AeonQuest P5: Me, Myself, and I, Like the Stars and the Sky.

Hand of Maybe:
  **VIII / XIX / MMXVII**
  [...]
  [...]

Emerald:
  kek

Hand of Maybe:
  [Continue?]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > yes

Emerald:
  >let's see what realm we've fallen into this time!

Hand of Maybe:
  **PT. 5: ME, MYSELF, AND I, LIKE THE STARS AND THE SKY.**
  <https://youtu.be/uWd6XgBVIcg>
  [Your name is CINAVI KANERA.]
  [You're lying on a dull maroon metal floor in some dark room.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  i'm angry erelye

Hand of Maybe:
  [Good.]

SplitSuns:
  what the fuck is this song
  it's majestic

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > look around

Hand of Maybe:
  [You raise your head, blinking as you look about. The room seems to sense your motion, and a dim light activates in the ceiling, revealing to you the room is wholly unremarkable, save for the fact that the walls and the ceiling are all one sort of dome of the very same maroon metal, and that there is some sort of computer terminal in the far wall.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > Inspect terminal.

TwinBuilder:
  Obviously.

Hand of Maybe:
  [Much like any other computer terminal you've inspected in your admittedly-short life, it possesses a screen, and a keyboard. Of note is that all of the keys seem to have been deactivated, save for the letter keys, the arrow keys, and the enter key.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > What alphabet are the letter keys in?

Hand of Maybe:
  [Latin.]

SplitSuns:
  >Anything on the screen?

Hand of Maybe:
  **МОНОЛИѲИУМ**.

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  Monolithium.
  > Type in `Hello?`

Hand of Maybe:
  [No question marks.]

SplitSuns:
  then just `Hello`

Hand of Maybe:
  [Nothing happens.]

Emerald:
  >hello [enter]

Hand of Maybe:
  [Nothing happens when you press enter, as well.]

Emerald:
  >press enter again

Hand of Maybe:
  [Nothing.]

Emerald:
  >you sure?

Hand of Maybe:
  [Absolutely certain.]

TwinBuilder:
  Type in `MONOLITHIUM`.

Hand of Maybe:
  [Nothing happens.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > Inspect Logogram, additionally.

TwinBuilder:
  Type in `help`.

Hand of Maybe:
  [Same as it's ever been.]
[Nothing happens.]

TwinBuilder:
  ...try `> help`?

Hand of Maybe:
  [No greater than symbol.]

SplitSuns:
  do you guys think this is something we'll have to get back to later

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > No thumping pain?

Hand of Maybe:
  [Nothing.]

TwinBuilder:
  oh, then what did you mean by 'arrow key'

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  Finally, press the arrow keys.
  Each once.

Hand of Maybe:
  [Any arrow order you press in particular?]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  WAIT
  oh my god

Emerald:
  >up up down down left right left right, then b, then a, then enter

TwinBuilder:
  up up down down left right left right, then B, then A, then enter.

Emerald:
  HA

Hand of Maybe:
  [The screen flashes green, and descends into the floor.]

SplitSuns:
  holy shit

Emerald:
  *high fives twin*

TwinBuilder:
  Nice one.

Pope:
  Holy

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  I SWEAR I WAS THINKING THAT
  but i didn't know it

Hand of Maybe:
  [A levitating shard of Darkness itself floats in the passage behind the terminal.]

TwinBuilder:
  Take it.

Hand of Maybe:
  [You acquire another Fragment of the Nightmare.]

TwinBuilder:
  Neato.

SplitSuns:
  burrito
  okay, so what can we do with these fragments

Hand of Maybe:
  "Good question. I was *about* to get to that."

Emerald:
  >listen to the elevator music

SplitSuns:
  oh

Hand of Maybe:
  "But it seems you've beat me to the punch -- and my position."

SplitSuns:
  :mspa:

Hand of Maybe:
  [Down the hall, you can see none other than ALMAERAPHA OF AKKATH sitting in the lotus position in a small cubic room.]

TwinBuilder:
  > Walk over to them.

Hand of Maybe:
  [You do so. He's the same as he's been the past four times.]

Emerald:
  >"Hello once more"

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > Isn't that you, though.

Hand of Maybe:
  [Correct observation.]
  [Shall we drop the pleasantries?]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > Yes.

Hand of Maybe:
  [Very well.]
  [I do not open my eyes, nor acknowledge you directly.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > So, you're the Scribe of Akkath, who defeated ***ZHA*** in single combat, before sowing him back together, yes?

Hand of Maybe:
  "Wrong verb. More apparent when I can read your text as well."

Emerald:
  >"sewing, whatever"

Hand of Maybe:
  "Very good!"
  "You know how to speak."

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  Hah.

Emerald:
  >"thank you captain obvious. Would you like me to say Apple?"

JOE:
  [Wait, whats this agin]
[i dont remember anythings names]

Hand of Maybe:
  "Trust me. You don't want to know what I would like you to do."

JOE:
  [is it the one with logograms?]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > I don't think we should disrespect the scribe of Akkath.
  > So, what's on the itinerary today?

Hand of Maybe:
  "*Anyhow*, you wanted to know what the Fragments are about, hmm?"

Crystal:
  >Certainly.

Emerald:
  >do we still have the Hanged Man?

Hand of Maybe:
  [Yes.]
"Good, good. Let me just... set this up--aha."

JOE:
  [...is this the thing with the logograms?]
[nobody answered last time i asked]

Hand of Maybe:
  __The Almaeraphan Archive.__
| **[Alchemic Scroll: Of Stars and Ash]** | **[Alchemic Scroll: Aeonic]** | _**[Sphaera de Sapientia Aeterna]**_ |
| [VI - The Lovers] | [VIII - Justice] | [XVII - The Stars] |
| *[XXI - The World]* | *[Oracle Sphere]* | *[Half-Melted Candle]* |
Bold objects cost one Grand Fragment. Italicized objects cost two Fragments of the Nightmare, regular, one.

SplitSuns:
  ...holy shit.

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > Inspect inventory.

Hand of Maybe:
  __Inventory.__
| [Thaumium Knife Hilt] | [Quill] | [Four Empty Books w/ TLoL Page & Bill Page] |
| [2 Bottles of Ink] | [XII - The Hanged Man] | [Hazel Box, Magetear Smoking Kit] |
| [Psi Blade] | [XIII - Death] | [Vial of Water] |
Wearing: Mage’s Cloak, Conjurer’s Artifice.
Hazel Box: Chlorpromazine (50%), Thybital (80%), Syringe (4), Used Syringe (7), Magetear Vial (90%), Syringe of the Stuff of Nightmares, Syringe of Molten Thaumium.
Fragments of the Ring: ∂, μ, ∑, √.
Fragments of the Nightmare: **1**, 2.

TwinBuilder:
  By Grand Fragment, you mean Fragment of the Ring?

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  Two normal, one grand, we've lost out on quite a few grand fragments, from what I've heard.

JOE:
  [based on the symbols, i'm guessing yes?]

Hand of Maybe:
  [Bold **1** is the Grand Fragment you got.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  And, also, the bolded **1**-

TwinBuilder:
  ...A bold+italics item costs 1 grand fragment and 2 regulars?

Hand of Maybe:
  [Yes.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  Can we ask what these do?

Hand of Maybe:
  [Nope!]

SplitSuns:
  damn.
  so, we have one grand fragment and two regular fragments
  right?

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  Let's see.
  Yes.

Hand of Maybe:
  [That's correct, yes.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  So, cards, I know what they do, and only those.

TwinBuilder:
  Then, what.

SplitSuns:
  we could buy the sphaera de sapientia aeterna if we wanted to
  but then we couldn't buy anything else

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  XIII are the hands of Death. It us.
  We have to understand the card, before utilising it as a weapon.
  Now, personally, I'm leaning towards the Aeonic Alchemic Scroll and The World.

SplitSuns:
  hmmmmm
  yeah that sounds reasonable
  i'm fine with that

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  Everyone else?

Bomber57:
  no opposition here

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  ```In the centre of the World is a dancing figure, rejoicing in the completion of the journey and celebrating not only this completion but also the new beginnings it promises. The dancer has one leg crossed over the other, just like the Hanged man. She is, in a sense, his opposite (i.e. the Hanged Man upright). As the Hanged Man looks infinitely inward, the dancer in the World card looks infinitely outward. In each of her hands she holds a wand or baton, representative of evolution and balance. She is surrounded by a thick, green wreath, symbolic of success, victory, achievement and accomplishment, and tied with the red ribbons of eternity. The red ribbons form the infinity symbol, representing the infinite rewards of positive effort in improving both ourselves and those around us. Within the laurel wreath are stars of light indicating attainment of enlightenment or cosmic consciousness.

The figures in each of the four corners of the World card are the same figures that appear on the Wheel of Fortune. Interestingly, the World card is very much associated with the Wheel of Fortune, reflecting the cyclical progression of time and the human experience. The four figures (a lion, bull, cherub and eagle) represent the four fixed signs of the zodiac – Leo, Taurus, Aquarius and Scorpio. These are symbolic of the four elements, four suits of the Tarot, four compass points, four seasons, and the four corners of the universe. And all are within the dancer’s sight and power. The planetary ruler is Saturn, the symbol of time.```

JOE:
  [i don't understand it to begin with]
  [so no objection here]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  AQ, you either know everything or understand nothing.

TwinBuilder:
  I'll roll with that.

Hand of Maybe:
  [You attempt to purchase Alchemic Scroll: Aeonic, and XXI - The World, but fail, because you've nowhere to store them in your inventory.]

SplitSuns:
  *shit*

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  *amazing*

SplitSuns:
  >call up inventory again

Hand of Maybe:
  __Inventory.__
| [Thaumium Knife Hilt] | [Quill] | [Four Empty Books w/ TLoL Page & Bill Page] |
| [2 Bottles of Ink] | [XII - The Hanged Man] | [Hazel Box, Magetear Smoking Kit] |
| [Psi Blade] | [XIII - Death] | [Vial of Water] |
Wearing: Mage’s Cloak, Conjurer’s Artifice.
Hazel Box: Chlorpromazine (50%), Thybital (80%), Syringe (4), Used Syringe (7), Magetear Vial (90%), Syringe of the Stuff of Nightmares, Syringe of Molten Thaumium.
Fragments of the Ring: ∂, μ, ∑, √.
Fragments of the Nightmare: **1**, 2.

TwinBuilder:
  Take out the Thaumium Knife Hilt. We have no need for it since the actual blade melted.

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  Let's see, if we throw out three empty books, can we take another card?

Hand of Maybe:
  [You throw out the hilt. One free space out of two necessary.]

TwinBuilder:
  Also, put the quill in the Hazel Box?

Hand of Maybe:
  [Sure.]

TwinBuilder:
  There.

Emerald:
  ~~wear the Stuff of Nightmares as a hat~~

Hand of Maybe:
  [Do you make your purchases?]

SplitSuns:
  yes

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > Yes.

Hand of Maybe:
  [Congratulations.]

TwinBuilder:
  "[You fucked up.]"

Emerald:
  Kek

Hand of Maybe:
  [You are now out of shards.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  Amazing.

Emerald:
  >"why didn't you sell us things before?"

Hand of Maybe:
  "Two reasons. One, because I felt like it, and two, because you've spent about half of your time here failing spectacularly at acquiring Fragments in the first place."

Emerald:
  >can we equip the Psi Blade as a weapon now that the weapon is no longer the Hilt of a knife?

Hand of Maybe:
  [Yes.]

Emerald:
  >do so, unless someone objects

Hand of Maybe:
  [You do so. Another free inventory space.]

SplitSuns:
  sweet

Emerald:
  >place the Hanged Man next to Death to see if anything fancy happens

Hand of Maybe:
  [Nothing does.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > Now, what next?

Hand of Maybe:
  "Talk, or depart. We've one more time with each other following this, after all."

Emerald:
  ~~if we inject A with the Stuff of Nightmares will it distract him while we steal the rest of his stuff?~~

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > I mean, you're the GM.

Hand of Maybe:
  [I'll probably kill you *specifically* for coming up with the idea.]
  [Or something.]

TwinBuilder:
  > Could you give us hints on what we could expect moving forward?

