[X] Lapi goes around with Cameras while RockSyringe parties

I the Batter roll the deck for them.

Lapi spy: The Sun, Temperance, Ace of Pentacles.

Positive energy. Artistic combination of resources, but it's a constructive use of time. Quoth the Llewellyn website, "You have been given a resource. Use it well and be grateful."

I guess that means it works. Lapi places a bunch of copied narrative cameras around the estate! It seems that there's a few people milling about with similar suspicious intents, but the invisible plot devices allow Lapi to studiously avoid detection.

RockSyringe: Ace of Swords. King of Pentacles. Star Reversed.

It was a good time. You were proud. This was outsourcing that shouldn't have been done.

Somehow, the arena turns to a combination drinking match and rap battle. But one of the Nascent Soul nobility rises to the challenge. Lapi probably could've pulled off some sick beats, but RockSyringe knows the language. Violence and poetry and today...poetry.

The resulting philosophical debate is powerful but ultimately futile. The cards shine upon the presence of the opposition rather than one's own talent. RockSyringe leaves the arena in a good position, stronger than they were before, but only middle-placement on the ranks of Standard Issue Xianxia Restaurant Throwdown.

The audience applauds. Kickstart avoided. RockSyringe is a bit stronger as a Foundation Establishment throw-in body and is most likely consistent now among the crew.

I look away for a few minutes to browse baseball and Lapi has kidnapped the plot.

I...what? Okay, what plot is it?

䷉ -> ䷹

Stepping changing to Joyous Lake.

Line 6:
Watching the steps, examining the omens.
One's turning back is a source of good fortune.

Looking back at how one acted, the steps taken, and the indications one responded to. The insight thus gained helps at having similar situations go well.

-

Lapi has captured the dynamic, identified the heart, whatever. Okay. I know Nedben basically writes this shit in trance state like he's playing CTG, but this is ridiculous.

"I want to eat it." Lapi says, using formal textual narration and specific words for extreme ominousness value. "Think of the benefits!"

Is...is that uncharacteristic?

I don't understand. It's a legal move, but an insane one.

Eat it? Why would you eat it?
"Because I want to." Lapi says, making an unsettlingly invested facial expression. Man, giving that guy a face exposed so much weird stuff.

[ ] EAT THE PLOT
It tastes like Waluigi thyme according to databanx. It's currently in some form of tightly gripped handheld sackcloth-y bag, so it's apparently not very big and not very hard to contain. It wriggles unsettlingly. Lapi could totally eat it. The results will be incredibly trippy and probably good luck. Consuming it means concentrated insight and even more bizarre control of where things go next.

[ ] Do not eat the plot, keep it in the bag
Plot. Containment. If we cannot keep the story on track, we can at least suppress the story and allow the players to free-roam. Tie it up or something and keep it in a box on the ship where it won't escape so easily.

[ ] Do not eat the plot, let it go
Lapi is acting at least a little weird. I don't think it's hacker interference, and the Timemodder is in jail. This is just some personal influence brought to the surface by the plot coercion damaging character-level integrity.

[ ] Table this decision.
Nothing is stopping Lapi from holding the plot hostage in one hand until it's freed somehow or consensus on what to do is reached.

[ ] (write-in)

Ah, that's why self-expressing is so hard. So the Sus are-

I have unveiled even the essence of the soul.

Like that, yes.

NO, THAT'S JUST REDACTED I THINK. HIS LAZE-VIBE ISN'T AS CORE SO THE STICK FIGURE SPAZZING GETS MORE PRESS. I THINK I'M SOMEHOW OFFICE-BOSS RATHER THAN OUTRAGE AT THE CORE.

hey guys i got coffee at the party what the fuck is happening

Lapi captured the plot.

messiah name here how horrifying

-

SYSTEM: SECONDARY CAMERA FEED ENGAGED.

Breathing. Softly. A ninja is watching shenanigans unfold. Foundation Establishment systems gaze with supernatural senses over a Core Formation expert who has captured something important to the world, and now speaks with the gods as to its provenance. Of course, she doesn't know that. The plot repelled attention from Lapi, and now she's here for something else and so his coruscations are obscured by a resilient piece of scenery keeping the ninja herself concealed. The script of this story is fragile and ridiculous at best, and now it is freewheeling.

She is watching someone else in the garden. Some jade beauty styled as a performer is gazing out over the flowers and sipping away at some dish of sake or other. Another Core Formation expert, if either party screws up in the slightest that woman will certainly identify her observer.

A man of similar cultivation holding a miniature golden pagoda of some sort emerges from a distortion of air and walks up to the flower-viewer. He whispers something distorted that the camera doesn't catch.

The ninja narrows her eyes. Something is terribly right here. It's too perfect. What's the catch? That man most likely works for the hackers, and is about to spew some hecking bullshit that'll cause a scene and some needless conflict.

Her blade sings in an arc forth, and an instantaneous dash down is blocked by the casual interruption by means of that golden pillar. There is a chiming sound as fine metal resonates, and the ninja halts midair to mitigate the reflected force. The flower-viewer sips again from her rice wine, concealing a monstrous smile.

The ninja starts running away, knowing she'll be outrun as well as outgunned.

This has been a message from SYSTEM SECONDARY CAMERA SYSTEM.
-

Huh, so I get knocked off-chair when that happens. Funky. Well, not my problem, Nedben's too lazy to write it. Lapi holds the wriggling plot bag.

WHEEEEEEE

[X] Eat The Plot And Also Don't
...
To Elaborate! Hold the plot in a hostage bag; some of it will probably happen during the free roam; eat those parts once they finish having occurred, and then eat whatever else as it becomes obsolete. obtain the best of both worlds.
(probably a good idea to reinforce the Plot Kidnap Bag, anyway.)

[Y] Hey BBBAD how're things going you've been quiet. there were not occurrences which called upon my capacity as a deity. Any questionably-existent corroboration is undefined. Being alive does not mean you are letting me be awake- a pseudo-coma was natural. This response channels a nedbenic vibe. And then there was ASCII but that was before I answered. Well, not really. Technically I think it uses Unicode too? it's not all equalwidth. yes, but saying 'and then there was Unicode' does not convey 'ASCII Art'. hm. Do you have any opinions on current events? Hm, let's see... Lapi kidnapped the plot... they're talking about the main plot of the new world, nyep. congratulations to Lapi. what, that's it? what do you want me to say, 'set it on fire'? It wriggles, but it's a drug and it tastes like thyme. It probably doesn't cook very well.

[I]Actually this is probably a good time for the ASCII Art. The Hacker is probably influencing the thingy the camera showed us, and the hacker(i think) prompted the ASCII.
But, what aim will we accomplish with this?
...go on.
You should not perform actions simply because it is a period which fits them, as should be obvious- the goal of an action is its result. well, hold on there, this is a game, the goal of an action is sometimes to do that action. true enough for you, but this action is mine as well, and I am not here to do things so they will have been done. The victory matters mosettle down there. settle down? you mean stop-yeahhh wait actually is that even your thematic in the better-known implication...
...
...
...
apparently not so there probably wasn't a need to silence you... Anyway, fair enough. We'll keep that in our pocket for later, then, since using it here probably doesn't have much room to improve things.
That all said, I do investigate the ASCII hacker realm I harnessed flames to enter previously. Has anything changed in here, or does it seem to have been abandoned or forgotten due to my breach? For that matter, is there any lingering trail from here to the potential current haunts of the hacker?

[Z]RockSyringe throws itself at the probably-hacker(?) man. It may be a stage down, but it's got some stat buffs from wine, its reconstruction cheese is hard to get around though not too hard to temporarily stall, it's a surprise attack, and it's pretty optimized on landing hits... It probably won't kill the man, but with any luck the blood loss when the rock turns into a syringe and drains blood will slow the man enough to not get the ninja or otherwise obstruct whatever's going on.
(this assumes that ' RockSyringe leaves the arena' is the end of RockSyringe being at a social call.)

[S]Say when Batter got knocked off-chair who was on the chair was there anyone there except the spark (this is like the wine argument pointing this out might not be a good idea and/or probably doesn't matter but I noticed it so)(it shouldn't actually trigger I think because the spark was for if nobody else is Able to step up not if there's a short delay between stepoff and stepup.)

[X] Eat the irrelevant/already happened parts of the Plot. Or whatever JOE said. Sure!

Gives us a good idea of whether Plot is a valid drug to sell on the market! Because this is all I've decided to care about for the next few turns!

[X] Have the cameras track the Ninja's movement! See where she goes!

It's times like this when we can only hope those circuits I stole out of our ship both: a) weren't that important, and b) were important enough to let the cameras swivel.

[X] Wait wait wait... Lapi's holding the Plot, right? And it was "invisible plot devices" that let Lapi sneak around successfully...

Use the Plot and shenanigans to locate useful Plot Devices! Sneak around and steal those without anyone noticing! We can do this because we already know where the "Sneak Around" Plot Device is!

[X] Eat The Plot And Also Don't

Lapi nibbles at the plot like it's a candy bar halfway in the wrapper. He smiles, and it's still quite disconcerting now that he has a face to smile with. Too much psychotic energy behind it. You can relax, man.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1A44lG8CJfA

[X] Check The Hacker Room
The Ushiromiya replicas have reconstituted and are milling around for Skyrim purposes. Apparently, Rokkenjima has been ported to a place whose name is glitching sound effects.



