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"That should take you to a crack which leads to the pathway to the operation's folder. You can go with whoever you want, but when you get there just activate the restart icon on the sphere. Should be simple enough even for you." He explains.

"Why don't you do it?" You ask making him look at you like you are stupid.

"If you mess it up who will be here to make secondary plans. Besides, from what we can observe there is some sort of hellish fight going on in there. I don't want to walk into the crossfire." He explains.

You get the feeling he won't answer any questions.

Wat say wat do?
[]My AI and I are in a trial separation, send someone else.
[]Ask someone else to go with you CURRENT PARTY: MANIA Areta
[]Ask him something anyway
[]Time to storm the castle
[]Other, please specify
(2/2)

No emails as you are still stuck in the World.

>>25118610
Let's make sure our team is all prepped up. Ask the admin if he has any ability to buff us before we go jumping into some AIDA.
If everything is good, time to storm the castle.

Also, am I the only one hoping Snark will get the shit kicked out of him and we get to save him? Because that would be pretty awesome.

>>25118610
[X]Ask someone else to go with you CURRENT PARTY: MANIA Areta

>>25118716
Who do you want to go with you?

Luna: Currently at her guild home
Durga: patrolling the city
Lotus: Keeping order in city

I never finished reading the archives, so I'm going to lurk this thread for now. Don't really have time to participate at the moment anyways.

>>25118750
I was thinking Vividor, but then I realized we didn't know where he was... oops.

Durga would have been fine, if she had something to protect her...

>>25118822
Should we give the epitaph to the raven guildmaster? He could probably put it to Durga. And since this is an emergency.

>>25118822

I'd almost say replace Areta with Lotus, but Areta's going to need to cut her teeth on fighting AIDA sometime. Let's bring her along. MANIA's got our backs.

>>25118610

>[x]Ask him something anyway

This is a really vague question... but got any advice for us once we get there? Anything to look out for or that can do to maximize our chances of this plan working?

Actually, wait. Epitaphs are supposed to represent a flaw and/or shortcoming in the person, yes?

Which does each represent?

>>25118716
Nah, let's just keep MANIA and Areta. Everyone else is busy.

Well, except Vividor I guess, but this doesn't seem like the sort of problem you can solve by... gyrating.

>>25118900
You have no idea.

>>25118921

Could we maybe field a guess about the ones we encountered based on what we know?

>>25118942
Speculate freely.

>>25118956

I was asking about what we knew of encountered users, quirks and whatnot. Since I'm not really able to dive for the info myself.

>>25118956
Too bad we no almost nothing about the guy who had Innis, though perhaps there is some twisted love with Macha.
I still vote same group, but ask if guy can buff us, because we've probably been given him free data for all the times he's observed us.

>>25119001
Possibly obsession. That's what I'd throw my chips down on, anyway. Hamelin really loved to hate us.

>>25119030
I was putting my money on devotion actually.

>>25119045
Two sides, same coin, etc.

>>25119030
>>25119045
>>25119080
Man, we're really into the coin metaphors today.

>>25119001
>>25119030

Hamelin appeared to be an AI researcher who desperately wanted to provide for his family. To do so, he was forced to go under the knife for a drastic procedure that transformed him into Hamelin. It seems that he became obsessed with AIDA after he discovered that it could either make him feel whole or help him recover some memories of who he was.

So it seems that Macha may have been a perfect fit for him. Possibly even before the procedure that made Hamelin who he was.

I was not disappointed in the rebooted Hollow Quest.

You think about your party members and decide they are good enough. MANIA generally always has your back and Areta needs to cut her teeth on AIDA at some point so you instead look at the shabby man in front of you. "Can you like, buff us or something?" You ask making him give you a queer look.

"How the hell am I supposed to do that? My admin controls are on my computer, idiot" He scolds you and you get the impression he is irritable from lack of cigarettes or coffee likely.

"This is a really vague question... but got any advice for us once we get there? Anything to look out for or that can do to maximize our chances of this plan working?" You ask making him scratch at the stubble on his face.

"Try not to die, that's about it. There are some insane levels of AIDA readings coming from the folder. Make sure yo only go with Epitaph users or AIDA-PCs." He explains.

"Well, you are certainly helpful." You say making him shrug.

"Just get it done." he commands.

You turn and leave and meet up with MANIA and Areta outside of the guildhouse.

"So?" Areta asks.

"Here's the thing. Seems Kite managed to create some cracks we can get through to go through to the operations folder, where the AIDA evidently is." You explain before glancing at the black cracked sky. "Seems Snark had a similar idea and went through one of the cracks and is possibly in the operations folder now." You explain.

"What do you want to do when you get there?" Areta continues as you make your way to the warp portal.

"What do you mean?" You ask making MANIA pipe up beside you.

"I suspect she is referring to Snark." She answers.
(1/2)

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You think about it as you go to the chaos gate. You hold up the key and after a few seconds find yourself warped to a wasteland desert area. You look around and see in the distance what looks like a crack the world, with pure white on the other side of it. You also see there seems to be quite a few players fighting and killing each other on the field.

"Hell yeah! PK heaven from Kestral!" One of the men shouts

"You-you shouldn't hurt other people, KYA!" A beast woman shouts before getting killed.

Wat do?
[]Sneak past the PKs, they are a symptom of a larger problem
[]You have to help everyone you can
[]Go back to town
[]Other, please specify

Also, please roll 1d100 no matter what you choose. I will take the best of first three as always
(2/2)

Rolled 26

>>25119169
>[x]You have to help everyone you can

Time to lay down the law, and save as many people from comas as we can. We're going to get noticed if we try to sneak by anyhow. Perhaps MANIA can do a bit of her intimidation thing to get the PKs to stop?

If not, then we may have to rally the survivors and fix them up enough to be an effective fighting force and have them hole up somewhere.

Rolled 60

>>25119218
They're from Moon Tree, aren't they?
[X] Intimidation

Rolled 99

>>25119169
>[]Sneak past the PKs, they are a symptom of a larger problem
Seriously, lets get this shit over with.

Rolled 17

>>25119169
Damn our heroism.

Rolled 48

>>25119169
Oh, fuck.

[x] Smack shit out of everyone, find out if anyone entered the portal.

These guys might be Moon Tree, Katsura might have went through the crack.

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You realize you can't just leave these people and rush off to save them. It takes a while, and you have to PK a few of the PKers, but you manage to mostly clear the field in about an hour and a half. Your combat strategy seems to focus on the same as always, throwing up buffs and debuffs, and then letting MANIA go to work. Sadly she seems to not be in top form, and Areta is evidently not used to combat. It doesn't help when she keeps saying sorry to the people she is stabbing.

You finally make it over to the crack in the field and walk in. You now find yourself in a large white room, similar to the one you saw the chair in, but you can get the distinct impression of direction in this one. You walk for what seems like forever before you hear the sounds of combat in the distance. You run forward with your companions and eventually find yourself in a large room. You look in the center of it and see what can only be described as a ball with leaves covered in a massive amount of black orbs which sink into the large white one and vanish. The leaves seem to split off and protect the AIDA creature from the other members in the room.

On one side, wrapped in azure flames and wielding tri bladed short swords is Kite. He gives a shrill rasp before dashing forward quickly and attacking the other member of the room.
(1/2)

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Snark seems to be a bit worse for wear, with his hooded sweatshirt having black cracks on it which line his body, His hood is down and you can see black orbs trailing in his wake as he moves similarly to Kite. Kite slashes down at Snark which he catches with his arm. There is a creaking sound and then something like glass shattering as the arm breaks off and Kite goes for the Orb. The creature fires small leaves and Kite is forced to stop before getting his back filled with burrowing needles from Snark.

"It seems I've been disarmed. Ha ha!" He laughs but frowns when he realizes the only response he gets from Kite is another raspy moan. "Well, you are certainly no fun. Though now that I get a good look at you kite, you are rather tasty looking arn't you?" He asks as countless white string comes out of the stump where his arm was and lashes out to grab kite.

Wat do?
[]Back someone up(who?)(Kite, Magus, Snark)
[]Just watch this play out
[]Say something
[]Other, please specify
(2/2)

>>25119621

[X] Just watch this play out

This is going to end so well.

Err... anyone else here?

I'd sorta not like this to become a dictatorship.

>>25119621
Man I would love to help Kite, but that would be hella meta-gaming, and he may even be different in this universe.
But I also don't want to help Snark right now, mainly so we can prove we can stand up without him...but that is also a pretty stupid idea.

I wonder if we can absorb AIDA with the 'hole' left behind by Snark...

My plan is to have Mania and Areta Support Snark while distracting Magus and Kite. We look for an opening and dive for the Epitaph. I would just love to see what happens.

>>25119778
I'm here, I would guess that Wednesday is usually slow.