Hand of Maybe:
  "Trials, trials -- oh, you get to go to court -- trials, trials, and then the opera."

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > The Grayholdian opera?

TwinBuilder:
  I don't know what I expected, but thanks.

Hand of Maybe:
  "The opera."

Crystal:
  Emerald,I'd counsel not antagonizing Almaerapha. The guy quite literally has sole power over our entire existence here.

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  fml

Hand of Maybe:
  [Now, now. That's not true.]
  [*You* all do things too. Sometimes.]

Emerald:
  >what do we go to court for?

Hand of Maybe:
  "Either existing, or they make it up on the spot. Not sure."

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  Amazing.

Emerald:
  >good to know

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  So, before we go, there's one last question I'd like to ask.
  How did you spawn Ali Az from your brain?

Emerald:
  >ok, so we didn't throw it away. Why do we have a bottle of water?

Hand of Maybe:
  "I knew you'd say that, and my answer is that you should make your questions *relevant*."

Emerald:
  >in that case, where should we go from here

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  Alright.

Emerald:
  >not counting "to court"

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  I suppose we'll be taking our leave, then.
  Farewell, except not really, because you're our GM.

Hand of Maybe:
  [I rise. Quietly, I turn, and point to my left -- to the remainder of the hall extending from this room across you. Reflected in my *aechorona* eyes, you think you can see liquid blue halos and puppets strung up on the walls.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > Exit into the remainder of the hall.

Hand of Maybe:
  [You do so. A metal door slides up from the floor and seals the way behind you.]
  [The air above you crackles once, then twice, then three times.]
  "Fuck. Is this thing *on*?"

Emerald:
  >"no"

theedgeofstevensknife:
  "No."

Hand of Maybe:
  "Damn."

theedgeofstevensknife:
  pffff

Emerald:
  KEK
  >try to avoid laughing

JOE:
  >try again later

Hand of Maybe:
  [You fail to avoid it. The sound crackles a few more times, seemingly adjusting itself.]
  "Aha!"

JOE:
  >the person you're calling is unavailable right now, please try again later.

Hand of Maybe:
  “Greetings, fleshsack! My name is the _**HARVESTMAN**_. I am that I am. I can feel the power of that symbol within you—I can feel the *pulsating* of your meat. Ordinarily, I wouldn’t be talking to you directly, but you’re a bit of a… *special case*.”

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > Greetings.

JOE:
  >i'm currently busy with something, probably cooking. please leave your name and number, and we will get back to you as soon as we can
  >*beep*

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > don't do what JOE said

JOE:
  "why not"

Emerald:
  >because you're outnumbered by us

Hand of Maybe:
  "...Anyways. You're nearing the end of hell, so, like any successful game, you're going to undergo some TRIALS."

Emerald:
  >democracy son

Hand of Maybe:
  "Three, to be exact."

JOE:
  oh

Emerald:
  >ah, so we are in hell

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > When do we begin?

Hand of Maybe:
  "Well, not *literally*. But basically."

JOE:
  >i noticed something, but i think saying it is a bad idea.

Emerald:
  >then think it, don't say it

Hand of Maybe:
  "When do you begin, you say? Do me a favor, and blink."

JOE:
  so i'm going to message it to everyone who isn't hand of maybe.

TwinBuilder:
  So the Harvestman approaches.

Emerald:
  >Don't blink

TwinBuilder:
  > Blink.

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > Blink.

Hand of Maybe:
  [You blink.]

JOE:
  horray, now everyone except ereyle knows what i noticed

Hand of Maybe:
  [When you open your eyes, the room is *completely* different. The shadows in the corners of your vision dance evilly. You are in a somewhat-spacious white tiled hall, and there is a circular stone gateway in the wall above you, the top of the thing marked with a bit of text.]

TwinBuilder:
  > read the text.

Hand of Maybe:
  **ΤΡΙΑΛ ΟΦ ΦΟΡΜ**.

Emerald:
  ("Obviously what we do here is use the Stuff of Nightmares")

Bomber57:
  Trial of Form?

Crystal:
  Trial of Form.

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > Walk through the gateway.

Emerald:
  I am severely tempted to do something which is likely a bad idea

Hand of Maybe:
  [You do so. Waves of energy sweep behind you, sealing you in the room ahead.]
  [You are in a perfectly cubical wholly-white tiled room with no distinguishing features whatsoever.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  I assume the trial here is to warp the form of the room.

Hand of Maybe:
  [Your thoughts seem to activate the intercom.]
  [The _**HARVESTMAN**_'s voice seems to hide barely-restrained laughter.]
  "Okay, okay! You're gonna love this."
  "So, this is the Trial of Form. The first of your three Trials, or whatever. This room has a secret, but that's not important right now. Your objective: survive this ceiling collapse."

TwinBuilder:
  .

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > What ceiling collapse?
  > I don't know what you mean.
  > This ceiling is good, so stable, so strong.

Hand of Maybe:
  [The one that's occurring right now, actually. It's *not* as tremendous as you thought.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > Nah.

Hand of Maybe:
  [It didn't take Infowars supplements, see.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > Can't be.
  > It totally did.

Hand of Maybe:
  [Prove it.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  Now, what colour is Alex Jone's skin?
  White.

Hand of Maybe:
  ((OH MY GOD. I *knew* you would say that.))

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  What colour is the InfoWars website?
  White.
  What colour are the walls?
  White.
  Taking supplements makes you big and strong and tremendous like Alex Jones and his website, and thus more similar to them.

Hand of Maybe:
  [The ceiling reluctantly agrees to these facts.]
  [It is a strong ceiling -- very well built.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  ((Also, KEK.))

Hand of Maybe:
  [It collapses nonetheless.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > How?

Hand of Maybe:
  [I don't know.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > If you don't know, how does it collapse?
  > It doesn't.

Hand of Maybe:
  [It just does.]

JOE:
  it can't collapse without a source

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > That's not a logical argument.
  > I say it doesn't.

TwinBuilder:
  > We provided facts as to why it didn't.

JOE:
  we live in a world with casualty: things need to be caused by other things.

theedgeofstevensknife:
  causality, joe

JOE:
  oops

Hand of Maybe:
  [You say it doesn't, I say it does -- fifty fifty argument here! It's not like there are FACTS to back up either side. This is CNN here, kids -- both sides do it.]

theedgeofstevensknife:
  though we do have casualties

Emerald:
  >although we do live in a world with casualities

JOE:
  autocorrect, ostty.

theedgeofstevensknife:
  :mspa:

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > We have FACTS, however!

JOE:
  its white, right?

Emerald:
  We seem to be nearly synchronized in thoughts, @theedgeofstevensknife

JOE:
  i forget consumer argument, but it had facts in it.

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > We just proved that that wall took Alex Jones supplements! That's a *FACT*, isn't it!

Hand of Maybe:
  [Fake news.]

Emerald:
  >you're fake news

Hand of Maybe:
  [Shit, man. That's rude.]

Emerald:
  >therefore the ceiling never collapsed

JOE:
  Bayesian reasoning states that it being white is evidence for its stability

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > We aren't on a block list, are we?

Hand of Maybe:
  [Fine, fine. The ceiling doesn't collapse. But the ground morphs into debris anyways.]
  [Evil debris.]
  [...]

JOE:
  wat

Hand of Maybe:
  [You are accosted by MALIGNANT RUBBLE.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > Oh well. We were just tasked to survive the nonexistent ceiling collapse.

JOE:
  debris can't be evil

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  ...AHAHAHA ***NOPE***
  > inspect HP

Emerald:
  >oh hey Rubble, how have you been since that first session?

Hand of Maybe:
  Cinavi Kanera: [P] HP: 60,000/60,000. Bandaged heavily.
Malignant Rubble: [∞] HP: ∞/∞.

Emerald:
  >remind Rubble we caused it to exist earlier
  *Callbacks are fun*

Hand of Maybe:
  [That's Rubble. This is Malignant Rubble. Totally different.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > That isn't Rubble, though.
  > It's rubble.
  > Non-sentient debris.

Emerald:
  >malignant is merely a descriptor, and therefore it's Rubble

Hand of Maybe:
  [That's clearly false, according to those pesky FACTS you seem to love so much.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > Nah, you just said it was totally different from Rubble.

TwinBuilder:
  take the leminscate from the HP

Hand of Maybe:
  [You take the leminscate from the HP.]

Emerald:
  ~~quick, Twin, back me up here, we need to remind Rubble of its origins~~

Hand of Maybe:
  [You fail, however, to take the lemniscate from the HP.]

theedgeofstevensknife:
  what's a leminscate

Emerald:
  >what.

Hand of Maybe:
  [Ask Twin.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > Gesture Malignant Rubble to act.

theedgeofstevensknife:
  and also what's a lemniscate

Hand of Maybe:
  [Sure.]

JOE:
  ma·lig·nant
məˈliɡnənt
3. likely to rebel against god or authority
 among the definitions of malignant is the above. as such, this rubble is very likely to rebel against whoever made the trial, which is its authority figure, and help us instead.

Hand of Maybe:
  [It stabs you through the chest with a sharpened arm.]
  [You stagger back, blood spilling all over your front.]

theedgeofstevensknife:
  lmao

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > It doesn't, actually, because it's a non-sentient non-animate pile of rubble.

Bomber57:
  >Turn the lemniscates on Malignant Rubble's health bar 90 degrees to the right.

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > It's completely different from Rubble the golem, which was animate, correct?

Hand of Maybe:
  https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/324262573451247616/348534252536856576/wrong.gif

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > Donald Trump's saying that Malignant Rubble's existence is WRONG.

Hand of Maybe:
  [No, you're actually exploiting timings to say that, and Donald Trump is saying that Malignant Rubble *is* animate.]
  [You smear merchant.]

Emerald:
  >correct, and yet incorrect

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > Take the Malignant from Malignant Rubble's name.

JOE:
  i repeate the wisdom of google:
  ma·lig·nant
məˈliɡnənt
3. likely to rebel against god or authority
 among the definitions of malignant is the above. as such, this rubble is very likely to rebel against whoever made the trial, which is its authority figure, and help us instead.

Hand of Maybe:
  [Okay. You take the Malignant out of the name.]

JOE:
  so now its just rubble.

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > And then?

TwinBuilder:
  MY SON

Hand of Maybe:
  Cinavi Kanera: [P] HP: 45,000/60,000. Bandaged heavily, bleeding from vicious chest-wound.

Rubble: [∞] HP: ∞/∞.

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > Wave to Rubble, say hi.

Hand of Maybe:
  [You wave and say hi.]
  [Rubble proceeds to break your face.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  A

JOE:
  why the

Hand of Maybe:
  [It's still on the enemy alignment, see.]

JOE:
  point out that "face" isn't a bone
  so he couldn't break it.

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > Point out that ∞/∞ is 1, kick it.

Hand of Maybe:
  One at a time, please.
  [You point out that your face isn't a bone. Rubble agrees, and breaks every single one of your bones instead.]
  [Rubble also points out that lemniscate solidus lemniscate isn't even a health value, let alone a fraction.]

TwinBuilder:
  Then he has no health value
  rolls down to 0

Hand of Maybe:
  [Rubble is a pile of rocks. He doesn't *need* a health value.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > He doesn't *need* to act, either.

Hand of Maybe:
  [This is a trial of form, after all.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  ...*oh my god*

JOE:
  wait how much realitywarping do we have right now?

TwinBuilder:
  ?

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > Rubble doesn't actually exist.

JOE:
  like how much random stuff can we do?

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  Something tells me you can't quantify that.

JOE:
  approximately how much?
  [[clearly we can do some since we stopped the ceiling from collapsing]]

Hand of Maybe:
  [There are no number values to describe things like this at all.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  Let's see.
  > Remove the Rubble from Rubble's name.

Hand of Maybe:
  [Are you sure?]

theedgeofstevensknife:
  ehhhh

Hand of Maybe:
  [Believe me: if you want to, I'll do it.]

SplitSuns:
  if that happens i'm not sure well be able to interact with him at all

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  Let's not, then.
  > How Can Rubble Be Rubble If Fiction Isn't Nonexistent Again?

