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And there's Marco again. Geez, why didn't you just make Marco the protagonist of Head AS Code if you love him so much? Probably an improvement on Simon.
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Oct 4, 2021 02:48
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| # ? May 7, 2024 21:11 |
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Junpei posted:And there's Marco again. Geez, why didn't you just make Marco the protagonist of Head AS Code if you love him so much? Probably an improvement on Simon. He, or someone who looks like him, is visible in the screenshots for the third game, too.
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Oct 4, 2021 02:50
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So. I've been putting content warnings in for stuff that might be upsetting/potentially triggering for some people, and leaving it at that up until now. But this time (and probably only this time, thankfully) I'm giving you a 24 hour heads up that the next update is going to probably get into some REALLY triggering content (the most upsetting this game will ever get). It's to the point that I'm going to be actually putting a summary of the update at the end, so if you check the CW and go 'ok no I don't think I can handle reading about that' you'll still be able to get the broad plot details without the actual full detailed content itself. (To the like 2-3 people reading this LP who've already played the game, you probably already know exactly what the next update entails, and what I'm talking about.) Sorry in advance but, again, this is probably the roughest it's going to get content-wise and it DOES include really important plot beats, but.... Take care of yourselves, etc
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Oct 4, 2021 18:46
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 content warning: mention of pedophilia, weird gender stuff (brushes up against transphobic stereotypes), physical assault, implied threat of sexual assault (does not happen in any capacity), general manipulative/predatory behavior, suicide (Seriously, this update's a rough one- if you read these content warnings and don't want to read the update, skip to the end. I've written a broad summarization so you can still get the important plot beats without having to read the specifics.) BGM: Meridianus  One minute later, the door to the nearby classroom opened. Out came Luxuria first, and then Avaritia, who carried in her arms a shotgun.  Figured there was more than one firearm here...  Insurance? For what? But don't worry, I don't intend to do anything with it unless we really need it. You're still the guy with six bullets. Five, now. Which is still enough to kill everyone still alive, even myself. If the timer came to a close? Maybe. Better to end it quickly than make it last out in agony, no? That's what you'd assume, but I don't know. Maybe not. I've never been put in a situation where I have to make that choice. Everyone's way too calm around these guns... They're guns!BGM: Metis Ancora's outburst caught everyone's attention. They're firearms... They can kill us if you pull the trigger. Kill, you know? That's the end! You're dead! Why's everyone so calm around them? Maybe it's because... today has already been so hectic... Guns aren't so special compared to getting your head, you know... exploded. Yeah, it's probably something like that. Speaking of this situation, where's Vidi? Is he still not out?The timer read 40 past the hour. Soon, he was going to run out of time...  The girl walked towards the bend in the hallway, yelling for Invidia to hurry it up. Not only did his survival depend on it, but all of theirs depended on it too, as they needed the ME-card inside, and the key from that room as well. Isn't it strange how our rooms only contained one ME-card, too?Tristitia was showing off the one he got from the room he explored alongside Ancora. From what the girl caught of their discussion, it seemed as though Avaritia and Luxuria also only found one of them. It doesn't add up. With all these reooms, we're only at 24 ME-cards... but we need 15 more...The group arrived at Invidia's door. Ancora watched the timer go up. 41 past the hour... 42 past the hour... 43 past the hour... At 44, she banged onto the door with both fists. Hey! Vidi! Hurry! The rooms aren't really soundproof, so he should be hearing this. Unless he's in the second room. BGM: Membrana  Sorry, I don't think I'm coming out. What?! Are you stuck? We can help, tell us what- No, I'm not stuck. I haven't solved anything in the room so far, because I don't want to. What?!That's right. I'm staying and dying here, and no one will be able to get the ME-card from this pair of rooms. That's... my choice. You'll die too! This doesn't make any sense... Please, Vidi! Why does he want to die so badly like that...? I've made up my mind. It doesn't matter for me. I'm dead now. All of us... All of us are dead. And we're going to save them, but I need to die to break the pattern... You don't mean...Avaritia's tone changed. She was horrified by what he was implying. No, you can't do that! You can't die now, we need you! The timer read forty-eight. In one minute, Invidia was going to die. Well... There's no point now. With only one minute left, he couldn't solve the room anyway. This won't change anything! You're damning all of us!BGM: Metis And that was it. Invidia's last words hung heavily in the air as a “clunk” echoed from the inside of the room. That was most likely his head falling, due to the helmet doing its thing. Well... that was that, I guess. Now we're stuck here. Without that ME-card, we can't stop the console from killing us all in eleven minutes. … … … … No one answered Ancora, though. As she looked at them, she noticed they all had their shoulders slumped. None of them seemed in any mood to talk, or even move. That's why Ancora pulled onto Avaritia's arm, but the woman only grabbed the shotgun she had and pointed it straight at the smaller girl. We're all going to die now. It doesn't matter what we do. And in fact, you know what? When the bomb inside of that console explodes... it's going to disintegrate all traces of this place. Everything we did will become a secret.The mood stood still as those words were spoken. Ancora shook her head, denying what Avaritia was saying. No way, we might still have a chance. I need to get out of here. Think of your relatives. There's gotta be someone... I have someone, and they're precious to me. Yeah... I had someone...Her tone made it clear she didn't want to talk about it. The question was, when did she no longer have that someone? Was it just now? Was it earlier this day? Was it months ago?  Ancora took the lead, waving the others over to come with her. There was still stuff they could try. It was better to die trying than going out like a flame in the wind. *bang* BGM: Membrana But that noise made her abandon all hope. She froze in her tracks, just like everyone else. Before anyone had the time to move, an explosion came from within the group- another one of them had lost their life. Normally, Ancora would have screamed, but the suddenness of the event left her completely stunned. Can things not go badly for five seconds?The blast had also helped in stunning the girl, as she'd been sent down to the ground. It took a few seconds for her to rise back up, looking at what exactly happened.  His head was gone, and from the neck, red spread out. Clear, red liquid covered the surface of the floor. It was blood. And his head was gone. The one who held his gun was Luxuria. It appeared she took it from him, before she stuffed her hand into her hoodie's pocket. He was dangerous... And now we... we have six deaths... right? We're three left...Avaritia didn't seem to care about shooting her for doing it. Yeah, I suppose so. I guess I won't need my insurance anymore, now. And now we can...Ancora saw all of it happen, but she was too surprised to say anything. Luxuria moved forward and aimed the revolver against Avaritia's back. *bang* By the time the woman could register what really was happening, the girl already pulled the trigger again at point blank range. Pretty much immediately after, Avaritia collapsed, leaving only Ancora and Luxuria on their two feet. Ah... we're going to die, aren't we? So it doesn't matter if I have my fun... L-Lux... what are you... Oh, stop calling me Lux already. I'm Nico. Nico Hope, that's my full name.In the same instant, Ancora's body hit the ground as the pain became unbearable. Well, this is clearly bad. I can't do anything about it, though.Nico stepped onto Avaritia's fingers to make her release the shotgun before firing again, this time into her hand, causing her to shriek out in pain. The girl with the revolver kicked the other firearm away. Really sorry, Ava. I truly like you because you're not like everyone else, but, I can't have you interrupt this. It's all about Cora and what she did. You're just like all the others, aren't you, Cora? Ugh... what... do you mean...? Like everyone else, you're always mistaken! Gee, how much of an idiot do you have to be to not get it yet?The small girl walked forward, finding the discernable uncertainty emanating from Ancora rather infuriating. The blond girl was puzzled over Nico's choice of words. Something didn't add up.  Cora...I can't move... Watch out... Of course you can't. I shot you right in the spinal cord. Your legs are now worthless. Not that it'll matter because we're all going to die in ten minutes anyway.Nico grabbed Ancora's helmet and shoved her back onto the ground, causing her to emit a loud groan of pure pain. Then she felt Nico grab her arm and pull her along the floor. She kicked with her uninjured leg to fend off her aggressor. *bang* Another gunshot sliced through the air, and at that very moment, pain crushed Ancora's poor head. The bullet had gone straight through her hand, fired by Nico to force Ancora to calm down. While the blond stopped her struggling, she didn't stop shouting. AAAHHH!!! Help! Ava!! I can't... I can't do anything... Crud, he must have cracked under the pressure. Everyone mistakes him for a girl, huh? I guess that plays into his sin a little, even though it just means it would be the opposite way since mainly guys would try to get into his shorts... You took me for a girl from the beginning just cuz I look cute. But, I thought you had me figured out earlier, when we were walking towards the voting machines. You saw me staring right at you... And then it didn't change anyway, you still treated me this way, even though you looked like you knew! Boys can be cute, too! Maybe I'll make you pay for the entire ten minutes we got left. At least Ava, of everyone else, already knows I'm a boy, though. Yeah, she had an affair with a student, do you believe that? With me! He fooled even me, but it was kind of hard to imagine him otherwise. He did have a feminine voice and appearance. Ugh, that's actually terrible, though, he's snapped and I can't do anything to stop it. Scared? Welcome to the real world, Cora. But I'm generous- you won't actually know what's going on until you die. I just hope you can feel every last bit of this pain I'll give you, for all the pain I endured too.With a loud, reverberating noise, he slammed his fist in against the side of Ancora's helmet. Within the next moment, everything piling up caught up to her. The pain, the noise, the dizzines... and then something else happened, but Ancora didn't catch it too well. *bang* Ancora barely heard a strange noise, and then, there was darkness. BGM: Meditor                 BGM: Mestitior  Cora, you okay?A voice was calling to her. Cora breathed hard, breathed fast. She breathed, and panted, and shuddered, and shifted, and pulled herself back onto the ground. In the classroom, not too far away, was Nico. He was on the ground, too. His head was gone, much like the others before him. It's my fault. I should've seen this coming...Ancora's hands patted herself, looking upon her body, touching to make sure she felt nothing... gross. There was nothing- just the slight lingering heat from Nico sitting on her. The torture hadn't happened. What she hoped for was true. Hope? H-hope... hope... Hope? Hope? Are you okay? You might take a while to get back from it... Unfortunately, we don't have that time... Ancora, it's okay, you don't have to worry about him. They're dead now. No, not dead. Not now, not dead. Please. Not her.Ancora didn't say anything else. She was still under shock that someone would do this to her. It was one thing to participate in this already traumatic experience, but this was something else. It was too... personal. By one of the girls she trusted the most, too. No, it wasn't a girl- it was a boy. A boy who looked like a girl, who dressed up cute, who had been completely different than she expected. Who snapped to make her pay. Whatever it was, it certainly had worked. Looking at the timer, Ancora despaired; only three minutes remained until her demise. That fact grabbed her to pull her back into reality. Three minutes... three minutes! Do... we have to do something! Ancora noticed Avaritia wasn't standing up. The older woman was still on the ground. At first, she planned to do something... but now she saw no reason to. And besides, she was right. There was nothing else to do now. Is that the end of this path, then? This path I've chosen? Just... dying, with nothing else? There's gotta be something else. After all that trauma... So you really can't... But how did you get in here? I pulled myself across the ground. While he was dragging you in here, I was trying my best to reach this door. When he closed it, I thought it was over. I can't reach the handle from the ground. I also took the shotgun with me. I'd kill this little piece of poo poo if it was the last thing I did... Because... I did want to save you. The door flew open under my weight. He noticed me, stood up, and he was about to kick the shotgun away when I blasted him almost point blank. I think I got his helmet, since he was beheaded right afterwards. Then I just waited, and you came back to reality a minute ago. Speaking of... time's almost up. Yeah... it almost is.Only two minutes remained now, after all that. If there was anything else, now was the time to ask. Ancora decided to go for the obvious. What's your name, then? Ancora thought about it, since Ityne Icofilm wasn't the name of any teacher she knew. Something was wrong with that name, but she couldn't put her finger on what. Is that so...? That's a really strange name... I've never heard of the Icofilm family before. Do you want to spend your last minute making fun of my name, or do you want to give me your name, too? Oh, sorry... I guess I can return the favor. My name's Penmill, and my first name...Something flashed inside of Ancora's head, interrupting her words. Something like a set of directives.  