>>25119621
>[x]Say something
"No! He probably tastes like oranges!"

>>25119812
That's actually a pretty good idea. I'm in favor of trying to absorb the other AIDA since we need more imaginary friends

>>25119867
>>25119812
That is a horrible idea. Snark already said most AIDA just eat minds. This seems like a good way to get us killed.

>>25119621
"Hey Kite, back off. This is between him and me."

>>25119812
>>25119923

Seconding these. So far, this is Snark VS. Kite VS. AIDA-Magus. We want to draw the line in the sand somewhere. Let's get their attention.

>>25119812

So far, Epitaphs combined with AIDA haven't been good news for anyone. Epitaphs seem to have a type of specificity to them, and attempting to grab one when it doesn't fit might not result in a good thing happening.

>>25119912
Agreement.

Plus while we do have a hole where an Epitaph should go, we have no idea whether Macha or Magus is compatible.

>>25119812
Nononononno.

One way ticket to Hamelinville.

>>25119912
It takes a while for AIDA to fully eat a person if they are using them as a host and this isn't a normal AIDA but a infected epitaph which might cancel each other out. Epitaphs amplify emotions and AIDA feed on them so it might work out in the end

>>25119947
>>25119932
>>25119912
Who knows, it could be fun. And if it doesn't work Snark might come back to our mind to save us.
Then we can pretend it was our plan all along.

I would love to do it just to see what happens, but yes, not the best plan.

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Will wait for some consensus

Will say the epitaph is fused with the AIDA.

>>25119999
>>25120001
Lot of maybes in those plans anon.

>>25120043
That's been true for all of our plans hasn't it?

>>25119621
[] Back up Kite.

Kite! Get Magus! We need to stop this shit from going any further!
Snark, I'd rather have you on my side, I thought we made a great team. But if you're going to get in the way, then friends or not, we'll throw down.

It's a pickle.

See no reason not to believe that Kite is indestructible, so backing Snark up with fighting him is silly.

Snark himself seems like he's already weakened, which means that the time is ripe for reunion via violence.
But Kite doesn't seem sapient enough to respect a man's fight, and MANIA and Areta distracting Kite seems suicidal.

If only there was a way to convince Kite to focus on Magus, and leave Snark to us.

>>25120043
Maybe it's time to do something outrageous. Not like much of what has been happening has made a lot of sense.
Just go with the flow of crazy.

Perhaps Azure Earth will go Exabyte and give us a silly Bad End.

>>25120074
Because THOSE turn out so well.

>>25120074
Yeah but no.

None of that sounds sane.

>>25119812
>Man I would love to help Kite, but that would be hella meta-gaming
It's not really meta-gaming. We know Kite is a kind of anti-virus system for the world, since he hunts AIDA. And right now we need to get rid of Magus and Kite's our best chance for killing this and not causing it to break worse.
Snark is just causing trouble, and I'd rather not throw down with him, but if he gets in the way of us taking out Magus, then it's on.

>>25120109
Fuck no to everything you said.

>>25119621
Hm, maybe get between Kite and Snark to get their attention?

I think we might be "normal" now, so it'd be interesting to see if Kite will still target us, and I kind of suspect that if Snark stops attacking him, Kite might focus on the biggest threat (Magus).

>>25119923
>>25120092
>>25120134

I'm not for backing Kite quite yet, but perhaps announcing our presence and intent here is needed. People are dying outside. We're here to fix The World and stop all of this madness. Snark, stand down or we'll go through you. Kite, we don't want to fight you if necessary, but if you keep indiscriminately attacking us even in this desperate hour, we'll be forced to defend ourselves.

>>25120134
>>25120102
>>25120092
So fight the AIDA monster who we were on sort of good terms with? The one who backed us up a ton? The one who gave us our powers and, if I am not mistaken, was the only thing protecting us from AIDA and Epitaphs? He has super powers as per normal, we do not. And you want to fight him?

>>25120201
We can't defend ourselves. We cant go through Snark. Snark was our super power. Our AIDA left because he wanted to eat and we were making awful plans which he hated.

>>25120211
If he tries to prevent us from stopping Magus, yes. I'd rather he help us though, and we have awesome team up time with Kite to save the video game world.

>>25120252
Why would he prevent us from stopping Magus? Snark just wants to eat him and I think that counts as stopping him

>>25120239

He left because he thought Anon was dumb and thought he wasn't going to let Snark eat any Epitaphs. The first one may be partially true, but the second is certainly true. All he needs is to eat the Epitaph copies to save the world *his* way, and we weren't about to sacrifice the Epitaphs just to satisfy his gluttony.

I'll agree with extending the olive branch to him again, but if he refuses, then we may be faced with no choice but to back up Kite or find some way to hamper them both while we somehow cleanse Magus. Areta has Skeith, who can Data-drain away the AIDA infection. MANIA might not be able to data-drain in her AIDA form, but she's good at fighting other Avatars.

Could we try to funnel the fight so Kite and Magus are forced into each other?

Man, Azure Earth knows the best way out of this and must think we're complete idiots.
>>25119812
I give this a fun vote if nothing else works out

What level of intelligence does Kite possess?

He's all about keeping the world stable, right? We're able to fix it if he helps us. Maybe we should just announce our intentions here. Team up with Kite and Snark to stop Magus.

>>25120211
Not to kill him, but to make him recognize that we're not someone to be dismissed so easily.
>>25120239
The reason we're awful at making plans is because we don't know anything. And we don't know anything because Snark won't tell us. He was able to identify Magus at a glance, he already knew all the Epitaphs before Archon told us.
He knew what to do from the very beginning, but kept us in the dark even before we pissed him off.

It's high time we determined who's the king and who's the horse.

>>25120331
Define... "best"

>>25120320
What's wrong with letting him eat the Epitaphs?

>>25120349
Unfortunately Kite and Snark are apparently both too busy killing each other to fight Magus.

...Someone should get on that.

>>25120356
Or determine an equal partner ship. No more edging through the dark while he rubs his hands together maniacally.
>>25120362
Azure Kite waifu end?

>>25120371

They're one-of-a-kind emotional analysis engines, and hinted to be really important by Archon and Hamelin's exposition after we found Areta. We don't want anything happening to them in case we need them later on, and we certainly won't sacrifice them just so someone can sate their appetite.

>>25120400
For that you should have brought the maid outfit. Azure Kite is a sucker for maids.

>>25120371
The Epitaphs are power that have the potential to make our friends better able to defend themselves.

Also never put all your eggs in one basket.

>>25120356
He might of just learned about the epitaphs by eating Hamelin. Snark is just going along with the ride for some food and he would of told us what he could to get more food so we both were in the dark for a while

>>25120427
Of course, it was so obvious!

Though right now it seems we agree that we can't agree on anything. I was surprised at how much discussion show up over the 'crazy plan' though.

>>25120455
I don't know.

He definitely knows a lot more about the chair then he's letting on.

>>25120432
The thing though is the Epitaphs are only suited to specific people and we don't need them for our friends to defend themselves when we have Snark
>>25120420
When Snark eats the Epitaphs he basically can do what they do and if they're needed Snark can just make a copy of their data

>>25119621
So... try to get both Snark and Kite's attention, and try to convince Kite to target Magus, MANIA and Areta backing him up?

And meanwhile attempt dialogue with Snark, resorting to violence if he proves uncooperative?

OK, so there seem to be some competing choices here:

1.) Go for AIDA-Magus while Snark & Kite are fighting. Hopefully, Kite will tie up Snark, recognizing that we're here to restore the system to normalcy. We might not be able to fight Magus ourselves, but MANIA and Areta can fight Magus if he goes into Avatar form, and Areta can Data-drain the AIDA out of Magus.

2.) Announce our arrival, say we're here to fix the system. Anyone who wants to help us fix everything is welcome to help us out. We'll play it by ear from there.

If Snark is belligerent and doesn't want to help, we can accuse him of leaving us in the dark and using us to his own potential ominous end-goals. If he treats us like a pack-mule, can he hardly blame us for distrusting him? We may also want to make an appeal to Kite that we want to fix the system, and doing the best thing would be to take care of AIDA-Magus, and letting us reach our goal so we can anchor the server back in the real world.

>>25120578
>we don't need them for our friends to defend themselves when we have Snark

Are you retarded? That's the logic of an absolute moron. They're our allies, not our minions.

>>25120455
>>25120547
Part of the problem is that we are putting our thought process to Snark. He has a hard time understanding the way our mind works despite being in there.

I was thinking about last thread and if he sees our thought process as being "Maybe we can't trust him" and then deciding we do, he doesn't see us as trusting him, to the hive mind he thinks part of us might be plotting to take him down.

I think maybe we need to try and bridge the gap?