Hand of Maybe:
  [Because You've Gotta Have The Will To Accept The Truth, Buck The System, And The Group Collective.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  ...holy fuck that works too well
  > Have the will to accept the truth, buck the system and the group collective.

Hand of Maybe:
  [How.]

Emerald:
  >seven

JOE:
  >because we want to; hence, we have the will.

Emerald:
  >that's how

Hand of Maybe:
  [Seven, you say.]
  [7.]
  [7777777.]
  **[7x7]**.
  [You buck the system.]

Emerald:
  >what have I done

TwinBuilder:
  Oh my god.

JOE:
  ~~7 **R**~~

Hand of Maybe:
  [Civilization and reality collapse as legions of gay space frog child molester Martian slavers invade from the pits of the God-Machine, breaking a hole in the wall. RESISTANCE SCOUTS kill Rubble, and quickly escape from the room.]

JOE:
  wh

theedgeofstevensknife:
  .ok

Emerald:
  >what the fuck did I just do

JOE:
  what
  🆗

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > Test complete?

Hand of Maybe:
  [The way forward gapes open.]

Emerald:
  >A winner is us

theedgeofstevensknife:
  "gapes"

TwinBuilder:
  Anything else of interest in the room?

Hand of Maybe:
  [Nah.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > Forward.

JOE:
  🇮   🇬 🇺🇪  🇸

Emerald:
  >onwards!
  (I can't believe that fucking worked)

Hand of Maybe:
  [You step into the next hall.]
  [The intercom crackles on.]
  [You think you can hear the sound of gunfire in the background.]
  "O...kay. We're fighting off some space frogs right now, so mind the background noise."

theedgeofstevensknife:
  lmao

Emerald:
  Kek

JOE:
  i thought they where martians?

Hand of Maybe:
  "I don't know *how* you did it, but you just beat the first Trial. So, uh. Congrats? Just step forward to go to the next one."

theedgeofstevensknife:
  >Step up.

Hand of Maybe:
  [.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > We had the will to accept the truth, buck the system, and the group collective, of course.

JOE:
  ~~>no, step backwards~~

TwinBuilder:
  oh my god i swear

Hand of Maybe:
  [You head onwards. There's another circular stone gateway before you, with more text engraved into it.]

theedgeofstevensknife:
  >Read it.

Hand of Maybe:
  **ΤΡΙΑΛ ΟΦ ΔΙΣΚΟVΕΡΥ**.

theedgeofstevensknife:
  discovery? hm.
  i'm too lazy is that what it says

TwinBuilder:
  okay phew I think we're good

SplitSuns:
  "i didn't know infowars was being broadcast on the discovery channel."

TwinBuilder:
  That's definitely DISCOVERY.

theedgeofstevensknife:
  k

TwinBuilder:
  Head through the gateway?

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  isn't this the trial where we go to court

Hand of Maybe:
  [You head through. The wall closes up behind you, and you step onto a metallic catwalk above a sea of multicolored infinite fractal flames. There are stands floating in midair all around you as you reach a central metal platform engraved with some sort of upward-pointing triangle split into four internal triangles. The top triangle is colored black.]

SplitSuns:
  >what are the other triangles colored?

Hand of Maybe:
  [They're just the metal of the floor below.]

Emerald:
  ("Alright, I'm going to not say anything for like 10 minutes then show up and say a single word to win the battle")

TwinBuilder:
  THIS *MUST* BE THE WORK OF AN--*shot*
  Examine the triangle closer.

Hand of Maybe:
  [You do so curiously. Then, you jerk back, clutching you head as a red triangle burns itself into the center of your vision. You hiss at the pain beneath your eyes, and look up again. Faceless, featureless beings seem to be manifesting out of nowhere to fill the stands.]
  [The intercom activates again.]
  “This appears to be some sort of trial. Yours. It’s funny, though! A Trial that’s literally a trial. Ah, here they are. The jurors arrive. Sorry. *Jeerers*.”
  [(You can still hear gunfire in the background. And also frog ribbits.)]

theedgeofstevensknife:
  Body, huh?
  wait no it is the other one
  whoops

Hand of Maybe:
  Nah, you're right.
  [The GRAND JEERER then arrives.]

TwinBuilder:
  Am I correct in assuming it looks like this
  https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/324262573451247616/348540835769483264/unknown.png

Hand of Maybe:
  [Yes.]

TwinBuilder:
  Alright

Hand of Maybe:
  [The Grand Jeerer accuses you of EATING THE ALL-FLESH. Defend yourself.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > What the fuck is an ALL-FLESH.
  > I can't eat something if I don't know what it is.

Hand of Maybe:
  [The jury doesn't seem to buy that. There are murmurs in the stands.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > This... ALL-FLESH doesn't even exist, does it.
  > I can't eat something that doesn't exist!

Hand of Maybe:
  [The GRAND JEERER shows you a massive hunk of infinite human flesh that is both everything and nothing. It has a pretty sizable Cinavi-teeth-shaped bite in it.]

TwinBuilder:
  > If the human flesh is infinite, and it's everything, then therefore everyone must have eaten it at some point.
  > Even you.
  > Either we're all guilty, or we're all innocent.

Hand of Maybe:
  [The jury throws a tomato in Twin's face, and the GRAND JEERER angrily declares that this is CINAVI KANERA's trial, not anyone else's.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > Unveil The Hanged Man, but upside down.
> "This is completely illogical and if you don't let me go then I'll use this card to upend your order."

Emerald:
  >if it's truly infinite, how does it have a hole?

theedgeofstevensknife:
  If it's nothing, we can't have eaten it

Emerald:
  >infinity minus anything is still infinity

theedgeofstevensknife:
  Besides, our teeth look nothing like that

Emerald:
  >therefore the hole doesn't exist

Hand of Maybe:
  [The GRAND JEERER stabs you in the hand, and steals XII - The Hanged Man. Also, the GRAND JEERER reminds you that the ALL-FLESH is a paradoxical substance, and that it can be like that.]

theedgeofstevensknife:
  >Accuse the GRAND JEERER of stealing our dentures

Emerald:
  >stab the GRAND JEERER with the Psi Blade, and accuse him of Theft

Hand of Maybe:
  [Please choose a single course of action.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > Don't stab, but accuse him of theft, specifically stealing our dentures.

SplitSuns:
  i agree with consumer

Emerald:
  >fine

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  Theft, you know, an *actual* crime.

Hand of Maybe:
  [The GRAND JEERER points out quite clearly that you don't have dentures, and that even if he *had* stolen him, theft isn't illegal in the Nightmare.]

Emerald:
  >yes it is

Hand of Maybe:
  [Unless you're an accused criminal like yourself, that is.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > But is *eating the ALL-FLESH* illegal?

Emerald:
  >I accused you, therefore you're a criminal
  >theft is therefore illegal for the GRAND JEERER

theedgeofstevensknife:
  >Pop out your spare dentures to prove him wrong

Hand of Maybe:
  [Accused criminals can't accuse people of being criminals. Your PUBLIC SPACE ATTORNEY slaps himself in the face, and calls a brief recess.]

Emerald:
  >go to recess and play on the playground

SplitSuns:
  that's... not what they mean

TwinBuilder:
  Why did he call me out and none of you?
  Was he scared that I was right?

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  He was!

Hand of Maybe:
  (I literally have no idea what you're talking about right now.)

TwinBuilder:
  Me?

Hand of Maybe:
  Yes.

theedgeofstevensknife:
  the gj threw a tomato(e) in his face

TwinBuilder:
  When I talked, you told me to shut up, and that this was Cinavi's trial.
  You didn't do that to anyone else.

Hand of Maybe:
  [The PEOPLE THAT ARE FORCED TO TAKE YOUR SIDE ABOUT THINGS agree on the basis of equality, and throw a tomato in everyone elses' faces too.]

SplitSuns:
  lmao

TwinBuilder:
  Well, that clears that up. Thanks.

Hand of Maybe:
  [You think you can hear the _**HARVESTMAN**_ cursing under his breath on the intercom.]

TwinBuilder:
  Try talking to our PUBLIC SPACE ATTORNEY.
  Any advice, since we're somehow incompetent?

Hand of Maybe:
  [The PUBLIC SPACE ATTORNEY suggests that you stop arguing about the substance and meanings of ALL-FLESH.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > Doesn't that mean we're all accused criminals, then, since the PEOPLE THAT ARE FORCED TO TAKE YOUR SIDE ABOUT THINGS aren't accused criminals, and are accusing everyone.

Bomber57:
  Agreed, we must argue the issue, and the issue is that we are being accused of taking a bite out of something when we never did!

Hand of Maybe:
  [The PUBLIC SPACE ATTORNEY points emphatically at Bomber, and says that he's got a damn good point.]

TwinBuilder:
  Very well then.

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  Now, how big is the bite, judge?

Hand of Maybe:
  [Bite-sized.]

SplitSuns:
  ...don't know what we expected :V

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > So, tiny.
  > Smaller than a human can bite.

Hand of Maybe:
  [No. The size of a bite.]

SplitSuns:
  they said it was a cinavi-sized bite

Bomber57:
  How about a little information. When did the event we are being accused of occur?

Hand of Maybe:
  [June twelfth, 2017.]

TwinBuilder:
  I think that's when AQ started.

Hand of Maybe:
  [That was the day after.]
  [6/13/17.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > But we weren't on earth then.
  > We're from the Aralous Disc, and we use B.V. and P.V.
  > Thus, June twelfth 2017 as a date is non-applicable to us, and thus we couldn't have committed crimes on that date.

Hand of Maybe:
  [The plaintiff is about to stab you in the eye with a rusty nail, but stops, and exasperatedly informs you that the date is absolutely correct; the GRAND JEERER agrees, and says he has the documents. He has them in triplicate. In fact, he has a video of you doing it.]

TwinBuilder:
  Show us the video.

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > Show him a video of him taking a bite into the ALL-FLESH.
  > We actually have the exact same teeth.

Hand of Maybe:
  [He shows you a video of you taking a bite out of the ALL-FLESH illegally.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > The GRAND JEERER is actually our long just Twin, Ivanci Kanera, you see.

JOE:
  IT Looks Photoshoped!

Emerald:
  (>long just)

Hand of Maybe:
  [The plaintiff points out in that your video shows him taking a bite out of a different location than the presence of the bite-mark, thus proving it's doctored.]

Emerald:
  >tell our lawyer that after this, we're taking him to court for the crime he accused us of

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > Point out the presence of two bite marks.

JOE:
  but your video is photoshopped!
  the shadows and reflections are all wrong

Hand of Maybe:
  [And, Ivanci Kanera was executed in the Illandra Massacre of 719 PV.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > Don't do what Emerald said.

JOE:
  [reffering to plaintifs video]

Hand of Maybe:
  [The shadows in the corners of your vision momentarily invade the physical world. Everything goes black. When you can see again, it's quite apparent that all of the shadows and reflections are correct.]

Emerald:
  >point out that the tampering of evidence is a sentence punishable by death

JOE:
  <:caret:343840123177271298>

Hand of Maybe:
  [The GRAND JEERER agrees, and decides that since you are both guilty of this crime, both you and the plaintiff will be executed.]

Emerald:
  >shit

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > But, if the plaintiff tampered with both pieces of evidence, aren't they both invalid?

Emerald:
  >wait how are we guilty of tampering with the evidence?

JOE:
  >but we didn't tamper with evidence!
  [i think]

Hand of Maybe:
  [Bite locations.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > You also haven't proven you don't have the same teeth as us, and instead avoided that.

Emerald:
  >that's not an answer, that's two words which are decently related

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > Thus, you have the same set of teeth as us, which means either of us could have eaten the All-Flesh.

Hand of Maybe:
  [The GRAND JEERER is cool with either; he gets to kill you both either way.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > Eating the All-Flesh also implies eating *all* of it, and there's only a small bite.

Hand of Maybe:
  [The crowd throws a tomato in your face for trying to argue semantics before you're executed.]

theedgeofstevensknife:
  ~~>Eat the GRAND JEERER~~

Hand of Maybe:
  [Sure.]
  [A swarm of Cinavis eat the GRAND JEERER.]

SplitSuns:
  .