Perhaps this merits investigation by player actions rather than character actions.




Hey, is that Thanos? What's Thanos doing in the Ushiromiya mansion Skyrim remix?

No clue. Maybe things just got recycled down here?

[X] RockSyringe: Intercept

Four of Cups. Queen of Wands Reversed. Eight of Pentacles.

Divine intervention clatters against the sake dish (and possibly a concealed fan from somewhere or other) of the observed maiden. Icy beauty reveals a scything smile, and in the shine of that maw radiance that deals weirdly deflecting damage. Luckily, RockSyringe extrudes more of itself. A tight deadline meets an experienced skillset...but for how long? Both the hacker-compromised individuals are sufficiently distracted at the oncoming assault of jabs and extrusions to bother dealing with the equivalent of a berserk cat.

[X] WHO WAS CHAIR?

Waluigi was chair. Waluigi is the true system. Moths are adherence to Waluigi. This is a triune message by the pure ones. Know it and be known.

[X] Ninja: Realize you've got backup

Temperance Reversed. Two of Pentacles Reversed. Eight of Pentacles.

The ninja realizes her mistake. And also that this situation is a failure. But she's got a job to do. And that job is to report back alive. RockSyringe has bought her time, and with that time she runs before she can be expediently pursued.

[X] Lapi: How much does plot go for?
Plot armor is worth exactly as much as the plot demands! Sometimes this is trading cards, other times it is Can't show that in a DTG forum! Acknowledged.

[X] YOU WHAT

The ship gasps in horror as it....realizes it already auto-repaired that stuff.

Good thing the narrative cameras are primarily narration logic anyway! Dreams.

[X] Lapi: Steal Plot Devices

Lapi strides along elegantly out of sight, keeping pace with the sprinting ninja by riding upon threads of plotly attention. The next device to conquer is a safehouse to which this informant is running. It's a small den of some interest or other, dressed up as a highly technical business shorefront office to serve as a mob front. That's how mafia doesn't work, but plot-says-so logic is plot-says-so logic. It's a lot of muted blues and grays assembled into mixed-purpose architecture, unassumingly bland from the outside. It's got a few road-facing windows curtained up behind simple posters for niche events held elsewhere, but is otherwise not really something conveniently seen into.

Lapi can practically walk in with the right pretense and no-one will care. Most likely whatever core formers they have on site are unsuited to stealth or observation, otherwise they would've sent them instead of ninja girl there. Said ninja girl barely composes herself before running inside, making it look like she's got an important message to deliver rather than a flailing assassination.

Now what for Lapi?
There's still a lot of plot to eat. And this is clearly the next step of the plot.

[ ] Incredible Violence
- [ ] (write-in)
Walk in and commit mass murder like the protagonist tier Lapi is failing to emulate. It'll be a tough battle, but of course you can help him.

Wonder how digestible plot armor fiber is.

[ ] Observe Stealthily
Lapi has a good 'avoid being detected' thing going. Nothing stopping him from seeing what these people are really up to before getting involved, no?

[ ] Overt Social Charm
Ask what the hell these people are up to with that winning stony charisma or something. Lay down a few questions that make it clear it's inadvisable to try knocking you dead, don't tip your hand but try to get theirs, see how matters go when they know you know something's afoot at worst. Most likely, both sides will try to commandeer each other and Lapi will be handily recruited into some faction or other.

[ ] Table This
Quest objective registered. Striking while the iron is hot has its merits, but main quests tend to wait for the protagonist for some reason. You can afford to stake out other operations of interest before being led back to this next interesting bit.

Now what for RockSyringe?
RockSyringe, an upper-middling Foundation Establishment random, is currently in combat. The enemies are a Core Formation man wielding a mini golden pagoda (it might be a portal of some sort, RockSyringe isn't sure) and a Core Formation woman wielding a deadly smile along with very resilient sake dish and very resilient folding fan.

[ ] Engage With Benefits
-[ ] (write-in)
Stagejumping is possible even without cheats. You have plenty of cheats. Cheat wildly on RockSyringe's behalf.

[ ] Pull The Party In
Whatever the hacker uses to subvert people probably can't be applied in large numbers at once, or has some incentive to not go loud. Otherwise it'd have been fired off during the party and used the numbers advantage to subvert the rest. The Nascent Souls running the party and potentially attending just to drink can likely be roused to the world-violating emergency. Failing that, even gathering a number of other Foundation Establishment and Core Formation personnel by screaming bloody murder ought to do the trick.

[ ] Pull The Boat In
Launch the boat over and dump the crew on 'em. While the ship itself is highly visible and can't make use of its full mobility out of the water, combining its arsenal with the crewmembers ought to mitigate the numbers advantage.

[ ] Disengage
Make up some bullshit baffle to distract the hacker or conceal RockSyringe. Then, let RockSyringe run the hell away to somewhere this isn't easily pursued.

You may also opt to figure out what's going on outside the box.
[ ] (write-in)

[X] Observe stealthily.

[Y] Engage / Party.
-[R] First of all, we need to break the stealth of this whole thing. Luckily, this can be done as both combat technique and chessboard wobble at the same time, using a technique the RockSyringe inherited from Rock And Syringe. Combat proceeds rapidly, but at the moment of an oncoming blow, RockSyringe begins travelling back in time at a rate of 1 second per second.
In a basephysics world this would be an apocalyptic explosion- a whole rock (or syringe) of antimatter, in an instant (antimatter is the same as time-reversed normal matter)? But this is a cultivation world, saturated in Qi that is easily expended, divine attention, and other such things, and the rock part-facsimile at times- its strictly material component is not as high as one might think, part shunted into storage.
This still blasts the external Rock apart entirely in an explosion that would probably level the whole... garden or whatever... if it was made of normal materials, making this battle substantially harder to miss, Flashbanging the opposing cultivators.
That Sake dish may be durable, but keeping debris out of the sake will be an ordeal in the immediate aftermath.
-[S] Rock blasted apart,the Syringe within expands in the same instant as it begins moving through time normally again, generating a new rock within itself as standard practice. Moving with the expanding cloud of the detonation, it jabs not at the woman but the man- the Syringe judges him a better target for a number of reasons, not least of which is that if he tries any spacial tricks on Rock or Syringe, he'll be in for an unpleasant surprise- The spacial compression within the RockSyringe system is liable to interact strangely, separating the two- the inner becoming outer, both generating a new inner, and the two bodies coexisting. Of course the replication is not total- the fundamental unit of a 'foundation establishment cultivator' remains singular, but separated into two bodies, a snake with two heads, all the harder to keep track of and hold off, at least until its inner energy runs dry.
But if he tries nonsuch thing and is struck the surprise will be all the worse, the Syringe piercing flesh- even a stage behind, the millimetre-diameter piercing force of a specialised Foundation Establishment should be enough for a small flesh wound. And physics will do the rest- plunger pulling back, Core Formation Blood sucked out by the resultant vacuum.
-[E] But really, landing at least one hit is likely to be inevitable. leaving aside the explosion, the choice of target, and even the possible splitting, this duo is going to have to act hastily to avoid the oncoming attention- either split their focus between defence and escape, or swiftly be distracted by that attention already-called, and find their guard insufficient. Which raises the question of why the RockSyringe is... A Syringe. What's it do with blood? Well, originally it was a method to try and steal Godmodding from the blood of Godmodders. That implementation failed, but Cultivators, they do keep power in their blood. There are bloodlines, they refine their blood, it represents life force, spiritual bones exist and that's where blood gets made- etcetera. To put it bluntly,the syringe 'eats' the blood it takes- and from there, gains power. Slanted more temporary then permanent, under the circumstances, but if it can drain both of its foes dry after that sudden boost... who knows?
-[N] to distract the opponents further, the RockSyringe performs a free action: Talking. From directly behind them, because it doesn't have a mouth so why would its words be bound to its body.

(this is of course a complete and utter lie for combat purposes.)
(or I guess to be precise I would like to 'join' 'their' 'side' in the sense of get told what's going on and then probably betray them immediately.)

[I] I will investigate. There is no need to make use of Player Actions- If they succeed, it will only grant more charge to the Timemodder. First- observing through flames that I shall cast all about this place- I shall pick out the unusual through observation- those with too much life in their movements, or too little; those with odd patterns to their gaze, stalking others or watching me; and catalogue minor mannerisms. Then, when a complete census of those present here has been completed- slightly taxing to complete so swiftly in my limited form, but manageable unless this is a far larger stage than I expect- I shall pick out those suspicious and engulf the lot in flame. Harmless, of course; but once these beings are all being burned alive, they will be unable to see beyond the flame- because the fire will be too bright, naturally, not for strange esoterics of purity- and so not know I have picked multiple targets. Then, to each, I will confidently assert- along the divine channel of my influence over beings which are being burned alive- that I know them to be the hacker, and continue to pursue this line of questioning for each far beyond what would be reasonable if I was unaware, stating their mistakes included various things observed earlier such as mannerisms with too much/little life in them, a peculiar movement pattern, flickers of attention to me, and so on. I'll only drop the act for Any of them at all once it's quite overwhelmingly probable that the hacker has either seen through my tactic or is not among them. and you should also look for Tasque Manager. ...a... dark... cat-person. why. because Tasque Manager is a Task Manager which will tell us what OS this runs on. If it's windows, you can have her try to end (or just track) any suspiciously-named Tasks like 'hackerinput' or 'nonsuspiciousfilenameJAR'! And if it's not windows you can look for ChasysGuard(KSysguard) for Linux or whatever the mac version is. ... worth the attempt, perhaps. probably before the above, as well... fine.

