Things left to do in this safe zone? We're supposed to be here 100 hrs! That's 4 days! We can't have burnt through more than half of one, yet right?

>Hugs
Iso could probably use another hug, I'll bet he's still brooding over his "failure".
Been a while since we hugged Mako. And Snuggler, most of his hugs have been going to Shopkeep, and he can't remember those since he diverged. Recluse when he comes back from reclusing, sure. The Scanner-Gaurdsman tower could use a hug, heck, have we ever hugged Scanner? That needs to be fixed.

Please don't waste all 4 days huggin though, there's gotta be something else we can think of to try before the next stage.

>>445830
Yes it has... here. >>443541 Snuggler wakes up in the safe zone despite never being there. >>443551

What we still need to test is what happens during the stages with no Safe Zone to wake up in.

Lets get a music box from a black smith so Glitcher can have music all the time!

Also happened to Math when he left to count stars, and the recruiters we sent out to talk to people.

And Arbiter woke up in our safe zone fine, even though he's native to another bracket. You don't default to your "home" setting when you wake up, thankfully. Everyone seems tied to Alison.

On the things to do list- we have to see if Sixer or Savior ever try and get in touch with us, although that's just waiting.

We could discuss the revelation of the corrupted collective with Arbiter, since he's had the most dealings with them. We could also tell Corruptor, but I don't think we've learned enough to merit a call just yet.

>>445827
We should either leave Glitcher a note first, or leave someone behind to deliver him a message when he wakes up.

The message is this:
"Glitcher, we forgive you. Whatever you did in the past, it's in the past. The glitcher *I* know has a good heart, and has been nothing but helpful and kind to us. Please, help us break this cycle and defeat the CAI which forces us to relive this horrible competition forever."

We should make an encouraging note/dream invitation for shopkeep, and have everyone sign it. Maybe have like pictures of everyone too. Then give it to him, in the hopes that he can use it to remember Alison and the gang when they're not present.

Collect signatures while grinding hugs.

B. And then go explore some more of the safe zone.

1/2 Alison 2012/08/21(Tue)08:46 No. 445946 ID: f09b71
File 134556401050.png - (13.80KB , 700x700 , AD-21.png )

>What happens when someone who's never been in the safe zone tries to leave Alison's sanctuary?
They always end up in Alison's safe zone, as far as Alison can tell.

Alison also leaves a message for the glitcher, saying that he's still appreciated and welcome anytime.

2/2 Alison 2012/08/21(Tue)08:50 No. 445948 ID: f09b71
File 134556422845.png - (13.43KB , 700x700 , AD-22.png )

>Hug Scanner-Guardsman tower
She will begin with this more challenging hug, then proceed to hug several more people besides.

>Get a music box
Engineer will craft one for Alison, as he's sure he can do at least as good of a job as the blacksmith.

>Make a note/formal dream invitation for shopkeep
Engineer also notes that that would be a good experiment, to see if pictures or drawings of people will give the shopkeep recollection. Healer will draw something, as cameras would take a long time to make and can't be made into a fully functioning photographic tool with a weapon form. It's been tried, but it just causes damage with its flash.

>Mathematicians counting
After some hours, he's reported that he's calculated anywhere between 2,000 to 8000 after several counts, but mostly are somewhere within the range of 5,000. He expects that to be the real number.

Alison won't actually spend the remaining 90 something hours hugging, but there will be a lot of it. A few notes have shown up, but they don't appear to have anything to do with Alison so far.

Date with Arbiter go go go

>>445952
Nah, hows the expedition exploring the city going? And the recruitment effort.

>5,000 stars
Which means, ignoring resurrection and overloading shenanigans, there should be approximately 50million contestants alive.

Hmm. What else is there to do? We could check out the floaty space the borked teleporter brought us to before. Although that's perhaps unnecessarily risky.

How are the recruitment efforts going? We want to offer as many of the 10,000 here either backup or dream safety as we can.

We should start thinking about the next stage. How many people do we want along? I'm thinking 10ish, maybe all tier 3s. We want Healer along this time to heal freeroam injures. Possibly we should beef up Gambler and include him, since he seems to have a natural talent at this kind of thing.

We should also consider getting our core team more weapon forms, for freeroam use. Attacks that can be used at range, without throwing away your weapon. Things that can be used to disable without killing. Things that can be used to circumvent traps.

Something else we should try is to try to blacksmith some items such as reinforced metal beams that can be inserted into trap mechanisms (such as giant murder-fans), or the equivalent of 10-foot poles to spring pressure plats and such early. We don't know if it will work in freeroam logic, but it is worth a try.

We should also read that book on traps.

1/2 Alison 2012/08/22(Wed)09:42 No. 446344 ID: f09b71
File 134565372756.png - (11.02KB , 700x700 , AD-23.png )

Hour 15/100

Alison has gotten around 1000 people in the safe zone that have expressed interest in cooperating with her. She also gets wind that King is doing the same, and estimates there are also at least 1000 that have joined him as well. Alison will extend her invitations to her 1,000, and begin trying to construct more room in her house, as it will get crowded before too long.

She and Engineer spend some of their time reading the book on traps as well, Engineer focusing on making them while Alison focusing on avoiding them. Since engineer is busy, Alison also gets someone to get the blacksmith to order some metal beams.