And that was it. A single sentence flashed through her head. She attributed it to last moment insanity while Ityne said something she only caught the last part of. Penmill, Penmill... That's your last name, isn't it? I've only ever seen two names like that.A short pause followed. The timer hit six hours. And now, we're all dead again... BGM: Silence     Tristitia directives acquired. ----- TL;DR for those who want to avoid reading the update itself due to the spoiler warnings: Tristitia and Ancora leave their puzzle room with plenty of time to spare, finding that they are the first team to exit. A minute later, Avaritia and Luxuria exit their own room; Avaritia found a shotgun in there, and is carrying it over her shoulder. Ancora is put off by how cavalier the others are with the firearms, but the group is distracted upon realizing Invidia hasn't left his room yet. They all make their way over to his room to find out what's taking him so long, and after a brief pause, Invidia finally answers from within: he intends to commit suicide by failing to solve the puzzle in time. The group is unable to get an answer from him as to why, and the sound of his helmet going off confirms their fate: none of them will be making it out of the game alive, due to being unable to retrieve all of the ME-cards needed to disarm the bomb. After some coaxing by Ancora, the group decides to return to the Crossroads to see if anything can be done, but before they have even left that section of the ward, a gunshot rings out- Luxuria has stolen the pistol from Tristitia and shot him in the back of the head, causing his helmet to explode which, in turn, knocks both Ancora and Avaritia to the ground. Luxuria states that he was a threat and that the only way they could have a chance of escaping is if only three or less of them remain; however, as soon as Avaritia lowers her guard, Luxuria shoots her in the back as well while kicking her shotgun away. Luxuria shoots Ancora in the leg to disable her permanently, before giving their full name- Nico Hope- and revealing that they've been a boy this entire time; everyone immediately defaulted to treating him like a girl because of his stature. He shoots Ancora again to prevent her from struggling, and drags Ancora into the nearby classroom. There, he throws the gun aside and pins her to the ground, revealing that he knows Avaritia from before the game- specifically, that the two of them had a romantic relationship despite him being a minor, and that she never drew attention to the fact he was male (which is implied to have allowed him to prey on other women who lowered their guard around him). He expresses his intentions to “torture” Ancora during the last ten minutes they have alive, starting by slamming her helmet so she loses consciousness, but as she drifts off another gunshot is faintly audible. While she is out, a voice reaches out to her, telling her this is why she has to find and execute the traitor, because of how much betrayal can hurt. Ancora struggles to comprehend what is going on, and as she slowly regains consciousness she begins to panic at the mention of the word “hope”- synonymous both with her name and with the name of her assailant. However, upon regaining her vision, she sees that Nico is dead nearby- murdered before he could do anything to her. Avaritia managed to retrieve her shotgun and make it into the room in time, but she is still fatally injured on the ground- as is Ancora. The two commiserate for a moment, and Ancora asks for Avaritia's name. Avaritia states that her name is Ityne Icofilm, and Ancora manages to give her own last name- Penmill- before a directive manifests in her helmet briefly, cutting her off. Avaritia notes that she knew two students with the last name Penmill, but before she can finish her thought, the six hours are up- as are their lives. Mix. fucked around with this message at 18:52 on Oct 6, 2021 |
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Oct 6, 2021 01:24
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Well, that happened.  By the way: Do we know that a Cool S is on the back of everyone's helmet? How would you know if it wasn't?
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Oct 6, 2021 02:12
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Well at the very least I can tell that this is meant to be horrifying, upsetting and creepy, instead of... well, everything gross Simon said in the first LP. Also, Ava lied about her real name, and Cora's last name is Penwell? But that could be a lie.
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Oct 6, 2021 02:24
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That sure just did happen. I would also maybe put a (cw: That Update) separate from the sexual, a just plain ol' assault warning for thoroughness. Anyway. Ityne Icofilm could be Felicity Mini, but I'm using a fairly basic unscrambler to look at the possibilities and I'm sure that I'm missing some of the possible last names, not being particularly fluent in French. Also I think every time it's come up, most people have the S? At least, a basic skim of where "Cool S" comes up in the thread leads me to believe no one doesn't have it unless it's one of those selective observation VN things.
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Oct 6, 2021 03:05
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Randomly, what's the color coding on the chart for? Purple seems to be for votes/spying on other people, yellow for escape/puzzle sections, but what's the difference between blue and green?
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Oct 6, 2021 03:14
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Ah, yes, this part. Author sure loves writing characters traumatized by the word 'hope', doesn't he? Lux is a deeply awful character and the way they are handled is deeply awful well - I'm not sure I'd call it transphobic, exactly, but it definitely draws on tropes that are transphobic.
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Oct 6, 2021 03:31
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Flytitle posted:Also I think every time it's come up, most people have the S? At least, a basic skim of where "Cool S" comes up in the thread leads me to believe no one doesn't have it unless it's one of those selective observation VN things. Specifically, do we know if it's on the back of Cora's helmet?
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Oct 6, 2021 03:38
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Oh when I said this was meant to be creepy/upsetting I was more referring to the Ava reveal than anything regarding Lux.
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Oct 6, 2021 03:46
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Junpei posted:What's the difference between blue and green? Green is for the puzzles you have to do for doors/hacking/etc. Blue is just general VN segments. Leraika posted:Lux is a deeply awful character and the way they are handled is deeply awful well - I'm not sure I'd call it transphobic, exactly, but it definitely draws on tropes that are transphobic. So, I was going to mention this at some point (might as well now), but Lux's writing is actually different from when the game first came out. It's been like 1.5 years since it happened so my memory is a little fuzzy, but from what I remember when it did, it was a lot less explicit about the fact that Lux is a cis male who comes across as androgynous (and uses this to make female teenagers lower their guard around him, thinking he's a girl like them, so that he can take advantage of this dynamic to prey on them), and a lot of people came forward saying 'hey I don't think you meant it to be like that, but it REALLY reads as if... you know' and the creator like. Immediately went 'oh poo poo, no, I thought I'd made it clear that wasn't the case, I'll take care of it' and like. Within a week or so, it'd already been completely rewritten. So if nothing else, at least the creator's conscious about how that could come across (and doesn't want it to be considered a harmful stereotype), but.... yeah. It's definitely a really grey area (I don't read it as transphobic myself since Lux at no point actually indicates they're a girl, even when Gula says 'I don't swing that way' Lux doesn't even blink, but, well. I'm nb, so my perspective isn't exactly relevant here  )If people feel I should, I'll definitely amend the update cws to mention the like. weird gender poo poo. Flytitle posted:I would also maybe put a warning for thoroughness. Updating it to include that as we speak.
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Oct 6, 2021 04:25
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Mostly my view on the character is that (spoilered for gross... trope, I guess? discussion, not plot, feel free to skip if you are not invested on my views on Lux) they seem to be drawing pretty explicitly on that 'trap' trope/stereotype/whatever that lovely weeaboos like to talk about, which is definitely transpobic, even if Lux himself is cis. 'Feminine-presenting amab character tortures the protagonist for being mistaken about their gender, a notion that they did not correct in any way ever' ain't a good luck, even after the revision. Granted, I first experienced the game in its first iteration and that does color my impression of the character. Lux sux. Leraika fucked around with this message at 04:39 on Oct 6, 2021 |
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Oct 6, 2021 04:36
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Also 100% honest to god i didnt realize I only used neutral pronouns in the bio section that wasn't meant to be a clue it was just an accident 
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Oct 6, 2021 04:39
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I mean, yeah, Lux sux, but so does literally every other character. They're all criminals and bad people in one way or another. Ira and Gula are probably the best ones here because Ira was being manipulated/gaslit/controlled by Bia and Gula was at trying to get revenge for her father who was legitimately innocent. Ava's was just revealed, Bia has definitely killed a person, Trist will not hesitate to kill people he thinks are going to drag him down or hurt people, and Cora's the one masterminding this mess. That's the point. Everyone Here Sucks. If you're horrified by Lux, that's the point.
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Oct 6, 2021 04:42
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So...that happened, and yeah Lux is a terrible person who probably also had terrible things done to him, which is unfortunate but I don't think it does any good to dwell on it. As soon as it was established we had crimes based on the seven sins I figured Lux was not going to be a great person. What I'm more interested in is Cora's line about trusting him, since...why? Did she know him in real life? Especially as we're on the side where Lux swapped the pictures. Given how that all went down, I think we can guess what happened now: Lux swapped his and Gula's portrait, probably trying to kill Gula in revenge for misidentifying his gender. Gula noticed they got switched (or, for whatever reason, didn't want to kill Lux) and so swapped again so that Ava would be killed instead. (I believe Bia has also swapped her and Cora's portraits still, but that ends up being irrelevant on this path.) I had suspected this ever since we got our first look at our blonde-haired protagonist, but between the fixation on the word hope and the fact that Ava knew specifically two people with Ancora's family name, I think it's pretty safe to say that Ancora is one of the twins from the first game (I'd have to go back and look to remember which one was the traumatized one that had been involved in some shady stuff). That makes the Marco connection even more interesting, since he didn't give any indication of knowing her (I'm pretty sure at this point Marco the one she mentioned early on that set up the tech end of all this). Speaking of tech...I suspect Invidia's figured out in this route (or maybe knew all along?) that this is all a simulation, but it's still unclear in what way. Are they all robots like in the last game? Is this a digital simulation? The former would make sense if the reason for the animal mask heads is because they don't have the tech to replicate faces yet, but doesn't really hold up given the time it takes to make the bodies--even if "time" is apparently the true enemy. The latter holds with the way we save routes in the game, and Invidia being called as dead upon leaving the grounds could be viewed as him escaping boundaries of the "level" or something to that effect. It would be funny if it was another case of the first route being the only one involving the real people though, seeing as it ended with all of them arguing until everyone but Cora's head exploded.