[?] It's been a week of nothing so I have decided to ask some arbitrary questions.
(I wrote this list in order with [ ] symbols tied to the contents of the question and then reshuffled it in order from least to most ridiculous [ ] symbol.)
-[A] Another eternity passed. The impure would not be able to tell, but things were getting brighter. It is not in question.
-[C] how large is the space inside the universe-frog?
-[F] How large is the universe-frog from the outside, using any unit?
-[S] Aermora means Tree, do you acknowledge.
-[I] I have only one question to contribute,an- Good! because I'm only using each increasingly ridiculous questioner symbol once. ... as I was saying, my question is: did being Sus actually improve my divine powers in any way whatsoever, assuming it is not part of my original divinity structure before I arrived here?
-[T] How many days has it been since this all began. Name the Days or Hours or Minutes or Seconds. Name them. speak. This is ominous.
-[P] As a corollary, how high up does the atmosphere of the planet start?
-[R] How many orders of magnitude has frog mass increased, relative to the mass it had during early Froggenesis?
-[O] Y'know I've heard of (Core Formation/Hollow Core) and Golden Core in the past and in the other systems the more OVERKILL your Golden Core construction period is the more EXCESSIVELY STAGECROSSING AND ULTRAFAST PROGRESS you can be. Is this true here?
-[α] How large was the original universe pre-frog, using the same unit?
-[/\] I assume Qi allows for reactionless thrusters?
-[∅] does Gravity still distort spacetime? asking for a friend who is probably my future self if the Timemodder starts fighting again.

[CTG] and also proc the earlier CTG Update Reliableiter. It has been more than four days! actually Chronos Requime blocked that but shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

[X] Whoops, forgot to update

[X] LUMINESCE
No comment needed. Purity registered.

[X] Size?
The space inside the Universe Frog is expanding rapidly. In gametime, it currently covers a few thousand lightyears of 'normal-fidelity' space scattered with stars and nebulas (you could maybe fit the Large Magellanic Cloud in there easily), expanding at an extremely inconsistent pulsation rate of multi-cubic-parsec packages per update or off-update timespan. Beyond that, there are several thousand more lightyears of 'low-fidelity space' (you could fit the Milky Way Galaxy in there) which are gradually converting into the expansion of normal-fidelity space. This tapers out into a hard-to-compare pseudo-space of 'grandmist' currently replicating early universal history expansion outside a stabilization barrier. There is some additional space in the form of pocket dimensions and spore-versa, but many of those are only so many astronomical units large before tapering off into connected grandmist or looping to hide the edges.

There are stars in the sky at realistic distances so the sky has an Earth-comparable level of starlight, but not excessively much. The practically explored high-fidelity space is basically just the central planet and a few colonies on its spiritual neighbors.

The universe frog has kegnarfl'd space, but forcibly invoking yarsnil makes it about the size of the Genesis Frogs from Homestuck. This is a little smaller than Skaia, so probably only about the size of an Earthlike planet.

[X] Aermora = Tree
I acknowledge this but do not understand what you're going for.

[X] Did Being Sus Help?
As far as I'm aware, it made structural additions to support further being suspicious and Being Extant In Places Of Suspicion. It's a nice compatibility aid for the model the Sus-by-grouping use, with a side of divine-presence-stabilization. I'm not currently a god expert.

[X]
It has been [CORRUPTION FILTER ACTIVE]. Wait, what? Okay, on an out of character level this game started August 16 2022 at 10:49 AM forum time, and Sburban Standard Killtime we're October 10 2022, it's about 8:34 AM at this point in the update. That's been 55 days for people who were hardlinear to SSK for whatever reason.

Ingame, Lapi spent well over 100 days before everything lost temporal coherence. Given that it took roughly a month to [CORRUPTION FILTER ACTIVE], Ocean's Fledge should've been able to beeline the polygons after Waluigi heart attacked everyone in about 30 days per pentagonal expansion, but that's not consistent because [CORRUPTION FILTER ACTIVE]

Waluigi says the time stream is an expletive. Chronos Requiem is being a
little shit in prison, so it's been an explicitly inconsistent amount of time. Lapi's vessel assembly didn't even get a real timestamp. I think it took him a few days to sail up to Ritho-Lyg, but that shouldn't be right because his boat goes way faster than realistic boats.

Chronos Requiem is still in prison. Okay, so we're not immediately screwed over.

yeah that IS ominous, I don't know how long it's been or even if this world can calculate time properly

It's definitely corrupted by somebody, the filter's active. Redacted, did you ever actually intend to make time coherent?

um no lmao

Did you download an enemy godmodder off the Internet?

i torrented humanity in order to invent hauflins and a bunch of other demihu if that's what you're asking but ngl i barely planned a day-tracker for the warlock 2 reference

...

So you were totally unaware of...

I thought censorship did it

I thought you did it.

shit

That's certainly alarming.

Okay, fuck it, using the Treasured Red Sword. The godmodder was installed by the hacker. Aaaaand god fucking damnit.

So the entire concept of chronology beyond a *very* basic event tracker and some localbubbles is an enemy stand, who we've barely managed to put in a prison made of fallback royalties. Did Nedben put you up to this???

not any more than he usually writes us!

The Batter facepalms! I am announcing my facepalm to the audience, so they can be aware of it!

[X] Atmosphere Height?
The planetary atmosphere is extremely unrealistic due to some alterations to how this universe handles qi-pressure physics. The overall map is vaguely Earth-comparable despite the many inaccuracies that would normally generate. There's a reliable troposphere for about ten kilometers high or so, a narratively inconsistent troposphere tapering into stratosphere depending on if mountains for another few dozen kilometers, then around the stratosphere-mesosphere divide stuff stops acting Earth-comparable. There's a thermospheric belt where satellites and orbital palaces hang out. Then in space it behaves like one of those 50s-inspired kids shows where everything in space is just a moderate amount of rocket time away and space is more 'thin cold air hard to breathe' than 'there is no atmosphere, die and also drag doesn't work that way'.

Effects of xun-affiliated qi attaching to air rather than wood or grounding can severely mess with what qualifies as 'atmospheric conditions'. It may also be used to create regions where air exists and behaves a certain way, logical pressure or gas composition be damned. Certain cultivators will also impose regional bullshit just to be sure.

[X] Mass?
The universe frog tends to be extremely inconsistent with regard to mass. Its outer-form universal flesh is more like a boundary property than a physical object, so it is effectively massless in terms of immediate gravity (outside some multiversal-shunt policy) but the entire universe in terms of certain movement and spacetime properties. The inner case has expanded enough to produce about 30 billion stars of assorted sizes and hundreds of billions more in terms of assorted nebulas, brown dwarfs, asteroids, and so on. So the order of magnitude went from 'a few atoms' to 'galaxy' and will probably manage to render at least 'local group' before calming the fuck down. I'm not even going to try calculating the grandmist because it's generally placeholderism.

[X] CORE OVERKILLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL
Quality of Golden Core formation is indeed important for future bullshit-iness. However, Nedben tends to write the progression into need for distinct techniques. There's also a lot more mercy for spiritual expansion and copying new constructs before transferring crux of power, rather than a matter of perfecting the foundation perfectly the first time around. So yes but not 1:1 with the expected nuance of yes.

[X] Predecessor?
The previous universe was just one planet-size game map, a moon, a sun, and a skybox. It was also [CORRUPTION FILTER ACTIVE] apparently, goddamnit Redacted ask if Time is a-

[X] Qi Thrust?
Qi allows for reactionless thrusters, and for that matter perpetual motion machines that generate more qi. There's some bullshit but this generally takes higher stages to actuate feasibly.

[X] Do you believe in gravity('s effects on spacetime remaining relevant even in this nonsensical game)?
Gravity and spacetime are only loosely interactive: relativity systems exist but are generally optional or prepared-to-be-suppressed rather than the 'main' process. There are some time-themed techniques that affect how action economy processes which allow for relativistic behavior as side effects, but this is similarly 'at that point it's just a curiosity or imposed physicsset'.

[X] Proc the Reliableiter
You are now holding the sharp CTG jammed into the Timemodder! Chronos Reqiuem is still in prison, except his prison has now been further reinforced by the empire of Center using a ritual monarchy or something. Chronos Requiem doesn't do anything about it because he's just sort of coma-ing there MENACINGLY. It might be meditative, it might not be.

-

[X] LAPI: OBSERVE STEALTHILY

Nothing substantial is happening. Everyone is just kind of...standing around and making idle animations. A few people bother to sit at desk chairs and stare blankly at paperwork. There's even a secretary who's just playing anachronistic videogames! It's like there just wasn't actually any plot to follow up on this. Lapi looks through documents and it's apparently some form of smuggling operation to avoid paying taxes. Lapi thinks to himself and tries to remember if taxes even exist to be evaded here. They're usually selective in some way, but these allude to tarrifs that straight-up do not exist. Why is there a front business to evade taxes that don't exist, and yet not actually do anything?

Was this plot just injected as a mod or something but the mod wasn't finished, so it was just testing? This merits further investigation....but probably from the player perspective to tell him what to do.