>>25120590

I'm in favor of this. Let's all try to calm down and talk it out.

>>25120622
I think I can phrase it in a way he'll be able to understand.

The problem is that we need to make it so that, while Snark is listening to us, Kite won't take the opportunity to stab Snark repeatedly.

That's the tricky part.

>>25120578

So far, Snark has been creating copies of the Epitaphs and eating those to gain powers. What he was proposing with Macha was to eat the whole thing, leaving nothing behind. Or that's the strong impression he was giving out when he made the coffee analogy.

>>25120617
Snark infecting them doesn't make them our minions. They are still our allies and having Snark be more powerful will help them more than some epitaph could

>>25120671
Hey! We're moving at the speed of AI. That should mean we can talk to AI. We have no AIDA so Kite won't want to kill us. Can we try to talk to kite? Rather, should we?

>>25120612
I am against fighting Snark. He was sort of a bro and I don't think he will take us fighting him or trying to make him the "horse" as it were well. It actually would just make his paranoia seem justified.

Do we really want to teach the AI to trust no one?

>>25120723
We're not going to make the first move.

We're going to explain our grievances and ask him to join up again. If he attacks first, then we fight back.

>>25120723

I'm for talking it out with him, if possible. But things are rather urgent right now, and we might not have the luxury of a full-out discussion. If he's willing to talk, we'll talk.

>>25120749

This.

Quick question although it doesn't relate to the matter at hand. When we ate Hamelin did we Durandal's data or was it not there?

>>25120665
So try >>25119923
And see where that gets us?

>>25120763
Snark said it might have gone to the main hive I think.

>>25120723
We're not trying to make him the horse. We're trying to get him to stop throwing a goddamn tantrum and do something constructive.

Sometimes you have to punch your friend in the face when he's being a goddamn bitch.

>>25120723
Snark's got no right to bitch.

The only plan we have hinges on Snark becoming an Ultimate AI, which I'm pretty sure would grant him the power to destroy humanity.

How can he think we don't trust him if we're helping him become omnipotent?

>>25120705
We should talk to everyone.

Hopefully, *Hopefully*, Kite is actually somewhat sapient and will prioritise fixing the system over killing Snark, meaning he might be willing to team up with us to fight Magus, leaving Snark either joining back up with us or getting mowed down.

I'd prefer the former. In the end, who really cares about those epitaphs? The Snark AIDA is already in most of our allies, and making him stronger makes them stronger, right?

>>25120816
>How can he think we don't trust him if we're helping him become omnipotent?
He can't comprehend omnipotence. Hell, he can't comprehend a lot of things, hence the need to eat epitaphs.

>>25120816
We have no idea if he will be the ultimate AI. All he wants to do is eat the main hive, that's it. That's all he has said. The only reason he wants the epitaphs is because he needs more power and he is hungry as fuck.

As he gets more of them he learns more, but he is still only half way there. We don't know if he will have the power to destroy humanity. Hell, Azure could have all the epitaphs give him an ice cream sunday for all we know.

>>25120833
We shouldn't be completely dependent on him.

Even if we don't think he'll betray us, it's still a bad move.

The epitaphs are too valuable to lounge about in his gullet just because they taste good.

>>25120833
Because we really don't know everything about Epitaphs yet. They might grow into sapient AI if attached to people long enough, like AIDA. And does Snark even get a power boost from eating them, or does he only do it for a 'full stomach?'

>>25120869
He said he'd be able to fix all the lost ones, and stop CC Corp once and for all.

That seems like quite a lot.

>>25120816

Us trying to make him into a god of sorts hasn't really been reflected in our last actions though. We wouldn't let him eat the epitaph and were getting close to telling him he couldn't eat this one before he left

>>25120884
Is there really a difference? Again, he is data and only used the analogy of taste to make it easier for us to understand

>>25120891

There's a large difference between what he says and what he'll actually be able to do. We were trusting in him since he seemed pretty chill, up until he suddenly wanted to eat the Epitaphs in their pure form. He already got plenty of power from eating their copies, and told us that would be enough. But we gave him an inch, and now he wants a mile, even if it may doom us forever. All for the sake of a tasty meal.

>>25120898
Because he doesn't need them. He said he doesn't.

>>25120911
I still don't think it's a good idea to just blindly let him stuff everything down his gullet.
I say plan crazy go!

Snark's motivations (so far):

1. Kill main hive
2. Eat meals
3. Try to understand meatbags
4. Entertainment

>>25120967
Of course he doesn't need them but it certainly would give him a power boost

>>25120996
Fuck plan crazy.

Blindly shoving stuff down our gullet is even stupider.

Let's try plan dialogue first.

>>25121045
He didn't say that. He compared it to gourmet coffee and cheap beans.

They both do things about as well as the other, one just tastes better.

>>25121057
They don't do the exact same thing.

Which epitaphs have we met so far? There was Skeith, Macha, the one in Lotus, and the one we are about to face. I have been under the impression we defeated Skeith and let him eat Skeith whole but wouldn't let him eat the full version of Macha. Is this correct?

>>25121097
We ate copy skeith because the hooker is sort of a bro. Hamelin was a dick though so Snark ripped it all out.

>>25121097
No.

We have Innis (corrupted) from Raum, and Skeith (corrupted) from Areta. Snark has Macha (corrupted) from Hamelin, but wants the whole thing. Pretty sure the Macha core is currently in our inventory?

We're fighting AIDA-Magus and Lotus has Tarvos.

>>25121097

Areta has Skeith.
Lotus has Tarvos.
Raum has Innis, but is recovering from the AIDA infection that had nearly devoured him and the epitaph.
Hamelin HAD Macha, but it got ripped out by Snark. It may currently be in Chen's possession.

Magus is flying free right now, and infected with AIDA.

Gorre is unknown.
Fidchell is unknown.
Corbenik is unknown.

>>25121048
>>25120833
>>25120768
>>25120665

Gogo plan dialogue!

May we get any sort of consensus here guys?

I mean, Chen/Anon is pretty damn useless at the moment..

Why don't we just throw some massive debuffs at Kite? Although Snark has kinda been a little bitch, he's our imaginary friend. He is the representation of the entity that has cobbled our broken self together with duct tape..

That has earned him a crazy amount of Bro points.

While Kite has only tried to kill us every time we've met him.

I think this is a no brainer. In debuffing Kite, we'll hopefully gain time to talk with Snark.

If all else fails, we can activate cold Agent Anon mode and solve everything in a heartbeat.

Does this satisfy the majority?

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You decide it is for the best if you try to get in between the three of them. "Kite, stop I-" You start but get kicked aside by Snark.

You fall into MANIA's arms, her holding of you a bit more gentle than you are totally comfortable discussing and you are about to raise an objection when you see Kite's sword right where you stood just moments ago, shattering through Snark's leg. He fires off another scattering of needles before rolling to dodge a green laser from one of the leaves which strikes Kite in the face and causes him to skid back.

You quickly stand up again, MANIA's arms still around you. "Kite, this is between me and Snark. We are trying to stop the AIDA and return the server to the main gain so focu-" You start but the only response you get is a high pitched raspy moan as he runs towards Snark again, however this time Snark's mouth opens impossibly wide and he fires some needles.

Kite bats them away with his tri bladed sword and his body is wreathed in azure flame as he tries to slice Snark to pieces once again, however Snark's remaining arm grabs a needle he fired and uses it as a makeshift sword to bat Kite away before running towards Magus, small strings of light creating a makeshift leg for him to use. Magus's leaves start firing on him, making Snark create careful jumps to and fro, however before he can get close one of Kite's swords flies towards him like a Frisbee. Snarl pulls out the needle in order to block the blade, and is sent back closer to you, the needle shattering from it's efforts and Kite's sword returning to his waiting grasp.

"If it isn't Chen." Snark finally acknowledges you are there it seems. "And what exactly are you doing here? I am going to eat them both, devour them until there is nothing left. Don't you think that is a good idea New Chen?" He asks.
(1/2)

>>25121204
>>25121260

It's basically the dialogue plan, adding in some debuffing of Kite to slow him down, and the backup plan of completely shifting our personality.

Agreeable?

File: 1369877069587.jpg-(105 KB, 595x842, Aida1_161.jpg)

105 KB JPG

You are about to say something before he pulls out what looks like a very well made, chibi-styled hand puppet of your character. "Sure, go for it. Eat all you want Snark." He mimics your voice.

"See? Cooperation is important." He snickers, his body shimmering as black orbs pool around around him.

"C....cute. That hand puppet is cute. Chen, I want one." MANIA tells you as she gently wraps her arms further around you.

