghosts speak."
>"No. Okay. Look. Look. I'll try to figure out what to do with glitcher later. Just, right now... just go through the gate normally, Glitcher. Those should still work for you. I'm going to pay attention to the gates triggers instead of the people from this island forward, so don't think you won't count towards the 10 exits."

That is why we revealed him to you. We didn't want him to spend another 10 000 years alone.

We are going to try our best not to scare the admins like that again Rulekeeper. When we invaded the Admin brackets we did not realize how things really worked.

Ask him if he wants to learn the true story behind whats going on here. It will make his job a lot easier and will help him deal the stuff that's going to happen as we go forward. Once Corruptor shows up again things are going to get even messier and we can help prepare him.

The goal being to get him in a conversation with Alison and everyone so we can show him what we have learned.

Actually if we could get to a system base, we wouldn't need mass numbers. There's no way to attack in system areas anymore, and it's one big open area. So if we wanted to go and look at logs we could do that. I don't think we can, though- aren't we out of admin cards? In that case there isn't even any reason to invade a system base.

Crossing brackets is a thing we could do but I'm... oh. We could do that to invade other brackets with our surplus belenosian allies and ensure the other Corruptor armies don't get through this stage! Then we wouldn't have to worry about Swordsbane or the others.

>He thinks I'm a bridge to the system again
Honestly, I don't see much point in attacking the system again. Gaining control of the system areas won't allow us to fix things. Even when we had admins on our side.

Conceivably, there might be a reason for someone to try and access their logs, but I think all the spare keycards have already been used.

>crossing brackets
This means a lot less the fewer brackets there are. And there are others who can accomplish the same thing. Savior, Corruptor, and Corruptor's Outsiders. That isn't something Rulekeeper can prevent, even if Glitcher agrees to stay out of the way.

>Glitcher should leave
One good argument against that- if Glitcher cheats his way out of stage early, he might dodge the personality reset. I think even Rulekeeper can agree that a saner Glitcher is better for everyone.

No offense, Glitcher.

I'm not sure the personality reset would make him saner, though. He seems to be very rational and calm right now, but his base personality is prone to depression. It could actually turn out WORSE for him.

Oh. Ask Rulekeeper if the reset is optional. I'm sure there are some people who would rather not go back to who they were before area 3.

>>581691
Hey Rulekeeper, if you can make or break rules, you're pretty powerful yourself.
Why not take advantage of that power? Instead of this stupid bullshit, why don't you start changing a lot of shit.
I mean, couldn't he theoretically even change the rules in the admin place? How fights work? Enable and disable fights?
Why not become a tyrant and try and rule the adminsitration itself? If he could find the rule perimeters that determine the death of admin forces, he could turn the entire system on its head and then we can all band together to figure out how to prevent the loop without the game nonsense getting in the way.

It's what the administration and contestants should have been focusing on since they figured out there's loops and that the contest is ultimately pointless. Rulekeeper, you haven't been created in the other loops before. We have a chance to really experiment with you. You can go and fuck the system up pretty hard yourself. Because face it RK, they're just going to kill you as soon as you become obselete, and he will become obsolete. So why doesn't he prevent that by fucking with the contest parameters in the system settings and making it so no one dies anymore?

>>581740

Pretty sure if he gets out of line the admins will notice and kill/reset him. We want him as a friend who will watch out for us. The longer we stay off the admins radar the better.

Chief 2014/06/28(Sat)23:55 No. 581853 ID: d470e9
File 140402490681.png - (15.84KB , 800x800 , S7A5-23.png )

>Why doesn't the Rulekeeper take over the system?
From what Glitcher has said, the system rules over the rulekeep, not the other way around. The stage rules don't necessarily hold sway in the system bracket zones.

"Is the reset optional, Rulekeeper?"
>"No it... I don't want to reset glitcher. Sorry. But for the rest of you, you have to have it. It's a point of fairness, because the people you resurrect aren't going to have gone through all that area 3 business.
"In any case, glitcher is not the only one to cross brackets."
>"No, but I want to keep it at a minimum. Preferably zero!"
>"Rulekeeper...." Glitcher starts speaking. "Savior only entered Area 3 a few times to convince people to come back with him. Corruptor hasn't been seen at all, and the only devotees that are in the stages were ones that were already made."
"Do you want to hear our story? Knowing the history may help you understand why things are as they are."
>"... I'll wait till things calm down in this stage, then while you wait for gates to regenerate, I'll have you bring me up to date. Yeah. That won't hurt, at least." Rulekeeper says.