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Oct 6, 2021 15:49
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Yeah, I'm super not impressed. Ava's thing felt like it was just thrown in for the shock value, and Lux - yes, Lux is a terrible person but Given it's all connected to the gender confusion and sexuality including trying to pressure Gula into going out with him that went into sexual harassment and Lux's sole motivation for doing the poo poo he did because everyone assume he's female and he never tries to correct them. It may have been better than before, but the author is still using some lovely trap tropes and that is so far, the only thing Lux has characterization wise
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Oct 6, 2021 16:10
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After sleeping on it, I've decided to go ahead and update the content warning anyway- mostly because, well, even if it wasn't intended to be transphobic (and was re-written to be explicitly not that) it still brushes up against those tropes regardless, and when this gets archived later people might not read the discussion in the thread and be unprepared for it, which is something I definitely don't want to happen. Fortunately, it's for the most part entirely uphill from here. Mix. fucked around with this message at 18:54 on Oct 6, 2021 |
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Oct 6, 2021 18:51
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 With what is easily the roughest part of the game finally past us, it's time for us to start a new path once more; we got a new set of directives, so no point in holding off on using them. Starting from the beginning of the flowchart: Ancora 'wakes up' in the classroom, and after introducing herself, decides to keep talking to Invidia. After they solve the puzzle and leave the classroom, they run into Ira, Avaritia, and Tristitia, and Ancora meets Tristitia first. Luxuria and Gula exit their room without the ninth person. ME explains some more of the rules, and after she's done, Ancora talks to Luxuria first. The group make their way into what was known as the Crossroads when the school was open, and in the process Superbia hits her helmet on the doorframe and is incapacitated. Ancora takes this opportunity to speak to Luxuria some more. The group split up to search for more ME-cards so they can initiate the first voting session, and this gives Ancora the opportunity to hack into another person's helmet; she decides to hack Luxuria's helmet. This is how she learns that Luxuria and Gula had a direct hand in the death of the ninth person, as well as that Luxuria intentionally left a ME-card hidden in one of the side classrooms. She uses this information to her advantage by turning the group's focus off of her and onto the other suspicious people, but in the process accidentally reveals information she couldn't have known. However, in the process, Luxuria drops the mask enough that the group decides to vote for them anyway, leading to Luxuria being executed. At this point, Ancora seems to react to a vision of some kind, leading the group to write her strange behavior off as her being mentally unstable and, in turn, unreliable; however, after she leaves and solves the puzzle to lead to the next area by herself, they decide to still allow her to come with them to the next puzzle rooms... BGM: Meridianus The group was, for the major part, in agreement. Gula had remained almost completely silent since Luxuria had died. After a second or so, she decided to join them again, still mute to all attempts at conversation on the way. It was like she didn't really know what she was going to do anymore. As they set off towards the new set of doors, Ancora...  We're going to be walking with Tristitia this time around. At first, the horse was a little bothered that Ancora came near him to walk towards Wing A. After a few seconds, he addressed her on the subject of her visions, while the others spoke aloud a bit further ahead.  Like what? The visions? Yes. Like an out of body experience? I don't really know what to compare it with. It's like my head was getting full of random stuff. I see... so it's not really like having psychic powers, huh. I don't... think so?The two of them kept to themselves afterwards, though the resulting silence wasn't allowed to go on for very long. From here, the group reaches the intersection where the next three doors are, and Tristitia and Superbia break off from the group to head towards the far door. Ancora ignores their departure and turns to Invidia and the others to prepare for the next puzzle room. She joins Ira and Avaritia, and the trio enter their puzzle room to find a lavish mansion foyer, with a strange throne room next door. The Enneagram of Personality features prominently in this room, with the answer being which person in their group is guilty of murder. In the process of examining the room, the team finds a gun that Ira immediately takes away. The answer is eventually determined to be “Helper”, and the trio leave the room. The rest slowly make their way into the hallway to see him with the gun still out, but Ira is eventually disarmed by Superbia. The group realizes the time for voting has almost ran out, but that they are still one ME-card short. A fight breaks out between Gula and Superbia, which leads to Superbia reloading the pistol and shooting Gula dead. The group split up from here to process and gather their thoughts, and Ancora takes this opportunity to find a quiet place where she can hack into somebody's helmet... BGM: Metis Maybe now would be a good idea to hack. Let's see... Matching frequencies are Tristitia, Superbia, and Ira. I'm very curious to see what Superbia is up to, but... I've got choices, it seems. For now, I'll be hacking... We have his directives, so it's time to hack Tristitia.  BGM: Mens Metis  I think the reason his directives weren't actually said in full (to us) is because the directives are a mouthful this time around. In any case, the solution is as follows: Okay, this one is near impossible without using one of the hints, so don't feel too bad if you couldn't figure it out on your own. Normally, if you see something like LETTER = NUMBER you'd assume it's some sort of substitution cypher, and from there just figure out each letter/number in sequence. However, that's not the correct solution here- as you can see, P is equal to the number 0, which won't work in that kind of cypher (which usually goes from 1-26). The actual solution here cares about two different factors- what number it is and how many numbers in each value there are. The reason for that is because in this particular puzzle, the numbers actually correspond to what row and column on your keyboard each letter corresponds to- P is 0 because it's in the top row (one digit) and in the last column (if you look at your keyboard, it goes from 1-0, rather than 0-9); in turn, S is 22 because it's in the middle row (two digits) and in the second column. The hints you can choose tell you that “P is on the first row, but S is on the second”, as well as implying that the word “key” has a special meaning (i.e., “your keyboard). Once you've managed to figure that out, from there, you just figure out what each number's letter equivalent is, and then put them in alphabetical order. Why am I not surprised Tristitia has a bullshit puzzle like this tied to his helmet? BGM: Metis  I see, they're talking about the murder. And who put you in charge, exactly? Look, I really don't like being told what to do. I'm gonna do things my way, and if you get in it, you're out too. Is that a threat? What would it change if it was? I can already tell you want to take control of this game. I'm not gonna stand for it, that's for sure. If you think you can lord over me, you can go right to hell. I just want to keep the playing field leveled. And besides, you think this is a game? You didn't level the playing field at all! It just means the only one who can shoot is you, and no one else. Even if you don't have the gun, you already showed you can just take it anyway! And-Aggravated, Superbia gave him the old talk-to-the-hand gesture. I don't care, so keep your observation to yourself. See you around, or not.Just like that, she left him, walking away with no intention to come back and speak to him again. Tristitia was left alone. At least, that's what he believed, until he spied Invidia not too far away. BGM: Medius  You heard all of this? Yes. More or less, at least- enough to give me a good idea of what happened.Invidia rested his back against the nearby metal plates. They weren't next to the voting consoles, but close enough to the stairs that they'd see anyone coming by. If Superbia came back from the consoles, they'd see her for sure. What should we do? I don't like this situation. You and me both. At least it makes our target for the vote all that much easier. You think we should vote for her? What do you mean? I didn't notice anything. I thought you were more observant than that. He's acting like a little puppy. While he feigns opposing her, he always does what she wants him to do. It's like he's her slave or something. He's going to vote for whatever she votes, huh...The two of them remained silent for a few seconds. It could easily turn into a tie, and I don't like that. I need to make sure all four of us are on the same page. You go check for Ava, and I'll go check for Cora. You do not really trust what she's saying, do you?Tristitia's hands balled up in fists. He was growing a little more peeved the longer this conversation was going on. Just keeping a level-headed stance on it. As far as I know, anything could happen, so I'm not ignoring any possibility. That's fine, but we still need to make sure the others are aware. If we get into a tie, there's no saying what might happen. Maybe it'll pick at random, or maybe two will die. I don't think we can afford this much death yet. Yeah, I know. Let's split up, anyway. I also have some unfinished business in Wing A, so I'll head there.The two of them split, with Invidia heading off into the first hallway while Tristitia went towards the wing proper.  It's probably safer to cut the connection, so that I can be there when Tristitia eventually comes by. It's especially bad, because I haven't seen Avaritia and Ira, too...Just like before, the connection to Tristitia's helmet was cut off, to bring back Ancora's view of the hallway. However, Ancora's helmet no longer displayed anything this time, as if something happened to knock it offline. BGM: Metis There were no sounds or any visuals to be heard or seen respectively, while it should have been showing everything from her helmet's point of view once more. Something's wrong. This can only happen if someone forcibly knocks it offline. That means someone bashed the helmet and caused the resonance effect strongly enough. Why did I not feel any of it? So then... does this mean Avaritia or Ira did something?Eventually, Ancora regains her sight and hearing to find Tristitia attempting to help her up. Shaken by the fact she was seemingly assaulted, Ancora hurries away from him, past Ira and Avaritia, and into the Crossroads, where she encounters Invidia. The conversation is standoffish until Ancora confides in Invidia that she was assaulted and “lost consciousness”. Before the two can figure out who it was the rest of the group reassembles for the vote... BGM: Medius Looking behind herself, Ancora noticed the rest of the group closing in. She decided to walk up the stairs before they caught up with the trio already in the Crossroads. Contrary to what one might think, nothing special happened as the group acknowledge everyone else and stepped forward for the vote. Ancora took her special spot in front of the booth with the shotgun designated for her. BGM: Mercedis Mellitus All cards were swiped. All helmets were affixed. At that moment, no one could move anymore.  When did that happen? She hadn't felt it for a while, but she hadn't focused on it before, having far more important matters to think about. Now that she realized that fact, though, this matter felt much more important. Unfortunately, now she was locked in, and there was very little time to think about all this. Um, guys... before we vote, I wanted to say. Someone has the gun. No, someone took it from me. It must've been when someone also knocked me unconscious... But I don't know who it is. The only person who can make use of the gun is Superbia. She's got it, then. No, I don't. In fact, I don't have the bullets either. Someone took them from me, too. No lies? No lies. If I had that drat gun I'd tell you all to vote for someone right now. Who's got the gun? Who could take it from Cora? When I got to her, she was passed out. When I got there, someone already knocked her unconscious. Listen to what I'm saying. Could've b-been you. I don't think anyone can p-prove otherwise, especially not yourself. What's your alibi, d-dude? Cora, s-seen him do it? No, I only caught part of the helmet... I was in the corner, and then a sound surprised me from behind. Then I was whacked. It must've been one of the boys. Hey, that's a little bit early to say, don't you think? Okay, so, we have to figure out what's going on. The gun is missing. The bullets are missing. The person who took all of those is not Superbia. Who is it, then? What's everyone's alibi? Does it matter, if we're going to vote for Superbia, anyway? Yes, because who has the gun and the bullets is the most dangerous person here. I was here the whole time. And need I remind you, someone also clonked me? I wouldn't lose those loving bullets like a moron.She huffed aloud, clearly outraged at the fact she had to admit someone outmaneuvered her.  Right, I was in the other hallway the whole time after I spoke with him. Which means it has to be Trist. What about Ira? Eh? You w-wanna say something about me? I was with Ava. You did come from where Ancora was before that point... Oh, I just c-checked up on her. Why? Was it because... you were asked to by Bia? Huh? How'd you k-know about us? I didn't, but you're not that hard to trick. Avaritia is crafty. Ah, f-gently caress. Well, whatever. Yeah, Bia asked m-me to keep an eye on you. So you took the gun and gave it to her? Bia is entirely correct.Something didn't add up completely. Eventually, Ancora realized they were missing something vital. Something that proved who it was. Before I was punched unconscious... I heard a small noise. It was a little faint, but it sounded like... metal moving? Like a badly lubricated hinge...The group only had about two minutes left before the timer ran out, but the silence grew over the next ten seconds or so. Everyone was thinking about what it meant. I think it was a door. If there was a panel in those plates that could be moved... That we missed this whole time... You guys saw the peculiar shape of that metallic plated wall? Maybe... it's basically just telling us that one tile can be moved. Then Vidi could have taken the gun and the bullets after that once Trist left! *click* BGM: Membrana   If you don't all vote for Trist, I'll be emptying this gun's chambers in all your helmets. What? Why? You'll die too, you know.Ancora couldn't speak from the shock of the reveal. Was this what betrayal felt like? Completion's sake. Completion? Right, that makes a whole lot of sense.She clicked her tongue. Only ten seconds remained.  Ancora hesitated. Seven. Six. Five. Four. Three. Then she voted in the span of time it took to go from three to two, as did everyone else.  Fun detail that Ancora and Superbia's portraits are still swapped here, since Superbia still did that even if we aren't voting for either of us now.  Anyway, yeah, I voted for Tristitia.BGM: Mercedis Mellitus The screens above the voting consoles settled onto Tristitia's symbol. It was clear what was to follow: it was his execution. Every shotgun but the victim's released their hold, leaving the participants to witness the macabre outcome.  Time slowed down. Eventually, everything froze. BGM: Memoria                                                                   Lock #1 obtained.