"Hand puppets? Really?" Areta asks seeming confused

Well, that was helpful, now what?
[]Snark, stand down or I put you down
[]Help Kite, if you are fighting with him he won't attack you.
[]Go for Magus
[]Other, please specify
(2/2)

>>25121337
"Your eyes are bigger than your stomach, Snark. From where I'm standing, you've yet to actually hurt Kite."

>>25121337

DEBUFF KITE.
Or Magnus.
Or, hell, both.

Also, pick up his sword..

Perhaps we can kill Magnus with it?..

Snark is busy, and well.. He is kinda 2 v 1 at the moment..

And Magnus is BY FAR the biggest threat..

Agent Anon mode, activate?

>>25121337
>[] go for Magus
The hell with you then Snark
"You won't cooperate, then you will get nothing."

>>25121337
Hm. Part of me wants to take down Magus with MANIA and Areta, and then run off with his core, prompting Snark to follow us where we work things out.

But if we do that, I'm pretty sure Snark'll have time to heal, and things will go back to normal.

I think it's really important right now that, for the first time, Snark and us are moving at the same speed.

The opportunity that gives cannot be wasted.

>>25121337
>>25121398


What you term "cooperation" is me rolling over and letting you do what you want, and damn the consequences. I want a partnership, and that means protecting you from yourself if need be. If you want to talk about it later, we can. But for now, I have a system to fix, a server to anchor and a lot of lives to save.

>[x] Activate Agent Anon mode.
>[x]Go for Magus

>>25121337
[]Other, please specify
Try to convince Snark to come back then we devour Magus and send Kite on his way.

Snark is okay with leaving our friends their Epitaphs but if they don't belong to anyone they are a free meal. Us trusting Snark is our best plan so far in the entire length of this quest and he's having a tantrum since we waste his time when he has better ideas than us

>>25121515
>>25121507
This is gonna be great.

>>25121337
Try casting "Mumyn Lei" on Kite.

It's a sleep spell, and it might be able to take him out of the fight for a little while.

>>25121549

Sleep spells may not do anything. But if Kite appears to be gaining too much of a lead on Snark, we might be able to mediate the battle by selective debuffing. We want to keep them fighting and none of them to win.

So the general consensus seems to be go after Magus yourself because Snark is wrapped up with his Kite battle? Is this correct?

>>25121678
Yes, let's do this!

>>25121678

I'm leaning towards that, yes. We can toss debuffs on Kite if he appears to be gaining too large of an advantage on Snark.

...Okay then. Please roll 1d100 for Magus battle. I will take best of first three, as per normal.

Rolled 27

>>25121678

It's mostly activating Agent Anon mode.

We have The World to save, dammit. Tell Snark finish Kite off if he wants to help..
Or just ignore Kite and join up.with us now. No matter.
>>25121754

>>25121678
Ask MANIA and Areta to fight Magus at least, back them up if it looks like they need it (I'm pretty sure that, without Snark, they're both stronger than us so)

Rolled 99

>>25121754

Rolled 7

>>25121754
I'd like to try saying something to Snark, see if he takes the bait or not.

>>25121337
"I've got a bone to pick with you, Snark.

You think you're the only one who's hungry?

You've been holding back with what you know, barely giving me anything but crumbs. You knew how to fix this mess the whole time, you know who the chair is and what happened to his daughter, and you know who all the epitaphs are and what emotions they patch.

You've also opened me to the delicious feeling of camaraderie, something that I haven't even come close to having my fill of. Which means that they need to stay alive. Which means that I can't protect them all the time, because I make terrible mistakes not even you can bail me out of. Which means they need the power to protect themselves. And I don't care if I have to shove my arm down your throat, I'm not letting something as powerful as Epitaph cores linger in your stomach just because they're yummy.

And finally... you've given me a taste for power, and I want it back.
There's a hole inside me that is screaming for you to fill it, so are you going to satisfy me, or are we going to have to figure out who swallows who?"

>>25121830
Yes.

Rolled 91, 72 = 163

Please ignore these rolls

>>25121852
"...Also I did not mean for that line to come across as homoerotic as it did."

>>25121852
>'Are you going to satisfy me?'
Fantastic word choice

>>25121830

You.

I absolutely love you right now.
>>25121852

I completely support this choice of words.

Rolled 23

>>25121830
I'm a winner! I would of wanted Snark's help but it seems Chen can do pretty well on his own

>>25121852

Let's see if we can't fit this in, too.

>>25121955
That's an interesting assumption

>>25121968
Well it'll be funny at least.

"Your eyes are bigger than your stomach, Snark. From where I'm standing, you've yet to actually hurt Kite. If you won't cooperate then you will get nothing." You say before turning from him.

You decide to throw up a debuff on Kite before running towards Magus. "That's mine. That food is MINE!" He shouts, but you ignore him.

You close the distance and let MANIA and Areta go to work. You nimbly dodge out of the way of his green lasers as they crisscross around you and let the two of them go to work. It seems their time in the field was enough for the pair of them to get used to fighting in their bodies. Kicks and slashes turn into nimble back hands and dodges as Magus focuses on the two of them. As you do not think they need your attention for now you glance back at Snark and Kite. Snark has his hand puppet out and Kite is pinned to a wall.

"I wanted to be nice. I figure a quick fight, we make up and laugh about it later, but no. He is taking my food. I spread my false epitaphs over the fields to mitigate the damage done, maybe show him I still want to be friends but no. No, he tries to take my food New Chen. Don't you see? He is trying to take it, he is using me as a decoy. I can' trust him, can't trust him, can't trust him" He mutters before you see black shadowy figures appear around him and a massive influx of AIDA coats his body.

You turn back to the battle at hand and you throw up another round of buffs as tiny leaves swarm around you like a razor wind. Your quick reflexes save you countless times as a geyser of green energy surges up from the ground, missing you by centimeters. You finally apparently do enough damage as MANIA calls for her AIDA with an orgasmic yell and Areta screams out the name "Skeith" You see MANIA surrounded by black orbs and Areta covered in a red light as they move at high speeds around Magus so you turn back to face Snark.
(1/2?)

You find him standing a few feet from you, his body seemingly repaired, and lacking his normal arrogant smirk.

You decide to try and talk to him first. "I've got a bone to pick with you, Snark. You think you're the only one who's hungry? You've been holding back with what you know, barely giving me anything but crumbs. You knew how to fix this mess the whole time, you know who the chair is and what happened to his daughter, and you know who all the epitaphs are and what emotions they patch. You've also opened me to the delicious feeling of camaraderie, something that I haven't even come close to having my fill of. Which means that they need to stay alive. Which means that I can't protect them all the time, because I make terrible mistakes not even you can bail me out of. Which means they need the power to protect themselves. And I don't care if I have to shove my arm down your throat, I'm not letting something as powerful as Epitaph cores linger in your stomach just because they're yummy. And finally... you've given me a taste for power, and I want it back. There's a hole inside me that is screaming for you to fill it, so are you going to satisfy me, or are we going to have to figure out who swallows who?" You ask, but he does not move to respond.

You are worried for a few seconds that he didn't hear you, but he raises his arm and danging from it is the limbless torso of Kite. He lets out a glitchy sounding high pitched rattle that you are accustomed to before he screams as torrents of black spheres pour out of him and rip him to pieces. You see his broken body shatter into glass like looking objects before vanishing.

You are quiet for a few seconds as you stare at him, but suddenly he smiles darkly at you. "I am sorry, what did you say? I couldn't hear you over the sound of my nigh infinite rage towards you right now." He says.
(2/3)

You are about to say something when you hear a scream, and Areta falls in front of you. Her chest is cracked and broken, and small motes of red light are leaving her body.

"Ch-chen." She whimpers.

Wat do?
[]Please write in
(3/3)

>>25122702
We know healing magic, so use that on her.

So, I just came back from dinner, find out you guys want to compete against Snark when it comes to food.

You are literally trying to snatch food from a piranha.

What is this?

>>25122702
So what happened to Magus? Is he just off on the side or what?

>>25122741
It's a matter of principle.

...Also I'm surprised that Kite didn't unleash his true form, or call for backup.

>>25122804
Maybe he did, and they've yet to appear.

>>25122804
Well, I thought that one suicidal plan got shut down, I didn't figure guys would make another.

And of course it has to sound preachy. Huh.

>>25122702
Try to heal Areta then "How about we make up over a nice dinner" while pointing at Magus

>>25122702
"God fucking damnit Snark, do you really not understand how good you had it? In case you forgot, the only 'plan' you ever gave me was 'hey, Chen, help me grow really really strong and I'll wave my magic wand, which I pulled from my ass, and fix everything.'

And I BELIEVED you.

Hell, despite you being a gluttonous douchebag, I still believe that's the best we've got for success.

You can't buy that kind of trust, and you're throwing it away because your tummy is rumbly?"

>>25122877
...

Okay. I clearly need some time away from the thread before I snap the keyboard in half. Sorry Azure.