>Out of admin cards?
Although Chief thinks they may have had one for stage 8 or 9, or both, the admin purge removed them.

>Move surplus belenosians across brackets
Rulekeeper might not be able to kill glitcher for breaking the rules, but he can certainly kill the accomplices in breaking the rules.

"What will you do, Rulekeep, when the system considers you obsolete?"
>"I think I can prove my usefulness for a whole four stages. I'm going to retract back into a non-intelligent set of algorithms to stages at the end of the cycle no matter what. Even if it happens a little sooner, I doubt I'll be missing much. It's a short existence, but it's more than I asked for."

Chief things the conversation is wrapping up, and may feel just as inclined to start passing the days as trying to find anything useful to do.

Timeskip time? Yea, might as well.

Search the stage for books and other info. We have found secrets in other stages and even if its a bunch of random info something might be useful later on.

Other things we can work on are getting King on our team. He was sort of a ally before and with the numbers falling he might want to make it official. That and the time you spent with Pepper should get a good word in for us.

We can also fill Alison in on what events and find out more about interesting things that happened for other survivors of the last stage. I am interested in how King's stage only lasted 60 years. That must have been interesting.

Make sure to stay on the watch for shapechanging Bones agents. Do not want to let someone into our inner circle who can back stab us later.

I know that Rulekeeper is like Glitcher and Corruptor and normally would not survive if we fix things but make sure to let him know that we still plan on saving him if at all possible. We do not know how this mess will end so it pays to have hope.

>>581853
Wasn't there a particular safe zone that had another easter egg?

After we get to know Rulekeeper a bit better and he warms up to us... we might want to bring up Stage 9. He might know already that it's gonna be a meatgrinder... Is he okay with that? Is he willing to be a personification of that kind of stage? Or will he be changing things a bit? Oh. Will resurrected contestants that went through area 3 also be getting a personality reset?

>because the people you resurrect aren't going to have gone through all that area 3 business
Unless we resurrect people who died in stage 3? I guess we have to assume ghosts are getting a partial reset too for that to make any sense.

>I don't want to reset glitcher. Sorry.
I'm honestly confused why Rulekeeper doesn't want him as sane as possible. Isn't he less dangerous when he's predictable?

1/4 Chief 2014/06/29(Sun)10:39 No. 581931 ID: d470e9
File 140406355760.png - (15.08KB , 800x800 , S7A5-24.png )

"Just remember that in the end, Alison will be trying to save you, as well. Are you going to be okay with stage 9? We have it on good authority that it's a meatgrinder."
>"I will be."
"I'm not sure why you won't reset glitcher."
>"I don't know if I can. If I can't, and I try, the effects could be bad. Just... he seems reasonable right now."

>Other things we can work on are getting King on our team.
If King isn't an ally already, Chief has been mistaken about what an ally is all along.

>How King's stage only lasted 60 years
King says there were no skellingtons in his stage, and just about all of the belenosians were willing to let themselves die off after a decent length of time.
>"Also, please stop calling them skellingtons." he finally adds.

>Look for secrets
Between occasional talks with Alison and others, Chief's group pilfers through the bookshelves for anything but generic novels and textbooks.

Glitcher, at some point, walks up to it, and grabs a specific book out of the back of a shelf.

2/4 Chief 2014/06/29(Sun)10:39 No. 581932 ID: d470e9
File 140406359414.png - (107.32KB , 800x800 , S7A5-25.png )

It looks like a normal book, but he flips to a specific page that is a different color than the others.

I found it favorable that not just did I find a rare agricultural hive, I also located a painter that both had more talents than a generic cave scratcher, and was willing to paint a portrait for me. I traded two of my pictures and some food for his skills for the day. Soon I will leave to go back home. It's always a dangerous trip. The other hives, the way the jungle intermingles with the redgrass, and of course, the cave. I hope the painting survives the trip almost as much as I survive it. I almost wish to take a picture of the painting just in case, but I feel it's just wild imaginationions to think I could ever have a camera that could capture these colors. They're a little off due to the painter's limited supply, but they're far greater than my single tone capabilities.

Originally I wished to have some of my better tools outside of my toolbox, but the painter said he would rather not paint 'instruments used in unearthly black magic.' It was the only possible way, in his mind, that I could have possibly travelled so far by myself.

It was too much for him to understand that I was intelligent. I am also intelligent enough, however, to not actively think myself smarter than them while in empathy range. Those conceited, if justified, thoughts are deadly around here, far moreso than travelling alone would ever be.