While mentioning that she is also thinking of how many and who to bring on the next stage, the Engineer says that it may be best if Alison doesn't even go in the first place. This whole new sanctuary does appear to revolve around Alison, and would be disasterous for her to die. But, he adds, it doesn't appear that the grand scheme of things will be solved by being meek.

Alison 2012/08/22(Wed)09:43 No. 446345 ID: f09b71
File 134565383142.png - (12.88KB , 700x700 , AD-24.png )

Clarence has come back from her expedition. She says that the whole city is, as one could guess, futuristic inside and out. Otherwise, it's completely empty. Almost all of the buildings have the same rooms as well with little variance. The bedrooms are the same, mirrored at most, and there are indoor recreational rooms as well. Ultimately, she says that as a result there isn't exactly an issue of available space. But, all of the rooms are dimly lit, quiet, and to put it bluntly, spook her. That might be remedied by simply making additional lights and people around, it's hard to say.

Bandit also made a brief expedition into the dreamland. He claims that aside from wood, there is also a mineshaft and quarry around. It is a long walk, but materials could be gained from there as well.

Hmm. So we can build up the house and expand into the city as necessary. It's going to become more crowded as our outlying ghosts (the ones we didn't initially resurrect way back when) begin to wander in.

>keep Alison out of stages.
We can't avoid stages completely- we miss out on any useful resources that might be hidden in there that way (we can't win by clearing stages, but maybe we can learn or find something we can use). I suppose we could leave Alison behind and lead via ghost talk, but... it was always game over for us if she bit it anyways.

>futuristic
Any usable machines or tech?

>Mineshaft, quarry.
I wonder if we should explore that? Seems odd to have something her just for building, if players aren't intended to come here and build. Maybe there's something in there.

Not sure what other leads we have. Maybe ask Historian about the keycard he had info on? The more logs we get access to, the better (although we've already got Alison's and King's, and we're hoping Arbiter can get us Corruptor's. Not sure who'd be a good candidate to use another card on).

See of there's anyone willing to volunteer to explore the mine-shaft. And anyone that would be willing to actually do so mining / quarrying.

So from what they're saying, basically every building is an apartment building? Were there any in the distance that looked different enough that they might not be living quarters?

And hey, if we can ride out the next stage here, awesome. But we need to be doing something proactive as well, or else we're no better than the Savior, and we know from our notes (and straight-up deduction) that the Savior has never succeeded in overthrowing the system.

Speaking of the savior, I think we should prioritize having Alison in the safe zone, trying to make contact with him. We can check in with our team via ghost-talk every hour or two.

Have Arbiter lead the expeditions into stages, and keep in constant communication with him via his own Ghost Talk. Alison *is* very strong, but... it's probably best we don't risk losing absolutely everything this early on.

What are his stats, anyway? I don't think we ever bothered to scan him or ask.

There's a... there's a mineshaft and quarry? Does it look like they've been used, or were they just put there for show? The system would just have created the city in place if it was doing that. If the city was built from the mine and quarry though, it must have been built by contestants. Who built this city? Where are they?

The biggest risk of sending people into stages without Alison is then they're going in without, well, us. That means they're on their own for puzzles, and for figuring out how to recruit everyone they meet.

Arbiter could probably help engineer with the trap placement/defense planning. That was like the main theme of his house. Heck, we could stand to learn a thing or two on the subject.

I'm sure we have some people who'd be interested in challenging the horrors of the stages, if only because they can and we have their ghosts saved. Don't ask for volunteers, if they want to go they can go try it they can.

Alison 2012/08/23(Thu)00:29 No. 446524 ID: f09b71
File 134570695957.png - (17.51KB , 700x700 , ssf6-32.png )

Arbiter's stats are located at http://tgchan.org/wiki/Unnatural_Selection_Stats#The_Arbiter

Alison will send Atlas and a few others to investigate the quarry.

>Were there any in the distance that looked different enough that they might not be living quarters?
No, if there are any different buildings, then they were outwardly the same.

>Any useable tech?"
Yes, Clarence thinks. It does have stuff like air conditioners and the like. Maybe not so much futuristic, but significantly higher tech than could be made in a reasonable period of time normally.

Alison and Arbiter head into the safe zone's bar to have a partial date and partial waiting for the savior. The topic of traps do come up, but Arbiter wonders who would be attacking, if it's so certain that the system can't find Alison's place. Regardless, he would still help of course.

The system can't, but Corruptor might be able to eventually, and we can't be sure that he'll stay cordial. It's not like we're doing much of anything else with our labor force anyway.

Plus we could use them for hands-on training in a safe zone.

Hmm. Air conditioners...? Easy access to motors and wires, and since they're running that means there's a power grid in the city so we have access to electricity as well. That opens up a world of tech. Wait, if there's a power grid, where does the power come from? Ask them to see if they can trace the power lines to the source. Wait, there was a light bulb in the cave we found Recluse's note in. There's electricity in safe zones too. Do they have generators or something?

>Arbiter wonders who would be attacking, if it's so certain that the system can't find Alison's place

Better safe than sorry. If nothing comes up, we just spent a little time on a small distraction. If something does come up, then we'll be ready for it.

I'm not convinced we'll we attacked either, but we're really looking to get a better understanding of traps. By all indications, freeroam deathtraps are going to become more and more common, and a working knowledge base helps.

Hmm. If we need another topic of conversation while killing time, you could ask him what he thinks of the corrupted collective discovery.