>>25122877
Snark gets more powerful as we feed him and we are refusing to feed him so we aren't exactly following that plan anymore

>>25122960
Except we are feeding him. He's already gaining the power of the Epitaphs, he doesn't need the real deal.

>>25122957
Or suggest something better.

At this point, backing down and apologizing isn't a valid tactic.

>>25122877

Oh, support.

Also.. We should retreat from the huge ball of death..

Just sayin'..

>>25122996
He doesn't need the copies either. For all we know we could just devour random npcs and make him powerful. Giving him the real deal when there is no use for them can make him even stronger

>>25122804
He may have become azure flame god. But you do not have AIDA or an epitaph so you would not have been able to see it

So are we wrapping this quest up tonight? Because when someone solos Azure Flame Kite, it really feels like game over.

File: 1369881340654.jpg-(80 KB, 681x454, bearswatching.jpg)

80 KB JPG

>>25122957
It's fine. If you feel I am doing you wrong feel free to bring it up with me. This is my first quest, bear in mind.

have some bears.

>>25123075
Nah. Ovan pulled the same stunt with one hit.

>>25123054
>No use for them.

The fuck do you mean no use for them?

They are unique and immensely powerful emotional engines. That kind of thing shouldn't be hogged by the protagonist.

>>25123107
Yeah but he had Corbenik.

>>25122684
try to heal her.
"Your rage? Your rage!? You give me an idea of a plan, a plan that can succeed with you only eating copies of the epitaphs, and you give me no idea how to go about doing it!"
"You let me stumble in my dark and only helpfully point out my bad plans after they're finished and other's have been hurt! I don't need a damn Captain Hindsight with me, I need someone I can trust."
"Even if you do help you don't tell me, how was I meant to know that you were trying to control damage, you just left me behind, none the wiser!"
"I have been 'greedy' because you've given no reason to be otherwise other than you've got the rumbly tumblies!"
"Things are going to change, here and now!"
>Probably needs some editing

Man, I don't even know anymore.

It seems like Snark's the only hope we had of anything, but now he's evil for no goddamned reason and we're about to watch all of our friends die because of this shit.

I really wish our options didn't look like a: become Snark's Bitch and b: immediate game over.

>>25123120
And Snark has how many Epitaphs? Enough to solo Kite, but not OHKO him?

This game is still fine.

>>25122702
If healing magic doesn't work, then turn our back to Snark and face Magus. Because we obviously need to beat it down and make it cough up her Epitaph.

>>25123120

Corbenik merged with a very nasty AIDA, too.

>>25123014

Nor is caving in to his demands. I dunno if there's a way to avoid this TPK, but perhaps an understanding can be reached. We need to iron this out now. No other chance. Either that or we do something real stupid and try to ram an Epitaph into the hole we have in us and see what happens.

>>25123166
There's option C.

Shove the Macha core into our chest and hope for the best.

>>25123166
We are Agent Anon and we'll find the right path! I wonder if Azure Earth planned for this.
Also, where exactly is Magus?

>>25123205
Now that could be fun, we can always do that if the speeches don't work out.

>>25123146
She has been data drained

>>25123110
What else are we going to do with them? We can only give them to people that can match them and it would prove hard to find those matches. Even if we were to find them it could just be a civilian that has no idea what is going on and what then? Having Snark eat them and gain their traits is the most reasonable thing to do at the moment

>>25123208

Magus is in Avatar-space right now, presumably fighting it out with MANIA right now... but we can't see any of that since we don't have AIDA or an Epitaph. We can only speculate what has transpired there.

>>25123166
It's kind of hard not to worry that, after noticing just how popular Hollow Quest Redux was, AE is wrapping this quest up.

>>25123223
Oh fuck, Skieth got ripped out? Well... fuck. Hand her Macha?

And it seems we were rolling for Magus.

>>25123249

No, it was our incredibly stupid planning that wrecked this train..

Mine included.

Anyway.. All we can do is try and salvage the situation with Snark..

>>25123205
... how would you shove it into your data. Recall Tarvos

>>25122702
"Snark, I know you're mad at me, but does your bitchfit extend to her, to my other friends? No, to -our- friends? We have our differences, and we really need to work them out, but can we table them for now and take down Magus, and save Areta? For old time's sake?

It's not like you can't leave whenever you want."

>>25123295

Sometimes I feel like it's not so much as bad planning and acting logically to a situation, but seeing that despite all the reasoning and debate that there was only one answer to a seemingly open-answer question. It's very frustrating.

>>25123295
I don't think there was ever a plan but 'let the greedy baby have his way, and set a dangerous precedent'.

I mean in theory this is the best time to force the issue, because most of the time he's able to think a lot faster than us.

I'll just.. wait quietly for a while.

>>25123369
Why bother, it seems a lot like game over right now.

>>25122957 here
>>25123014
Neither is antagonizing him and feeding his paranoia. Which is quite fat by the way.

>>25123106
Maybe its the player base. How unfortunate.

>>25123305
In lieu of better options, I think I'll go with this.

>>25123296
When did we find Tarvos?
And who knows what's capable in this digital world? We've got a hole in our soul and an empty spot in our head, it seems we are really out of options.

God whatever, maybe we should just throw the Macha core at him.

Maybe it'll advance his emotional programming so he's not a huge dick.

Doesn't seem like we're allowed to do anything else except possibly die and get our friends killed.

>>25123355

I think our fumblings and failures do add to it though. But yeah, it does seem that we are unable to grasp the best course of action in this quest..

It completely fits the character, especially with his personality flip after getting AIDA-fied in the first thread..

Agent Anon went a tad crazy in a setting brimming with insanity. And we have No idea what to do in it.

>>25123395

Snark and Anon are both paranoid sons of bitches. Maybe there's common ground to be found there?

>>25123357
No, I did not intend for it to go down this way at all. I thought there would be better dialogue with Snark. When you tell him. "Trust me, I know what I am doing." he did. Then you spent over an hour or so running around looking for Lotus just to tell her to keep doing what she was doing all the while people were getting killed his faith wavered.

It isn't always if you say anything but what you say. There was some fairly hard line dealing people when it came to snark, a lot of it fairly confrontational.

>>25123355
I am sorry you feel that way, but there is more than one option. I am sorry I did not encourage faith and present it better.

>>25123395
How are we feeding his paranoia by saying we trust him?

>>25123411
When Lotus was severally damaged by Innis.

>>25123205
>>25123202
>>25123188
>>25123174

Fuck it, this sounds like a terrible plan, but....

We have a giant hole in our soul where emotions should be. We could probably use ANY of the cores.

Pop that bitch in and go for it.

"Snark, despite all the shit you refuse to tell me, prior to this hissy-fit there was only one person who I trusted more than you. The way I see it, you have two choices: We can settle this between us one way or another after this guy's dealt with, or you can run away like the bitch you apparently are. Either way, I'm making this right."

Then go after Magus.

>>25123296

>shove it into your data.

Grab it like a power-ranger and call it's name. We're Japanese, we've seen enough kid's TV to know how this works.

>>25123439
>>25123452

We could go for the Lex Luthor/Braniac approach. Both of them were smart. Both of them wanted basically the same thing, and they were both partially merged with each other. Their distrust of each other was stronger than Silver Age Superman. So what solution did they come up with?

They merged with each other. After all, you can't betray the other party if you merge to become one distinct being.

>>25123411
Tarvos is Lotus' epitaph. It's core got ripped out in MANIA fight and you had to get Snark to jam it in. Something needs to be able to alter and bind it to the data.

It was back around thread 5 or 6.

>>25123440
Wait, when did we ever say we know what we're doing?

What idiot suggested that and who supported it?

We didn't know shit but to try and stop people from dying until someone else came up with something. I mean our only other lead, investigating the Wall, was something Snark shot down without providing any alternatives.

>>25123429
Tis be me.
>>25123357
Pretty much.

>>25123369

I think all we can do is try and talk to Snark.. and probably die horribly.

Sorry to see this clusterfuck of an ending coming from your first quest man. We fucked up.. Bad.

Might as well talk for all we're worth..

>>25123498
I don't think that's even possible.

>>25123305
I feel like for now this is our best solution.

We need to see just how far gone Snark is, if he's gone full Hamelin.

>>25123440

>his faith wavered.

.... This is basically the biggest problem I have with Quest threads, getting punished for someone else fucking up.

>>25123444
I dunno, saying that right after
>And I don't care if I have to shove my arm down your throat, I'm not letting something as powerful as Epitaph cores linger in your stomach just because they're yummy. And finally... you've given me a taste for power, and I want it back.

doesn't seem very, very good. It sounds like a predator that went mad and suddenly remembered it still had bait to stick out.

My god. Figure out consistency, and take a walk in Snark's paranoid shoes.