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Oct 7, 2021 22:32
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"A cool name like Sigma" God dammit, author.
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Oct 7, 2021 22:39
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So does this mean Marco isn’t a cool name? Edit: “you’re going to shut down, permanently” is a very strange thing to say to a person, but a less strange thing to say to a robot or AI. Quackles fucked around with this message at 00:54 on Oct 8, 2021 |
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Oct 7, 2021 23:28
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Quackles posted:So does this mean Marco isn’t a cool name? Also, Cora feels nothing when she's attacked while hacking--so she's not just gaining a visual through a helmet's camera, her entire sense is leaving her body (though she doesn't seem to feel what they feel, just hear and see). If she was just a person with a helmet stuck on, being attacked should interrupt the hacking, as she'd be seeing it on her own helmet, but that's not what's happening. Yeah, pretty sure we're dealing with AIs, though it still remains to be seen if it's a full-on virtual simulation, or if it's in a physical space but everyone's secretly a robot. Edit: On the other hand, the first update clearly shows Cora without the helmet on--so if she's a robot the helmet isn't the head so much as an early version of AS's collars maybe. ZCKaiser fucked around with this message at 22:02 on Oct 8, 2021 |
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Oct 8, 2021 16:06
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 content warning: suicide BGM: Mestitior Ancora stood there as Tristitia's body was on the ground. This situation was familiar. For some reason, she felt like she already had seen something like this before. It was probably because of Luxuria's death from earlier.  Notably, there was a good reason to split up, as Invidia had the gun, and could shoot anyone at a moment's notice. He had seemed stable so far, but now she was not so sure. The best would have been if the gun could've been kept, but... at this rate, things will fall apart. Cora, w-where are you going?A voice called for her, but she didn't answer it. Instead, she walked down the staircase leading to the rest of the Crossroads, and Wing A. Surprisingly, Invidia didn't call for her to stop or anything. It was as though he did not care if the others left. The group naturally split up even further. Ancora watched from afar as Ira and Superbia remained behind, but Avaritia split from them, too. Invidia sat in the staircase after a few seconds. He was looking at his revolver. Avaritia joined Ancora before long. She noticed the girl while walking away from the Crossroads, and stopped in her tracks.  Ancora could see Superbia had grabbed something off Tristitia's body. It was a key- he'd gotten it from a deduction room before, most likely. Yeah. I just didn't expect... him to have the revolver. There's a secret door in the back of that wall of metallic plates right in here, huh. I'd offer to go see where it leads, but... No real point in exploring it while there's danger afloat.Instead, the bear-wearer watched the scene unfold, unsure of what Invidia was doing. He opened the revolver and counted the bullets inside, maybe? Whatever it was, he eventually slid the revolver behind the target plate on his chest to keep it safe. Ira and Superbia were content not joining them yet, remaining behind with the voting booth. Instead, Invidia stood up to approach the two girls.  Traitor? Could it be him? What does Avaritia know of it, anyway?But it was much more likely Avaritia mentioned him as a traitor to the group, and not as the traitor needing removal. Invidia didn't seem phased by the words, walking towards them more. BGM: Membrana Just run.Ancora spoke in a whisper. Avaritia nodded in acknowledgement, and the two of them sprinted away from the Crossroads. Instead of going through the dead end hallway, they ran further into the wing itself. They could open the new section now, but...  She cast a glance towards Avaritia; the older woman was holding up to her own youthful athleticism. Running with heels wasn't easy, though, and eventually she fell down. Oof! Ugh!Ancora stopped running around the intersection, making a step towards Avaritia instead to help her. The older woman had apparently hurt her leg. However, the teacher waved her away. Keep going, he's going to get me anyway! It's my fault for wearing these drat things! But... I can defend myself, go! Without taking a look back, Ancora ran away from the scene, heading towards the corner with the staircase. That was where she'd gone to before. If she could just find the panel... ...then it's possible to get him from behind and save Avaritia, anyway. Which meant the secret door was somewhere on the right. Looking at the last column, she saw that the beams did that strange bend; it clearly was that one. She pushed it and crawled through, almost ripping her sweater dress in the process.  Ira and Superbia had left the Crossroads. That was Ancora's only thought about them, since she didn't see either of them when she glanced up the stairs. They might have gone after Invidia, too. This wild goose chase is starting to annoy me...As silently as possible, she crept around the corner to look at the situation in Wing A. Invidia and Avaritia were together, and there was still no sign of Ira or Superbia. It seemed as though the teacher and the boy were talking together. Ancora stepped forward with the intent to get the jump on Invidia. He noticed, turning over to look at her. Perhaps ten meters separated them; Ancora could clear that in a few seconds... BGM: Metis  It's fine, it's okay! He explained his reasoning!Far from relieved, Ancora also walked forward, towards Avaritia to get some answers. I'd like him to tell me face to face, then. Why did he run? I don't... know. That's actually worrying. He couldn't have gone far, so we could catch up.She pointed towards the rest of the hallway. Ancora snapped her fingers. Let's get him in a pincer. Go through this hall, and I'll head through the secret door. There was no time to lose. She closed in on the metallic wall... *bang* BGM: Mestitior ...only to hear a loud gunshot. Ancora had reflexively recoiled, but she wasn't the one who was shot. Her arms couldn't cover her entire helmet, so when she opened her eyes next, she saw the aftermath through the hole in the wall. Did he shoot Avaritia? Or... As Ancora watched the aftermath of the suicide, she suddenly found her vision closing in against the metal wall. What the-Someone shoved her from behind and then she collided with the wall itself. With a loud bang, Ancora fell to the ground, unconscious, dropping like a rock. …. BGM: Memini Meminisse  Do you know what “déjà vu” is?The voice was familiar. Ancora had heard it a lot these past hours. She could hear it, but she couldn't see whoever it was attached to. The teacher asked a question, so Ancora answered. No... “Déjà vu” is when you experience a moment that feels familiar, but hasn't happened. Some people believe it to be precognition, but they're wrong. It's generally believed to be an anomaly in your memories. What does it have to do... with now? Some people believe that “déjà vu” is when you experience a similar moment to one from a previous life. Such as, if you are near a pond and experience “déjà vu”, it is possible you've seen a pond before when you were an Egyptian- maybe it was an oasis. Others believe they're instead visions of other possible futures, playing out concurrently to your current one. You know how there's a belief time is like a tree? Every choice makes a new branch come out of it. It's like if you had the vision from another branch. Then he committed suicide. What about... the revolver? I can see again. About time...Avaritia was standing near her. Feeling at a disadvantage, Ancora slowly pulled herself back up to her feet. One of her hands grabbed against the wall for support, even after she was standing anew. Her other hand latched onto her helmet, since an overwhelming headache was breaking her in two, metaphorically speaking. I don't have it. When I got to him, the gun was already gone. Bia or Ira must have gotten hold of it.BGM: Metis  The cheerleader stood at the other end of the hallway with Ira in tow. She was carrying the gun, which was pointed in the direction of the other two girls. They could slip out through the hole in the back, but due to the firearm's threat, doing that wasn't a good idea. We're the last survivors. Everyone else is dead. Unfortunately, we need six deaths, and we've only got five so far, so... we'll be playing a little game.She cackled as though this really was just a funny game to her. At least one bullet was used from that revolver. Let's say we're unlucky, and it's at one and not anymore, that means there might be a way to get her to waste five shots. Not sure how I'd pull that off, but it's something to keep in mind. Hey, hey. Don't goad her on. I don't especially want to be shot. I don't think so. See, I want to know what's going on here. We are not the mastermind, that's for sure. It's gotta be either of you, but who, I wonder? Is it the older one, who's a teacher, and whose position would put her in control of the school?She aimed the gun towards the teacher. There wasn't even a shiver coursing through either girls. Or is it the little bitch who's been a constant pain in the rear end ever since she woke up? If you'd known this would happen now, Cora, you wouldn't have nagged me so much until now, huh? Eating poo poo now, are we? I would've done the same anyway because... because you're insane and despicable, Bia. And besides, the one you're looking for might already be dead.The bunny girl's other hand turned into a fist for a moment. She looked even more aggravated than before.  Ira was watching from the sidelines, unsure of what he should do. He remained there like a bodyguard, just in case anything happened. Actually, I have a question, and it might be of vital importance. Is it really loving important? Yes. It might help us determine who the mastermind is.Superbia was thinking. She was probably wondering the exact same thing everyone else was. If Avaritia was the mastermind, why would she ask that? Is she trying to give me away? What is the year of your birth? Eh? It's... One number comes to mind... but it's impossible. It's... 2014. That's correct. You were born in 2014. The exact date was November 19, 2014. In fact, that day is the same for you too. Do you understand?Avaritia was weighing her words. It feels like she's not talking to Superbia anymore. Is she talking to me? You share a birthday. As for the missing directives, for Invidia... They should be engraved now, and the way to the “déjà vu” should be open. Six of us are equal to two times four, ascending.Superbia gave another groan of rage, unable to understand what Avaritia was telling her. While the teacher was talking, Superbia was taking steps forward, taking advantage of her focus on conveying a message. BGM: Membrana  I'll kill you!Before the rabbit could shoot her, the pig leaped onto her and tackled her down. She tried to grab the gun, but she couldn't. A stray shot fired near Ira, and he decided to get himself mixed into it. *bang* That's two bullets gone. Maybe Avaritia had the same idea that I had.As the three of them fought over the revolver, Ancora decided to hightail it out of there. Turning around, she stepped through the opening in the plates. She might even get the gun. Let's just hope for that.*bang*  Another explosion signaled someone had surrendered their right to live. This time, it was him, thankfully for Ancora and Avaritia. loving bitch! gently caress gently caress! gently caress! gently caress, you're dead! You die, everyone dies!She kicked Avaritia off her, rolling over to stand back up. Her outfit was slightly dusty, but she didn't care. Instead, she let out a blood-curdling scream and executed the teacher with the fourth bullet. Upon witnessing the scene, Ancora regained her composure and hid behind the plates, closing the opening. She waited for her to approach it to go through it, laying out a trap for the rabbit. But wait- what if she comes from the other side? Then isn't it the same as being stuck in a corner?Yet Ancora didn't budge. She waited there, both scared and tense. If Superbia's head poked out through the opening, she could use the plate, and...  Quick, jump through the hole!But Ancora had closed it up, thinking she could have used it to smash it against Superbia's helmet when the rabbit would've come through the entrance. Die, bitch!*bang* A shot lodged itself into her leg, causing her to wince and scream. Only one more bullet remained. Ancora finally managed to pull the hole open to slide through, and limped forward, walking as fast as she could to try and set an ambush somewhere else. Unfortunately for her, Superbia wasn't limping. She pulled herself through the opening and aimed for the final shot to spell Ancora's doom. *bang*  BGM: Memini Meminisse It's inevitable when things get that chaotic. This body isn't trained enough to handle fighting like that. At least Superbia's going down, too, since when the timer runs out, it's over for her. Sigh... we're at a dead end again. Yes, again. This isn't the first time, is it? But, why? It feels like I lost track of what I had to do. What I had to find. What I had to figure out. “Déjà vu”, is it? The traitor, right. Who is the traitor? Why do I care so much about the traitor? Is there even a traitor, or is it a goal meant to make me keep going, over and over? I don't remember putting together the room we'd just gone through. In fact, now that I think about it clearly, I don't remember setting any of the rooms up. They were familiar, but I thought I did it, and now I think... I think I didn't do any of this. Was it Tristitia? Was it Invidia? It can't be Ira, can it? Who is the guy that helped me program all of this and set this entire operation up? I'm this close to figuring it out. I just need a little more time, but I'm not so delusional. I know soon there won't be any more time for me. And then she was dead. BGM: Silence     Invidia directives obtained?