Alison 2012/08/23(Thu)10:43 No. 446591 ID: f09b71
File 134574381717.png - (17.66KB , 700x700 , ssf6-33.png )

Alison says it's just as much to gain practice and understanding of traps, for sake of freeroam. Arbiter notes that, and on getting asked, he doesn't know what to think about the corruptive collected. He isn't that surprised now that he thinks about it in hindsight, nor should he be.

Hour 25/100
Atlas comes to the bar and reports that there appears to be a rich assortment of gems and ores, and looks untouched otherwise.

Engineer has been able to gather some of the parts to make better heaters and things, although even a few days straight only allows for so much to be done. Alison asks about the source of power, and the Engineer says he'll take a look at the light bulb under the lake.

Hour 26
After disturbing Recluse accidentally, Engineer reports it is magic. There was no power line past the ceiling, it was pure looks. Powered by nothing.

Hour 40
Alison isn't quite sure how so many hours passed, but the bar is still reminiscent of the 3rd stage's bar. Although she isn't looked on with disdain this time, and a lot of her new recruits have come by to ask Alison basic questions.

There still is no sign of the savior, and Alison can't think of how to fix one of the more pressing matters of how she's going to get into one of the system brackets. She may need to wait till after the stage itself to get a way to come to her.

>Getting into the system
Do we have any functioning teleporters left? We broke the first system one. The safe zone to corruption one takes us to null space now. The house to and from corruption one shouldn't work. We lost the second system teleport when mouse died. Hmm.

Maybe Arbiter still has some of his? Or we could ask our system refugees- if they were ever teleported out of a system zone, how do they get back? Those people we sent out as huggers had to have some way back from safe zones. Are their hidden teleporter rooms in the safe zones we could access with our Admin privileges?

Alternatively, we could seek outside help. Contact Sixer or the Savior. ...not sure that we have a way to initiate conversation with either of them though, we have to wait for them to come to us. :/

>>446591
If all else fails we can get Glitcher to do it, but Savior should be able to do it too.

Did Engineer ever get a chance to finish that Music Box for Glitcher? We should also bring him a bed. Maybe a small pavilon for shade against light too.

Ooh, magic. You know what that means! Blatant exploitation! Does the light bulb stay lit when the cord is severed? Does it light up again when you resplice it together? Take a lightbulb from one safe zone cave and splice it with the same wire as the other one. Do they glow half as much, or do they glow twice as bright? Attach a light bulb to an air conditioner and see if one will power the other. Say hi to the light bulb and see if it says hi back!

>>446633
Err, let's not mess with it if Recluse is occupying that spot. If we can find other magic electrical stuff then that would be good for experimentation.

I DO agree that experimentation would be a good idea since where impossible things occur, exploitation is just around the corner.

Alison 2012/08/23(Thu)20:29 No. 446759 ID: f09b71
File 134577899732.png - (61.63KB , 700x700 , AD-25.png )

>Remaining teleporters
They exist, but presumably won't work any longer after stage 6 merges into the stage 7 brackets.

>Music box
Engineer is working on it, and will have it delivered to the glitcher when it's done. Alison will also see about getting some carpenters to make glitcher a little glitcher-house.

He also did, instead of going to the light bulb, detach one of the lights in the dream's city. There isn't even a wire or anything on this one, it just has light coming out inexplicably. When Alison makes a visit to the dream, the Engineer asks if Alison wanted to try something with this sort of light.

is that a window

explore the window-world, be careful not to unplug it while you're in there!

>>446759
Dang, free light is nice but it's not electricity. An unlimited supply of that is exploitable, light not so much.

Take the thing apart. See what components you can remove before it stops working.

>a little glitcher-house
Shine to the sleeping glitch-god.

...the question is, of course, how you construct a miniature house quietly, and don't wake him up. Guess you could build the pieces elsewhere, and then assemble on site like a modular home.

>light experiments?
Well... not sure how much practical use an unending light is, here. If it has an infinite power source we can hijack, we might be able to do something with it.

But if it is magic...

Look, we know in most circumstances our virtual world follows the law of normal physics. But here's a clear exemption. The matrix is cheating and dumping free energy into this light bulb. So potentially this is an access point. It's something that interfaces with the underlying structure. A structure that we'd like to subvert, if possible.

...which will of course lead to us getting killed because we aren't Glitcher. Still, it'd be nice if we could do some kind of hacking. We know playing the game doesn't work, we need a way to break things.

>>446761
Do the air conditioners and other presumably electrical devices in the city run from a similar magical source, or do they plug into outlets? 'Cause if they plug into outlets, and the outlets have no wiring connecting them to a power source, then they're a magical source of electricity. Ask Engineer to cut one out of a wall to test.

>>446759
Bring the light to Glitcher. Ask him if he can tap into any crazy system magic with it.

>>446888
NEIN! Der Glitcher ist VERBOTEN!

Seriously let's let him sleep unless we absolutely positively cannot avoid it. ...how many people know that he's still got a ghost kicking around in here?

>>446904
Everyone who has ever absorbed us... and who know the details of Makos rescue.

That includes the Corrupter by the way.

Alison 2012/08/24(Fri)05:05 No. 446941 ID: f09b71
File 134580994819.png - (11.24KB , 700x700 , AD-26.png )

>How many people know about the glitcher's ghost?
A lot of higher ups, but there is a hush order on it. Other than that, there isn't much Alison can do about the number of people that know about it.