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  *kek*

Hand of Maybe:
  [You're still going to be executed, by the way.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > Point out that the members of the swarm actually ate the ALL-FLESH.
  They're on video, and we aren't a member of the swarm.

Hand of Maybe:
  [Are you sure?]

SplitSuns:
  ...d'you think we should take this shot

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  That's a swarm of *Cinavis* (pronounced cee-na-VIS), which are exactly the same as Cinavi (cee-na-VEE) Kanera except for the name.

Hand of Maybe:
  [That's not how either of those words are pronounced.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  The point still stands, even if the pronounciation is wrong.

Hand of Maybe:
  [It doesn't, actually. The jury condemns you for pronunciation fabrication. Two death sentences.]

JOE:
  explain that some members of this group just have a really bad accent.

TwinBuilder:
  How about we stop digging our own graves.

JOE:
  liek moi, avail ani menase mehod lasot sheh enenhou yeirou edse.

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > Point out that we're literally Death though.
  > You're sentencing us to ourself.

Hand of Maybe:
  [The most majestic and just SPACE COURT doesn't give a shit.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > Proceed with the sentence.

Hand of Maybe:
  [Do you have any last words?]

JOE:
  how about "[insert extremely long and powerful magic incantation here]"?

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > Use **XIII - Death**, and invoke death, consuming the MOST MAJESTIC AND JUST SPACE COURT with the shadows at the court of our vision.

Hand of Maybe:
  [How do you use XIII - Death? Be specific.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > The shadows at the corner of our vision are writhing and hungry, correct? As we just said, we're Death, we're the nightmare, we're the card signifying change in a world of cycles, and change uproots previous law.
> Uproot the MOST MAJESTIC AND JUST SPACE COURT, commanding the shadows to suddenly envelope them all, before consuming and annihilating everyone but our defenders - particularly the rest of the JEERERS and our to be executors. Leave the ALL-FLESH untouched, however.

Hand of Maybe:
  [You fail to execute this attack, because the card is actually still in your inventory.]

TwinBuilder:
  Take it out and do it, then.

Hand of Maybe:
  [You take the card out.]

SplitSuns:
  >take it out and immediately perform the attack before our hand can get stabbed

Hand of Maybe:
  [It is promptly stolen by the jury, like the last one.]

SplitSuns:
  welp

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > Isn't theft a crime.

Hand of Maybe:
  [For you.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > It's Cinavi Kanera's trial, not Consumer's trial.
  > Consumer isn't an accused criminal.
  > You now are.

Hand of Maybe:
  [Your argument here is incoherent, as Cinavi Kanera took out the card, and Cinavi Kanera got said card stolen. The court repeats if you have any last words.]

JOE:
  say an extremely long and powerful incatation that undoes all theft that has occured to you ever, and prevents it from happening in the next 2 minutes.

Hand of Maybe:
  [The LORD JUDGE suggests your last words be non-reality-altering, lest you lose your lips with which to speak them.]

JOE:
  all speech alters reality.

Bomber57:
  ((shit))

JOE:
  by moving air.
  at very minimum.

Hand of Maybe:
  [More semantics pre-execution. Three death sentences.]

JOE:
  does extra death sentences actually matter?

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > Point out that we have the will to accept the truth, buck the system, and the group collective, we've used it once, and we won't be afraid to use it again.

Hand of Maybe:
  [Those are not last words.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > Is that a space frog in the room, climbing over you, you *literal potbellied vampire goblin*!

Hand of Maybe:
  [The court gets tired of waiting.]
  [The floor disappears; you plunge into the infinite fractal flames.]

JOE:
  accept the truth, buck the system,and the group collective.
  using, of course, 7.

Hand of Maybe:
  [You fall through this sea, and pop out in another white hallway.]

TwinBuilder:
  Nice.

SplitSuns:
  oh.

Bomber57:
  Oh.

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  ***aaaaaa***

Hand of Maybe:
  [The intercom crackles.]

EternalStruggle:
  I thought you were dead for sure.

SplitSuns:
  ...was that just to see us squirm

TwinBuilder:
  I was about to say "I am the One" and use the kaleidoscope to fuel a final flipout, but, okay.

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  this is what i lost two fucking cards for
  amazing

Hand of Maybe:
  "Now, *that* was a monumental failure."

Bomber57:
  I was gonna shout METATRON but realized such a word probably has no power here.

SplitSuns:
  it does not

TwinBuilder:
  Trust us, if there's one thing you can count on us to do, it's fail. Over and over again. 👍

Hand of Maybe:
  "But hey. You get this last one right, and that's two thirds of them good, which is passing. Probably."

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  Probably.

SplitSuns:
  that just barely counts as passing, yes

TwinBuilder:
  Would you mind telling us the solution to the one we just failed, then?

Hand of Maybe:
  "Uh. Yes?"

TwinBuilder:
  (I could have phrased that better, fuck.)
  I meant the one we just failed

Hand of Maybe:
  Answer still stands.

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > How goes the fight with the space frogs?

TwinBuilder:
  Fair.

Hand of Maybe:
  "I'm wearing a hollowed-out frog head as a helmet right now. We won the war. This fashion boom is *fantastic*, kid."

TwinBuilder:
  ...
  kid...
  never mind
  let's move on to the next trial

Hand of Maybe:
  [You walk down the hallway to face one final circular stone gateway with three words carved into it.]

SplitSuns:
  read words

Hand of Maybe:
  **ΤΡΙΑΛ ΟΦ ΚΟΝΤΡΟΛ**.

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  Trial of Control.

TwinBuilder:
  Control.

Bomber57:
  We have that, right?

SplitSuns:
  only one way to find out

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  "Not self-control, no."

SplitSuns:
  >enter gateway

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > Now, gateway.

Hand of Maybe:
  [You enter the Trial of Control. You are in a featureless room. There is a moderately-sized trapezoidal prism welded to the floor.]
  [There is also a raging CACODAEMON in the room with you.]

SplitSuns:
  >recall what a cacodaemon is, if possible. if this is our first time seeing one, examine it closely (but not too closely)

Hand of Maybe:
  [You have no idea. It is made out of ., and has nine eyes, nine arms, and nine hands.]

SplitSuns:
  um.

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  ~~accuse erelye of not reading that blogpost that i posted about cacodaemonology that i never told him about~~
  Now, examine trapezoidal prism.

Hand of Maybe:
  [It appears to be a COSMIC CAPSTONE.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > Do we know what that is?

Hand of Maybe:
  [No. The intercom crackles on.]
  "Alright. Final trial. Here we go. Your goal: acquire the allegiance of the cacodemon. Don't kill it."

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > Say hello to the Cacodaemon, keep your guard up.

Hand of Maybe:
  [The cacodemon damn-well near tears your tongue out when you open your mouth. Jerking backwards saves the thing by an inch.]

SplitSuns:
  holy shit.
  see what happens if you blink, and dodge any resulting attack that may ensue

Hand of Maybe:
  [You blink. When you open your eyes, it has stabbed you in the back about thirteen times with wickedly sharp fingernails.]

SplitSuns:
  well, fuck.
  HP?

Hand of Maybe:
  [Virtually irrelevant.]

SplitSuns:
  so almost any movement of any kind triggers this thing

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > Hold the Cosmic Capstone up.
  > Stay still after.

Hand of Maybe:
  [It's welded to the ground.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > Stand on top of the Cosmic Capstone.

Hand of Maybe:
  [In the time it takes to do so, you've narrowly avoided having your eyes taken out by a particularly-vicious swipe.]

Crystal:
  > Well, huh. How did you not see those restraints on the cacodaemon before? Fancy that.

Hand of Maybe:
  [You probably didn't see them because they just broke them.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > Hold up the Psi Blade, and be prepared to bat swipes away from you.

Hand of Maybe:
  [Are you sure.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  no not really
  > Challenge the CACODAEMON to a duel. Winner does what they want to the loser.

Hand of Maybe:
  [The cacodemon can't speak, or agree to a duel.]

SplitSuns:
  we're not supposed to kill this thing, remember that
  it's not going to know that we're in a duel, if we fight the fight won't stop until we're dead or they're dead

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  I know, the idea was to then subjugate it - wait Amani fallacy

SplitSuns:
  it sure is convenient then that we have Patent-Pending Cacodaemon Mix™, the perfect blend of nutrient and vitamins to take care of your pet cacodaemon, right in front of us that we could proffer to the beast

Hand of Maybe:
  [Are you holding it in your hands?]

SplitSuns:
  no, i don't think so, because then the daemon's going to lunge for our hands and bite them off
  better to have the package on the ground so that we can then kick it towards the cacodaemon, thus marking it as being from us but not on our person

theedgeofstevensknife:
  there is probably no way this goes well, but i guess we can have hope for lenience

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > Stare in the cacodaemon's eyes to assert dominance.

Hand of Maybe:
  [As you extend your leg to kick the box, the cacodemon tears it off.]
  [You just sort of stand there for a second until, magically, your leg grows back with a spurt of blood.]

theedgeofstevensknife:
  hug the cacodemon

SplitSuns:
  dammit

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > Keep staring into the cacodaemon's eyes to assert dominance.

Hand of Maybe:
  [Nothing happens.]

theedgeofstevensknife:
  the hug was successful

Hand of Maybe:
  [Are you sure you want to hug the cacodemon?]

theedgeofstevensknife:
  congratulations
  :mspa:

:mspa::
  https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/324262573451247616/348559786381410314/mspa.png

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > Hug it so hard that it becomes immobile, yes.

Hand of Maybe:
  [You hug the cacodemon.]
  [It tears into you so swiftly and so brutally that you nearly black out from blood loss within two seconds.]
  [It then throws you into the wall. You think you hear a crack somewhere.]

theedgeofstevensknife:
  Attempt to use the cosmic capstone in some way.

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > Get back up, take some Alex Jones supplements, break the capstone in half.

Hand of Maybe:
  [You, Cinavi Kanera, have no idea who Alex Jones is. Moreover, *how* do you use the Capstone?]

theedgeofstevensknife:
  >Actually, the Capstone snaps in two.

Hand of Maybe:
  [Are you sure.]

theedgeofstevensknife:
  ....no.

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > Tap the cosmic capstone.

SplitSuns:
  we should use the capstone but i'm not sure if splitting it in two is a good idea
  yeah that sounds better

Hand of Maybe:
  [You weakly tap the thing. You suddenly topple over to the ground, letting out a strangled gasp. For that instant, it felt as if you were holding up the very weight of all of reality and nonreality itself.]

SplitSuns:
  hmmmm
  i wonder if we can get the cacodaemon to support this atlas-style
  then it won't be able to do much of anything
  however the strain of such an event might kill it

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > Hide behind the cosmic capstone, rapidly blink at the cacodaemon.

Hand of Maybe:
  [The cacodemon does nothing.]

SplitSuns:
  so it's smart enough to recognize the capstone as something it doesn't want to interact with

Hand of Maybe:
  [It's smart enough to do basic math, too! 1 + 1 = Dead Kanera.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > Attempt to put your hand on it for a few seconds.
  Perhaps we could use this as a show of dominance.

Hand of Maybe:
  [You touch the captstone for two seconds exactly. Those two seconds are likely the two most horrifically *agonizingly* hellish seconds of your life. Every single muscle in your body begs for the sweet, sweet release of death, and pained tears are flowing from your eyes. You don't notice that you're screaming until a few moments *after* you've just sort of flopped onto the floor, writhing in torturous agony.]
  [You think the cacodemon laughs, but you can't hear it over your own howls.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > "If you can't carry that for two seconds, I dare say that you're weaker than I."

Hand of Maybe:
  [The cacodemon casually tears the Cosmic Capstone out of the ground and holds it high in the air with a single hand of its nine.]

SplitSuns:
  .

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  .

Bomber57:
  >Applaud

Hand of Maybe:
  [You don't think you can even move your hands close enough together to get near making such a motion. Life is suffering right now for Cinavi Kanera.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > "Actually, why do you want to kill me?"

theedgeofstevensknife:
  >Become meguca

Hand of Maybe:
  [Hameru emerges from the depths, and gunmurders the Coobie you were trying to become meguca with, and disappears.]

theedgeofstevensknife:
  ok

Hand of Maybe:
  [Also, once again, the cacodemon can't speak.]