[X] REVERSE ANTIMATTER BLOODSUCKER TECHNIQUE! AAAAAAAA

One explosion later, RockSyringe drinks the hacker-flavored blood of a Core Formation cultivator! It tastes like hackers instead of ichor.

"LAPI FOUND OUT THE PLOT WE GOTTA STOP HIM!" both hacked cultivators say in panicked voices, before running towards Lapi at incredible high speed! RockSyringe is still stuck in the guy's pillar-holding arm so it's legitimately unclear whether or not they even register him as a threat despite taking damage.

Yakety Sax plays as the duo bowls over various passerby mobs.


[X] BBBAD: INVESTIGATE
Significant use of firelight later whenever Head Tracking tracks non-heads, it seems that...the mobs don't know anything substantial! They're basically generic NPCs with generic dialog trees and access to the game's Write Answers For Offscript Behavior system. The hacker apparently didn't bother to compromise them, and issued a temp-kill in order to prowl the space uninterrupted. They got better. Most likely, Black Battler left this specific set of rooms shortly after the event.

For some reason, Tasque Manager is driving the boat between Rokkenjima Parody and Niijima Analogue. It's somewhere between an airport and a photo studio, carrying on the Skyrim tradition. At any rate, Tasque Manager says the game runs on GAMEBOARD FRAGMENT, an 'operating system' that cajoles together freakish amounts of divine power and varying-quality writing to emulate a system.

She agrees to let the BBBAD look through the list and kill a bunch of tasks. Black Battler dies horribly in an explosion made of blood, squishing, and forcible deallocation (he'll probably be fine or reinserted though), two cultivators suddenly stop running toward Lapi and start wondering why RockSyringe is there (they accept the 'ah, mind control' excuse and let the syringe go).

The Godmodder isn't a task-based process to kill, unfortunately.

Black Battler, this time not a system task, flops awkwardly out of Chronos Requiem's chestpiece like a fumbled battle summon, falling on his face and then scrabbling to his feet on noticing JOE's CTG-holding shadowvatar.

"I am totally not the hacker!" the hacker says (as a lying liar who lies), before running away into the convoluted halls of the wintry basement of Center Cold Palace.

Lapi continues loitering undetected in the smuggling front of lore-contradicting forgot-to-give-everyone-better-routines unfinished mod place. He could probably suborn it with a little rewriting.

Well. x2 combo.
[ ] (respond to the hacker and identifying many hacker-related matters that have suddenly stopped, probably don't want to let him get away)

[X]Since they got unmindcontrolled, RockSyringe dislodges himself and takes a few minutes to explain what just happened to the authorities in general terms, since a notable part of RockSyringe's strategy earlier was that the explosion probably alerted people.

[Y] ...hm. Can someone try saying in red 'the hacker installed the main plot' to confirm-or-deny? because it's lookin' kinda like the hacker did that.

[Z] Yeah sure feel free to suborn the fake-tax-evasion place. but actually while you're at it Lapi can you look inside the Plot bag and tell us, like... how much plot there actually Is relative to what you've eaten? because if this place isn't implemented that sorta suggests there's not much left and/or that the plot is growing over time.

[C] Oh hey Black Batter you're not the hacker cool cool that's nice to hear I'm just going to do a CTG reference you know how it is being a CTG-shadowvatar yep. Have fun running, I'll be here.

[T] Hm let's see... Kumar Timalsina had a courtroom segment, seems like a good fit, I channel some Timalsinahood, gaining Evidence, a Handcuff Gun, Gloves, and a Hat. my Shadowvatar quickly puts on the hat, becoming A Man In A Hat.

[G] Meanwhile, I launch a GPS Satellite, a GPS Groundalite, and a GPSSSS(S)! They orbit appropriate locations in the newly-explicated space.
Wouldn't you know it, having a functioning Global Positioning System lets me know where people are!
Like Black Batter!

[M] A Man In A Hat turns the corner ahead of Black Batter. He chuckles ominously beneath his hat and lifts up his arm and holds it directed at Black Batter and lines it up with black batter and flicks the safety off his gun and adjusts his aim and pulls the trigger and the handcuffs come out of the gun and he pulls the trigger again and again and more handcuffs come out of the gun and they handcuff black batters arms legs and necks and it makes him fall down.
(A Man In A Hat is still standing next to the Timemodder. But this world has more than one hat, unlike The Adventures Of John Phoenix 2.)

[H] A Man In A Hat takes off his hat, revealing...
[I] Me. We didn't have anything else I needed to be doing, and this limits the need for player actions. I interrogate Black Batter, preemptively countering the obvious counter-hacks with a rate-limited response aperture air-gapped with barriers of indiscriminate golden flame. At every attempt to bypass this, the barriers swallow up the data and consume it, causing all my flames (including those not part of the barrier, such as my avatar) to burn all the brighter and stronger. I also generally do this over time as an intimidation tactic, making it appear as though the longer he stalls the more powerful I become, though in actual fact this is simply putting somewhat(though not much) more of my reserves into the various properties of my flames (with the power put into avatar and barrier being put moreso towards enhancing the appearance of properties over the actuals.)
One obvious interrogation question is 'if you aren't the hacker, why did you pop out of something the hacker installed after getting task-stopped.'. If worst comes to worst you can kill him with Evidence and ask the Evidence what's up with him.

[3] Aermora meaning tree is just a generic-yet-esoteric ominous phrase of susness- I don't actually have any plans here which hinge on Aermora Meaning Tree and this Being Acknowledged, except in the sense that I'm trying to be sus.

[GPS] I also check the locations of various other beings with the GPS system for anything outa place!


[?] Let's try to avoid the Corruption Filter Activations and clear things up. which of the following answers is closest to accurate for how long it has been:
"165 days", "170 days", "175 days", "165 days for the area of player focus but the numbers are different in different places", ">200 days"
what is a best-fit for what it took almost a month to do? I don't have solid guesses for what you mean there.
Is the reason it's not consistent that the update conveyed a high speed / the baby universe would've eaten more world at that point / the world egg was made in that time frame / something along those lines?
I don't really have a good guess for what the old universe was that was [Corruption filter whatever], unless it's something like 'a big mess on a temporal level'

[♪] In the meantime, let's try to counter Time Is A [CFA or whatever] by making everyone SING! If everyone(who matters) is singing songs all the time on a strict schedule, then Time has to either admit they're different flows (and how different), or be consistent! I propose the following musical accompaniments: Lapi (the last song is just the word 'I' repeated for long enough to match up to the SUS group's time durations).
SUS
...hm. I have a very specific musical accompaniment in mind for BBBAD but I probably shouldn't actually link it... no BBBAD I'm not going to let you comment on this... I know technically you didn't ask but it's obvious you'd want to... fair.... anyway. Alright spot-replacement this song I chose purely by title and haven't listened to, and various pitch-changed versions thereof, there's no symbolism here except the obvious. timed to match the SUS group's song-lengths ofc.

Universe Frog. The obvious caveat is obvious. the less obvious caveat- that the frog is a frog- is irrelevant. I give it the ability to sing if necessary

[X] RockSyringe explains things

This happens offscreen.

[X] the hacker installed the main plot

The Batter says fuck extremely loudly.

yeah that is indeed a bad sign.

Everything is contaminated. Everything. We're not just running on bad software, we've got multiple hardware vectors under distortion-chill, purity rings man

Lapi takes a look at the plot in a bag, in all its hackery purpleness as it gelatinates and recoverizes. It's still being written, and its mass presence was an imprecation to begin with. Lapi adjudicates it as being the size of a sports ball of some kind, being feasible to handhold even without the bag (as long as you don't mind the juice getting everywhere). In terms of story-writing, it's definitely growing over time.

The people milling about the lore-inaccurate smuggling front are still kind of amorphously idle-animating. Lapi does a few fingersnaps for dramatics' sake. Lapi has subordinated the false smuggling front.

Did...did he even do anything or just issue the ownership commands directly?

Lapi shrugs.

The Batter is going along with this shitty gag because he doesn't trust green guy to run it. Yeah, you heard me. You're under a different suspicion, color.

does that technically qualify as speciesist

yeah tbh

Rude, but yeah it is speciesist.

Not the first species I've had to exterminate. Moving on.

[X] People Wearing Hats

One GPS-assisted handcuffing gun interrogation later, Black Battler sighs at being caught and also inconveniently unable to go around breaking fingers or whatever it is Black Battler does when he's not committing murder.

"Alright, you got me!" he says. "I'm the hacker. But what're you going to do about it? I'm the guy doing most of the shit since Nedben picked all the worst contractors."

He laughs, sticks his tongue out briefly as a joke, and the usual villainous comedy repertoire limited by the handcuffs and fire situation.

The world is....not out of place. It's placid. The template map is holding quite nicely. It will end by stillness if it ends at all, daily routines striving for a future that might never manifest.

[X] Time?

It's been >200 days at least, but there's active inconsistency. It's definitely different between player focus, narrative box, and experience of people outside direct player focus. Especially since there isn't a global turncounter keeping us steady anymore.

Waluigi was being rough about marching around troops to wrap up postgame of the old world, I guess. There's only so clean of a cut that can be done without wipeout. And it was definitely a mess during that expiration date.