>Do other presumably electrical sources run from a magical source, or plug into outlets?
It's all magical, the Engineer says, but there are unoccupied outlets. He'll see what he can do about powering things with it after tearing it out of the wall.

>How to build a house?
Alison will likely have it built very far out in a hidden, secluded area, otherwise other ghosts won't be stopped from hanging out at the house either. She'll drop a note by the glitcher to give him directions.

Until the engineer goes to get an outlet, he messes around with the light. It is extremely fragile, and turns off as soon as a single part is removed, even if it's just so much as a screw. It turns into an unpowered block of metal and glass, but it turns back on if it's reassembled.

Welp, thats definately a magic light built with magical items. Have Engineer take the entire thing apart... lets see if there is anything in there we can use. If not he can reassemble it or leave it as he chooses.

Hmmm, when its on does the lighted part heat up or is it simply light?

As for Glitcher on the other side of the directions to his house we should include the fact that we've learned of the resets... we've learned that the CAI will never let us out no matter what. But we will keep struggling. Its not in our nature to give up. If he ever wants to help us struggle he is welcome to join us and we will never begrudge his choice to sleep.

Pleasant dreams dear friend.

>>446935
Corruptor almost certainly has access to Glitcher's ghost himself, anyways. Glitcher told us he'd been killed and absorbed before just fine without any ill effects before we did it, and it's kind of standard practice for leaders to back their people up.

Presumably, Corruptor is either respecting Glitcher's last words, hasn't had the chance for a several hour dreamland hike, or tried and failed to get his help again.

>light
Man, Engie's frustrated with this magic stuff.

Obviously the virtual world is programmed to provide free external power into "lights", and has a very narrow and specific definition of a light. So even the screw removal causes it to fail recognition.

Will putting a different screw back fix it, or does it have to be the same one? If a new screw works, that implies we should be able to build duplicate lights, and they would light up as soon as completed.

No sure of the utility, but we could light the spooky city all we wanted.

>>446946
I don't think we should leave any contest or system related information for Glitcher. If we're going to win him over at all, I think we need to treat him as a person we're worried about, not a resource to use. He has to come to the decision to help us because we make him care again, not by outlining the problems. I think he already knows those, anyways.

>>446941
Well nuts. Looks like the code is set up to recognize only specific objects for powering. So much for exploiting this directly.

Ask if Engineer is alright, he looks frustrated.

>>447040
Of course hes frustrated he gets his hands on what looks like something technologically advanced and it turns out the thing runs on fairy dust.

>>447022
I basically want to turn his guilt away from beating himself up and into something constructive. Telling him we've learned part of the reason hes given up and turning around and saying while we respect his choice to do so we'll go down fighting.

Lead by example and all that.

Oh hey, have you done the shopkeeper note memory experiment yet? Healer should be done her drawing by now.

Experiment: Alison approaches a shopkeep, who then remembers her. Alison explains, hands off the note, drawing. Alison leaves. Then we send in someone not associated with Alison in his memory (one of the new recruits, I guess) to see if the shopkeeper remembers Alison.

If it works, that's great, but we'll only have given a shopkeep in a safe zone a persistent memory. And as far as we know, that body and the note could be destroyed when the safe zone expires. We'll need to pass the note along to another shopkeep that appears in the stages, or that we summon from an admin room, to get the note back to wherever he's deployed from.

...what happens if Smuggler hangs out with a Shopkeep by himself? You get a Shopkeep who only remembers... himself?

Alison 2012/08/24(Fri)20:44 No. 447223 ID: f09b71
File 134586629331.png - (17.20KB , 700x700 , ssf6-34.png )

>Different screw
Engineer says that putting in an identical screw, even from a different but identical light box, does not work. Although, he can switch screws within the same box. That is, the upper right screw can go in the lower left and vice versa and it will work. In short, it appears to be a closed system of magic, and though he isn't so much frustrated, he has lost interest in it. He will try and gather some pieces to see if there are exceptions, but otherwise he will continue making the music box.

Healer and Succubus have both spent a few hours with Shopkeep to test out Healer's drawing.

It does appear to work both when Healer and Succubus are around, and shopkeep remembers Alison and everyone else while looking at the drawing. Yet, only while actually looking at the drawing, not just in inventory space. When Healer and Succubus left the room, and no one in the picture was around, the Shopkeep was still able to remember them, but only if he noticed he had the picture.

In another experiment, the shopkeep put the picture away, and they both left. The new recruit came in to the shopkeep, and found out that the shopkeep had completely forgotten that he had the picture. Only when the recruit told him about it did he pull it out, and remembered Alison and all of the rest. Oddly, he never remembered forgetting about the picture. And lastly, if the smuggler goes to the shopkeep, then the shopkeep remembers the smuggler as an independant contestant. He does not remember the smuggler when the smuggler was the system connected shopkeep; i.e. himself.

Alison has plenty of time to think of how she will approach the glitcher, if at all. She is leaning on leaving a note with the music box guiding him to a house far away, reminding him that she still respects his decision even though she'll continue fighting.

Since options have become limited for the time being, this will be the last call for tasks during the safe zone to avoid too much faffing about. Over half of the remaining 100 hours are still available, so time consuming tasks/experiments are available. If anything has been forgotten, then feel free to reiterate them.