SplitSuns:
  do you guys think we should have crowbared the capstone while we had the chance

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > Can you at least answer yes or no questions by nodding?

Hand of Maybe:
  [There is no response.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  *10 / 10*
  > So, uh, attempt to get back up.

Hand of Maybe:
  [You sincerely doubt that's going to happen. Probably for hours.]

SplitSuns:
  >A FEW HOURS LATER...

Hand of Maybe:
  [You and the cacodemon stare intently at each other for six hours straight.]
  [You have traded *physical* agony for the mental agony of boredom, it seems.]

JOE:
  is it still holding the stone?

Hand of Maybe:
  [Yes.]

JOE:
  or did it put it down?
  o
  wow.

Bomber57:
  with one arm, no less

JOE:
  why was it avoiding the stone before, in that case?

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  it is a mistery

Hand of Maybe:
  [Good question. Too bad it can't talk to answer.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  so uh

JOE:
  ask it if the answer has more then 32 bits of information within itself.

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  has it just been casually carrying the cosmic capstone for six hours straight

JOE:
  it can nod right

SplitSuns:
  no it cannot

JOE:
  o

Hand of Maybe:
  [It has been carrying the Cosmic Capstone casually for six hours straight, yes.]
  [As you feebly rise into a sort of sitting position, it takes a step towards you.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > Continue to rise.

Hand of Maybe:
  [Yeah, sure. Another second, another body-wracking agony of a degree of tilt.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > And the Cacodaemon?

Hand of Maybe:
  [It just sort of stares.]

Bomber57:
  Well, little steps I guess?

JOE:
  say "hold the capstone with a different hand to signify yes, remain in your current state for no. does the reason you where avoiding the capstone prior have more then 32 bits of data?"

Hand of Maybe:
  [There is no response or movement from the being in any manner whatsoever.]

JOE:
  alright, thats a "no".

SplitSuns:
  or it's a no response

theedgeofstevensknife:
  >"Do you even understand me?"

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  something tells me that the cacodaemon is not a computer

Hand of Maybe:
  [There is no response.]

theedgeofstevensknife:
  yeah that's what i'd figured

SplitSuns:
  we can't talk to this thing
  we can't fight this thing

JOE:
  ask it if the first letter of the explanation is in the first 1/2 of the alphabet

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  i mean, didn't i convince it to hold the capstone

SplitSuns:
  joe. it's not going to respond to us talking to it.

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  we can talk to this thing, but i don't think it *wants* to talk to us
  and by that i mean

JOE:
  then, if it does not move, ask it if its in the last quarter of the alphabet

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  it can't speak, but it *does* understand, but it doesn't want to respond

JOE:
  repeat until a single letter has been identified.

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > If you can't respond, then you are weaker than us.

Hand of Maybe:
  [The cacodemon suddenly and inexplicably takes three lunging steps towards you, leans down to your left ear, and says "There are five thousand and eighty-two gates of painful entry into the orchard of the eldritch Truth. Every being has its own twisted gate. They must not err and fall into a Gate of malevolent design. My greetings, Cinavi Kanera. My name is _**ZHA**_. ИОУЦОС ИШ ИОУЦОС."]

SplitSuns:
  IOUCOS IŠ IOUCOS

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  split

SplitSuns:
  what

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  the cacodaemon is god

SplitSuns:
  MOTHERFUCKER

Hand of Maybe:

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  i know what to do

SplitSuns:
  okay.
  i trust you

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  the scribe of akkath, alma, defeated god in single combat, correct?
  now we aren't fucking alma, we don't have five hundred and eighty two needles, but defeating god in single combat is a serious consideration
  > "Have we erred?"

Hand of Maybe:
  [There is no response. The cacodemon convulses suddenly, takes a step back from you, and does not respond. Its nine eyes are blank for a few seconds, and then return to normal.]

JOE:
  [my guess is that means we have erred in so many ways as to shock this god]

SplitSuns:
  do you think ZHA was using the daemon as a vessel?

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  yes

TwinBuilder:
  can someone explain what just happened

SplitSuns:
  do you think ZHA is still using the daemon as a vessel

TwinBuilder:
  how did you get it to calm down

SplitSuns:
  we stared god in the face
  we didn't get it to calm down
  ...i don't think

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  So, the cacodaemon is ***ZHA***'s vessel, or ***ZHA*** himself
  which explains why it can carry reality and non-reality

Hand of Maybe:
  [The cacodemon clasps a second hand around the Cosmic Capstone. Without looking at you, it takes the thing, and holds it precariously over your head.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > Attempt to slide backwards, and ask ZHA what we did to deserve this fate.

Hand of Maybe:
  [There is no response.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  ...
  the logogram

SplitSuns:
  what

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  how many times have we used the logogram here

TwinBuilder:
  not many

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > The cacodaemon isn't carrying the Capstone, is it *really*?

Hand of Maybe:
  [It definitely is. That's the source of the all-consuming anxiety and dread frothing within you like a raging ocean.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > But we're feeling pain, and the mental dulling of boredom, not mental anxiety and not dread.

Hand of Maybe:
  [Not anymore. Well, you're still in pain.]
  [Like, unimaginably potent pain.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > What are we feeling, then?

Hand of Maybe:
  [I just said. Incredible pain, anxiety, and dread.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > Do you have proof we're feeling the latter two?

Hand of Maybe:
  [The cacodemon lowers the Capstone a little.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > Tell me, how can something  that can not communicate bear the burden of existence?

JOE:
  i thought it just chose not to communicate?

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > How can something that tends towards simple and reasonless rage understand its many facets?

Hand of Maybe:
  [How does a rock exist without splintering into innumerable fragments, if it can't speak.]

JOE:
  [["by being part of a god, which can?"]]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > Its existence is not axiomatic.

Hand of Maybe:
  [Neither is yours.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  I mean, yes, but neither of us are carrying the burden of all of existence and non-existence on us.

Hand of Maybe:
  [You're absolutely right. The cacodemon no longer is, because it's just dropped it on you.]

SplitSuns:
  the cacodaemon is not holding the capstone. in fact, the capstone is holding the cacodaemon. as you have mentioned previously, it is responsible for the weight of all of reality and non-reality. upon realizing that this means the capstone is holding itself up, a paradoxical action that repeats into infinity, it collapses into itself and shatters.
  fuck if i had sent that a se cond earlier maybe it would have worked

theedgeofstevensknife:
  time to destroy reality i guess

JOE:
  it dropped it on you;

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > But it never was holding it.

JOE:
  that doesn't mean that it hit you yet, so the thing should still work

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > As Split said, the capstone was holding the cacodaemon.

Hand of Maybe:
  [You find trouble accepting that argument as full-body unrelenting and *indescribable* pain explodes throughout not just your physical body, but your very being.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  .

JOE:
  > suck it up, buttercup.

SplitSuns:
  that's impossible

JOE:
  [what is?]

SplitSuns:
  sucking it up

JOE:
  >too bad. do it anyway.

theedgeofstevensknife:
  eat the capstone

Hand of Maybe:
  [You are filled with such unimaginable and horrendous agony that you black out before you can receive any further actions.]

theedgeofstevensknife:
  k

Hand of Maybe:
  ((Amusingly, I've got to go for a few minutes. Wonderful timing, kids.))
  👉 😶 👉

SplitSuns:
  lmao

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  '-'

SplitSuns:
  dammit if only i could type quicker
  then we wouldn't be in this mess
  assuming it worked

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  if only i had the magical ability not to kill cinavi
  let's see
  two cards
  one cinavi

Hand of Maybe:
  ((Back.))
  @Stuff of Nightmares

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > I heard that we were dead.

Hand of Maybe:
  [Who said that we were dead? Ed?]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > Ah, false reports.
  > Wake up.

Hand of Maybe:
  [You awaken in a white hall. The intercom crackles.]
  "Well, *that* was a resounding failure."

TwinBuilder:
  These aren't exactly *easy*, you know.

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > I don't know what you're talking about, we totally won the last two.
  > The JEERERS took the Hanged Man in reversed position, correct?

Hand of Maybe:
  "Easy, no. But you're the *hero*! You're supposed to pass *all* of these things, right? That's how it works."

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  Whose hero are we, exactly?

Hand of Maybe:
  "The hero of the story. Duh."

TwinBuilder:
  Heroes can fail, and usually learn lessons from their failure.

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > What if we reject that.

Hand of Maybe:
  "Well, last time you did that, you ended up with a dead Jee-Em and caused a reality-shaking canonical historical event, so."
  "That was pretty funny."

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > I'll consider it, then.
  > So, we failed.
  > What now?

Hand of Maybe:
  "Two rooms to go. The Great Astrodome, and then a meeting with my... emissary."

TwinBuilder:
  Alright then.
  > Move on?

Hand of Maybe:
  [You enter the next chamber. The door seals shut behind you. You are standing upon a stone platform floating in the center of a massive sphere of open air whose walls seem to be coated in liquid magetear. The stars sparkle in a full three hundred sixty degrees.]

TwinBuilder:
  Any objects of interest?

Hand of Maybe:
  [On the center of the platform, there is a terminal with two buttons (<- and ->), as well as some odd black metal pedestal with a slit upon the center.]

TwinBuilder:
  Anything active on the terminal?
  Like, text?

Hand of Maybe:
  [Nothing.]

TwinBuilder:
  Press the <- button.

Hand of Maybe:
  [You do so. Exactly fifteen sets of lines, some yellow, some blue, some red, some orchid, some orange, some green, some maroon, and one black, connect sets of stars together.]

TwinBuilder:
  Any green lines?
  Like, dark green.
  (Also, it says 'some red' twice, is that a typo)

Hand of Maybe:
  [Double yes.]

TwinBuilder:
  English colors, then.
  Do you know anything about the stars?

Hand of Maybe:
  [None of *these*, no.]

TwinBuilder:
  Try pressing the <- button again.

Hand of Maybe:
  [The constellation-lines disappear, and the images on the dome change entirely to a massively-dense collation of stars. Dozens -- hundreds, indeed -- of amethyst lines interconnect thousands of stars.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > Tap a star, to see what happens. Afterwards, tap a line.

Hand of Maybe:
  [You're *way* too far away to reach any of them.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  Press the <- button again.

TwinBuilder:
  Probably the Grayhold Imperium's sphere of influence?
  If I had to guess.

Hand of Maybe:
  [The stars rearrange themselves, and something particularly odd occurs. The dome is separated into two hemispheres, top and bottom, by a large dotted line. The top half depicts twelve constellations: rust, brown, gold, red, two shades of green, cyan, blue, deeper blue, two purples, and fuchsia. The bottom half depicts single stars alone. There are glowing white circles around seven of them -- one you recognize as Ajrian, and one you don't think *exists* on any imperial datacharts or star maps *you've* ever seen.]

TwinBuilder:
  Okay, the top is Homestuck stars, and the bottom...
  Got it.
  Megiddo?
  *Seven stars align; my brain ascends to higher states. Worries forgotten: eyes in my mind. This is how I will find Megiddo.*

Hand of Maybe:
  [Nothing happens.]

TwinBuilder:
  (But was I right)

Hand of Maybe:
  [Good question.]

TwinBuilder:
  Hm.
  Is there any way I could find out...
  Try pressing ->

Hand of Maybe:
  [You return to the starmap with the amethyst links.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  I know what the seven are.
  Relenauta, Perito, Zdrelli, Erismio, Atarniko, Thaxia, 'JRN.

TwinBuilder:
  Yeah, that's what I was thinking.
  'JRN is Ajrian.

Hand of Maybe:
  [You've only heard of Ajrian and Perito on that particular list.]

TwinBuilder:
  (Need to afk, but me doing the -> was just to see if we could move back and forth. Press <- twice.)

Hand of Maybe:
  [You return to the quote unquote English constellations.]

TwinBuilder:
  ah.
  use the logogram to try and glean information about the other five stars besides Ajrian and Perito.

Hand of Maybe:
  [You have no idea whatsoever how you might "use" the Logogram of Lives to just allow knowledge to suddenly flow into you.]

TwinBuilder:
  believe that you will understand the knowledge, and that the time in between now and the moment in which you do is immaterial. it has already happened.