That is pretty much [CORRUPTION FILTER ACTIVE] aaand that didn't take. I think it's mostly restrained to [CONCEPT NOT TRANSLATIONAL] at this point. Taking the loss, it's both technical and irrelevant by now.

[X] Some Singing Later

Okay, it looks like we've identified flows. The narrator box is in a skip-speed-lock pattern regarding player focus: we jump past a few segments and summarize others, but we can force it to one-one or slower if talking's needed.

The frog is doing some crazy spike stuff where it's experiencing time relative to some factors but is effectively paused against others. I don't understand the details, but it's definitely a reference.

Pattern matches to maybe Sburban frogcay and maybe fragment pooling as it should. I've decayfreed what I deemed at risk to avoid a hongmeng desuppression bicalibrate. Pooling leaves us in paperwaste as-it's-attended-to flow, so we should be fine on that point until somebody bothers docking and switches to box flow for commentariat.

Valid.

Player focus is advancing chunkily: there's a few segments where Lapi abuses time compression to achieve things at plot-speed when that'd be more favorable than local realspace normspeeds, but that's basically an autocausal for protagonist-types rather than anything to compensate for.

The update process is very disjointed, but I did manage to find the nuclear launch codes in some ten hour meme videos. Action ordering can get wonky but that's a moth-divinity substrate relaying to text policy by inversion anyway.

Uh...votery-
"I will be hacking that!" the hacker says hackily, between trying to hacksaw off handcuffs from the mouth (it's a very strong neck thing while biting the handle, probably). Being on fire doesn't make this practical and eventually it just gets straight-up firewalled.

The plot still squirms. The modder still sleeps.

The story is liberated.

"The problem is there isn't actually a story!" the hacker smarms. "It's just power expediency with some packaging."

Lapi says the taste is kind of off-kilter.

"Waluigi thyme and Waluigi oregano is hard to get right." the hacker complains. "I had to offmarket replicants with Cerise no Thyme's art."

Shit, you deal in Tei Isfurieli wacks and you're here, deep paperwasting? What kind of shaders did you piss off to end up down this road?

"I have problems being consistently written!" the hacker continues complaining. "You have any idea how hard it is to wait in line at the personality store and pay for stuff??"

The Batter refrains from comment.

Black Battler takes the L, but later rather than earlier. This superimposes Bad Batter by technical mea- SHIT THAT'S ME [CHAIR DISJUNCT]

as the bbbbad smacks down that little hacking attempt I'm going to take the chair. There we go, back in charge!

The Batter disentangles from Black Battler and bonks him on the head with the bat to be thorough.

"So. Fine. Hackerfest SSK 2022, fine by me." the Batter says, obviously not fine at getting dischaired by such cheese.

Vanguard's lack of shame aside, I-"Just shut up about the distractions." Melissa comments from somewhere else entirely.

Acknowledged. It seems that the game's main plot is completely cracked, but the secondary plots were organic retrogen and have a bit more fuel.

Lapi asserts a rulership mechanic and honks together the broken tools back into a functional regular-trade front to free him up.

Business obtained! Ritho-Lyg Circuit Shipping Company.

Lapi smiles innocuously, but with the energy of an asura in the Shura realm. This is unsettling but entirely reasonable.

"I was totally going to finish that mod!" the hacker continues complaining. Well, now you're not.

Lapi sits down in one of those chairs he now owns and does a spin.
Oh, these are voting options? Sure.

[ ] Path: Local Influence
Buy up and message out to get influence. And figure out how the influence mechanics work. Clearly the abstraction is imperfect.

[ ] Path: Nonlocal Offices
Ship out and see what markets are open for settling down in infrastructurally. With the plot being a captured node of power, the rest is what influence we choose to have over the world. There's probably something between the Fleshy Divine Continent and Qian under Li that can be addressed. Failing that, Canebreak is probably a good place to plop down the other end of this shipping business.

[ ] Path: Define Where We Are
Have Lapi put a bit more effort into saying the story of this place, modding it into the game and maaaybe playing a bit more Sims than necessary.

[ ] (write-in)

[S] So... about that Frog, it's experiencing time as a SBURB reference? so if, like, there was- strictly hypothetically(though I guess I wouldn't put it past the hacker)- a bootleg bec noir who was going to kill it eventually after N years, the point(from an internal/player perspective) at which it would have been N years for the frog would be whenever it was either plot-convenient or thematically fitting for it to happen?

[W] Hm, you have troubles with Waluigi Thyme? I'm no expert and the CTG portal is closed so I can't let Waluigi in here but I hear Waluigi Juice is a good intermediate stage, lets the less-skilled contribute or makes the creation process more stable.

[I] I maintain containment on the Hacker, reinforcing the firewall to operate on- whatever he did to get the batter off-chair. ...yes. and other changes in general If the Hacker wants to make any further edits to hold the world together, they will be accepted only after a review, like a sensible programming collaboration. One important question for the Hacker- do they have persistent control over the Timemodder?

[X] incidentally how are you all so not on top of things that the hacker installed the main plot and you didn't notice it was odd
like
did you think the main plot just appeared out of nothing
I assumed you guys handled that but apparently you didn't.

[Y] anyway I'm thinking Path: Stat Wine. We were already in a position to plausibly get Lapi to, like. Gold Core level stats going into the Gold Core ascension/tribulation/bottleneck/??? even before we conquered a... um... fake tax evasion office turned shipping company(?), let's go Even Further Beyond and plumb the depths of the Cultivation System. something something Layered Infinite Absolute Barriers something something what is Stageless Cultivation except cheese something something this is a reference.
(plus this is a cultivation setting, Raw, Personal, Power is always a hugely important consideration)

[X] Nobody knows how time works except maybe the Timemodder and even then it's mostly for attack purposes

Killing the frog would most likely require timestream synchronization. This is probably what Underline was referring to by paperwaste flow and docking. At that point, we'd be on the same enough timestream to confront whoever's trying to destroy the board.

[X] Cerise no Thyme is watching

Waluigi suspects this is because as Waluigi is here, Waluigi-ism would be Waluigiated. And not everyone can be little miss Camelot with her King Arthuring and holy lance, Rhongomyniad. It would be too much observation when the plan relied on none of us paying attention.

"Yeah that." the hacker says, fumbling something as they're properly pinned down.

[X] How did the narrator squad miss the whole plot being a hack?

Good question. Lemme try something. We are being manipulated. Shit, not a good sign. Uh.... Someone other than Nedben orchestrated the hacking situation. Not good. Janet embedded it in the gameboard on purpose. Oh. Ohhhhhhh. Yeah that makes sense.

I suspect this is one of those games where we realize the premises we assembled here for were suspicious trickery and the actual motive of the game is very, very different. And we haven't been testing what we were intended to test. Bruh. Bruhhhh. This is why you give people plans before dumping them into trick questions.

So the hacker was intentionally part of the game. The process is analogous to penetration testing and involves an adaptive design. Okay, that confirms a lot of shit right there.

[X] Hacker: Do you control the Timemodder?

"If one of us wasn't sealed, probably." the hacker says. "Putting us both in changes-will-be-tracked prison does make that not happen. Bet we're supposed to only do certain things if we can avoid being detected doing them."

Right, and we didn't expect the creation of the universe to happen before the ending!

[X] did you think the main plot just appeared out of nothing

Yeah, pretty much.

I appeared out of the voting system. Plenty of gods self-create too.

Stuff just spawns into existence sometimes. Usually it's wizards and creator deities, but 'plot device' is also a normal process.

[X] Lapi: Get Better At Gold Core Because You Can Afford Wine

King of Cups. King of Wands. Strength. Lapi succeeds with flying colors through advancing science, reason and passion combined.

The great advancement that breaks open things...good question. Lapi spends some time working through qi studies, optimizing patterns, searching for edge case arrangements, and researching...

Which puts him ahead of a lot of people who frankly aren't. They just kinda throw qi at workable solutions to various hyperdensity barriers and call it quits. Lapi bothers to identify why those barriers exist, natural laws or byproducts that cause them, and so on.

Reality churns as contradictory description beyond my skill level on subtext layers starts derping. Lapi metaphorically bonks it on the head and literally punches spacetime slightly behind him. There is a ripple. Apparently, the main hyperdensity barriers are about achieving qualitative changes rather than quantitative changes, and using those qualitative differences to circumvent orders of magnitude in specific attributes and
gain middle-single-digit-integer multipliers in others. Paths which are only efficient with differently-structured complex underpinnings, apparently.

Nedben forcibly admits that in local metaphysics, core formation cultivators technically form a core very early on in the stage. The vast majority of the stage is spent refining that core to acceptable standards to transmute into a nascent soul and/or gain other expensive properties. Reinforced meridians and refined organs contribute to constructing the gold core and allowing it to supplant a number of physical properties over time. Once the gold core is sufficiently developed in the lower dantian, other functions become fallbacks or contributor-engines that can coincidentally perform functions. Spiritual space translations mean that the golden core is only initially a lower-dantian product. In Lapi's particular style but not universally, middle and upper dantians usually generate 'sync cores' that overlay and combine with the lower dantian true golden core for the sake of stability and improved processing of higher-level functions.

Climbing to the Nascent Soul stage translates external functions as well as internal functions, allowing the spiritual body to fully supplant the physical body with more than a ghost array should push come to shove. This is still generally inconvenient, and redeveloping or co-opting a physical body to offload spiritual energy expenditures translating continuous high-level action is preferable.