I can`t think of anything else to do... just Glitcher`s house , continued trap experiments and the metal bars for anti-traps.

As for the stages I do think Alison should participate... if for no other reason she needs to know what to expect from freeroam, we've avoided it for a while now and that can be deadly since if we do advance to stage 11 she needs to be one of the winners.

Arbiter dates. Music for the the masses in the safe zone, like an impromptu concert. Socializing, basically!

>>447226
p.s. keep an eye out for any Wizards or similar. Really, what were we thinking, trying to figure out MAGIC with ENGINEERING

... I like the idea of a concert. Alison could rock it old school. Get all the other musical talents to join in from her house. Since music is more about intent then anything else as long as they are on the same wavelength it will sound good. We want hope, optimism and joy at being alive despite everything in our path.

We also want to rage against the machine.

So a couple different songs would be nice. Pity theres no way to record music, I'd love to include that in our Glitcher package.

Do a practice session first of course.

Get bored and try and hook Smuggler up with someone he'd look adorable together with.
We're probably the only person giving him any hugs of any kind! He probably doesn't have much of a social life beyond selling shit to people and being friends with us.

>>447223
Time consuming tasks...

A) Fully exploring the dream world to see what its geographical limits are.
B) building novelty items that could be useful for disarming traps- things like ropes (with or without grappling hooks), poles, weights and ball&chains. Pickaxes maybe, both for mining and for literal wallhacking while in freeroam stages.
C) Rigging a big power transformer to get some high voltage or something, using parts from all the air conditioners and utilizing multiple outlets. Useful for traps and advanced science.
D) Figuring out a way to mine out shit without it taking bloody forever to do so.
E) Mining out shit.

Not time consuming:
1) Outfitting our stage-runners with weapons and armor that could be used to disable or avoid traps. Acid, fire, water, electricity, powerful digging or cutting implements, flight, hard armor instead of clothing.

Does Alison have any more weapon slots? Apparently we have five weapons now- hair, harp, piano, fire spell, acid spit. Do we get more slots from T3 weapon line? I know we have more armor slots, as we only picked two outfits so far. I think we should get another armor choice for battle. Something more like hard armor. Also since limited flight is a thing I want to either get Alison a body mod so she can fly, or put flight on our instage armor set.

We could also ask the contestants who went through last stage's freeroam/trap section if their armor helped at all and if the material they chose made any difference.

Alison should add to the note that if Glitcher doesn't see any way to do good with his powers, then he could do good by sharing what he knows. He's the only one here who remembers everything from before. As horrible a revelation it was, he knows what was attempted and failed before. With that knowledge, Alison can try things that haven't been tried before, and maybe, just maybe, find a way to change things for the better.

>>447223
Oh right and we should give Shopkeep a necklace or bracelet or something with pictures that he can wear and be aware of at all times that will help him keep his memory.

>>447233
Minor outfit change? We would pay for it of course. Just a necklace with a picture locket.

>>447233
Yeah, crafting a memory bracelet seems like a good try. It's more likely to catch his eye than a note he forgets is in his pocket.

Craft a spare, in case it doesn't stay with him when the stage starts.

>>447229
Some kind of get together at our house would be nice. A lower key party then we were planning before, with some fun and music to keep people's spirits up. Maybe the music will attract Glitcher?

>Stage runners
We need to decide whose going to do the stage with us (10 or so tier 3 people, I think). We need to take the risk, both to learn everything we can, save people along the way, and to overload the exit. Maybe we can earn some future respect and cooperation from King's faction if we help them in a tight spot.

Most of our allies only have 1 weapon form. They should try to grab two more each- one thing that could be used for traps, and one thing that could be used non-lethally in freeroam. That will give us more options.

>>447232
Pushing too hard, I think. The current note, music box, and house are sufficient.

>>447266
I think we have time for one at the house AND a rowdy one for the general population of the safe zone :D

I just had a thought, invite a Dealer, a Barkeep, a BlackSmith and a Shopkeep all into your house and ask them to all go to sleep just as the stage timer ends. Then next rest area we do the same thing.

More ideas.

Do we want to go back and experiment with the empty place the teleporters lead to again? Possibly with a better means of propulsion, or with the telescope? We might have something to learn there, but there's the risk of getting stuck.

See if Historian is willing to talk about that stage 8 keycard he had a location on. We won't need it for a while, but maybe we need to plan ahead on obtaining it (unless Historian already has it and was just playing coy, which is fine. He can hold on to it for now).

Spend some personal time with Iso. It's been a bit since you've seen him, and he's probably still feeling insecure over the past and possibly future "failure" thing.

Ask your system people how anyone from the system teleports back to a system zone after taking a teleport, since theirs are tiles out, and not devices you take with you. Those people you dispatched as huggers had to have some way of getting home- maybe we can use that in the future.

Speaking of huggers... have you heard, by any chance, any reports of an angry, unscannable person chasing contestants around the safe zone and hugging them? xD

>Yet, only while actually looking at the drawing, not just in inventory space.
The answer is clear. We must get a second picture (keeping this one as a backup), and construct a hat from which we can suspend it like an eyepatch.

>>447287

We must call it an eye drive for no good in-story reason!

Alison: if you end up talking to Glitcher, avoid topics like telling him what you're planning. Chances are, he's seen it before and it'll just make him sad. If you can and there's a good opportunity, ask him what you've never tried.