-Likol

3/4 Chief 2014/06/29(Sun)10:40 No. 581933 ID: d470e9
File 140406360593.png - (185.60KB , 800x800 , S7A5-26.png )

There is also a second page.

I still have yet to capture our entire hive in one photo. Our cave system is tight and cramped, and there are a solid 80 of us. We used to have more, and used to be on the surface. We can't even upkeep our train system, and its state is near worthless. Migratory hives became too much for us to handle. Our queen normally would not consider getting help from outside species, but she says that if a single salikai can survive the brutal jungles above for years without rest from being hunted, then it must be exceptionally clever. We've heard from our ancestors about the salikai's own brutality. We can't know if an alliance is a good idea or not, they're without empathy or compassion. Allying with it will either be a new golden age for us, or bring us to ruin. I doubt there will be much middle ground with salikai in mind.

Quokko, and our hive, though... we're ambitious. We want to go far. Our question will be less of will there be a golden age, or will there be a chance of a golden age.

Pictured left to right: Rihhin, my closest hivemate. Quokko, our queen. Ludar, who olds a young Seca.

"Are the threads on these different, too, Glitcher?"
>"Yes, that's how I knew where to look."

4/4 Chief 2014/06/29(Sun)10:40 No. 581934 ID: d470e9
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Glitcher starts studying the threads and learning how he might find more. They have no history, he says, not that he can read. Nearly everything anyone knows in the simulation is an interconnected system, Glitcher says, but these bits about the outside world seem disconnected and an anomaly.

The days start passing. Despite the supposed formidable willpower of bones' units, the areas simply favored large alliances over small ones far too much. Chief thinks that he's done pretty well for himself, all things considered.

Glitcher goes on ahead without a hitch, and eventually, so does Chief. The other half of the bracket managed to get a couple of people there, as well. Someone who introduces himself as Felix is there, as is Smuggler and, to Chief's own surprise, Mongrel of all people. Becoming rogue did not change his personality much, he seems despondent and tired of everything. Felix claims that he owes his life to Alison, and wasn't going to throw that away so easily. Smuggler says he probably would not have made it, but while smuggling in the safe zone, he seemed to have made many friends and earned a lot of support to help him through area 3. Mongrel, on the other hand, has little to say.

Although Felix and Smuggler will also most likely be on the top 10 list to get through, Chief will still be one of the first few. Arbiter says he is about ready to go ahead, since it doesn't seem like there is much point in waiting, and they have the 5 people required, including Glitcher, to activate the final gate.

Some interesting back story about the science hive there. Might not be important right now but anything about the outside world helps.

Well lets start sending people forward then. Even though this part has slowed down a bunch the faster we get to the end the less chance Bones or someone can sneak in a unit to gum up the works.

The biggest problem we face could be deciding who to let through at the final gate. Assuming Bones does not manage to sneak in we still have Sevener and who knows else on the other half of the bracket.

Make sure that you get Rulekeeper in a conference with Alison when things are slow. This might be our best chance to befriend him and we do not want to let it go to waste. Other than that just keep watching for shape shifters and hope things keep going smoothly.

Chief 2014/06/29(Sun)11:41 No. 581943 ID: d470e9
File 140406730654.png - (65.01KB , 800x800 , S7A5-28.png )

Not much changes, so Arbiter goes on ahead. Rulekeeper engages with Alison and everyone to recall everything that happens. Trying to befriend the Rulekeeper may take awhile. Even though he is looking at the people as often as the triggers from the stage, he still keeps people at arms length.

During the next day, right as Chief recalls Sevener, she shows up right on cue. No less than an hour later, so does succubus.

The final expected count goes as follows, provided no other noteable contestants show up.

From first to last, Arbiter, Glitcher, Chief, King, Smuggler, Sevener, Loviro, Emerald, Succubus, and Felix. It's a surprisingly perfect number so far, and Chief couldn't ask for a better position at the end of this stage. It will be a shame, he thinks to lose all of the random belenos. For complete strangers, their loyalty to a fake emperor once again makes Chief jealous.

>"Sevener." Glitcher says.
>"What."
>"I... really want to take a thread off of you to look at."
>"Ask me to dinner first."
>"Wh- no. No, I mean, like... no."
>"No, you just want to go right to stripping me?"
>"N-noooo! I mean I... Chief, please help..."
"He wants a component of your physical form to study, because he thinks administrators are physically different."
>"Holy shit, is that all? Glitcher, learn to speak, goddamn."