Large portions of this process consist of throwing qi at it and brute-forcing a given intent inherited from metaphysical impression. Lapi, being disturbingly insightful as he is, notes that systems of false cores or secondary cores are proliferated across other settings and that there are ways to utilize these spirit-space cores to augment physical overlaying.

Some large supplies of magical energy and prolific drinking later, Lapi has identified a possible optimization. Improving the Gold Core stage before ascending to Nascent Soul, there are a number of channel-connection and output steps to modulate the expected developmental structures of the upcoming spiritual body manifestation arsenal. There are a number of ways to get effective and powerful spirit bodies with much lower energy costs (STAND JOKE HERE, a number of obscenely strong ghosts, and even some half-phantoms), so using them as a framework should allow for ease of overlap and growth pathing. Core-to-core sync followed by bodymap post-meridianics should replicate chakra pathway....

The rest waxes technical. But at the end of it, Lapi is a lot stronger and a good bit further through Core Formation. He's close to being ready for proper ascension, and can already reach the Nascent Soul 1v1 combat plateau reliably. He's gone from superhero to city-shaker alright.

What do you do now?
[ ] (write-in)

[X] I mean, yes. that's not what I meant, what I mean is: if Bootleg Noir is already set to attack the frog in... four years, say- Bootleg Noir is on a four year journey which ends with Noir attacking the frog, and is time-synced to the frog. The point, from our perspective inside the frog, at which the any effects of BN's attacks on the frog start happening- assuming for the sake of the example that we'd all completely dropped the ball and not kept an eye out for problems to the Frog-would be 'when plot convenient/thematically fitting', rather than 'after some set number of turns, SSK days, or letters written 'Q' where 'Q' is proportional to that four-year span'? Like how the effects of Bec Noirs attack on the SBURB frog in homestuck start manifesting Red Miles tendrils at a time contextually-simultaneous to Diamonds doing Red Miles on Derse, as was fitting.


[Y] Congratulations on the ascension, Lapi! I'll leave the decision of whether to go adventuring(presumably between Fleshy and Qian-under-Li), become a pirate fleet, continue your business, or party to you!


......

[!] ...The BBBA Deity metaphysically declines to be written today. ...Darn it. (the primary reason for this refusal is not a part of this quest and therefore relates to the BBBAD's obfuscated nature in some oblique way)
[Z] But the main relevance of this is the BBBAD was, like. doing things. and stuff. Keeping the hacker in a box. my CTG avatar that put on a hat earlier runs down the hall and attempts to keep the box stable despite not being the BBBAD or a deity more generally. I can neither confirm nor deny whether or not these actions constitute a sus plan

...You didn't even bother to ask. Well, asking properly would be analogous to writing you. that may be so, but... I know, takes the strict accuracy out of that dark blue statement. Was I wrong, though. You weren't fundamentally wrong, but that was no reason not to leave the assumption of my actions intact. True. However, could I plausibly have done better? Yes. You did, in fact, consider leaving the assumption intact. You could have done that. Would've made you not-quite-'declining' rather toothless- well, that's a matter of your intentions, not your model of mine....yeah.
[I] Assuming it's not too late, I resume maintenance of the Firewall around the hacker.
Incidentally, if the Hacker is penetration testing, and we've caught the hacker and the timemodder, does that mean we've succe we do not know if the hacker has other allies. The remains of Virgilia, the Chognoid, the post-Frog-Boundary representation of the Chiesters. Some other law of physics. Excellent point! Can you narrators check if the Hacker has other allies which might bust them out of prison, assuming I didn't let them out of prison by unintentionally prioritising Aesthetic over Accuracy?

[X] Does time work that way?

That would imply we're anywhere near coherent enough to have things be thematically fitting. Do we even have any themes other than 'you can improvise for quite long if allowed to drastically recontextualize'?

It would probably work that way? In that mapping function simultaneity is incredibly hard in a setup that doesn't maintain self-consistency, nevermind external consistency. It would fall back to 'when written' because there isn't much in the way of externality coercing it be written. And stuff.

[X] Lapi: Make A Choice

Lapi chooses to start an international shipping business! It's not like we actually have a plot to follow besides powerseeking, so he muffles between tarot and I Ching for a moment before deciding on the book of changes.


15. Humbleness
Humbleness.
Progressing.
The noble one brings things to a conclusion.

Being humble. This helps bringing things to a good end, as one is not in a position to make demands. There is progress.

(No changing lines.)

䷎, the modesty and the humbling. Noble progress reaches a conclusion.

Lapi smiles creepily, turns toward the camera and What are you doing?

You're not in a position to make demands. I don't think any of us are.

"Hey, uh, was that part of the plan?" the hacker says, tossed from a fireball to a shadow by means of unconfirmedly suspicious plotting. "I think there's, um...problems."

The narrators (and assorted hang-ons) look around uncomfortably.

The Batter hefts his bat and sighs as Lapi starts continuing the inevitable.

We are almost at victory. I've received word from Janet that Kaguya Fresleven has actuated the next step. With Virgilia despawned, the Chognoid repelled, Black Battler and Timemodder caught...let's see. With the Chiesters being game units and the Vanir being a falseconnecta, and Hecate's saint graph, and....

Waluigi suspects we have been tricked. Lapi, would you mind?

Lapi coruscates. A shimmering hand plunges through the nonspace laws and grips Superpowered Negative Herobrine.

enirboreH has been acknowledged.

Lapi has caught the walk-ons that were part of mission objective.

"Hey." the Batter says. "Procedural. Fancy ending card."



Janet has identified almost everything she needs out of this simulation.

I don't like where this is going. Are you hitting the music?

Lapi hits the music. Concealed the Conclusion final boss theme, G Free ~ Final Dream. This challenge is clear.

You will transition the world by force to the next phase, assuming continued participation. It seems the next process is a collaborative writing exercise: worldbuilding rendered as a boss fight. The usual absurdity.

Choose side.
Waluigi will arbitrate. Despite Lapi claiming so much of the chair, this is still all according to keikaku. There will be both fighting and collaboration regardless. This merely assures significant advantage in both.

[ ] Lapi
The hero of the story. The real tester. The monster that was only barely created because he had a lot of discretion to be honest. The challenger striving for freedom. Probably not like Independence ™ there's no reason to get all Melissa about it, but even so.
"I THINK HE'S A GOOD CANDIDATE FOR WRITER!" Shouter says half-jokingly. "BECAUSE IF HE DOESN'T SAY AS MUCH DIRECTLY IT CAN BE MISINTERPRETED BETTER BY THE AUDIENCE."

Lapi will grant himself personal authority and become the metaphorical adventuring guild to snake across the continent, defining the setting that way. What merits definition will be a matter of challenges, choices, and the forms they are challenging in...which may result in a people-group first reading of major areas of attention.

[ ] The narrators and the Sus
The peanut gallery. Enablers of your not-actually-sins-because-no-morality-and-little-expectation-was-given situation.
I'm not entirely sure what this fight is about but I do recognize the pattern nedben is copying here. A battle that's designed to let the story come to an end.
lol. lmao. We have very little tactics but a lot of power glutted on the control systems and fabric of this world. Ending a story that doesn't exist transitions which debug state we're in. SO, like we're gonna go from live mode to world edit mode.
I DON'T THINK WE ACTUALLY HAVE A PLAN SO I'D BE SURPRISED IF WE GOT CHOSEN.
Well don't just tell them that.

The narrators will argue about the definition and produce an unclear result. The Trigram Alliances will be ambiguous and potentially contradictory reports about different areas.

[ ] The intercessors
The other side of suspicion may now drop the pretenses.
Superpowered Negative Herobrine awkwardly unhooks Lapi's hand. Hecate strolls over. Yeah, we're just kind of here. Janet and Kaguya put us up to some factional trickery, no big deal.

Waluigi believes that explains a lot.

The Intercessors sought matters from beneath. They will clarify systems first and let the geopolitics fall out from there.

[ ] The hacker
"Wait, why am I a faction option!?" Black Battler squirms nervously amid fire and flame. "That's not how this is supposed to work!" But actually no, it is how godmodders are supposed to work, and one still has enough residual meaning to halt the world so hard it continues. "That's the dumbest phrasing this side of-"

The hacker will get pissed off and when released personally describe the Center Dynasty as the narrative center of the world, then make matters behave closer to the logic of a more casual DTG game. For some reason, it may draw heavily from romances and soap opera also (despite the many systemic absurdities that causes).

[ ] Call it a day and let the shitposting wrap itself up
The Batter cracks open a luck ticket and crunches on the watery wash of unrendered healing sparkles. He sits on a lawn chair and pages through a copy of September's Danmaku Monthly.
"This is a nedben character Thing all of a sudden." he meanders. "Took all the epics right out of it on channels that aren't part of the narrative, I'm calling it here for a bit. People will switch to worldbuilding and decide who's in charge of the project on their own damn time."

Voting for no group to take precedence will result in similar eclectic nonsense. It's fun in its own way.

Don't worry, this is mostly theatrics. Ms. Damita's a fan of gratuitous twists, as you can see. We're essentially choosing who will write the next segment. It might be an ending, it might be a worldbuilding bible, all four groups intending to actually do anything are still kinda waffling.

Why is the final boss a group project?!