1/5 Alison 2012/08/25(Sat)10:43 No. 447454 ID: f09b71
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Alison and Iso give a concert in one of the larger buildings. Some more recruits are gained, but otherwise it goes smoothly and uneventfully.

Later on, she gives a concert in her house as well for a several hour long party.

>Picture locket
One of Alison's new recruits smiths 2 lockets, one as a backup, the other to give to the shopkeep.

>Weapon forms
By this point, most people have at least 2 utility based weapon forms, and prefer to keep some slots open to have flexibility in stages.

>Armor forms
Armor appears far more cosmetic than weapons, even in freeroam. Material doesn't appear to matter so much, and utilities in armor seems almost non-functional.

2/5 Alison 2012/08/25(Sat)10:44 No. 447455 ID: f09b71
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>Invite Dealer, Barkeep, Blacksmith and Shopkeep to house
They all decline.

>Talk about Historian's Stage 8 keycard
He says he doesn't know what to talk about in regards to it, it didn't appear any more or less special than Alison's.

>System huggers
Alison hasn't heard back from them.

>How do system people get back from doing their tasks?
Requesting a teleport back from the operators is another hidden skill available to those who are system connected and dispatched.

>Engineer tasks
He is having some success creating more advanced power sources for more modern, possibly futuristic furnishings. He is taking a much higher priority, along with some of Alison's people that took an interest in blacksmithing, in creating novelty items for helping deal with and disarm traps.

3/5 Alison 2012/08/25(Sat)10:44 No. 447456 ID: f09b71
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>Iso Date
Iso is highly pleased to spend time with Alison.

4/5 Alison 2012/08/25(Sat)10:44 No. 447457 ID: f09b71
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>Arbiter Date
So is the Arbiter.

5/5 Alison 2012/08/25(Sat)10:46 No. 447458 ID: f09b71
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Glitcher's house is completed on a cliff overlooking a beach far below. Alison may try exploring the beach at a later date and location, but there doesn't appear to be anything functionally special about it. A note is left without being pushy on the glitcher, saying he is free to help himself to the house. Alison doesn't run into the glitcher personally again, however.

>Mining out stuff
There is plenty of manpower and plenty of tools that will help Engineer's luxury projects, but the time it takes travelling between the mine shafts and Alison's house is the main issue. Engineer is trying to find if there are any vehicles in the city, but hasn't had any luck so far.

The King approaches Alison while she is in the safe zone. He says that he has made a few thousand emblems, both for him and Alison. This way, he says, Alison's and King's recruits, members, vassals and all can recognize each other, both internally and externally and cooperate without having outsiders try and ride on their name. Alison just has to accept, he says.

It is getting close to the time for stage 6 entry, and Alison should decide on who to bring and who to sit in the stage. Most of the newer recruits will hang by in the dream house, but some will be running the stage as well.

That sounds reasonable. We will of course try to recruit more people if we can, though.

>>447458
We actually have our own emblem already don't we? I'm pretty sure we made them as part of the anti-shapeshifter measures.

In any case accept the offer, its the first step in becoming allies with him, recognizing each other as equals.

For the entries I suggest we take 10 tier 3s and 10 top tier 2s... as well as any who wish to come on top of that. It should all be volunteer only of course. I still think Alison should go. Maybe this stage will have some chests.

Where is the Recluse date.

Oh noes! Arbiter's relationship heart is waxing fuller and redder than Iso's! :O

>emblems
Didn't we have a similar system in place in corruption? Although I guess we've more than doubled our numbers since then (~800 to ~1800).

Accept, it's gesture of goodwill and cooperation. (Not that we're not willing to cooperate and overload exits with non-affiliated people as well. Save everyone, and all that).

>stage
Make sure all the new people who decide to brave the stage and not hide in the house are backed up via a persistence duel!

>Who to bring
>necessary core party
Alison (any risk to her is more than offset by the fact the team needs our leadership).
Iso (light trail and platform shenanigans).
Duelist (defense).
Healer (healing beats traps!)
Scanner (for scans)
Recluse (other defense, remote communication if separated).

>other potentially useful people
Clarence (more mobility)
Bandit (item theft)
Gambler (good at, and experienced with freeroam).
Gaurdsman, Atlas, Arbiter (they're really just more firepower)
Tier twos? (not sure if their abilities are worth risking them).
System people? (Hunters etc have cheatingly higher stats, but I'm not sure they've been with us long enough to feel comfortable asking them to step into the line of fire, and they have no experience with puzzles etc).

>leave behind
Smuggler. (We can't lose the shop, then we lose versatility completely).

In stage there are some tests that need to be done.

1) A tier 2 should immediately try to sleep upon entering the stage.
2) a tier 2 should try to sleep from the Dream once the stage starts.
3) a tier 2 should sleep mid-way through the stage.
4) a tier 2 should sleep in the dream mid-way through the stage. Probably needs to be told by Alison or Recluse to do so.

Just to be thorough we could do one at the end while the stage is dissolving... it would need a strict volunteer though and only from someone in the stage, we want to make sure we can pull people out, not sentance them to die. They should also be backed up 100%.

Arbiter actually has a strong defensive build, not offensive firepower role.