Tell Glitcher that maybe it would be a good idea to go out on a date and dinner with Sevener later. The fuck not, eh?

>>581943
pfheehee, I'm sorry, but Chief, the stoic asexual oriented (as in, no interest in it), hugging Succubus is jut funny. And cute, I guess.
Glitcher's emotions are causing his "empty" threads to hop all over his body. That's perfectly safe, right?

Hang with Succubus, catch up, while Glitcher checks out Sevener's 'thread' for anything new.

If we're down to our final ten then, do we start planning who the 30 people we revive are? And who's responsible for reviving who, if we're not allowed to consult when it happens?

Alison, obviously. Radmin probably, because Alison promised. Bones likely, if we want to try one last attempt to make nice with Corruptor. King will probably want Mint and Pepper. Felix may use one of his slots on Vinyl. And then the rest of the main gang that killed I suppose- Duelist, Recluse, Scanner, Iso, Clarence, Healer, Guardsman, Atlas, Strongarm, Bandit, Gambler, Twirl, Sword, Shield, Charles, Spear, Chief, Math, Engineer, Friendgy. Uh... Polatt? Not if Emerald has anyone he'd want to res.

That's... 27. So we'd still need to pick 3 people.

Scholar should be safe with Savior, at least. Not sure if anyone else is over there.

Well lets keep our fingers crossed and hope no unexpected bumps show up. As for the Random Belenosians we knew most of them would not make it through. Depending on how the next few stages go there might not be many left of the core group at the end.

Maybe if we stabilize things you will have a horde of loyal subjects one day Chief. If we do manage to save everyone or even a portion it will be a immense amount of people in here to watch over. Besides its better to have subjects that you earned than ones you got given to you. Every person that you got to follow you did so out of choice not blind loyalty to a institution.

Still paranoid that at the end someone is going to rip off a mask and say "Ha ha its was me Bones all along".

>>581960

We could try rezzing Shopkeep baron to see if we got our own Rulekeeper. Could give him a existential crisis like the one Shopkeeper had. Might be a horrible idea though.

Oh, yes, and be sure to compare notes and see how other people's terrible long term psychological experiments went. I'm interested in what other strategies might have worked in that last area.

Hmm didn't Alison promise someone else to resurrect them and their friend a while back? Was it Catatonic?

>>581955
Chief is on that list to resurrect for some reason.

>>581943
That sounds sortof like permission but we should probably perform a demonstration. Have Glitcher take a thread out of you to show Sevener what that means. Also ask Sevener how she did in Area 3.

>>581955
Engineer, Mathematician, Friendgy are all in the Savior's Sanctuary- we sent our brainy buddies there since they're more useful for R&D than dealing with stages. They aren't dead. Emerald and Loviro might have people they want resurrected.

>>581965
Yes, that's right. Catatonic's friends died before they were absorbed so we promised we'd resurrect them. There's also Iso's musician friend.

It occurs to me that since we no longer have absorb, Catatonic's friends will be lost again if they die. Can we ask Rulekeeper for a ruling on that? How about, whoever resurrects someone also gains their ghost? Then they'd be in the dream.

1/2 Chief 2014/06/29(Sun)14:59 No. 582008 ID: d470e9
File 140407914310.png - (31.79KB , 800x800 , S7A5-29.png )

Chief summons Rulekeep.

"Please tell us how finishing the stage will be handled. Will we be able to talk amongst ourselves as to who to resurrect?"
>"Yep. You remember those transition rooms between some stages? There will be one of those. You'll all have one hour to deliberate and check out who you want to resurrect."
"Will we get their ghosts?"
>"Hm? That's not going to be a thing anymore. If there are any more resurrections, anyone will have access to anyone they know of."

>See how other people's terrible long term psychological experiments went
Chief catches up with everyone. Area 3 only varied superficially for most individuals, and many parallels were drawn between everyone.

Glitcher studies some of Sevener's threads.

>Glitcher's emotions are causing his "empty" threads to hop all over his body. That's perfectly safe, right?
And perfectly normal.

>"IIiii don't think I'll have anything concrete soon, I have to experiment more. Maybe I can make more resurrect tokens out of this? Well, Rulekeeper will probably kill anyone resurrected illegally."
"Yeah, you may as well spend the time asking sevener out on a proper date."
>"Wh- Chief - she's right here!"
"Yes, I know. I'm joking, Glitcher."

2/2 Chief 2014/06/29(Sun)15:00 No. 582009 ID: d470e9
File 140407924540.png - (38.50KB , 800x800 , S7A5-30.png )

Some more days pass.