Hand of Maybe:
  [It actually hasn't. You have *no* idea what most of those seven stars are.]

TwinBuilder:
  examine inventory.

Hand of Maybe:
  __Inventory.__
| [Alchemic Scroll: Aeonic] | [XXI - The World] | [Four Empty Books w/ TLoL Page & Bill Page] |
| [2 Bottles of Ink] | [ ] | [Hazel Box, Magetear Smoking Kit] |
| [ ] | [ ] | [Vial of Water] |
Wearing: Mage’s Cloak, Conjurer’s Artifice, Psi Blade.
Hazel Box: Chlorpromazine (50%), Thybital (80%), Syringe (4), Used Syringe (7), Magetear Vial (90%), Syringe of the Stuff of Nightmares, Syringe of Molten Thaumium, Quill.
Fragments of the Ring: ∂, μ, ∑, √.
Fragments of the Nightmare: **0**, 0.

TwinBuilder:
  could we try using The World to gain cognizance of this stuff? would that even work? hmm...
  thoughts, anyone else?

Hand of Maybe:
  @Stuff of Nightmares

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  Hm, perhaps, though I think it may be a good idea to save it up for the fight with the Harvestman's emissary
  Wait, the Harvestman's **Emissary**?

TwinBuilder:
  ...oh no

PitTheAngel:
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkDMz2ml0gw

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  On one hand, our cards won't get eaten, but on the other hand, I don't think we need it enough, so I say leave it.
  > Press <-.

TwinBuilder:
  There *is* still the pedestal with the slit...

Hand of Maybe:
  [You're back to the amethyst constellations.]
  [And, yes.]

TwinBuilder:
  How wide is it?

Hand of Maybe:
  [Little wider than, say, a doorknob, perhaps? You're not quite sure what might fit in there.]

TwinBuilder:
  Do we have anything that *could*?

Hand of Maybe:
  [A blade.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > Put the blade of Psi into the pedestal.

Hand of Maybe:
  [You lock it in. A red button appears on the pedestal, just before the slit proper.]

TwinBuilder:
  ...
  Press

SplitSuns:
  (back.)

Hand of Maybe:
  [Are you sure you want this particular selection?]

TwinBuilder:
  N.
  No.
  Go to the Homestuck/Megiddo section.

Hand of Maybe:
  [Do you press the button then?]

TwinBuilder:
  Anyone have any objections?
  Because I say go for it.

SplitSuns:
  go for it

Hand of Maybe:
  [You press the button.]
  [Immediately, the surfaces of the walls flash over thousands of incomprehensible images at once, and a combination of multicolored fractal fire, Fire, and pulsating cosmic energies throb from the slit in the pedestal, blade still it it. The sword begins to shift and twist under the influence, glowing too bright to look at directly. You turn to the walls instead, and they are focused on the image of a man climbing up a hill in the middle of the Void, and planting a metallic and spiked metal pole at its apex, mouthing words you cannot comprehend in a speech that makes no sound. And then, the walls go entirely black, and the light from the sword fades.]

TwinBuilder:
  ...Do you understand anything clearer now?

Hand of Maybe:
  [Not really.]
  [While the stars have gone out, the dotted line remains, as a note.]

TwinBuilder:
  Well, it makes sense.
  Megiddo is a city on a hill, and a city that *is* a hill.
  The latter more than the former.
  Try and take the sword out, if you can.

Hand of Maybe:
  [You remove the blade. It's heavier than it was before. Broader, sharper, and *pure* black, save for the stars and cosmos that seem to be twinkling within its blade, which is just as shattered-in-half as its predecessor. The intercom activates.]

TwinBuilder:
  ...*Whoa.*

Hand of Maybe:
  “Ohohoho! Look at *that*! Azimuth’s Edge. You know what they say about those things. Azimuths. You need stars, and an observer for them. All about direction and perception. Clever name, isn’t it?”
  “Yeah, no. It’s an aeonic weapon of halving and rending and stars and skies masked by the word maybe.”
  [The intercom clicks off.]

JOE:
  what i miss

TwinBuilder:
  We made a sword out of the stars and the sky.

JOE:
  so a celestial blade?

SplitSuns:
  nice

TwinBuilder:
  Seems like it.
  > What now?
  > Any paths out of the room?

JOE:
  ~~does it work at all like celestial magic from JOE's world?~~

Hand of Maybe:
  [None. Everything is quiet, and lightless. The walls are dead and black, save for that dotted line, and the terminal has gone inactive.]

TwinBuilder:
  Try closely examining Azimuth's Edge. Does it offer any clues?

Hand of Maybe:
  [Nothing. It's just a *really* cool sword.]

JOE:
  can you manipulate any magic using it?
  or enegy
or essentially do anything with it aside from like, cut things with it

Hand of Maybe:
  [You have no idea how you would figure that out.]

JOE:
  just... try to do it?

TwinBuilder:
  > "So. I take it the meeting with the emissary is up next?"

Hand of Maybe:
  "Ahem. One stop to make before that. A ceremony. In *your* honor!"
  [The _**HARVESTMAN**_ seems to find the notion extremely amusing.]

SplitSuns:
  oh boy
  > "So how do we get there?"

TwinBuilder:
  Okay, the question I want to know.
  So far a lot of the people we've seen have been people from the past, 7x7 style.
  We saw Gamma and Delta, for instance.
  And Cinavi's friend, when we did the flashback.
  Is the ***HARVESTMAN*** from the past, similarly? And if so, who *is* he?

Hand of Maybe:
  "Ohhh, Cinavi Kanera, *child*. These are questions you shouldn't ask. I am from a time beyond time, in a place without places. We are Here, I was There, and that is the full of it. But, I assure you. I am from no *past*. No... I am in your future."

TwinBuilder:
  I see.
  Sorry for asking, then. But thanks for the answer.

Hand of Maybe:
  "Don't apologize for one of the few brave decisions in your life -- I *admire* you for them."

TwinBuilder:
  *Oh my god.*
  Nice.

Hand of Maybe:
  "Funny you should say God. But, enough of that. Chop chop. Get out your scissors, and do what the kiddie books always told you to."

TwinBuilder:
  > Run with scissors.

Hand of Maybe:
  "The *other* thing."

TwinBuilder:
  > Stab yourself with scissors.

Hand of Maybe:
  "*Dotted line*, genius."

theedgeofstevensknife:
  >Poke your eye out.

TwinBuilder:
  Oh, wow.

theedgeofstevensknife:
  oh, cut a line.

TwinBuilder:
  I really am an idiot.
  H E E E E E E E E
  Anyway. Cut the dotted line.

Hand of Maybe:
  [How?]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > with... azimuth's edge

TwinBuilder:
  Hold the sword in front of you and move yourself in a circle while staying rooted to the spot
  So that you swing the sword in a wide circle

Hand of Maybe:
  [Doesn't reach the lines in the slightest.]
  "My advice -- treat that thing as a *tuning fork*."

TwinBuilder:
  Hm.
  Strike the sword against the pedestal?
  To create a resonant frequency.
  Unless that's too literal.

Hand of Maybe:
  [You slice the pedestal in half, metal and all. It wasn't even a particularly heavy strike.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  I think he means like a Key of Kings / the Cosmos.

TwinBuilder:
  Oh, yeah.
  They're described as tuning forks, right?
  How exactly would we go about doing that, though. They seem to be powered through sheer will.
  ...
  Wow, once again, I'm an idiot.

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  KEK.

TwinBuilder:
  Concentrate with the logogram to get perfectly in tune with Azimuth's Edge, using it as a tuning fork to *Cut* the dotted line.

Hand of Maybe:
  [You don't reach it.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > Are you sure we don't?
  I mean, how can we cut the stars and the sky if we can't reach them?

Hand of Maybe:
  "Don't *question*. A true Master of Forms cuts the world as she pleases; she is not *shaped* by the world, but is the *shaper*. There are two final trials ahead. Which Form will you choose?"

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > We reach it.

Hand of Maybe:
  [I can't hear you.]

TwinBuilder:
  WE REACH IT.

Hand of Maybe:
  [Do you?]

TwinBuilder:
  *Yes.*

Hand of Maybe:
  [Are you sure? How certain *are* you of yourself and this gambit, hmm?]

TwinBuilder:
  Incredibly certain.

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  This certain.

Hand of Maybe:
  [Incredibly's not any form of *absolution*.]

JOE:
  >at least 95% certain, but there is not enough bayesian evidence to go beyond that.

Hand of Maybe:
  [Your will falters.]

TwinBuilder:
  I'm so certain that it's happened, that I believe it's already happened.

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  Absolutely certain.

JOE:
  i mean
  now its more certain

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  So certain that you're certain.

Hand of Maybe:
  [Do you *believe*, hmm? Or has it.]

JOE:
  cuz i noticed your name is "we reach it".

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  We don't believe, see.

TwinBuilder:
  My belief is law.

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  We *know*.

TwinBuilder:
  It has.

Hand of Maybe:
  [You spin the blade in a perfect circle with precise and deliberate motion, and arching waves of pure white energy sear through reality, cutting through space and time, conceptuum and being, reality and nonreality.]
  [The halves of reality fall from your vision like curtains detached from their rods.]
  [ **|** ]
  [.]
  [...]
  [All is black.]

TwinBuilder:
  Open your eyes.

Hand of Maybe:
  [You are standing upon a ground that is not a ground in a world that is not a world.]
  [There is nothing. No-one.]
  [...]
  [No.]
  [There is something. One One.]

TwinBuilder:
  Who is the One?

Hand of Maybe:
  [Its form is immense, ragged and emaciated, deformed and defiled. You stare, noting how it seems as if it were two halves of the same being stitched together -- suspicions confirmed somewhat by *stitches* entirely across the being's middle, all of a color that is both honey-gold and piercing red, and yet neither. *Aechorona* stitches, in of themselves.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  That's ***ZHA***.

TwinBuilder:
  ...How do you know.

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  Or **MAMMET**.
  I read How Stuff Is Made: Episode 0, the Logogram.

Hand of Maybe:
  [Agonizingly slowly, the Being turns to look at you, and then to a large bubble floating in Its hands.]
  [Dream-MAMMET sighs, watching Their creation pop in two like a bubble, sliced down the equator with burning white. They take some monokolorit, and glue it back together. Good as new.]

TwinBuilder:
  ...Nice??

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  ...our effort

JOE:
  :?

Hand of Maybe:
  [Then, God looks back to you. It extends an index finger, pointing to the sky. Then, it lurches its arm forward, speaking a singular word you cannot perceive or comprehend. Your mind feels as if it is, for an instant, split into a hundred thousand segments, and pieced back together with all the sorrows and wisdom and hatred and joy in the world. A yellow upside-down triangle fills your vision, burning past civility, thought, and existence. Burying itself in You, yourself.]

TwinBuilder:
  Is there anything we can do but watch?

Hand of Maybe:
  [It then taps your forehead with a *monolithic* finger, and you, immobile and frozen to the world, hear three words that are neither your own nor really in the voice that you just heard, incomprehensible as it was.]
  "Master of Forms."
  [You regain bodily function.]

TwinBuilder:
  Examine inventory? I doubt we have anything, but it wouldn't hurt to check.

Hand of Maybe:
  __Inventory.__
| [And Yet] | [Through Oblivion] | [I Can Once More See] |
| [The World] | [Beyond] | [The Great One Key] |
| [So It Goes] | [And So It Shall Be] | [...] |
Wearing: **ΦΟΡΜ**.
Fragments of the Ring: ∂, μ, ∑, √.
Fragments of the Nightmare: ИОУЦОС ИШ ИОУЦОС.

TwinBuilder:
  Could we examine these?
  Try to examine And Yet.

Hand of Maybe:
  [Your inventory is totally empty right now.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  This is ***ZHA***'s inventory, I bet.

TwinBuilder:
  But theres the four fragments of the ring.
  Which we have.

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  Hm.
  > "Greetings?"
  We'll have to cut ourself back into reality.

Hand of Maybe:
  [God looks away, and no longer responds to anything you say.]

TwinBuilder:
  Attempt to form reality back around us, as we're the Master of Form.