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Oct 9, 2021 20:58
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Good to see that Ancora is FINALLY realizing that she’s got too many holes in her planning/knowledge to be the real mastermind.
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Oct 9, 2021 23:02
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MagusofStars posted:Good to see that Ancora is FINALLY realizing that she’s got too many holes in her planning/knowledge to be the real mastermind. Agreed. I'm guessing actual Pandora is the 9th Woman, who died (?) at the start, and Ancora is just... well, I don't know who she is.
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Oct 9, 2021 23:24
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I have a feeling we're going to be reaching the part where Everything Goes Batshit soon.
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Oct 10, 2021 05:53
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With the mention of two students named "Penmill", my new theory is that Ancora and Pandora are actually sisters, rather than being one and the same. That would also fit with a bear and a panda helmet - with the panda likely faking her death in order to do mastermind-y things behind the scenes. Presumably Ancora was partially in on the planning to find the traitor, hence why she knows approximately half of what is going on. I was also wondering if Ancora's first name would be "Hope", given her fixation on the word (and its connection to her nickname), but it being Nico's surname could be explanation enough given the context. The helmets are probably used to transmit memories somehow a la HASC, which might account for Ancora's "psychic visions", but the fact that they (at bare minimum) restrict what the participants are hearing/seeing would make it easy for a 9th person to exist in the shadows as well. No idea what to make of Ava's dual identities - she seems to be more knowledgable about the true nature of things than initially expected, first claiming a false name and then giving out directives. Does that mean she's the traitor who doesn't fit in PIGTAILS, with not being the true Ava? But then, why help Ancora?
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Oct 11, 2021 01:44
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differentiating posted:With the mention of two students named "Penmill", my new theory is that Ancora and Pandora are actually sisters, rather than being one and the same. That would also fit with a bear and a panda helmet - with the panda likely faking her death in order to do mastermind-y things behind the scenes. Presumably Ancora was partially in on the planning to find the traitor, hence why she knows approximately half of what is going on. I was also wondering if Ancora's first name would be "Hope", given her fixation on the word (and its connection to her nickname), but it being Nico's surname could be explanation enough given the context. I'm pretty sure Ancora is actually H/Hannah from Head AS Code; she's blonde like her, we know she was mixed up in Empty S somehow before the events of that game, she had a twin sister, and she had a strong reaction to the word "hope". (Though, given that game, maybe we're specifically the robot double?) quote:The helmets are probably used to transmit memories somehow a la HASC, which might account for Ancora's "psychic visions", but the fact that they (at bare minimum) restrict what the participants are hearing/seeing would make it easy for a 9th person to exist in the shadows as well. Still pretty sure the pigtails thing was a reference to Lux being male. The question I have is: was Ava always hiding some knowledge, or did Invidia do something when he "explained his reasoning" to her? Also, Ancora not actually being the mastermind is the most sensible reveal thus far. Which begs a bunch of questions, such as who is the real mastermind? Are they even present here? Invidia has some kind of connection, given the route where he had some directive to offer himself up to the vote in the case of a deadlock, but who knows how many secretly have some kind of instruction. Maybe Ancora's not even the only one who thought she was the mastermind; after all, what better way to prevent the players from working together to subvert the system than to convince them all they're both above it and have no one they can trust?
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Oct 11, 2021 16:04
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 It's time to go back to the upper path, as there's still an entire branch we haven't begun to explore. That said, I'm going to skip like 2/3 of the summary now, since none of the choices made up to the second vote are different- We make the choices to get Ira executed in the first vote, and then we make the choices to get Gula executed in the second. You know the drill by now. Starting right after Gula's death:After the vote, Tristitia pulls a gun on Luxuria, accusing them of being the mastermind (as their portrait was also switched), but when the others point out Superbia and Ancora's were also switched, he backs off. However, he still insists that the rest of the group move out ahead of him, and the group uncomfortably makes their way to the last third of the ward, where they split up to explore. While split up, Avaritia pulls Ancora aside to thank her for exposing Gula's meddling and, thus, saving her. In turn, Ancora forms a plan with Luxuria to ambush Tristitia while he's unprepared and knock him out; however, when they attempt to execute the ambush, Avaritia accidentally throws a wrench into their plans, leaving Superbia in Tristitia's crosshair... BGM: Membrana Ancora only had a split moment to act. She could let things take their course and leave Superbia to die... which wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing, since she was one of the weakest links of the group... Or she could shove the girl out of the way of the bullet to protect her. And so, Ancora...  Well, it's basically our fault she's about to die, so the least we can do is try to save her. BGM: Mestitior Ancor had to act. This wasn't the real plan; the real plan was to get Tristitia, not Superbia. She moved forward all of a sudden, tackling the rabbit-themed girl out of the way of the gun. What?!*bang*  Whoops!An explosion came from that body as the helmet disintegrated, taking with it the girl's head and knocking everyone back. It could only be described as morbid; the morbid result of Ancora's choice. Ahh! What the hell is happening?Tristitia couldn't understand, taken aback by the strange development. This caused him to drop his guard for only a little bit too much. That's when Ancora leaped from Superbia, right into his legs. Avaritia had taken a step back, and she was now watching as the bear-themed girl knocked the male down to his back, causing his helmet to smack into the floor. It seemed that act knocked him out, and Ancora grabbed the revolver as planned. That could have been less messy. At least, we've got a death now, but it's a pretty big loss- manner of speaking.While Ancora stood up, her gaze, through the helmet's cameras, was fixated upon the corpse of the sweet, small girl. The dead body would haunt her thoughts for the next hours- perhaps even days or weeks. It was a thing, no longer a person. She then looked at the group and shelved the gun into her right boot to use it as a holster. No pockets, huh. Picking that outfit might have been a mistake.BGM: Metis  I wanted to avoid this...Ancora grimly made her regrets known. She came to sit down against a wall, closing her legs to her chest and holding them with her arms. But I guess no matter what I do, I always end up with a big mess, huh? Well, it's not really that bad... But now, how is the split going to work with only four participants, one of which is unconscious? What a waste. At least this deals with one issue; namely, the required amount of ME-cards.She walked forward to pilfer the one Luxuria had. In the same movement, she also took the strange, ornate key the smaller one also held.  I don't think she cares anymore. And besides, we don't have a choice, Miss Proper. If we don't get these things, we're done.Ancora didn't care. What now...?BGM: Medius Almost as if to answer that thought, a fifth figure made itself known. Hey, look, your boyfriend's back. Vidi?It was Invidia. He arrived, pausing a moment as he noticed the unconscious Tristitia, then resumed his walk towards the group. It seemed as though he judged no matter what happened, there was no time to waste, and he was right.  But where have you been? I said no questions. ...Alright, fine. I'll give a few pointers about what I've been up to. I have a ME-card still. I'm not dead. The room I was in was separated from the others. It's used to escape this place, probably. No, it doesn't work yet. We need all of those nine strange keys. Ancora nodded, while he went on in a thoughtful spiel. On the side, Superbia was definitely holding back from hounding him. If we'd been back five hours ago, Superbia would've definitely flown into a fit of rage. Good for her that she can hold back so easily now. So we really need to solve those rooms, too. Something's wrong, still... You mean about the count of ME-cards? Yes, you're correct; we're so far off the count of ME-cards that we have to collect, yet we only have this section and one hour left. No, less than an hour. I hate to admit it, but Vidi's right. We have no time for this, and I don't want to panic and die... Correct to all of that. I think we should hurry and solve the next rooms as soon as possible. We're almost ten past the hour. What are our teams looking like? The real question was... who? I should go alone. Ava and Bia, you're fairly smart... well, more for Ava than Bia...This cost him some points, as Superbia was about to bitch up a storm again, yet he continued with a complete disregard for her. So you two should be grouped with someone who's more on-level with the solving of these rooms. I'm confident I can take on one of these rooms alone.Ancora didn't feel like that was a good idea. If anything, she was the one who could do this, not him. It would be a lot easier if I could do it on my own. I already know the answers and all. I refuse. I'm going alone. Are you insane? This fucker wanted to kill me!She pushed the horse-themed boy's body with the tip of her foot. Going with him is like asking for a death sentence! No, he won't harm you. I'm pretty sure of that. He doesn't have the revolver he used to kill Lux anymore, right?Invidia pointed at Ancora's boot, having noticed it. How do you know... that? I guess it's not that hard to put together. Okay, fine... that makes sense. As an added bonus with this setup, we also keep Cora alone. No offense, but I bet others might feel uncomfortable if they were in the room with someone who had a revolver ready to fire at a moment's notice... Ah, I see. There's logic behind her going alone this time, then.There was no way Ancora would leave the revolver to anybody, so this was the simplest solution. In the end, it was agreed the teams would go the way Invidia suggested. BGM: Meridianus  What about this guy? Am I supposed to pull this lardass over on my own?! Ugh... nnghh... I am not a lardass...The boy came awake, slowly pulling himself up. Immediately, everyone stood on their guards. No one made any movement to help him. Don't worry. I can see when I'm outmatched. I'm not going to be mediating for peace anymore. I understand you've all been planning this against me for a while now. That's not... Shut it, save it for later. Bia, I will trust you for this room, but after it, we need to have a long talk. Tch. A first for her. Let's go then, Trist.The two of them walked to the corner, then vanished to take the room furthest away. Avaritia and Invidia looked at each other, then at both rooms accessible close by. Which one do you want? Does it matter?Apparently, it didn't. The two of them waved goodbye to Ancora and vanished inside of the one slightly further away, which left Ancora the closest one. After casting another glance inside of the doorway where Luxuria's body was visible, Ancora went towards the other room. Alone, for once. That's new. At least things will be infinitely simpler now. I won't need to hide. Hmm, this room seems familiar for some reason... Before she could explore much of anything, her vision shut down. The door locked at the same moment, trapping the girl and preventing her escape until she unlocked it again. BGM: ME Mori   Let's drop all the pretenses, shall we? Ancora, since you're here alone, this is your penultimate test. Wait, this isn't what I recorded. In this room, you'll have to solve something that is very important to you. You don't know it yet, but it is of the most vital importance. The question for you is... You can think of the answer by mulling it over, or you can solve the room. While the answer should be simple if you think about it, solving this room will safeguard the future itself. I don't need to tell you what happens if you break the time limit, but I will anyway. You'll die, much like the rest of them. There will be no surrendering of rights: you will merely, cleanly, completely, and inexorably die. If all goes well, this is the last time I will be contacting you like this. Everything has been built to lead to this moment. Don't disappoint me, we have now reached a 50% chance of success. BGM: Metis This isn't what was prepared. Someone tampered with the setting, and there's no doubt about it by now, if there even was any left: there's a usurper somewhere. Is it the traitor, or someone else? That was really strange... But I guess I have no choice. What are the keys...?Looking at the long room containing a strange table, Ancora mulled it over. After only a minute, she decided to instead investigate the room. There's no helping it. This time, I'll need to invest myself much more. Someone's usurped me, and I don't like that, not one bit. BGM: Mendosus  That's right, since we're by ourselves, the only person we can talk to is, well, ourselves. The dialogue option is to muse about the room itself. Since I'm here alone, I guess I can think aloud... I feel like there's something inherently wrong about this room... Like something's not meant to be like it is. It's probably because this room wasn't meant to be like this in the first place. To begin with, this room was supposed to have a name, and finding that name was the subject. ME just straight up told us the name, but I didn't record that. Instead it's about the keys? Now that I think about it, even those keys are suspicious... There are zodiac signs, all twelve of them. I can note down the order if I look at them more closely. There's also a safe underneath them. I guess it'll unlock when... when what? Ahh... All this is confusing me for once. And there's something digging at the back of my head, like this room is supposed to mean something... So far it seems like every room might have a connection with everyone, but whose room is this? Is this supposed to be mine? I don't get it. And doubly so, because, of all people here, I should know about what's going on, and I don't. The evidence is piling up to point towards a usurper... Is it the traitor? This room gives me the creeps. Back to the search...Yeah, let's get to it. First things first, I'm gonna check out the globe in the center.  