Everything goes absolutely perfectly. Everyone on the list gets through the gate to the end. That leaves 10 people alive at the end, just as the stage intended for.

There are 30 resurrection slots. Mandatory resurrects are Alison and, as promised, Radmin. A third resurrection will go to Bones, if they want to honor Corruptor's wish despite his most recent actions.

>Engineer, Mathematician
They went in with Alison to the CAI fight, and are currently deceased. Friendgy, however, is believed to be alive in Savior's location.

Emerald does not have anyone in particular he would like to resurrect. Succubus has lost a couple of friends, but she would rather see the hard earned resurrections go to more practical choices. Felix, too, relents the option, saying reunions would be far too short lived to be worth it. Loviro would have had one choice, but the resurrection does not extend to belenosian individuals that were not pulled out by Alison.

Sevener says she would like to see Sixer resurrected. Alison's own recommendations, since Glitcher's radio works, are Recluse, Duelist, Scanner, Iso, Engineer, Mathematiction, Strongarm, Bandit, and come to think, she's having difficulties choosing without just starting to rattle off every teammate she's had. She does remember her promise to Catatonic to resurrect his friend, to which he or she can rejoin catatonic in savior's paradise, and the same for Iso's old music friend, should there be more than enough slots for resurrection.

The next stages are going to be nastier from what we have heard. So should only bring in the most capable and experienced who know the risks. While it would be nice to bring back friends now that we have Glitchers radio we can talk to people when we need to.

As for Bones lets bring him back because we promised Corruptor. Even if he was a bit crazy back then he is vital to our plans. Bones might be important somehow and while is unlikeable he is a strong contestant. Who knows Alison might be able to win him over given enough time. And if not we just be careful and watch for any backstabbing.

So get as much of the core team as wants to go and then the rest to people we promised to help.

>>581932
Did anyone think to bring this book with them? If not, then keep an extra special look out for one in future stages.

Actually, I think if we illegally rerez people in Saviors domain and leave them there the system won't mind. After all, those people are out of the game anyway and can't return, right?

Really, all people who die in the game should just automatically be place in Saviors paradise at this point, because losing shouldn't be a punishment because no contestant deserves to be punished with nonexistence, just essentially be disqualified from the end game. It's something that should be suggested to admin people, at least. Same thing with admin people who lose their admin deal. Sent straight to Savior's. Otherwise, people are just going to try and break more and more shit so they or people they care about don't end up fucking dead.

Okay. So trying to get a list here:

Stage 7 Survivors:

Arbiter, Glitcher, Chief, King, Smuggler, Sevener, Loviro, Emerald, Succubus, and Felix

People to resurrect:

Alison, Radmin, Bones, Duelist, Recluse, Scanner, Iso, Clarence, Healer, Guardsman, Atlas, Strongarm, Bandit, Gambler, Twirl, Sword, Shield, Charles, Spear, Math, Engineer, Polatt, Sixer, Catatonic's friend, Iso's old music friend, Mint, Pepper

...and that's still only 27/30. Am I forgetting anyone, or did I list anyone still alive by accident again?

People known to be safe with Savior:

The Chompers, Scholar, Friendgy, Catatonic

Catatonic had two friends. They killed each other in a dual for the second to last spot in advancement.

No one knew then you could overload endpoints.

>>582009
Stage 8 clear... That means the next stage is the meatgrinder.

>>582031
You forgot Catatonic's second friend and Historian. One slot left.

>>582036
That was supposed to be stage 7. The image has been changed. Next stage is 8.

Chief 2014/06/29(Sun)18:40 No. 582053 ID: d470e9
File 140409242172.png - (42.40KB , 800x800 , S7A5-31.png )

>Actually, I think if we illegally rerez people in Saviors domain and leave them there the system won't mind.
That's a possibility Glitcher may attempt.

>Was the book kept?
Glitcher assures Chief that he absorbed the book, manually. Chief will just take his word for it.

The final list of resurrections are established in alphabetical order.

- Alison
- Atlas
- Bandit
- Bones
- Catatonic's friend
- Catatonic's other friend
- Charles
- Clarence
- Duelist
- Engineer
- Gambler
- Guardsman
- Healer
- Historian
- Iso
- Iso's friend
- Math
- Mint
- Mouse
- Pepper
- Polatt
- Radmin
- Recluse
- Scanner
- Shield
- Sixer
- Spear
- Strongarm
- Sword
- Twirl

The rulekeeper also makes a showing.