>>447467
also you mean YAY, Arbiter! and STOP FAILING ME, ISO ;3c

[Haha, I thought he "didn't want a queen" but he's still giving her roughly equal billing with these, even if Alison's don't have a crown symbol xD]

Smile at the gesture at least

Dang, no ideas about how to stop the stages? Maybe you can rush the admin location? Oh, no teleports dang. Uh... have Iso cut off all the exits, and if the levels start to disappear, create platform!

How could we test how far away you have to get from a platform before you're floating and not falling into insta-gib? Anyone willing to get in the catapult? c_c

1/2 Alison 2012/08/25(Sat)13:07 No. 447497 ID: f09b71
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The emblems are accepted, they'll be mixed in with Alison's original emblems. With King's offer, it is easy to get enough for everyone. She estimates there are around 2,200 total people under Alison's name, but she's only met a chunk of them briefly.

>Where is the Recluse date
Recluses reason for being a Recluse has dissipated over some time so it isn't long before he comes out. Alison spends some time with him. It is mostly quiet, but he appreciates it all the same.

2/2 Alison 2012/08/25(Sat)13:07 No. 447498 ID: f09b71
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As Alison starts sorting out some tier 2's for testing as well as her core party, Arbiter does note that unless he missed something, there is no sign that there will be teaming up this round. Everyone may be alone again, something Alison may want to consider while setting up the runner.

No he hasn't missed anything. Anyone we send in is almost certainly going to start spread out in different places (especially considering the number of contestants going in!). People have to be able to survive on their own until we meet together and team up.

I don't think we want to solo or anything though. The final stage will almost certainly require several people working together to control if we want to overload and let as many people through as possible (obviously, there will be freeroam and puzzle casualties).

Of course, the more people we bring, the more we risk losing to puzzles and freeroam before we team up (as tier 3s, combat is the least threatening to us at this point).

Suggested runners: Alison, Iso, Duelist, Scanner, Recluse, Healer, Clarence, Bandit, Gambler, Gaurdsman, Arbiter, sleep testing volunteers, all other volunteers who chose to bypass the safety of the house.

(Suggestions, edits?).

Also, runners should keep an eye out for a Shopkeep summoned during any mixups, so we can see if he retains the external memory item.

Atlas and Strongarm for summoning shenannigans might be useful for bypassing traps.

Alison 2012/08/25(Sat)14:11 No. 447524 ID: f09b71
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The Arbiter advises that volatility still makes this dangerous, and there will likely be deaths, so Alison should make sure that she isn't sending anyone that she couldn't stand to lose. Functionally speaking, she'll be able to replace approximately 24 living Tier 3's should any of them die.

Projected Stage Team
Alison, iso, Duelist, Healer, Scanner, Recluse, Arbiter, Clarence, Atlas, Strongarm, Bandit, Gambler, Guardsman and 4 Tier 2 volunteers for tests.

Accept?

>>447524
Sounds good.

Engineer did have a legitimate concern regarding Alison entering the Stage. Since our real value there is our leadership, we could just stay in the city and have people with ghost talk summon us. We should probably ask our most trusted for their opinion on the matter.

And speaking of ghost talk, what did Recluse switch out for it? Block would be the best choice, since that's easily bypassable by attacking people he's likely to be protecting, but since he did it on his own there's a chance he got rid of float, which is helpful in areas with platform effects.

Noooooo. Let's leave our Delimiterx2 members out of the stages until the next one where we can group up. If we lose one of them we can't replace that easily. That would be Iso, Duelist, and Recluse. Have them stay behind if they are okay with it.

I'm tempted to have Alison stay behind too... that feels like a copout though.

Is Gambler even part of our group? If he is, we should get his stats. I expect him to be a bit into T2 at this point.

Well... we've still got the house, absorption, and ghost talk. Anyone who dies can still participate in everything but stages.

Although that's a lot of warnings. Maybe we should pull people we need for other things.

Pull Arbiter. We need him alive to try and access Corruptor's logs. Doesn't cripple us if anyone else is retired to the house.

We can't pull Recluse and Duelist. We'd like one person with protector around.

Alison stays in, we need control.

>>447531
If we are going to pull out anyone Arbiter sounds like a good choice... again though I think we should have Alison and her closest in the stage. We need the experience. If we do lose our sanctuary at stage 8 and we skip all the free-roam sections before then we are doomed simply because we don't know what works and what doesn't.

Also, do we need people with redundant skill sets? We could pull one of Iso / Clarence and Atlas / Strongarm. That way we still have immediate access to summoning and shenanigans next stage even if we lose people.

Arbiter going through the stage with a ghost talk Alison always up seems like a good way to have her stay safe, and see what happens.

That said, I am leaning towards Alison going.

>>447531
Protector is only useful if you're in a group situation. When split up like this, we need either people that can handle themselves on their own (Alison) or people that are expendable (any T2 players, or MAYBE some of our single delimiter T3 players)

Hey can we just buy Ghost Talk? That would be a good idea to have on our big players.

We will be in a group situation eventually.... every stage we've been in has a single exit and every time we've gone in we've been among the last exits by choice in order to get as many as out as possible. Some people are going to fight that and a protector is needed.

>>447718
Using either ability/boom absorb and/or Smuggler I think we could give anyone we wanted ghost talk, or pretty much anything else for that matter.