Hand of Maybe:
  [Ahem. Allow me.]
  [...]
  [**TELL ME.**]
  [**DO YOU WISH TO BE FREE.**]

Bomber57:
  Yes, honestly and truly.

Hand of Maybe:
  [**GOOD.**]

Emerald:
  (I leave for an hour and then come back and we're talking to god)

Hand of Maybe:
  [You clutch at your head desperately, as if to keep your Mind trapped within, screaming in complete and utter agony as pure Color weighs itself upon your brow. Your head then proceeds to fall off, and The World shatters like a glass windowpane of Being.]
  [...]
  [...]
  [You are in the penultimate Room of your dire, dark quest. You can sense this.]

TwinBuilder:
  Examine.

Hand of Maybe:
  [You are standing upon a cube of some rough, sandstone-like material, floating in a sea of infinity with barely-defined walls you can see in the distance. Nebulae and stars shimmer in the air, and bubbles filled with some unnatural, life-sucking vortex of gray vacuous Void float all about you.]
  [Everything is still. Everything is silent.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > Step forward.

Hand of Maybe:
  [...]
  [The intercom crackles on one last time.]
  "Congratulations on the, uh. Achievement. Yeah. That's what we'll call it."

TwinBuilder:
  Thanks.

Hand of Maybe:
  "Anyways, as promised. An emissary of my will. Have I ever told you how much I love puppet theaters? Hah!"
  "If you are to succeed in this act of Slaughter, you will receive an audience with me."
  "And my master."

TwinBuilder:
  Alright then.

Hand of Maybe:
  [You hear the sound of someone clapping twice over the intercom, and then it goes dead, completely.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > Take out Azimuth's Edge, look around.

Hand of Maybe:
  [It's already out, and you can see It. A faceless white entity, hanging from over There by the neck from a rope. A *twisted* puppet, of sorts.]
  [It accosts you.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > Inspect.

Hand of Maybe:
  Cinavi Kanera: [P] HP: 60,000/60,000. Bandaged heavily. *Somewhat*-healed major chest wound?

The Harvestman’s Puppet: [∞] HP: ∞/∞. Effigy: III.

theedgeofstevensknife:
  >Cut its stupid head off.

Hand of Maybe:
  [You deal 11,000 damage!]

EternalStruggle:
  Out of infinity.

JOE:
  why is everythings HP ∞/∞?

EternalStruggle:
  Yeah this seems like you can't win this fight.
  At the very least not conventionally.

Bomber57:
  Hah, implying that would stop us.

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  AQ?
  Conventional?
  No.

TwinBuilder:
  ^

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  Now, uh, the murdering.

TwinBuilder:
  (my ability to play will be spotty from now on)

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  Wait, thinking about it, is this a mammet.

Hand of Maybe:
  [Yes.]
  [Nice observation.]

TwinBuilder:
  What do you mean?

Hand of Maybe:
  mammet (plural mammets) n.

(obsolete) A false god; an idol. [13th-17th c.]
A doll or puppet; a lifeless figure, an effigy, a scarecrow. [from 15th c.]

TwinBuilder:
  Oh, nice word choice.

Hand of Maybe:
  [A personal favorite of mine.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  Here's the catch - **MAMMET** is also the two halves of ***ZHA*** sewn back together.
  Now, uh, cut the rope.

Hand of Maybe:
  [You cut the rope from which the puppet is hanging. It falls for a little, and then floats in midair. With its eyeless face, it looks up to the hanging rope. This enrages it.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > Stab it in the face.
  >Rapidly tire of the superficiality of this assault, and cut through its conceptual being, hopefully hitting the *Harvestman* in its name.

Hand of Maybe:
  [You deal 22,000 damage!]
  [3/3 Expended.]
  [The Harvestman's Puppet taps into a power beyond being -- a power beyond Meaning. A purple Zwa burns itself into the air, and the nightmare shifts sideways. You fall to your left, narrowly avoiding vortex bubble after vortex bubble, only to go *through* the wall. Everything goes black.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  Fuck.
  > Get up if you're knocked out, examine where you are?

Hand of Maybe:
  [You look around. You appear to have fallen up a layer of the nightmare. You are in a room of hazel, cracks burning with the aubergine energy of Nihil Parva. The Nightmare's Attendant stands before you, ready for combat.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  *oh how i want to see you burn*
  > Engage in strife.

Hand of Maybe:
  Cinavi Kanera: [P] HP: 59,000/60,000. Bandaged heavily. *Somewhat*-healed major chest wound?

Nightmare’s Attendant: [√] HP: ???/???. Old Law: III.

Emerald:
  (I was about to point something out, but then I realized that it wouldn't exactly help)
  >inventory?

Hand of Maybe:
  __Inventory.__
| [Alchemic Scroll: Aeonic] | [XXI - The World] | [Four Empty Books w/ TLoL Page & Bill Page] |
| [2 Bottles of Ink] | [ ] | [Hazel Box, Magetear Smoking Kit] |
| [ ] | [ ] | [Vial of Water] |
Wearing: Mage’s Cloak, Conjurer’s Artifice, Azimuth’s Edge.
Hazel Box: Chlorpromazine (50%), Thybital (80%), Syringe (4), Used Syringe (7), Magetear Vial (90%), Syringe of the Stuff of Nightmares, Syringe of Molten Thaumium, Quill.
Fragments of the Ring: ∂, μ, ∑, √.
Fragments of the Nightmare: **0**, 0.

Emerald:
  >tap the fourth fragment of the ring, and exert our will over the Nightmare's Attendant given his connection to it

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > Take Azimuth's Edge, and slice through the ground like water, before warping a crucifix into reality, behind the Nightmare's Attendant.

Hand of Maybe:
  [Please select a single course of action.]

Emerald:
  >do consumers thing

Hand of Maybe:
  [You crucify the Nightmare's Attendant. They obtain the Jesus status effect indefinitely.]

Emerald:
  >unless you would prefer to do something else, Consumer, do my thing, after waiting for the Nightmare's Attendant to have his turn

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > Do Emerald's thing.

Hand of Maybe:
  [The Nightmare's Attendant shoots a storm of worldrending thorns at you, all the while shouting incoherent phrases.]
  "'But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart'!"
  [You do the other thing, too, sure.]
  [The Nightmare's Attendant points out that you don't even know how to *use* √, and immediately uses it to reverse-strike you with your own energy, doubling the strength of his previous attack.]

Emerald:
  >yes we do, we know how to use it simply because we do

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > Stab through the Nightmare's Attendant, and give retribution.

Hand of Maybe:
  [You stab the Attendant through with a broken sword. Wow. What power. What strength. What bouncing-off-his-chest.]

Emerald:
  >point out that the Satanic Bible has a more gender equal response to the gender divide than the Bible itself does
  (I can find a relevant image if you want me to provide proof)

Hand of Maybe:
  [The Attendant doesn't really care, and envelops you in angel dust. The drug. Swarms of rabid angels swoop out of nowhere, and eat at your flesh, especially your arms and legs. It is *agonizing*.]
  "'A bitched shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord; even to his tenth generation shall he not enter into the congregation of the Lord'!"

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > Inspect HP.

Hand of Maybe:
  Cinavi Kanera: [P] HP: 39,000/60,000. Bandaged heavily. *Somewhat*-healed major chest wound?

Nightmare’s Attendant: [√] HP: ???/???. Old Law: **II**I. Jesus.

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > Set the Crucifix on fire.

Emerald:
  (Was trying to find more biblical contradictions and discovered that Gods kind of an asshole)

TwinBuilder:
  Of course.

Hand of Maybe:
  [Welcome to the fold.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  The Nightmare Attendant's an asshat, yes.

Hand of Maybe:
  [You light the crucifix on fire. What creativity. Such damage. Wow.]
  [3/3 Expended.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > So much damage!

Hand of Maybe:
  [The Nightmare's Attendant makes one final proclamation.]
  "'He that is wounded in the stones, or hath his privy member cut off, shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord'!!"
  [The cracks in the hazel walls grow exponentially, and everything goes white in your vision, and then black.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  (I'm guessing that this is a dreamwalking endurance battle for the most part, where we resist until charged abilities go off and take us to the next phase.)
  > Examine world.

Hand of Maybe:
  [You are in an ancient throne chamber. Beams line either side of the vaulted ceiling, and, just atop the stairs a bit from you, Utoiyms stands.]
  [Ready for combat.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > Engage strife, inspect.

Hand of Maybe:
  Cinavi Kanera: [P] HP: 39,000/60,000. Bandaged heavily. *Somewhat*-healed major chest wound?

Utoiyms: [∑] HP: ???/???. Fifteen Eyes, Fourteen Swords: III.

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > Throw a bottle of ink at his face.

Hand of Maybe:
  [It explodes violently in midair before it can reach him.]

Emerald:
  Hey Consumer, mind if I try something potentially stupid?

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  What is it.

Hand of Maybe:
  [Utoiyms smashes you into the wall with a sickening crunch and a hammerblow.]

Emerald:
  Remember the Stuff of Nightmare?
  I wanna use it

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  Hm, I don't think that's a good idea to waste on an invincible boss.

TwinBuilder:
  why do i feel like that would be bad

Emerald:
  ~~this is the endgame, nothing is sacred~~

Hand of Maybe:
  [I'd say save it for a couple dozen minutes. You'll know when you'll want to use it, trust me.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > Inject 25% of the Chlorpromazine into yourself.

Emerald:
  We also have some Molten Thaumium in case we want to use that

Hand of Maybe:
  [You do some drugs.]
  [You feel a bit, weeelll, Sleepy.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  Amazing.

Emerald:
  (Was Thybital the anti hallucinant?)

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  > Hold the Edge up, and prepare to parry assaults away.

Hand of Maybe:
  [You've done some drugs, and now you're going to try and parry blows from a guy wielding a hammer with a sword. Good luck with that.]

Emerald:
  KEK

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  Amazing.

Hand of Maybe:
  [Utoiyms fuckin' *nails* the flat of your blade. You're rattled to your very core, but you still stand.]

BIG. STRONG. TREMENDOUS.:
  I'll be sleeping no - FUCK
  Please try not to get us killed.

Emerald:
  (Still though, is Thybital the anti-hallucint?)

Hand of Maybe:
  Thybital was the mass-painkiller.

Emerald:
  (HIWEVER THE FUCK YOU SPELL THAT)
  Then what was Chrlorosprosjz whatever

Hand of Maybe:
  Antipsychotic/sedative.

Emerald:
  Why did we inject ourselves with a damn sedative

Hand of Maybe:
  Good question.
  But it was funny.

Emerald:
  Damn it Consumer

theedgeofstevensknife:
  >Azimuth's Edge resonates with Utoiyms' very being, and he shatters.

Hand of Maybe:
  [Shit, man. What a display. He shatters like a pane of glass. Wow. He's fuckin' *dead*.]
  [Coincidentally, his charge reaches its completion here as well, and as he's too dead to act, he doesn't exactly *attack* you beforehand.]
  [3/3 Expended.]
  [An armored hand with an orange-irised eye descends from the ceiling, and grabs you up, dragging you back up. Everything goes black.]

Emerald:
  Ya know, I'm kinda tempted to try and take down the next boss with magetear

Hand of Maybe:
  [If you can.]

Emerald:
  >examine new surroundings

theedgeofstevensknife:
  what's thybitol do again

Emerald:
  Painkiller
  ~~it's that goood shit~~

Hand of Maybe:
  [Painkiller. Or, everything-killer, rather. Now, you are atop a massive circular tower. There are no circular segment-rocks in the center of the thing, but there *is* a massive .jpeg abomination floating in midair above where they *should* be, writhing with latent stolen creative energies.]

Emerald:
  >Right click the .jpeg and then click "Save As", saving it as totallynotdangerous.jpeg, before deleting it both from your system and the world

theedgeofstevensknife:
  huh

Hand of Maybe:
  [As prior-information before you actually *try* anything dangerous.]
  Cinavi Kanera: [P] HP: 33,000/60,000. Bandaged heavily. *Somewhat*-healed major chest wound?

ererelyele erelylefjegjrwl: [μ] HP: ???/???. It Him: III.