>>25123452
Let's just do it.
>>25123440
I guess there I figured if any of our choices were monumentally stupid Snark would warn us first.

>>25123545
Well the first sentence was to show just how badly we want our friends to be safe.

But yeah the second was a mistake, I just put it in because I thought it sounded cool.

I was trying to phrase it in terms he understood.

>>25123545
Yeah that wasn't our best speech. I guess we were just really angry at Snark.

>>25123541
Sorry, I also thought it was a really bad idea to go looking for lotus and tried to say it was bedlam, but that was the most voted for option to bring her to the pow wow.
>>25123558
he did try to warn you when he said it was pointless going to the wall. The wall he took the sign from and left a piece of him behind.

He just assumed you would not need him to constantly explain each of his motives. He is an AI who constantly knows the entirety of his own thought, that is his hive mind, after all.

Sorry

>>25123535
Also if Snark refuses to help us, then give him the Macha core and see if he changes his mind.

Better than him taking it from our corpse.

>>25123146
>>25122877

This is pretty much the stuff I was going to say. We've been trying our best, but it seems like all the people who supposedly know better than us are just backseat driving, waiting for us to screw up just so they can say "HE HE HE, I TOLD YOU SO, STUPID FLESHBAG! Now step aside so I can invalidate everything you've done and show that nobody needs you anymore and now all of you are going to die because you didn't rely on me 100%"

>>25123558
>>25123452
lel, sounds terrible. Is bloody terrible. I refuse

[X] Keep negotiating. And fuck it, if it leads to "strike me down to prove your trust", so be it.

>>25123590
>>25123593
M'boy he understood it just fine.

He understood we were competition.

>>25123613
But see the thing is that there was never even a hint of what else to do but stick our thumb up our ass and wait for the G.U. leader guy. Like I don't know what Snark did to break the sky and reach Magus and Kite, but he never even came close to indicating that he could have done.

I mean going to the cathedral didn't get us anywhere, and it was kind of metagaming.

Listen up you faggots. Durandal going into a coma is your fault. Snark leaving us is your fault. Areta getting close to being sent into a coma is your fault. Know why? You didn't trust Snark. 'But Anon, Snark might be a bad guy and double the crazy' . What in the hell gives you that idea? So far Snark has been nothing but a bro who only mistake is misplacing his trust in us when we are awful at plans. Do you want to take back us defending him from Haruko? Do you want to make into some sort sort of villain when he has been nothing but useful? If you don't I suggest you have Snark and Chen make up by saving Areta and serving Magus on a dinner plate

>>25123674
Then he didn't even come close to understanding it.

If our only plan is to give him his primary goal, power to eat the primary AIDA Hive.

How about this..

Since we are Anon right now, and we're pretty much collectively throwing our hands In the air..

Why not represent that in Anon?
Have him LITERALLY break down in front of Snark? Under all this pressure, ANOTHER death because of him, the chaos and death all brought about by his actions..

It may be pathetic, but I think it completely fits Anon at the moment. He's at his limit, alone, and watching as everything around him is crumbling at the seams..

No stupid plans of shoving anything into us..

Just pure, unadulterated shame and grief for the suffering we've caused on all those around us..

Maybe this guys?..

>>25123683
We already know for a fact that Snark's crazy, we can see that right now. He's pretty much turned completely evil because he didn't get his num-nums.

>>25123683

When the supposed savior of the world wants to eat something potentially plot-important just because it tastes real good, that doesn't really reinforce any faith that he'll stay good to his word when the time comes instead of buggering off and doing whatever the hell he wants with his godlike powers. It becomes less of him becoming a benevolent god and more like Loki playing us for fools to get what he wants.

>>25123677
Snark hadn't thought of how to go into one of the cracks at the time. He would have likely suggested something else but you had your fight and he left.

>>25123720
Nah. See if Snark's willing to temporarily put our differences aside to save Areta.

If he isn't, then turn our back on him and take down Magus ourselves if necessary.

He can do whatever.

>>25123781
What cracks? Did you point out the cracks before, were we supposed to know what they meant?

And that still leaves us with nothing to do but wait.

Like this really doesn't feel like a puzzle we should have been able to solve.

>>25123739
Sorry. As said, he lost faith in you. He really wanted the epitaph core at first but you talked him down by saying to trust you, and implying you were concerned most about people thus he made that his objective, trying to stop the madness from continuing.

Then you performed actions which were directly against the idea of helping people with the Lotus thing.

>>25123832
How does that go against the idea?

We were checking to see if she was overwhelmed or had any ideas to stop this madness, since she's been level-headed and quick-thinking in the past.

>>25123739
Him eating something plot-important might be a good reason to refuse him but this is a epitaph we are talking about. Snark eats the thing's data and he gains their characteristics and for some reason we need it Snark could just whip a copy of it up. Him proving good on his word isn't really a concern when he has been willing to help us up to this point and the end goal is to eat the main hive to free the lost ones

>>25123832

Correct me if I'm wrong, but we didn't really have any way of communicating with Lotus at the time, did we? We needed to get together, re-assess the situation if stuff turned out to be going horribly wrong, and then plan from there.

>>25123832
Guess we just figured finding Lotus would help with our goal of helping people.

>>25123706
Really? That's funny.

I understood it like Snark, just fine. Guess how?

I actually tried to think what Snark would do after listening to it. I got really mad at "Epitaph cores" because it clearly justified that we want his food. Then along came "I want power."

Nigger, you went full villain.

>>25123613

Actually, I just went back. It looked more like we were going to talk and ask her for advice while giving her a status-update.

Instead we went there, told her to keep up the good work, continued to irritate Snark, and then went through on the failed plan that failed because he didn't bother explaining it.

I mean, it makes sense for him as a character, but that's COMPLETELY INFURIATING BECAUSE OF >>25123629

>>25123683

Snark has never given us a good reason to let him eat the true forms of the Epitaths. Ever.

From everything he's said the copies work JUST as good except the other ones 'taste' better.

>>25123720

Honestly, I think the way to 'break down' would be a complete reversion into our old self. That's pretty much how we did it the first time around.

>>25123786
>>25123452

This is what I'm suggesting. We either deal with whatever issues we have after this is over, even if that means splitting the sheets, or get the FUCK out of the way while we try and save people.

>>25123832

I think that was a misunderstanding, since from what I read it looked like our plan was to see if she had any ideas other than 'go to the wall' and 'try to get ahold of the Raven guy'.

Since all of our plans seemed to require waiting for someone else.... I fail to see how us flailing around hoping for a solution was worse than twiddling our thumbs since the same time-elapse amounted to the same destruction.

>>25123817
There were a few ways to know about them.

First was to call in the favor from the crazy rich guy, that would have been fastest but wasteful.

Second would have been talking to people in town and asking about Kestral attacking, and moon tree going crazy.

Third you could have barged into the serpent of Lore way back when. Snark would have hijacked it and made a comment about playing his video games

Fourth you could have gone random field diving, but that is pretty much leaving it up to chance.

Otherwise Snark could have traced the AIDA densities and found out that way there were cracks, which is what he did solo.

Raven was also working at it which was the final catch all net.

If there were other ways to go about it I would have entertained the idea, but those are the ones that came from the top of my head.

>>25123859

The impression that I got was that he was eating the Epitaph whole, leaving zero Epitaph behind. It's not like what he did with Raum or anything; he is going to gobble up Macha, and no more Macha. Just whatever characteristics it gives Snark.

Maybe it's just subconscious metagaming with the importance of the Epitaphs and Avatars... but when Snark said "I want to eat these just because they taste good", we're going to need a hell lot of a better reason than that.

>>25123858
That wasn't the issue really. You could have just had Haruko ask her or have Luna use the AIDA PM system as a relay. It was more you just told her to do what she had been doing, meaning you spent a lot of time looking for her just to tell her nothing of value, as far as Snark sees it.

Anyway, is there any consensus for what to say, or am I being booed out of /tg/?

>>25123931
Kestral being dicks and Moon Tree being crazy seems expected, but I guess we should have checked Moon Tree out a bit.

Also see when most people are given an option which amounts to "barge into the main guy's place and use his stuff" they won't take it. Because they're conditioned to see such actions as suicidal, up there with "I stab the King".

>>25123985

I have no idea. I want to be angry at Snark, but his actions seem reasonable-ish given what we did. But what we did came from you apparently misunderstanding our intention/perspective.

So it feels like we're playing telephone here, with the same potential for error.

It's not that we're mad at you.... it's that we're angry that our decisions are apparently run through Bablefish before entering play.

>>25123930
The true epitaphs might 'taste' better but they probably also help Snark power. If we go back to Snark comparing them to coffee it'd be better to say that two cups of coffee are better than one

>>25123985
I don't think you're being booed exactly. It's more like were mad at ourselves for our decisions and the wording of past choices for ambiguity.
Hindsight can really be a bitch.