In the diss thread, we were discussing the possibility of giving the whole team ghost talk and having Alison run command and control for everyone at once from the house. It would mean doing rooms in parallel, but it would certainly give us an edge in puzzles, and the whole team would benefit from our leadership. Also, no one dies before we get there to help (...though some might die anyways).

Unnatural Selection - Thread 5 END Alison 2012/08/26(Sun)02:42 No. 447870 ID: f09b71
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Alison will pull some individuals with redundant skillsets, and so Iso and Strongarm will stay back at the safe house. Recluse would like to go in. Duelist, too, would like to go in, but he'll make sure he's alive to help with later stages, especially 9. Arbiter will also remain at the safe house.

Gambler decides what the hell, he'll formally join Alison's group. He is brought to maximum Tier 2.

The four Tier 2's introduce themselves as being apprentices to the Engineer. They'll gladly test themselves in stage 6.

Alison's final team setup will be herself, Healer, Scanner, Recluse, Clarence, Atlas, Bandit, Gambler, Guardsman and the four volunteers.

Wiki Updated, Recluse and Arbiter have Ghost Talk. Also, votes will still be accepted for Alison going in or staying out of the stages, till the next thread.

>>447870
I think my final decision is that Alison should not risk her entire dreamworld's population just to get some additional hands-on experience. She can get almost as much benefit from staying in communication with Recluse via Ghost Talk.

This changes from my stance of not wanting her to stay behind because it felt like a copout.

I still think Alison needs the personal experience of running through a freeroam section while its not too late. Next stage we can be cowards and play superviser with al people running with ghost talk. Stage 6 should be relatively benign with the 100 exits.

I've decided it would be safer for everyone for Alison to stay behind, since the cons are all mitigated, or even turned into benefits, through ghost talk. We obviously need to have Gambler and the four volunteers get ghost talk and access to Alison's ghost so that she can keep in touch with as many people as possible; they can probably afford to give up an inventory boon for it, or if they have all of their novelty slots filled we can get them Extra Boons I. Actually, we should do that whether we stay in the city or not, since they could at least be supervised by Arbiter or Chief.

And Recluse got rid of Recursion? I guess if all of Alison's ghosts that aren't in the city or alive are always in the forest he might not see much point in having it anymore, but that still surprises me.

I kind of think we should just give everyone going in ghost talk, then Alison can guide everyone through at once. Doing puzzles in 8-way parallel will certainly be an advantage. Also, then we don't have to worry so much about people getting killed before we can do anything about it- since everyone will be under our control the whole time.

Assuming of course, that having an Alison on their shoulder means we're essentially controlling the other players. I don't like this plan if it instead means putting our characters on autopilot.

Thread 5 Epilogue: Rule Update Alison 2012/08/26(Sun)06:18 No. 447887 ID: f09b71
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>Ghost talking multiple people
A brief experiment is given, in which it is found out that a single person can only be summoned by 3 different individuals at a single time.

Engineer says that he and perhaps mathematician will at least be able to keep in contact with the four tier 2s and tell Alison how it goes.

The three characters chosen to do so, if that route is made, will be directly controlled.

Okay, so only 3 team leaders?

Recluse seems obvious. And uh... I'd like to keep Scanner alive.

Torn on the third. I'm leaning Healer (we'll likely need her alive later in the stage). Clarence's light trail and platform abuses would be fun, but I think that's enough the keep her alive without our intervention. Atlas would be nice if the summon allies ability worked across rooms, but it doesn't. I kinda want to play with Bandit and Gaurdsman too, but there's no pressing reason for it.

(Oh, and obviously, we need to give the spare Shopkeep locket to one of the three).

>>447887
I definitely like the idea of Alison not going into the stage this time, if we can control 3 characters this way.

We should create a think-tank around Alison that can help us with the stages. Have at least Mathematician and Engineer hang out around us in order to provide advice on puzzle mechanics and freeroam sections. We can then use that advice when assisting people inside the stage.

GAH! Alright if we're going to do Alison the backseat commander lets do it right.

Team leaders:

Alison: Recluse, Scanner, Healer
Arbiter: Atlas, Mako, Bandit
Engineer: Volunteer 1, Volunteer 2, Clarence (Just so he can have her do experiments)
Math: Volunteer 3, Volunteer 4, Gambler (Gambler should do his own thing, Math should see how he works)

For the tier 3s they should replace with block if they have it, or the absorb boon if they don't.

>>447937
A distributed command and control system? That sounds... excellent. Increases everyone's odds of survival and allows passing of information (fatal traps, puzzle solutions, etc) without becoming needlessly bloated and hard for us to control. I love it.

Obviously, Alison, Arbiter, Math and Engie should be hanging out it the same room so they can pass information as needed.

...hopefully each commander being in four places at one (3 shoulders, 1 room) isn't too much of a headache for them.

I forgot about Gaurdsman.... lets bring Chief in as he IS a capable leader and well Gaurdsman does need a firm hand to know when to back the hell up. Wouldn't want him to attack the King hah.

Well, we could just abstract it bigger, and assign non-specified people to stay in contact with all the other unnamed recruits who opted to run the stage instead hiding in the house.

Also, it's unlikely all four of the volunteers will stay in. Either two of them will be able to escape the stage by sleeping, or two won't be able to get in by sleeping. So all of Math and Engie's slots won't be filled.

So Gaurdsman should be covered. (I'd wouldn't be surprised if he finds his way to Scanner pretty early though).