>"Okay, congratulations and all that. All the resurrects will show up in safe zone 8. Now, I thought about it over the last couple days, and changed my mind about the mandatory personality reset. You see, you regain all your memories at it, but the memories will feel like you never experienced them. Sorta like if it were a past life. I said it should be on fair ground, but you know, it wasn't too fair you guys had to go through area 3 and whatever buddies riding on your resurrect didn't. Soooo, if you think you wanna stay loopy, go ahead. Glitcher's still gotta keep those ten thousand under his belt, though. And also, you gotta choose now, no deciding later."

Chief isn't sure if he's as mentally sharp as he used to be, but on the other hand, after all of that, it seems wrong to just throw away everything that happened like it never did. More importantly, the experiences of old-Chief may work out better than the unexperienced, but ambitious, young-Chief.

>>582053
What about those who were resurrected but went through Area 3? They're not here to get a reset. Does that mean they don't even have the opportunity?

Chief, it depends on how lucid you were during your downtime in this Area. It's been a few days, so you should have noticed if you were still hallucinating or having difficulties in general. Also, King was only in Area 3 for 60 years- get his opinion on how loopy everyone is. He can give a more objective verdict and recommend for certain people to get a reset if they are indeed loopy.

Jiro, Pepper, Timekeeper and Goat... You may not have made a connection with the majority of the other members, but you shouldn't give it all up. Every step you take is a lesson learned yadda yadda all that jazz.

Question: how does the potential reset affect those who died in stage 3 that we're reviving? Do they get a choice, or are they hardwired into keeping or resetting?

How does the reset affect the dead Glitcher interacted with? Alison and some of the others affected by the ghost-phone have several additional years of experience under their belt.

>get his opinion on how loopy everyone is
That's not a bad idea. You're not all actually objective at this point. You should compare notes with one another, see how you come across to one another.

I'd lean towards not getting a reset if you can.

1/5 Chief 2014/06/29(Sun)19:45 No. 582064 ID: d470e9
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"What about those who were resurrected but went through Area 3?"
>"They'll get the opportunity. I meant you guys have to choose now. They'll have to choose when they're resurrected."
"What about the time glitcher spent talking on his radio?"
>"Yeahhhh, about that... nothing. I'm just going to pretend that never happened."

Chief hasn't seen any hallucinations, and the sheer act of being in a new environment has been having positive effects on how lucid Chief has been. Everyone, upon looking at each other, has some mixed feelings, but ultimately favors Chief's choice on bypassing the reset.

"Alright. I'm going to pass."

Most others pass, with Smuggler and Sevener as the main exceptions who get the reset.

With that, everyone is dumped off into Stage Safe Zone 8.

Stage 8 Safe Zone:
200 Entrants (Tentative)
50 Exits (Tentative)
100 Hour duration safe zone

That familiarity incurs more than a couple of flashbacks for Chief.

He starts looking around. It's a somewhat vacant area, and he doesn't see anyone immediately. After several minutes, Chief hears some noise coming from a building, and Chief moves in to check it out.

2/5 Chief 2014/06/29(Sun)19:46 No. 582065 ID: d470e9
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>"Hello again, Chief. How are you doing?"
".... I'm fine."

3/5 Chief 2014/06/29(Sun)19:46 No. 582066 ID: d470e9
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>"You sound tired."
"I am."

4/5 Chief 2014/06/29(Sun)19:46 No. 582067 ID: d470e9
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"I'm very tired, in fact. Where are Pepper and Succubus?"
>"We're still trying to locate everyone. There might not be a dream, but it looks like you can at least fall asleep, here."
"We only have 100 hours to do... everything."

Unnatural Selection - Thread 10 END Chief 2014/06/29(Sun)19:47 No. 582070 ID: d470e9
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>"I'll take care of it, Chief. Go get some rest. You did well."

>>582070
Awwwwwwww!~
Alison is cool, and I don't just say that because we control her most of the time.

Time to sleep, for the first time in centuries.

>Stage 8
So... there are few enough brackets left at this point that math can actually count the numbers of stars in the sky, right? That means we can get a pretty good estimate of the number of people left, ignoring cheating and hiding people in Savior's zone.

you know after reading this whole thread all in one go... I have to say I find this stage to be the most brutal stage by far. I mean the physical challenges from the earlier stages and hell even the CAI battle may have been tough but shit at least they had the feeling of going somewhere and that progress was being made. But this stage... Holy crap. I applaud you Lagorope and I eagerly await the next thread.