The dome is a little transparent, though. I can sort of see symbols at the bottom... and some numbers? I don't know how they add up- it's too hard to see.Next, the bookshelf. Wow, bookshelves. Why does every room here have bookshelves? And most of them are useless, too. Thankfully, this one looks easier to search for once.She pulled a piece of paper out from between two books. Upon unfolding it, she read its contents, rather confused by them. It says... “Half 2 = 4R 2L”. But half two equates to one... I don't get this. If I had to guess, it's just half of the full picture. Should try combining that with something else later. This is strange. I hope I don't have to flip through them for the answer.She picked one up at random titled “Complete Study of Noematics”. She flipped through the pages, noting that it, indeed, was a real book this time around, unlike the previous bookshelves that contained plastic copies at best. The brain... Yeah, I don't get any of this. Just gonna put it back on the shelves. So many books in here, I don't even know where to start. To begin with, I don't like reading that much anyway... Think I'll just leave them here. Some of those books probably are worth a real fortune, though. Some of them look pretty old... Yellow pages, and I'm not talking about the titular phone book- these have been yellowed by time.Ancora took a look under the bookshelves too, finding yet another item. Two pieces of paper in the same location? That's lazy... Anyway, this one associates Gemini to 12, Cancer to 5, Leo to 1, and Libra to 8.There's a little pillar stand in the corner with a chest on it.  Apparently, it's five colors long... And it's on a white pedestal. Might have better chances figuring this one out by going to the other room.Before we do that, we still have stuff to look at in here- like the zodiac plates on the wall. From left to right, those zodiac signs are... Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces, I think. I like how the first ones are more literal, but it gets much more abstract after a while. Anyway, some letters are highlighted, too...For reference, since you can't look at the inventory item yourself to see which letters are lit up, here's what the letters are (the lit ones will be capitalized): aRies, tAurus, geMini, caNcer, Leo, virGo, librA, Scorpio, sagittArius, capricorN, Aquarius, and pIsces. Blindly adding all of those letters together doesn't do anything. There's another process to it, surely.There's obviously nothing for us to do with the safe yet, we just started exploring. Same goes for the door we just came in from. The light switch on the wall turns the lights on and off, but we have no reason to do that yet. Thus, all that's left is the weird panel on the wall... There's a keypad here with a bunch of numbers. I can try entering some stuff, let's see what happens... This was here before, I remember that. This kind of keypad takes four inputs, nothing more and nothing less. That means funny numbers such as 1337 are all game. Of course, whatever the number is, it won't be so simple. One good way would be to start from 0000, then 0001, then 0002... but we don't have that kind of time. Ancora tried to input something, but the keyboard gave a sharp beep as its only answer. Again and again, she tried number after number, to no avail. 0000 doesn't work... Neither does 1337, 5555, 6969, 8008, or 9001. Guess I'm out of options. I could have sworn I knew what the code to it was, but... it's like I forgot all about it. I just can't think of it, even if I try really hard.That's everything in this room for the moment, so we should check out the other room now.  First order of business is rooting around in all these planters, starting with the one in the middle of the room. Some beautiful flowers are here. I wish I could have those flowers at home. Maybe the other guys won't mind if I grab them and take them with me before leaving. If... we ever leave. Anyway...Ancora crouched down while examining the flowers to count them, figuring this may be a part of the solution to this duo of rooms. There's a row of seven red flowers... three white flowers... four blue flowers... and six green flowers. Altogether, that's exactly twenty flowers. I don't think this helps me very much. Maybe it's not the total amount of flowers that's important. If it's the color, though... I'm glad I'm here, and not a certain someone else from My Emptiness. This room has a strange obsession with colors, despite being about nature, which is mainly green. I still want to bring them home. The flowers, not the grass. I'll leave that part to my sister.Nothing else to look at, so instead, let's look at the wall planter closest to the door.  Not that you know any drugs, Ancora. Stop acting like you've taken any. It's not “cool”. But anyway, those plants are very peculiar... They climb on walls and form random shapes, it seems. It's kinda hard to make out anything on the wall, but... the ceiling has more answers. One of the plants is forming the word “KILL” at the top. Next to it are “LEO” and “PISCES”... I hope we don't have to kill anybody to get out of this room. Yeah, if that's the case, then whoever enters here alone would be stuck. I don't think even the person who usurped this game would do that. Speaking of, I have my own theory on that, but I'll think about it later, after this deduction room is over.Ancora touched the plants to see if they were real. Indeed, they were and in fact, very much alive too. These things must've been grown recently. How fast can plants like these grow, though...? You can't do that overnight. This room must have been prepared in advance. And tehre's something about it that really unsettles me...Next, the wall planter in the middle.  They even write some words... There's “SCORPIO” from this climbing plant. It's kind of hard to make out, due to the ceiling; I have to look at it under a certain angle...The girl had been rotating a little, trying to see all of that. There were no other words than those “written” by the three planters in that corner of the room, though. From yet another angle, something caught her eye. Huh, there's something behind the climbing plant... It's a piece of paper. I didn't even notice it before, because it's rolled up and hidden there. On it, there are some symbols with numbers... Pisces is 2, Aquarius is 3, Sagittarius is 6, and Taurus is 11, apparently.Ancora took the paper with her to keep alongside all the objects that could be carried around. That leaves us with just the last wall planter, on the right.  She turned around some, trying to find the right angle to read the other one, since it was all jumbled up on the ceiling. And the other says... “CAPRICORN”. Libra and Capricorn, then. This is all so mysterious and weird. Who'd have expected a greenhouse to be here? Not me, that's for sure. Yeah, and this had been planned before. This room is nothing I was going to do. Is it my aide...? Did he take over, somehow? The guy who helped me by programming all these “funny puzzles”... No, can't be. That's just not possible. Not even he would have the kind of wealth needed to do this modification, and without my knowledge most of all.All that's left is the strange mosaic and words on the wall. This gives me the chills. That weird portrait with shapes... Why is it so frightening? I don't even know myself. It's there, and it... stares at me. It's just a bunch of colors, though. There's nothing special about it. It's as if it was put there just to tease. Have I seen these colors before...? Left to right, they are purple, red, blue, purple, and blue. But wait, there's another arrow on top, and it's white. In reverse, it's... well, it's just the reverse. I wonder what that's all about. Guess I'll keep all of that in mind. No, maybe a number? Even if that's the case, how are we meant to decode it? Each side has four words, so if it's for the keypad in the first room... is it that simple? Somehow, I doubt it.Now that we've looked at everything in this room, we need to make a quick return to the stars room to re-examine the chest on the pedestal.  I'm not even sure what that expression means. Inside the chest is... just another goddamn paper! On it is written “Half 1 = 1L 3R”. But half one is 0.5, not one L three R. None of this makes sense right now. Feels like that's not the whole picture. Or the whole paper, as it is. Should try combining that with something else later.From here, we have all the things we need to start solving the room in full, so now's a good place to pause if you wanna try and sleuth it out yourself. ...Though you probably already have a pretty good idea of where to start. To progress, we need to first put the two slips of paper together; they're obviously meant to be taken as one whole directive. From there, it's just a matter of figuring out what the paper actually means- which should be obvious, if you've paid attention to the environment. Use your head. Crack the code. Even though they're jumbled in two different orders, the “L” and “R” columns are made of four colors. That might be helpful in some way. I already messed with the flowers under that weird portrait, so I doubt those are going to be used again, but I've yet to do anything with the two orders. But even if I think about them, the code I need is made of four numbers, not eight... From preliminary testing with the number pad, it's four numbers long, right? So then... what are the numbers, and in which order do they go? If you haven't already figured it out, I've spoilered it to give you one more chance.  The directive tells you what colors you need, by giving you the corresponding row and column- 1L 3R 4R 2L, or red green red blue. The flowers in the center planter tell you in turn what number matches what color- 7 red flowers, 6 green flowers, and 4 blue flowers. With that, we have our answer. Bingo. It's 7674. Now to find a use for that number. It's got to be on that numpad pillar in the other room.And with that, we return to the stars room to finish solving everything. Once we input the code into the wall... Got it! Now this opened the safe, I think. Was it that easy? I still don't know what the answer to the question is... Oh! It seems to have also lit up the table in the middle of the room.While it's tempting to go for the safe immediately, now that the table's lit we can turn off the lights! Now that the light dome has been lit, maybe it's worth turning the lights off. It doesn't seem to be displaying anything while the lights are on. And now, for my next magic trick, I, the Magnificent Zachary, will make the light... disappear! The lights went out when Ancora flipped the switch, revealing patterns exposed on the ceiling. And when we examine the table again, now that the lights are out... Ah! I can see the light it gives onto the ceiling. There's a bunch of zodiac signs up there, with numbers next to them. Four of them are up there... There's Virgo numbered 7, Aries associated to 9, Capricorn's number is 4, and Scorpio is 10. I wonder what that's all about... We should probably line up all of those numbers together, and follow the new pattern.Now that we've gotten that, we can finally check out that safe  And inside of here, we have... One single ME-card! Wait, isn't that... too few? Guess I'll talk with the others over it. There's a key! Its teeth are in the shape of the letter... P! And finally, there's a piece of paper. On it is written “THE SEVEN SURVIVORS”. I wonder what that's all about? This whole thing is supposed to leave us with only three survivors, no? Time was ticking, and Ancora still needed to figure out exactly what was up with this room. Having no one to talk with was certainly taxing on the poor girl. Talking to yourself is probably not the most mentally healthy thing to do. Or so would argue many experts in this field. Remember, if you have mental issues, please consult a professional.While closing the door, Ancora spied yet another item inside. She didn't notice it before, because... perhaps she just didn't want to acknowledge its existence, but now that she was closing the door, there was no helping it.  Son of a truck. That's the same kind of shotgun that's used in the voting segments. I guess... I can take that with me...?The rules said everything from the safe was fair game. Ancora closed the door and left the shotgun there for the time being, since it probably wasn't used inside this room. No, it was best used for defense- yet its appearance was nothing but trouble.  That's right, we can solve the last puzzle and escape now, so here's the other place to pause if you want to finish trying to solve it yourself first! Well, here goes nothing. I think I have the answer...The girl braced herself. For once, she was completely alone. There was no one else to counsel her on the answer, or to answer for her. Not that she ever let anyone else answer anyway; it just wasn't in her nature. She inhaled deeply before speaking out her mind. Let ME out! The keys are... To solve this puzzle, there are three parts in total you need to riddle out. The first one is somewhat straightforward- the zodiac signs spelled out in the greenhouse are the zodiac signs to discard completely (as indicated by the 'KILL' directive). Therefore, Leo, Pisces, Scorpio, Libra, and Capricorn are not a part of the solution. The second one is also somewhat straightforward- specifically, it's the highlighted letter in each sign. This tells you which letters to use to represent each sign. The third one is the different clues found around the rooms giving each zodiac sign a number. You have to put the zodiac signs in numerical order based on this third part, and then take the letters from the second part to spell out the answer, which in this case, is...  Anagram! They're an anagram!The door's lock came undone. However, she did not leave yet. She still had quite some time ahead of her. That this was the answer brought her to think about the keys again. An anagram, huh? How many letters do we know so far...? If we take the key teeth as being letters themselves, then we have A, P... Ahh, what were the others? I can't remember. If they're an anagram, though, that's worth considering later, when I know more of them. And, this might be a little weird to think about, but... I feel like a lot of this room just flew right by. It's as if answers were coming to me without needing to think.After a few moments, she decided to leave this strange room behind. It had been quite an experience; a room with zodiac signs attached to a greenhouse. She found a ME-card, a key with P as its teeth, and... A shotgun, which she took with her. BGM: Silence  
Mix. fucked around with this message at 19:22 on Oct 14, 2021 |
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Oct 11, 2021 22:43
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Uh... who's narrating right now? 