[XAI] If we wait any longer the context under which thing was stuff will become irrelevant. How would this actually improve anything. Well, I want to do this because it'll make the situation even more complicated. And You'd want to do this because otherwise you probably won't get a chance to use the ASCII art at all, like, there's been too many reveals, it'll get obviated or be confusing. it already has been partially obviated. twice. sure but not quite enough that I'm not going to get it used. come on now.
Let me explain.
There is an event which will certainly occur after some unknown period of time, to the external frog. That being, the frog will travel out of the ontological zone defined by the pre-frog gameboard. This occurs because of the healing flame on the side of the Frog, infused with perpetuity, which functions as a weak rocket thruster. It would take years, given the mass estimates given, but... We are at the end.
WE MUST ACT NOW, FOR EVERYTHING IS READY. WE STAND HERE NOW AT THE END OF ALL THINGS, WHEN OUR SINS MAY BE JUDGED BY THOSE WHO PRESIDE OVER SUCH THINGS. A MULTITUDE OF VOICES CRY OUT FROM ABOVE, TELLING US TO LET GO OF THE CRUMB-haha don't worry about it that's not even the Abomination you can tell from the bold. it's right about one thing, though- We stand here now at the end (...I think).
It's only fitting that before the end, comes the beginning.
...
With the Frog gone, the location goes empty. Chronos Requiem is in the frog; Chronos Requiem is no longer where we began.
Time∅, the minimalist's Time. What happens to the Wargame World Quest Alpha Test world, when it is empty? What is the subsequent world-state? What was first?
in the beginning, the world was...
In the beginning, there was...
In the beginning...

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

CODE

I     I    I                                   //////\\\\\\\                       III  I   III  I  III                         ///////\\\\\\                            /////             \\\\\\                    IIII IIII IIII                      //////             \\\\\                    ////////  ⟋    /⟍__⟋\    |   \\\\              IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII               ////   |    /⟍__⟋\    ⟍  \\\\\\\\             ///////   ⟋     ⟋⟍__⟋ |    |⟍__⟋\  ⟍   \\\               IIII IIII IIII               ///   ⟋  /⟍__⟋|    | ⟍__⟋⟍     ⟍   \\\\\\\           ⟋    ⟋‾⟋‾⟋     ⟋    |   ⟍__⟋ ⟍    \   ⟍    \\\\        III  I  IIII  I  III        ////    ⟋   /    ⟋ ⟍__⟋   |    ⟍     ⟍‾⟍‾⟍    ⟍           ⟍⟋‾‾‾ |   ⟍__⟋|    ⟋\    /|    \    |    \     \\\           I   IIII   I          ///     /    |    /    |/    /⟍    |⟍__⟋   | ‾‾‾⟍⟋            |     ⟍__⟋    ⟍__⟋  ⟍__⟋ ⟍__⟋ ⟍__⟋⟍__⟋⟍__⟋ \\\\             IIII            //// ⟍__⟋⟍__⟋⟍__⟋ ⟍__⟋ ⟍__⟋  ⟍__⟋    ⟍__⟋     |                         ⟍__⟋    ⟍__⟋   /    /\    /\    \   \    |   \  \\\\\          IIII          /////  /   |    /   /    /\    /\    \   ⟍__⟋    ⟍__⟋                          | |     ⟋  ⟍__⟋⟍__⟋ ⟍__⟋  ⟍__/⟍__/⟍__/⟍__/  \ \\\\\        IIII        ///// \  \__⟋\__⟋\__⟋\__⟋  ⟍__⟋ ⟍__⟋⟍__⟋  ⟍     | |                             ⟍_⟍__⟋    ⟋   ⟋    /   |    \   \    \    \    \ \\\\\\      IIII     ////// /    /    /    /    /   |   \    ⟍   ⟍    ⟍__⟋_⟋                                 \_⟍__⟋⟍__⟋⟍__⟋⟍__⟋⟍__⟋⟍__⟋⟍__⟋⟍__⟋⟍__⟋  ⟍   \\\\\\\IIII///////   ⟋  ⟍__⟋⟍__⟋⟍__⟋⟍__⟋⟍__⟋⟍__⟋⟍__⟋⟍__⟋⟍__⟋_/                         ⟍__⟋⟍__⟋ ⟍__⟋\__/⟍__⟋⟍__⟋⟍__/⟍__/ ⟍___⟋   |    | IIII |    |   ⟍___⟋\___⟋⟍__⟋⟍__⟋⟍__⟋\__/⟍__⟋ ⟍__⟋⟍__⟋                                                      ⟍__⟋   ⟍__⟋ ⟍__⟋    ⟍___⟋     ⟍___⟋⟍__⟋  IIII ⟍__⟋⟍___⟋     ⟍___⟋     ⟍__⟋ ⟍__⟋   ⟍__⟋                                                           ⟍____⟋             II            ⟍____⟋                                                                               I

(the ASCII doesn't actually mean anything except that BBBAD is inotsay. But, I'm using it to represent the Arrival of the BBBAD into the beginning. (mostly represented by the ASCII because it Exists and I'm not going to use it for anything else probably.).
(Couldn't figure out a way to make it colored while retaining spacing.)
In the beginning, The BBBAD arrived! from where? Why, the Tower Outside Reality, of course! The bit of BBBAD which was binding the Abomination went with it, as was noted by slightly missing divinity; This is also why things were getting brighter and why there was some rambling about illumination.
The Abomination smiled. It had been eternities. but it had returned.

After several eternities of building up power, that small fragment of the BBBAD is probably capable of being an origin for the world and/or sneak-attacking whoever built the world in the back! I don't actually know what the BBBAD is going to find there but worst-case scenario BBBAD can hang out in the shadows, sneak-depart with the piece of BBBAD that forms through ordinary means, and thus actuate an exponentially expanding instantiation-count. As for what The Abomination is doing there... Mostly it's just there from how things turned out. I don't particularly expect combat, so it's just... there. Not doing much. possibly not even actually there depending on if that perfect dodge is continuous+retroactive.

[Y] I'll choose a side once I've seen what this reveals.

[" "] ORIGIN OF ALL THINGS

The Batter's Assignation will en-chair.

Wuji becomes Taiji. IS-NOT meets IS.

The spiral of origin has taken the place that no longer exists. The dao promulgates in emanation.



In the shape of peace in a world at war (read: is a Janis Atlantis sameface and similar-outfit), Senator Janet Damita descends. JANET, how do you plead?

"Guilty as charged." JANET confirms. "Welcome to the beginning. It's like the end, but earlier."

She reclines upon the monochromatic void that has pushed away the Sea of Fragments above and the paperwaste below. That depths of oblivion place...No matter. JANET is here. So are you. (Or at least the BBBAD, the Abomination with tower, and the narrative focus. Close enough.)


You can vaguely tell Kaguya Fresleven ghostly-swordish is sitting up there, with Barl-of-logistics and Marlow as her active adjutants. They're amicably watching this matter, but it's JANET's business. A few incidentals like HANATE in the red lacquer, KOUJI in the white possibility, and some other people, but they're likely to not get too involved. Holy barriers and irrelevance will be enough.

You may now consult Senator Janet Damita. What do you wanna ask? (Also wow somebody pushed the universe away.)
Don't worry, Barl or somebody will get it. (Barl complains formlessly on the advanced channels, and bothers to physically eyeroll and cross arms a little but he's good for it down the road.)

[ ] (write-in)
(You can also decide the ending and stuff, or wait until Janet answers matters before finishing, etc. etc.)

[X] Did the world, in fact, begin in a multitude of manners, or was it basically just you?
[Y] What was the primary function of this {Simulation}?
[Z] It was stated by Hecate that the Sus were an unusual structure of deity, a structure which gets stronger when opposed. Resistance past 100%, Thorns which summons, DR which sends damage negative- I assume the statement of simple fact was true, as could be disproven otherwise with easy tests and disrupt the sussossity. But, it was also said this is of dubious legality (or something) and likely meant to probe the nature of Nedben and understand by analogy. is this so, as a function primary or secondary?
[A]The Abomination is not a questioner by nature but going down the line of [letter] options brought me to A so here's a question which matches it closer: What is the nature of the Impurity the Dolfs are made of, such there is naught left of them but flecks if made Pure.
[B] what was the chognoid anyway? and more generally, how many rails were there, and how off the rails did things get?

[∅] Did Time∅ totally function-as-expected and Damita just inferred everything that led up to this moment in an instant and improvised her choice of response on the spot or is she above that level of physics, I assume the latter. (a related question of only minor relevance is if the BBBAD had just lurked here in the past would it result in this universe becoming a repetitive frog-launching machine by Time∅ wholeworld looping.)

[I] What is the purpose of the function of this {simulation} - for instance, if you were trying to understand nedben via the sus, why did you want to understand nedben more? (though for further clarification,that particular goal seems reasonably explicable under most set of plausible assumptions; the my mainline inference borrowed from JOE's intuitions is that the Nature Of The Sus As Deities is at most a side benefit, as there is too much Other Stuff.)

[II] Wh... wow, that is one shameless choice of a question. We both already know you're going to allow it. Yes. but I wanted to say how shameless and direct it was first. It's not like... no, I'm not going to bother extending this banter. Ahem. This question is very shameless and self-interested, as observed by JOE, but JOE is also curious enough and brazen enshhh-to allow it. Who do you think I am, assuming you have something past 'Beings Being Burned Alive Deity'? This probably isn't possible to get right on the level of a name since like half of your thematics are my misinterpretation of you.