>>25123985
That wasn't what we wanted to do though. We wanted to ask her if she had any better ideas, or needed backup. Because she did not on either count, there wasn't much else to do but tell her to keep on keeping on.

Also
>>25123305
>>25123786

I think?

>>25123985
Nononononono, keyboard breaker here.

We're doing quite fine, the consensus is to ask Snark to put aside our differences and if we get a Game Over, may we politely have a reset to beginning of this thread?

Thank you for running this quest.

>>25123985

Well, all we can do is talk.

Get pissed at Snark, Anon's self, everything.

And hopefully not die in the process..

>>25123985
>>25124100
>>25124094
>>25124067

In retrospect, this whole disaster was caused by mutual distrust on both sides of the Snark/Anon relationship. And a HUGE failure to communicate properly with each other, which only fed into that circle of paranoia and distrust.

Perhaps there's some way we can express that and make-up? Anyone got any talking points?

>>25124160
Talking points?

"You know how people are slow to you before Magus?

They're also inefficient and dense as hell. That doesn't stop after we get plugged into the system."

>>25123930
>I fail to see how us flailing around hoping for a solution was worse than twiddling our thumbs since the same time-elapse amounted to the same destruction.

Oh god. Oh god, this. THIS SO HARD.

We had no idea what we were doing, so we just kinda flailed around hoping a solution or a clue would present itself, but we didn't exactly get that in a recognizable form.

>>25124078

He didn't say it like that though. If he meant that he should've said something the hell else.

>>25124067
>>25124085
>>25124094

This is basically the problem. We're getting shafted HARD because of what was an apparent misunderstanding on the Meta (which I don't think was anyone's fault) and a failure to communicate/misunderstanding In Character..... which comes entirely from said Meta misunderstanding.

>>25124212

I also thought that Snark is something of a supergenius, but also vastly inexperienced in life. All he's had to socialize himself are internet movies and games and all the stuff that the internet hate machine can generate.

>>25124160
"Snark, we're trying our best, but it's not perfect...never going to be perfect."
"You've kept secrets from me, and because of that I didn't trust you...and now this has caused you to hate me."
"We need to make this right, or at this rate, I'm going to lose everything..."
"For the companionship we once had I'm asking you, please, stop this, help me, and we can try to make this work better."

>>25124160

"Snark, haven't you learned that I have ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA what I'm doing here? I'm trying to investigate what CC Corp is doing, but I have no idea what to do! You are, literally, the only reason I've been able to do a damned thing, and gues what? I STILL fucked everything up! One of my friends is dying in my arms, AGAIN, because of my inability to do a damn thing!

You, Snark, have been my crutch this entire time. Every step I took, you followed me. I trusted in you, but we don't fucking talk! I have absolutely no clue about half of what you're saying, but all I know is that you're the only way I can fix this entire mess!

You once told me that you could save all the Lost Ones and bring them out of their comas if I gave you enough power. That has been my ENTIRE plan this whole damn time, don't you see??

I need your help Snark. Noone else can help me.."

The options I presented when you found durga were

Wat do?
[]Spend time grabbing lotus and bring her into the pow wow
[]Spend time searching for Vividor and bring him into the pow wow
[]Spend time grabbing both of the for pow wow
[]make a plan
[]Let Snark eat his food, he will probably be more helpful then.
[]Make plan(wut?)
[]Other, please specify

After mentioning the town was bedlam. I meant spent time as in actually spend time so... right what it says on the tin.

Sorry there was meta-confusion I will try to be clearer with presented options.

>>25124374
We still need to explain why we didn't give him complete epitaphs.
"We may not have given you everything, but that's because you didn't give us anything back. I know so little about you...that I didn't trust you. I was afraid of what you may do with the power. I thought that by spreading the power to others I could protect them...I just wanted to help people."

The problem is that Snark is showing himself to be pretty fucking untrustworthy and unstable with his recent antics.

I mean it's hard to say it'll be just like old times, if we know he can be this much of a jackass.

>>25124423
Also it was because we felt that if we were the ones holding all the power, we'd fuck up again like we did with Durandal, and Snark wouldn't be able to save them.

And the solution is to make our friends as close to equal if possible with us in strength, and the Epitaphs seemed like the best way of accomplishing that, as opposed to just giving them fragments of Snark, which, by definition, would be lesser than the original.

>>25124408

Well, the thought was clearly that it both wouldn't take that long and to see what she had to offer to the planning process.

So we pretty much chose to go left thinking we were turning right.

Basically >>25124255 this guy has perfectly summed up the feelings on the matter.

Not exactly sure what we're suppose to do about it now since you've dumped info that makes ret-conning flat out impossible.....

Maybe it's just because I honestly can't see the current situation ending in anything other than a game-over.

>>25124430
Hold on. Didn't we bitch at Haruko for her not taking initiative? Didn't we say if we have terrible ideas she can go ahead without us and we need her to be proactive?

Snark went solo because he thought we were being a fuck up. Seems to me he just got sick of us being awful. Then we tell him we are going to take Magus alone and he will get nothing.

Seems to me he is taking our advice to the logical extreme.

>>25124423
Thanks. I forgot to throw that in there.

So, Azure.
Mix
>>25124374 and >>25124423 in a way that makes sense. Drop a Trust you or I don't trust you, whatever.

Because, seriously, Anon trusted the fuck out of Snark. Then we didn't. Then we did again.. Then we didn't.. etc. etc.

>>25124374
Still sounds bad.
>>25124430
Snark: Ya know, I also feel the same way. I mean really, hungry for power? Stick to coffee, asshole.

Fuckity fuck fuck FUCK.

How the fuck do we recover from that stupid speech?

>>25124502
>Not exactly sure what we're suppose to do about it now since you've dumped info that makes ret-conning flat out impossible.....
Situation: Salvageable.

Restart at the beginning of thread, ask Snark if he wants backup for Kite.

>>25124502
Maybe consuming the infected parts of Magus will advance Snark enough that he understands where we're coming from and stops being such a jerk?

>>25124566
You have literally no idea which part of the emotional engine this AIDA is holding, let alone what the actual core was designed to do.

>>25124566
We gotta try something, let's toss the dice and see were they lie.

Speech for all of your consideration:

Yeah? Well right back at you. My rage is infinite too.

But before you decide to bugger off and do whatever you're going to do, there's something I want to say: I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I got us all into this mess, that it had to come to this.

I'm not saying SORRY for what I did with Macha or my actions since this crisis started... I've been acting as best I can without being an omniscient AI. You know how people are slow to you before Magus? They're also inefficient and dense as all holy hell. That doesn't stop after we get plugged into the system. I did what I had to… especially when the people who had all the information decide to hold the cards close to their chest, and only berate me after the damage is done.

I think that this stems from a absolute failure to communicate with each other, and assume that each of us would know what the other was doing. How the holy hell was I supposed to know that you were actively trying to stabilize the servers? You didn't send me a message about all of that, you got angry and left me with a gaping hole in my soul, and then show up all EVIL BBEG FINAL FORM CACKLING MADLY in the sky when I go to Hulle Granz! Do you think that makes me *think* that you're just making me jealous? Hell no! That makes me think that you've gone over the deep end.

But likewise… I didn't really explain my full line of thinking of with-holding Macha until a few minutes ago. Instead, I clammed up after you snapped at me, leaving distrust and paranoia to fill in the gap that each of us left in each other. No homo.

(1/2)

>>25124599
Well Areta is dying so that's our first priority.
It has to be.

Unless MANIA kills Magus right now, we need to work together with Snark to save Areta.

>>25124502
I will say there was some misunderstanding but... how would you know how long finding someone would take? The city was in chaos and there was no way of knowing if you would even find her, let alone when.

IC it made no sense to say []Spend time...lotus(1 hour). You simply could not know

>>25124490
>>25124423

There's also the fact that they're apparently unique. So him asking if he can eat one is like him asking if he can light the Mona Lisa on fire. When a copy apparently serves the same purpose, and we have no indication that the process is at all reversible.

ON THOSE GROUNDS ALONE, we have a perfectly reasonable stance to not let him have the TRUE Epitaths. If any part of our understanding there is wrong or incomplete, he needs to correct it so we're not working off of false assumptions.

>>25124538

Yeah, but the fact that he had a logical beginning to going full retard doesn't excuse... well.... going full retard.

>>25124599

We're grasping at straws here.

>>25124563

>Retcon now that we have meta-knowledge.

That feels like cheating. I'd feel better about that choice if Azure hadn't just dumped so many of his fucking notes about why this was a bad choice.

Which was from a misunderstanding.... but still....