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Oct 12, 2021 07:00
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The plants are super fascinating to me, maybe thematically. The thing that grows from earth, that defines the heavens. Also, I find the callout about the books interesting--making it sound more like, AR with some simulation, rather then full AI.
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Oct 12, 2021 20:22
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 BGM: Metis Ancora left the room with the shotgun in hand. Once again in the hallway, she noticed her helmet read roughly a half hour after first entering. 20 minutes remained. If nothing was done in 20 minutes, she'd die. Unless the system would coincidentally go down, that is. Still, there was something very wrong with the previous room. I don't remember setting it up. Not the room, the question, or anything else. Did I forget something? None of this feels correct, in any capacity. Hey. Did you figure anything interesting in that room? No, we can't talk about it. Are you gonna let go of that? How come you can't talk about it?She disregarded the inquiry about the firearm entirely. We were told by ME that if we talked about it, we'd die. Did she say you'd die...? He shook his head in a dismissive fashion. And what about those bowls?She pointed at the cyan and red bowls the two of them were carrying. All Superbia had to say about it was a shrug. They were in the safe that contained the ME-card and the key we found. We each took one, but I don't know what they're for. Anyway, what about you? Did you get told you couldn't share your knowledge, too?He seemed less bothered by the shotgun than Superbia was. No. I don't think it's really gonna be helpful, though... so I'm gonna hold off unless we need it. It's definitely going to distract us, and we don't have time to go on wild tangents right now. Time is always working against us, isn't it? Almost as if on cue, the two of them emerged from their room after their door unlocked. The five survivors reunited together and shared their meager findings- namely, they all had one ME-card and one key from each room. Nothing else. Other than Ancora's shotgun and the two bowls. Together, this gives us 24 ME-cards and 9 strange keys. We're missing 15 ME-cards. Yes, we are. However, I have a bit of a plan...But, I can't share it with anybody except for Trist. Why's that? That's what ME said. I don't know why, either, I just can't tell anyone else. If you'll excuse me then, I don't have much time, and it takes a while to explain, so...She reached for Trist's wrist, pulling him away from the others. The two of them vanished into the hallway. Think we should follow them to eavesdrop? Ancora stayed silent. Just kidding. In reality, we can share it with you guys too, but I don't know if it's a good idea for now. I think she just made it up to get away from your gun. If we could fire it, it would solve the problem of needing two more deaths, at least. I figured it might cause something like that to happen. I have no intention of shooting anybody, and besides, even if ME really said that, you haven't been punished for breaking into somewhere you weren't meant to be, right? BGM: Medius So what do we do now? Do we just sit here until the others come fetch us again? That seems to be the plan. At least we're back with our original group, huh, grumpyface? I am not... Oh, whatever.It didn't seem like she had the energy to oppose Invidia in such a way anymore. Ancora was just as tired. This entire ordeal was taking a toll on her too, both mentally and physically. You know... we haven't really done much chitchat in general, huh? Like talking about the weather? That's kinda useless... It's not just about the colors themselves. Of course what color you like best will never be important unless, say, you end up dating someone, and they want to give you a present in the color you like best. I see... That's good and all, but my favorite color is green. I must be your favorite, then.He pointed at his outfit which was, partially, green. I guess? I don't have a preference if it's dark or bright, though... So you liked Lux? She was pretty nice. Just a victim of circumstances... The timer was quickly approaching the 45 minute mark. Around that point in time, their conversation was interrupted by Avaritia calling over to them. Hey, Superbia, mind if I get your bowl? Huh?The question took her by surprise. Ancora remembered, back in the first room, how combative she had been over a simple cylinder. Yet, defying all expectations, Superbia handed it over like it wasn't any big deal. I don't get anything that's happening here, so whatever... you can have it. Thanks.And with that done, the woman walked away again. This time, the group's curiosity was piqued. It was like Superbia said: none of them were getting anything that was going on. Even I am at a loss now.After a few more seconds, they decided to walk out, believing the sharing of information between the two others had taken long enough by then. They walked through the hallway, still without signs of Avaritia or Tristitia.  Tristitia waved them over. I was going to fetch you soon, but this is fine, too. So... I can't share what's behind this, but I can share what my plan is right now. We take a ME-card and vote, right? Not yet. I know, I know, the timer is ticking. This is important, trust me. First of all, here in this bowl are all the ME-cards we got except the ones each of you are carrying, all which totals to 15, since 9 of them are already discarded.He stared over at Ancora. The girl understood that this was all due to her and Luxuria, as they placed the ME-cards into the machine earlier. But that's fine, we're still good to go. I'll need each and every one of you to put your ME-cards into this. We need every little bit we have left. And why should we put our ME-cards in there? We need to vote.BGM: Memini Meminisse Maybe we don't anymore. I want to try out a theory. It's very important that Cora watches this. So, everyone, put your ME-cards in.This time he was a little less generous with the leeway he was giving them. All of them obeyed, and every ME-card ended up in the bowl. Self-conscious about the gun she'd taken, Ancora tightened her grip while she handed her ME-card over. At least, no one was going to pull a fast one on her. I am very curious about what Tristitia has planned, and why he's singling someone out like that. Okay. Now, if everything is correct...He turned the bowls over. The cyan one covered 15 ME-cards and the red one was empty.  Oh boy! And a part of me feels like... it was meant to go this way, too. So listen, because this bowl has all 15 ME-cards underneath it. Then, you need to move away from our group, and use your psychic powers to see what I'm doing with the bowls. Either I'll leave them as they are now- with the 15 ME-cards under this one- or I'll switch the ME-cards to the red one. What I've decided to do is to take them all out and put them under the red bowl. Wait, you're not supposed to tell me that, are you? I'm supposed to use my powers, whatever they are... I actually don't understand what his plan involves. No, that's fine. I'm telling you right now...He put some emphasis onto his words.  Ancora checked the timer: they had ten minutes left, at best. Deciding to roll with it, she left the group, walking back into the original hallway where everything had begun, since she wouldn't see anything of them anymore behind the closed doors. BGM: Metis This is my cue to use the helmets to spy on them. This feels a little silly, though... But what choice do I have? It'll be over really quickly, anyway. And if all else fails... I guess two people will get shot. For now, I'll be hacking... We're going to be hacking Avaritia here.  BGM: Mens Metis  The solution for this puzzle is:  This one's surprisingly straightforward, but the directive does not help in the slightest; I literally don't know how you're expected to solve this without using the hints. You can disregard the outside slots, as the only thing that matters is the three entries in the center. The hints tell you “in some countries, / is a dot instead” and then “you'll need a calender for this one”; the solution is 2/8 = 39, or 'February 8th is the 39th day of the year'.  Again, how the hell are you supposed to solve this without using the hints? BGM: Metis  Yet, the girl had gone elsewhere. Looking around the classrooms, Avaritia found her after a few moments. The older woman sat against the wall outside of the classroom, not disturbing her for a few. Ancora didn't give her attention, focusing on her psychic power use. There's something weird about seeing this from a whole different angle. Even if Avaritia disturbs the process, it doesn't matter since it won't work. It's not actually psychic powers. How long is this goose chase going to last? BGM: Memini Meminisse Hey, Avaritia... do you think it's real? Might as well do small banter, huh?Ancora spoke from inside the classroom. Avaritia could hear her clearly anyway, and she shrugged. I don't know. It's completely beyond me. Logic dictates none of this is going to work, but... I've seen some strange things today already. Shotguns that don't really shoot you, but you die anyway. Voting mechanisms. Convoluted puzzles. Keycards that look like a lump of plastic with some paint on them... but they work anyway. She giggled a little, but she could tell that her words weren't having the effect she wanted. Oh, I'm not making fun of you or anything. I'm just laughing because... I guess it's the stress. I just can't take it anymore, you know. I want to leave. It's only been almost six hours, but it feels like a lifetime. I've seen death, I've heard torment, I've felt fear, I've gone through the entire spectrum. Except for joy. And joy is when I'll finally be able to leave... Yeah...She didn't have much to say to Avaritia's monologue. After that, she tried to call upon her latent psychic abilities again, to very little avail. No matter how much she tried, she just... couldn't do it. Avaritia remained silent. She instead looked out of the closed doors, into the Crossroads. It was probably better that way. The small banter reassured Ancora a little, but it also distracted her. Every time she could call upon these “abilities”, she was alone. It would be hard to move during that, I guess. Carrying a conversation without seeing your interlocutor is also a problem. I assume there had been a mistake before, or she's messing with them for fun? One thing's clear at least, now I know where the ME-cards are.After that, Avaritia grumbled something while walking back to the classroom Ancora was in. This time, she knocked on the door. But then the screen went black. Did the connection cut?A few minutes passed. It quickly became clear the connection hadn't cut. And yet, for some reason, there had been a blackout in Avaritia's helmet.  Say, do you know about the man...BGM: Medius Hey, they say it's fine to come back now! That goes for you too, Ancora. Alright. I did say it should be fine after a few minutes. Well, we are almost out of time due to this bullshit now, so I hope whatever stupidity you idiots are planning is going to actually work and not just rob us all of our lives. Trust me, I'm even more stressed out by this than you are. Yeah, that would be nice, but no, it's not due to my age. Tell the others that I'll be there promptly with Cora.Superbia gave an annoyed howl at being treated like a messenger pigeon, storming off into the Crossroads again. Hey! You two imbeciles! Avaritia says she'll be there promptly!Her booming voice could be faintly heard in the distance. Okay, enough. Whatever Avaritia wanted to say, she can say it later. It's imperative to get the vote underway.The connection cut off at that precise moment, taking a little bit to re-establish vision to the one Ancora wore herself. BGM: Metis Ancora took a few steps outside the classroom, but stopped in her tracks.  What is it? Is something wrong? No... just that something's really strange, I guess. I don't feel too good about this. I've got a bad feeling about it, if you ask me. I've got a bad feeling about this too. I've got a bad feeling about this too.The girl noticed she was still carrying the shotgun with her. Right, she found it in the room she investigated before... and for some reason, she felt like Avaritia was trustworthy. There was just this part of her that told her... BGM: Memini Meminisse You can trust her. If she doesn't have the shotgun, you'll die. Far from her to argue against her inner voice, she handed the firearm over to a very surprised teacher. The woman waited for a second before reaching for it.  Something in me said, “Ava will need this”. Psychic powers? I don't know.With that done, Ancora and Avaritia stepped forward once again. The timer was coming down on them. Whatever plan Tristitia had in mind, it had better work. Five minutes remained. BGM: Metis  The group seemed surprised when Avaritia came up, too. They looked at each other in turns, noticing the teacher had the shotgun Ancora previously held. However, no one commented on that. Tristitia went straight to business and understandably so. Based on what you've seen, Cora... Pick a bowl. Any bowl.Ancora briefly paused. Four minutes remained. She made her choice... I'm picking the red bowl. I'm deciding to trust you when you say this was the bowl they're all under, and that you moved them. Yes.Tristitia lifted his head, looking over at Invidia. The wolf stared back at him, giving a shrug. Without any other communication, Invidia moved away from the group, and Ava sat down onto the ground, waiting for the outcome. Ancora was taken by Invidia moving away, but when Tristitia reached for the bowl, her attention snapped back to what he was doing.  He lifted the red bowl as if to confirm that thought. Underneath were all 15 ME-cards, piled together as prepared beforehand by the group. Then he lifted the other bowl, under which was nothing. 