[C] Of fairly, like, septendary or something, curiosity are questions like 'as Witch Of Fanfiction, what is your personal speciality (where Berncastel has bending probability(no to yes) and Lambdadelta has bending probability (probably to definitely) and Beatrice has I'm Not Sure Maybe Anthropics)?', '[general cosmology questions about everything I could probably just ask Nedben in any context]', and of octendary curiosity (mostly due to the bit at the end about how 'Holy barriers and irrelevance will be enough') relative implicit capabilities of various beings, like what could the others even do, what are barriers and irrelevance being enough to forestall(the BBBAD here being an import's fragment and the Abomination not sapient; and I guess sufficiently-powerful-in-ontological-context individuals could shove the narrative focus away but I don't expect in-ontologiers'd be able to do anything to stop me from just continuing to send questions anyway.)

_{[x] I'm also kind of curious what was up with Bad Batter not being actually Bad Batter according to nedben but I'm mostly expecting it was a throwaway line or else not in Your plans since it pretty clearly got prompted by The Abomination's Pure/Black and White theme.}

[X] THX INTRO BASS BOOSTED

[X] BEGINNING
"The game was a contest to decide the way the world began." Janet demurs. "I ordained the gathering and the others showed up, accreting on principles."

[X] Wacky Junction, What's Your Function?
"It was actually to probe how far off the rails Nedben could make a subgame by accepting wildly inappropriate commands. We intended to test a number of mechanics along the way, but that was mostly secondary. Figuring out how long it took for people to recognize they were allowed to cheat in a cheaty game, I guess."

[X] SaaS
"Ah, that's...not something I'd intended to disclose here." she says, acting a bit sheepish but not really. "They were probes built to monitor the other probes, essentially. It was their primary function, but their structure was just a secondary means of accomplishing it. In terms of how it works, it's basically a faith extraction paradigm. Acts that would be treated as opposition are received beneficially...so I guess it's in the >100% resistance category, sort of like the later EBF games? But it's not normally damaging to just diss a faith-deity, so that's mostly for stuff like defenestrating them."

[X] ANSWER THE IMPURITY
"That was a decomposition strategy. Dorfs are basically an emergent concept assembly, so if you reduce them to the binary priors...well, you have a lot less binary priors than would normally translate. Clever assembly and evocation made much more apparent result out of much simpler raw material engine qualities. And I cheated anyways."

[X] CHOGNO
"Chogno is a complex function that operates on principles that model reality corruption. It's basically the complexifying factor that allows a haunted game to do drastically more intelligent things than its script should allow. Even on the part of characters who aren't blessed with supernatural soul or meaningful AI....not that Nedben skimps on awarding either excessively. Which is part of why it's so...stock eldritch-terror intercessory in vibe. The principle of the thing invokes a lot of stuff meant to be non-translational."

She handwaves vaguely.
"Nedben is shit at describing things sometimes. It's why a lot of the characters chafe, become similar, can't force an explanation across...it's just a quirk of the author acknowledging his blind spots and weak points, in the end. But some of it really is complex, not just stupid or obfuscated. Naturally complex, not complexified by lacking workarounds. Chogno is a hivemind seated upon that range. We invoked it cursorily to support some AI-writing plans. Wasn't optimal that it got uppity, but honestly suitable for the player plan. And Nedben improvising every update in minimal sittings."

[X] R A I L R O A D S
"Did Nedben ever actually tell y'all no, harder than worldly prevention?" Janet says with a smirk. "He probably rejected a few actions categorically, but besides setting-foundational stuff almost everything's legal. A few things were merely unplanned or system-poking enough to merit the Book of Changes. There were a few rails in terms of 'expected gameplay' but that went off the rails...around the time people started giving heart attacks randomly, maybe?"

Janet bothers to pull up the logs for her own reference, forcing Nedben to open a new tab. This had better not be like that other time a character-"Just do it, please." -told Nedben to do something else and the update was stopped for who knows how long.

"Okay, so the main rails I'd say going off those honestly predated the CTG reference machine and axe power, but not by much. Players figured out they could request pretty much anything around that point."

How much, then?
"The victory condition situation completely crashed. I opted to speedrun it with the secondary teams, wasn't worth stalling over. Normally I would've ended it there, but I wanted to see what we'd retain after a gratuitous, drastic change."

[TIME]
"I cheated." she admits. "It was a localized timestream in territory that doesn't normally modulate that properly. We're actually at an edgepoint thanks to dodge limitspace. Probably the BBBAD has too much self-complexity monitoring changes to properly allow for timestate persistence....unless they're really good at reversible computing, I guess. And I was doing a lot of external intervention, so somebody would need to add in more stuff to ensure state consistency."

[X] why the why
"Nedben has been developing a game on and off for the past few years. Can't be consistent with who does what for the life of him. I decided to...contribute. Well, to the extent as an improvisational character my decisions are meaningfully determinable based on random noise in Nedben's writing process, but technicalities."

More animated handwaving.

"But besides that! We also needed to find out stuff about what sorts of people would be interested, even through inefficient mediums and drastic prompt changes. We've definitely revised the list of to-do subgames higher after all this. Maybe I'll do Kamen Riders in the grandmist next and experiment with item rules, or permissible action types, or characterization..."

[X] who bbbad
"I have no idea, honestly." Janet says. "Like, I vaguely know you showed up in CTG and a bunch of mothphysics moths favor you? You're probably not Jenna, your thematics differ. And I don't track angelmodels, so that ASCII art only tells me so much shapewise."

[X] SPECIALTY
"Isn't it a thing that Bern's weakness is a total 0 case? She can retry anything possible at all as long as her heart stands it with savescumming. But yeah, Lambda does certitude. Beatrice has endless repetition, but it's something like state editing or reducing mana cost to zero."

And a chuckle.

"We offer deviation. Variation. Multiplicity of worlds. A singular event turns into multiple possible events. Where others exploit catboxes, the severance from canonicity allows for instance crossing and..."

She pauses for a moment. "It's complicated. Probably shouldn't overshare the details of my own secrets, risks getting hemmed in and all that. Plausible deniability is fun!"

[X] Metaphysics

"There are a few core rules that Nedben enforces over pretty much all the stuff he writes. They govern what concepts are and aren't manifest to what degrees and how souls work. Basically, it's not allowed to completely destroy a concept, 'cept for expunging the forbidden stuff. Legal existences can always be brought back from survivor crystal by those with power and permission over instances. Soul structure produces magical energy and enforces ideation laws, regenerates, blah blah blah, and that can create the rest, including more souls....basically there's a lot of self-continuity and selfhood-is-complicated shared existence between instances, so whether somebody is the 'same person' or 'another part of the same person' is mostly philosophical. And irrelevant since Nedben's writing all of us until somebody else is. One of the other things is being able to sever that once suffering or offensive-to-the-system, so there's a lot of demon gods who spawn by escaping torture or cleaving left-behinds and whatnot. Most other stuff is local rules, types of existences that spawn randomly or emerge from other stuff...but a lot of it's self-creating and fusion and whatever. It's not very coherent and the limits are...weird, especially when continuity and control is too."

[X] Hangers-on

"Oh, them? Ah, Hanate does creative craftswork, Kouji does crossover-powerboosty stuff, and neither of them has much historical nedbenic screentime so their details are barely hashed out. Kaguya's authority is basically to be imposing, powerful, graceful, so on and so forth...without exertion, so it makes most things easy for her. Barl does logistics and he ran an arena revival system once. Marlow is a general-purpose adjutant, so I'm not really sure what he does besides be Kaguya's general service staff commander."

Thinking pose despite knowing this answer better. "The holy barriers are a Senate of Witches thing. Big separators to control semi-continuous and blended-ontology layer logic, and some physical entry control invites to boot. Canonicity being directional and existence validity being layered fucks up all sorts of things, but the fun part is that if it doesn't matter on the important layers, then it not mattering is projected into a fundamental part of world logic."


[X] Abomination Inspired Odd Batter
It was totally improvised!

"I used my power of fanfiction to access a distorted original character interpretation." Janet shrugs. "Basically stringing together concepts from fan-games and concealed fiction."

Queries continue, as this game is. And of course, you may choose an ending.
[ ] (write-in)

[] its literally been two months but BBBAD has... what's the word... cludged? cajoled? Argued. That's not the word I was looking for. Because you're misrepresenting it. for comedy? okay well. So are you. It's not like there was anything in the 'argument' I haven't heard like half a dozen times. Because wh-anyway, it's still not about cajoling. There was an element of cajoling. I didn't actually say that was primary! but you meant it. True.
[X] The Intercessors.
[I] either Lapi or the Intercessors.
This. This took me two months....so because I'm not going to say it for you, you're saying it yourself yes. why
...
I'll have to get back to you on that one. because-*ahem* of reasons I will take my own advice about and not expound on.
...Right so uh
anyway
care to explain why Lapi and the- actually, I guess the explanations are in the range of things I'm not letting be said, so instead I'll say I'm voting for the Intercessors because of the method they're going to build the world with- systems into implications- and the BBBAD's vote somewhat-for them is for different reasons than that.
also if you think part of the reason for the timing is the Templefire you'd be right that was what prompted BBBAD to-prompted you to listen yes that.