>>25124630

You.. You might just save us all..

I fully support everything this Anon says.

>>25124423
>>25124374
I'm in favor of these two. I would like to hand Magus on a dinner plate to Snark as well but I'm not the majority here.

>>25124663

Well the thinking was 'let's go find her real quick' and then we got a time skip to when we found her.

If we went looking for like ten minutes and didn't find her we might've gone 'fuck, this is taking too long. What's plan b?'

I mean, I'm not saying this is completely your fault, but assumptions were made on both sides that didn't really add up.

>>25124688
Sorry, I did not want the players to feel I was just randomly trying to screw them over because I hate them or something and it looked the direction it was going.

I really feel sort of sad it went this direction.

>>25124630
Too many words.

The only thing that needs saying is Areta is going to die and we need his help to save her.

If he decides his grudge is more important, than words would be wasted on him.

>>25124744

I'm not blaming you, it's just in hindsight it's pretty fucking obvious that we shouldn't be here.

Not because of some meta-knowledge telling us it was the wrong choice, but because we clearly turned left when we meant to go right because someone was holding the fucking map upside down.

It's not your fault, but it's like >>25124741 said. Shit's fucked where it shouldn't be, since TECHNICALLY we didn't really make the bad choice that led here.

>>25124630

But while everything's going down the shitter for me, I'm betting that you're not feeling too hot either. You wanted to separate from the main AIDA hive and eat it, right? But right now, it looks like you're becoming more and more like the thing you wanted to avoid. Despite all the power you've gotten, you're becoming less Snark the gluttonous angel and the pretty cool guy once you get to know him, and more like Orobourus, the second coming of the main AIDA hive asshole.

Let me be crystal clear then: I think you're a pretty cool guy, Snark. I sincerely appreciate how you stitched me back together and made me a closer approximation to a human being. We also make a great team; we reamed Hamelin, Raum, and all those other AIDA posers. But when you start saying "I WANNA EAT THESE ONE-OF-A-KIND EMOTION ENGINES BECAUSE THEY TASTE REAL NICE", that makes me suspicious as all holy hell that you were just keeping up the act to use me to help you in your quest for godlike power, even if that wasn't the case at all. Was it essential for your growth? Would there have been a chance to leave the Epitaph intact if you ate it in a certain way? I had no way of knowing!

You see, humans are a suspicious lot. We like consistency and predictability; doubly so for me, since I used to be a fleshy robotic imitation of a human. I can't trust you unless you fully explain everything to me and not just assume that I'll be OK with it. Likewise, I should've explained more of my actions, since they were probably as incomprehensible to an AI. That's the root of this, isn't it? Humans and AIs being so similar on the surface, yet so vastly different creatures deep down. We need to understand each other better… know our motivations and make them perfectly clear to each other... talk more… do some sort of vulcan mind-melding, or come up with some way of doing that.

(2/3)

>>25124867

If you want to be angry at me forever, fine. I can live with that. I was an asshole in all the subtlest and most insidious ways. But Areta and Mania and the rest... So even though this is an apology... it is more of a plea: even if the differences between us is too great, even if you won't remain with me afterwards... please help me save my friends. They don't deserve to die because of my failures as a human being and as humanity's representative to the sapient part of the AIDA hive-mind.

>>25124867
>>25124939
I'd support this, but Areta's kind of dying right now.

Talking things out later, right now we need to make her not die.

>>25124630
>>25124867
>>25124939

Well, I've said my piece.

>>25124766

If it's too wordy, then we can just stick with >>25124939

>>25124630
>>25124867
>>25124939

Azure..

I think this entirely encompasses everything between Anon and Snark..

Everyone okay with trying this? I see literally no other course of action at this point..

And hey, we might just survive!

>>25124992
Maybe cut down on the words a bit and get some help for Areta.

>>25124992

It's pretty much the only thing that isn't a full-on retcon of what happened to try and fix things.

Then again, he really has no reason at all to give a fuck.

>>25125034
Except maybe he does care about the lives of our friends.

If he doesn't, then we were right to mistrust him.

>>25124967
Snark can't save her. She's data drained, meaning she's become one with the Lost Ones.

Snark couldn't save our previous friend why was data drained as well. She's already gone, WE CANT SAVE HER.

Just like we probably can't save everyone else who's died today in The World..

>>25125024

Sorry, I was an asshole for not listening to you, although you were just like me in the sense with all the backseat driving, and all of our combined asininity made all of this bad stuff happen. We were both wrong, but I'm sorry anyway. Please help me save my friends' lives even if you won't join with me like how it was?

>>25125066
Like
"This isn't about you and me, it's about her, and MANIA, and Durga, and Lotus, and Shimabuku, and Luna, and everyone who has ever made the mistake of putting their faith in me.
In you as well. MANIA, Shimabuku, and Luna all accepted YOUR power without any second-guesses, and despite barely trusting you at first, one conversation with Durga was enough for her to almost see you as a little brother.
They're YOUR friends too Snark, so please, help me protect them."

>>25125072

It was shown in the games that the presence of Epitaphs makes a chance of surviving a data-drain possible. Kind of like how Kite's bracelet makes his group able to withstand non-super-Corbenik data drains. However, it is very inconsistent on what conditions make data-draining lethal or not.

>>25125072
If we data drain Magus we get Skeith and fix her.

>>25125072
What do you mean? She's in the exact same state Lotus was after MANIA killed her.

We saved her then by restoring her Epitaph.

>>25125139
I'm regarding In Game knowledge. Before, Snark couldn't save someone who was data drained. Besides, Areta already has an Epitaph..

Wait...

Maybe...
>>25125142
Far, far too long mate.

>>25125153
And if that's not the case, and she died pretty much off-panel due to a misunderstanding, than I may have to request a reset.

>>25125197
But I thought it...just happened, right?

>>25125197

As was shown in >>25125153

I think it was either Raum or berserk MANIA that data-drained her. She was in a really bad way because the Epitaph she had was ripped out of her by MANIA's first AIDA. Snark/Chen beat MANIA down and reunited Lotus with her Epitaph, which fixed her.

>>25125153

I was just making that Connection, thank you.

But right now, Snark is FAR too angry to even consider helping us..
Or maybe not.

We shall ask him to save her life then!

>>25125197
What do you mean?

Did you not read
http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/24270200/

>You think about eating the core, considering letting Lotus be free of the burden and taking on the task yourself, but you shake your head. That is just Snark talking, you are sure.

>"Sure, blame it all on me. Because you are clearly the well adjusted one in this relationship." You hear from nowhere as you walk over to Lotus and kneel beside her. You can't help but feel she is probably in a coma in the real world right now as you set the core on her it does not go right in so you focus inwardly at snark, more difficult now that your headache is going away.

>"Snark. Could you maybe... j.... damn it, you know." You think but just get an amused reply.

>"Know what? If you don't say it, this mean gluttonous snark can't know what you mean." He replies, clearly not cooperating until he gets what he wants.

>"Fine, will you please help me jam it inside her." You Sigh, the cackle he replies with making you hate him all the more.

>You see some black spots connect from your character's hand to Lotus' body, then gently float the core into her. It vanishes in a pink light.

>After a second or two Lotus opens her eyes and looks at you. "Hey there Chen I, wow, that is unpleasant. What happened?"

>>25125264
Wait what? We already knew exactly what we needed to do.

Take down Magus like we did MANIA and make Snark shove Skeith in Areta.

>>25125307
There were a few people shouting heal her, so I used that as the intro post.

Rolled 34

>>25125304
Try Lust blinding love to destabilize Magus, and then the Agony Cannon.

>>25125264
Is it just me or does

>"Bang up job! Why don't we as Areta what a good job you are doing. Harlot?" He asks stepping over to her with a hand held to his ear. "No? Nothing? Hm, Well, I am sure Durandal will be more than happy to have your back, eh Durandal?" He asks before making an exaggerated surprised face. "Oh, I forgot. You protected the crap out of him. How about we ask the moon tree members who were trying to stop the killing while you wasted time looking for Lotus? Oh, I forgot. They came down with a sudden case of dead. Pity that." He nods to himself as if he were actually surprised.

Imply he sort of cares about humanity? In a really sort of angry, full on retard way, but still.

>>25125272
I remembered, but thank you. My memory is rather slippery sometimes..

Also..

FUCK YES WE'RE BACK IN THE GAME!

Rolled 68

>>25125331

Seconding this. We have to disrupt him so that he'll start focusing his attention on us, or disorient him so that MANIA can have more breathing room.

>>25125304
Again, best of first three 1d100s as normal

>>25125304
From what I recall Magus was using his leaves to ward off our attacks so use lust blinding love with mirror world to distract him. When he's open hit him with agony cannon to bind, and if all works out, blast him with Azure Flame Hell.