Mix. fucked around with this message at 20:51 on Oct 13, 2021 |
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Oct 13, 2021 19:15
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OK, what was that about?
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Oct 13, 2021 19:26
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I bet we'll have another Trist Goes Apeshit moment.
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Oct 13, 2021 19:27
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Mix. posted:This one's surprisingly straightforward, but the directive does not help in the slightest; I literally don't know how you're expected to solve this without using the hints. You can disregard the outside slots, as the only thing that matters is the three entries in the center. The hints tell you “in some countries, / is a dot instead” and then “you'll need a calender for this one”; the solution is 2/8 = 39, or 'January 8th is the 39th day of the year'. I think you meant February, not January.
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Oct 13, 2021 20:39
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Oct 13, 2021 20:51
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Given how likely it is that Trist is Agnos's kid, I wonder if this isn't Trist checking stuff he knows about the Cool S, however illicitly. I don't remember which update he talked about his dad in, but I suspect he knows more about what's going on in a possibly-revealing way. I also do not rule out the notion of Trist going weird again.
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Oct 13, 2021 22:48
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ZCKaiser posted:I'm pretty sure Ancora is actually H/Hannah from Head AS Code; she's blonde like her, we know she was mixed up in Empty S somehow before the events of that game, she had a twin sister, and she had a strong reaction to the word "hope". (Though, given that game, maybe we're specifically the robot double?) I was doubtful of this theory until update 28 and the explicit reference to colorblindness, though I have one change I'd like to posit - if I'm right that Pandora and Ancora are sisters, and you're right that they're G & H in some order, I think Ancora is more likely to be G/Greta than H/Hannah. Hannah was the bossier twin, and therefore the one more likely to actually lead ME while Greta aided on the periphery. I think H was the twin with colorblindness, too, which would rule Ancora out as Hannah. The fact that PIGTAILS corresponds to the nicknames if you remove the duplicate A (Ancora or Ava, both of whom have reasons to not fully fit in) makes me think the Lux thing wasn't its main meaning - besides, that seems like such a mundane thing to put on a note participants find at the very start of your death game. But it's possible I'm overthinking it. Alternately, if the keys are representing an anagram, could PIGTAILS (or an anagram of PIGTAILS) be it? Mix. posted:For reference, since you can't look at the inventory item yourself to see which letters are lit up, here's what the letters are (the lit ones will be capitalized): aRies, tAurus, caNcer, Leo, virGo, librA, Scorpio, sagittArius, capricorN, Aquarius, and pIsces. I think Gemini was left out here, though one can logic out that it must be the M that's highlighted. Quackles posted:Uh... who's narrating right now? Now that I'm believing Ancora and Pandora are indeed two separate people, I wouldn't be surprised if the game was trying to pull a 999-esque twist by having the narration be Pandora's comments.
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Oct 14, 2021 04:06
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 BGM: Metis  What does what mean? What won't work because someone else touched them? What? What are you talking about? What are you surprised about? What did you expect? I don't actually know... remember, this was someone else's idea. More like someone else's waste of time. Three minutes! Three more minutes then we're dead!Somehow, the reminder about their lack of time didn't really hit anybody especially hard. None of them reacted to it. It was as if the entire group had communally decided to become zombies. Yeah... three minutes, then what? Don't give up here, there's gotta be something to do! We're so close!But Ancora sat down, too. It was like she also gave up.  To be fair... we already might have. We just don't know. There's nothing that tells us we won, and even then, we are lacking 15 ME-cards. We could do the vote, but...Ancora suddenly lifted her head up. BGM: Membrana The vote! The vote gives us more time, yes? Remember how it works! We can actually freeze the timer for twenty minutes!Tristitia smacked his hand on the ground before lifting himself up to his feet. You're right. The timer can give us more time! But how is it going to work with the ME-cards? We're missing 15 still. There has to be somewhere we've overlooked. Somewhere containing something big. Avaritia rose up, carrying her shotgun with her. Where would it be, then? Maybe... the secret room? Maybe... the secret room?Ancora just had a flash of inspiration. If Invidia found a ME-card there, maybe there were others. But with two minutes remaining, and soon only one, they wouldn't have the time to search it. That meant they had to do the vote. Someone would die. If we do the votes, then we can buy ten more minutes in total... And then we start a second vote right away. Correct? But this means som eone dies. No, two people will die among the five of us.The thought froze the group in their tracks. They all looked at each other. It was clear with this renewed hope that no one would want to be the sacrifice. Just vote for me then. Consider this my last act as peacemaker. I'll die, and you'll all escape. Don't think this absolves you of what you've done. What I've done? Look who's talking... No nagging. We need all the time we can get. Vidi! Mine's there already. Hurry up!Ancora hurried alongside everyone else. Soon, the timer read 39 seconds remaining. With the leftover ME-cards that could still be used to do votes, they could do two rounds. Ancora also realized the fact the second vote would need someone else to die as well, and that it could very well be her. But that was a matter for later.  They'd have to put in the next ME-cards right away to avoid mass execution. Quick! Spread out, search! Vidi, you're at the secret room! Go with Bia and Ava, I don't think ME would kill three people like that! After all, they have a goal too, right? They can't just off more than half our remaining numbers! What about you? What are you going to do? I'll search this room again. And you? I'll go back to the first hallway. Something's always bothered me. Go, then! There's no time to lose! Everyone meet back here in nine minutes, and don't be late for the love of God! This is all just a vain grasp of time. There are no more ME-cards. Maybe it's time to go over all that I know.BGM: Mestitior As soon as those thoughts were formulated, a loud noise resembling an echo resonated into Ancora's helmet. For a split moment, she believed she hit her head on the wall. She fell onto one knee, both hands grabbing at the ground in her dizziness. The previous theory fell flat as soon as she felt her other boot shift. Someone was grabbing the gun and taking it out. It was Tristitia.  What about... the vote...? I can't... I'll prop your body up, and you'll have your hand on the button when it'll come available. Don't worry, I'm already dead. I'm not doing this to win anymore. Even if I got you to vote for someone else and I voted for them too, the other team outvotes me. Then... why...?Everything was becoming harder and harder to focus on.  Then there was nothing but darkness. …. BGM: Metis  The fact she wasn't dead was a surprise. This meant it's just after the vote went through. Looking around, though, she saw two bodies. Tristitia's dead body was on the ground not too far away. Headless. The same was the case for Superbia's body. However, she also had some bullet wounds. The fact she was headless spoke volumes about what happened. Let's put it together. That bullet wound came from the revolver, right? When did Tristitia have the time to shoot her, though? It must've been during the vote... Maybe right as the vote ended. Maybe after Superbia put in her vote. I don't think I'll ever really know for sure since I was cut off during that moment.Slowly, Ancora rose up. She looked at the timer. She expected it to have been several seconds before the six hour mark, but... It was six hours and three minutes. Even if the timer had paused before, they were over the mark. If that was the case, then... She looked around. There were no other bodies. Where did Avaritia and Invidia go? Her hand held onto the console to keep herself steady, before she set off to look for them. If the timer was past the six hours mark... then did they do it? Did they have the 39 ME-cards? Finally, she noticed the console that took the ME-cards was open.  Why is it open? Why is there nothing inside? Where has the bomb gone, and why did it not blow up? And where did they get the leftover ME-cards? They weren't in the special room, I know that for a fact.Too many questions, not enough answers. Vidi... Ava... where are you...?She looked around the room, but only silence answered her question. Vidi! Ava! Where are you two? This isn't funny! Her steps brought her back down the stairs leading to the voting machines. Now in the hallway again, she looked over at the secret room. Or rather, where it would be. The door was open. She walked over, slowly, uncertain of what she'd find. Beyond there is the exit. Did they both leave? Did they take the bomb? Ancora took it in silence, figuring that was where the others had gone to. She was almost like a zombie following its own instincts.  After a brief moment, the doors on the other side opened, and she stepped inside of the room on what she assumed was the second floor.  The area was actually a little unsettling. It was reminding her of one of those padded rooms where they kept crazy people with straitjackets. What was most unsettling, however, wasn't the room filled with strange seats and cables. It was the fact that inside the room was someone. It was her. Immediately, a headache came upon Ancora, and she fell to the ground while holding her helmet. BGM: Mestitior  That's her. But I'm...The other girl... was like her, somehow. Ancora didn't believe it was possible, though, and yet she was standing right in front of her.   Why are you wearing the same things as me? Wait... do I know you? I think I remember you...Ancora looked up at the other Ancora. Even on the ground, one thought occupied her mind: she had to leave this place, right now. The headache was getting worse the more she spent time in the second Ancora's company. But all she saw were doors to elevators. Doors that were closed. She panicked on the ground, as the other girl looked upon her with all the shock in the world. Let me out! Let me out, let me out- Unlike the others, it didn't explode. Due to the careful nature of deduction rooms, the helmets didn't blow up there. They only took their quarry by beheading. This is... a deduction room?It was a deduction room. By the time that thought came up, it was already far too late. Ancora's head rolled onto the ground, encased inside of the helmet. A scream. The other Ancora was screaming. Not like it would matter to Ancora anymore. Before she died, she wanted to know who that was, but she couldn't formulate anything. All she could formulate was a thought. A thought that told her, if she hacked the rabbit before the second vote, then maybe... things might've been different. Superbia... suspicious. Hack her... BGM: Silence Without any answers out of it, Ancora died.   
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Oct 15, 2021 18:45
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 So we’ve got Ancora and… let’s call her Ain’tcora. Now what? Edit: Ohhhhhhh. You know, I have an idea. Consider the concept of Schrödinger’s cat. A creature in the middle of a superposition. Two possible outcomes: the cat is alive, or it’s dead. I note that at the far right side of the flowchart, there are two possible outcomes - and in this one, Ancora is dead. What if the whole point is for Ancora to get out? Quackles fucked around with this message at 19:02 on Oct 15, 2021 |
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Oct 15, 2021 18:54
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