Emerald:
  :themage:

Bomber57:
  oh shit

theedgeofstevensknife:
  oh god

Emerald:
  Er👁roll

theedgeofstevensknife:
  >invoke WAALARE WAALYE

Hand of Maybe:
  [From the depths of Hell-5091 crawls, for the first time since two thousand fifteen, the glorious and most wise **WAA**lare **WAA**relye.]
  [**WAA**lare contemplates the important things in life.]
  **WAAAAAAAAAA**
  [You feel rejuvenated by the philosophical sermon.]

Crystal:
  ...Oh my god.

Hand of Maybe:
  [Teh Lrdo Ererelyele...]
  [Teh Lrdo Ererelyele sells your legs to the Italian Space Mafia for fifty-four cents exactly.]

Crystal:
  Hold up an effigy of the Bad God Man. While ererelyele erelylefjegjrwl is distracted dealing damage to it, slip around him and stab him in the back.

Emerald:
  Ah shit we'll probably need to shitpost to beat him
  ~~I can flood the channel with memes if necessary~~
  ...I just got a terrible idea

Hand of Maybe:
  [Several INWVSA starcruisers warp in from lightspeed, and start orbitally-bombarding the tower. Everything shakes and shudders. Yet, you hold up the effigy. Crazed and maniacal, Ererelyele strikes at it viciously with the Sword Supreme, otherwise known as the majestic rubber chicken of Delta Utoiymsín.]

Emerald:
  ...you know what?
>Punch him in the face. Straight in the face. If he dodges, follow. If he teleports, teleport to him. If he blocks, hit harder

Hand of Maybe:
  [Are you sure?]

Crystal:
  No.
  Let's try something else.
  Cut him in half with the Azimuth Blade, vertically.

Hand of Maybe:
  [You vertically bisect Teh Lrdo Ererelyele Erelylefjegjrwl with an energy-slice from Azimuth's Edge.]
  [One half of the beast poofs into dust right then and there, whilst the other half screams elongatedly and corruptedly as its face-half slowly morphs into that of an emaciated bird. Then, there is a flash of light, and they are gone, and a purple pearl-half is lying on the floor. This disintegrates into charoite dust interspaced with shards of frozen urine.]

Bomber57:
  We win?

Hand of Maybe:
  [3/3 Expended.]

Emerald:
  >...well that was easy

Crystal:
  Oh, come on.

theedgeofstevensknife:
  how are we on health by the way

Emerald:
  >status

Hand of Maybe:
  Cinavi Kanera: [P] HP: 41,000/60,000. Bandaged heavily. *Somewhat*-healed major chest wound?

theedgeofstevensknife:
  also crystal it's fine we just need to ascend, i'm fairly certain

Hand of Maybe:
  [Thank **WAA**lare.]

theedgeofstevensknife:
  nice

Hand of Maybe:
  [Anyhow, a beam of pure corrupted energy flies from a cloud in the sky, and immolates you. Everything goes white, and then everything goes black.]

Emerald:
  >let's see who we're fighting this time!

Hand of Maybe:
  [Darkness.]
[Fogging, oppressive darkness. It surrounds you, cutting into the edges of your vision as you groggily open your eyes.]
[Where are you? Who are you?]
[You're no--you know. You still remember. Cinavi Kanera. And you must *escape* this hell, so that you may return to Vivia Atheru and whatever *shitstorm* of a reality there still is out there. You lie upon the floor of the Lord-Archmage Kalare Vanarus Erelye's study, door locked, filing cabinet rifled through, odd liquid-filled device missing, and desk only *half*-rifled through.]
  [The shadows are no longer just in the corners of your vision. They *congregate* around the figure floating before you, defending it, guarding it, rendering it immortal. For the time being.]

Emerald:
  >immortality is overrated, especially when one opposes us, Cinavi Kanera
  >status

Hand of Maybe:
  Cinavi Kanera: [P] HP: 41,000/60,000. Bandaged heavily. *Somewhat*-healed major chest wound?

The Harvestman’s Puppet: [∞] HP: 3/3. Agent of the Reaper. Guarded by Darkness.

JOE:
  hey, look
  something with a finite HP.

Emerald:
  Ah yes, you again

theedgeofstevensknife:
  >Expend.

Hand of Maybe:
  [Do you mean to do some more drugs, kiddo! I, Drugmaerapha, think that's *A-oh-kay*.]

theedgeofstevensknife:
  No.

Hand of Maybe:
  [Damn.]

theedgeofstevensknife:
  > 3/3 Expended.

Hand of Maybe:
  [Nah.]

theedgeofstevensknife:
  damn.

JOE:
  wait, do we have charges or something?

theedgeofstevensknife:
  worth a shot, almost.

Hand of Maybe:
  [It was clever, I'll admit.]

theedgeofstevensknife:
  uh, check our inv.

Hand of Maybe:
  __Inventory.__
| [Alchemic Scroll: Aeonic] | [XXI - The World] | [Four Empty Books w/ TLoL Page & Bill Page] |
| [Bottle of Ink] | [ ] | [Hazel Box, Magetear Smoking Kit] |
| [ ] | [ ] | [Vial of Water] |
Wearing: Mage’s Cloak, Conjurer’s Artifice, Azimuth’s Edge.
Hazel Box: Chlorpromazine (25%), Thybital (80%), Syringe (4), Used Syringe (7), Magetear Vial (90%), Syringe of the Stuff of Nightmares, Syringe of Molten Thaumium, Quill.
Fragments of the Ring: ∂, μ, ∑, √.
Fragments of the Nightmare: **0**, 0.

theedgeofstevensknife:
  take a swing, why not

Hand of Maybe:
  [Uh, define swing a tad bit more, please.]

theedgeofstevensknife:
  >Slash at the Harvestman's Puppet.

Hand of Maybe:
  [You attempt to slash at the puppet. The broken blade of Azimuth's Edge is caught up in the shadows and darkness circulating around it. You are momentarily paralyzed and filled with an unbearable coldness in your core, before the thing spits you out. You slam against the wall painfully.]

theedgeofstevensknife:
  that's about what i figured.

JOE:
  wait, what broke azimuth's edge?

Hand of Maybe:
  [It was always broken.]

JOE:
  oh

theedgeofstevensknife:
  >Take some superdrugs.

Hand of Maybe:
  [You do some *extreme* nightmare drugs.]

Emerald:
  >I believe it may be time for some Stuff of Nightmares

Crystal:
  We did that,mdon't want to overdose.

Hand of Maybe:
  [Syringe of the Stuff of Nightmares expended under Generic's order, whew. You inject it into your bloodstream.]
  [Pure *power* flows into your being. Gooey, thick black shadows, like oil. They crown you, surround you, envelop you. If for only a while, you are the Queen of Nightmares in this desolate facsimile of a place of study, and the bizarre Laws and Forms of the dream will bend to your whim.]

Emerald:
  >dispel the Darkness from the Harvestman's Puppet. He does not deserve such powerful protection as that

Hand of Maybe:
  [Well, it *does*, but let's get past that. You relieve the Harvestman's Puppet of its nightmarish shielding.]

JOE:
  [how many actions do we have of this?]

Hand of Maybe:
  [More than enough.]

JOE:
  >probably create a powerful regeneration relic, just in case?

Hand of Maybe:
  [The Nightmare does not abet *restoratives*!]

Crystal:
  >Unstring the puppet.

Hand of Maybe:
  [Only oblivion.]

JOE:
  >then annihilate the puppet.
  >what if you apply oblivion to the concept of your death.

Emerald:
  >in fact, let us turn his own previous protection against him. Call upon your power as the Queen of Nightmares to envelop him in shadows once more, the shadows seeping into his every crack, pore, and seem, flowing through his molecules and utterly disrupting their pattern into sheer random motion. Every molecule that makes up the Harvestman's Puppet, moving in random directions, at random speeds, fueled by nightmares and darkness

Hand of Maybe:
  [Are you sure.]

Emerald:
  >depends on why there's no question mark there

Hand of Maybe:
  [See, injecting something with nightmares is what *gave* you power in the first place.]

Crystal:
  Yeah, don't do that.
  Just, you know, cut its strings.

Emerald:
  >sure, let's go mundane

Crystal:
  By which I mean annihilate them.

JOE:
  >why bother being gruesome when you can just kill it, nice and simple ?

Hand of Maybe:
  [You smite the Harvestman's Puppet down from its strings like God cast Satan out of heaven. The thing lies in a smoking heap at your feet as the nightmares ebb away from your control. A burning white ∞ floats in midair where the puppet was moments before its slaying. As the power of the drugs fades like an aged polaroid, you feel...]
  [Honestly...]
  [You feel like shit.]

theedgeofstevensknife:
  lmao
  don't stop doing drugs kids
  wait that's not a good lesson

Crystal:
  >Take the lemniscate.

JOE:
  you said we had more then enough of whatever-that-was!

Hand of Maybe:
  [You do so. You forge a quintet. A quintet of Fragments of the Ring. And yet, you do not ascend. You do not *de*scend, either. You just stand in this locked study room.]

JOE:
  not "enough to do like 1 thing"

Hand of Maybe:
  [To kill the puppet, yes.]

JOE:
  ah
  well more then enough implys "multiple actions"
  also, if its more then enough...
  then why did it vanish imeditally?
  gtg

Hand of Maybe:
  [You seem to be questioning an illogical source of energy you all injected into you bloodstream after you acquired it from the eyesockets of a skeleton several months ago. Would you like some help with that?]

Crystal:
  It was exactly enough power to perform one action, that action being to kill the puppet, presumably.

theedgeofstevensknife:
  anyways look at the ring.

Hand of Maybe:
  [In your mind, you observe the Ring once more. Five of the six segments are filled with their corresponding symbols.]

theedgeofstevensknife:
  oh, shit
  ok so we're in an unlocked room

Hand of Maybe:
  [It is of note that a lime-green gamma is now floating in the center of the Ring, as well. And, locked room, but yeah.]

theedgeofstevensknife:
  ok i was just trying to trick you, uh. take the gamma?

Emerald:
  >take the gamma, yeah. That's new

theedgeofstevensknife:
  oh right did we not get the gamma from that one time

Hand of Maybe:
  [Yeah, from AQ3.]

theedgeofstevensknife:
  uh, who took it again

Hand of Maybe:
  [You.]

theedgeofstevensknife:
  .

Emerald:
  > anyways, take it

Hand of Maybe:
  [You already have.]

Emerald:
  >attempt to move the gamma to the sixth segment of the ring in your mind

Hand of Maybe:
  [Nothing happens.]
  [The only thing you missed *wholly* examining in the first scene of the first awakening in this room was the drawer of the desk, as a note.]

Emerald:
  >check out the note

theedgeofstevensknife:
  >open the drawer

Emerald:
  >wait shit I completely misinterpreted that sentence
  >yeah do what generic(?) said

Hand of Maybe:
  [You open it up. There's a few sealed notebooks, a journal or two (volumes 49 and 59, it appears), sheaves of paper coated in notes, a bottle of ink, and an envelope addressed to one Cinavi Kanera.]

Emerald:
  >open the envelope

Hand of Maybe:
  [Bloodstained Invitation: You have been invited to the opera! It definitively states as much in this bloodstained letter bearing a dull blue wax seal marked with the sign of Dreams itself. You can’t actually properly *read* the first of the two signatures at the bottom of the invitation, for the flowing words seem to distort themselves in your vision, but you suspect that it reads the name of The Harvestman. The second signature reads, in looping cursive, “The Blue Man.”]

theedgeofstevensknife:
  >Grab the paper and ink

Hand of Maybe:
  [You do so.]

theedgeofstevensknife:
  >Read the notes.

Hand of Maybe:
  [They appear to be written in incomprehensible amethyst cursive, and probably also another language.]
  [The world begins to shudder nonetheless as you finish reading the letter.]
  [There is a mechanical *click*, and gravity reverses itself. You soar upwards, past the heavily-curtained window of the dark study, and through the ceiling harmlessly. Everything goes black.]
  [And then, the stars begin to shine, corrupted *ever* so slightly by some nightmarish essence indicating continued imprisonment.]
  [You appear to have fallen *up* through a layer of the nightmare.]
  **END OF PART 5: ME, MYSELF, AND I, LIKE THE STARS AND THE SKY.**