Fourth wall pieces

[Dryunya]

In case you haven't seen it, The last echo (the thread link will be here) has alerted Mr. A to some emergency.

PRIME, of all people, has responded.

So, the situation:

1. The cabal has stolen a piece of the 4th wall (one out of 5).
2. If they find them all, they'll reseal the wall with themselves on this side.
3. Somehow, Mr. A's faces on the echoes (I think he meant the comics, not the Layar icons) helped them find the piece.
4. Prime has obfuscated the remaining pieces and "wrapped them in fiction". His agents will be able to follow the trail later - presumably, so shall we.
5. Prime feels... guilty?

Now, my question is: does that mean that the pieces are... not in the void? So where are they? In the real world!? If that's the case, we ARE in some serious hot water.

[Qara-Xuan Zenith]

Aren't the pieces of the wall the boundary of the void, as it were?

Two possibilites: 1. the stolen piece was separating here from the void, but the Cabal somehow followed Mr. A's face to it and stole it. This would mean that should Deanna get out of her ward, she would theoretically be able to enter the void now, through where that wall piece was.

2. (what I think is more likely) The wall, as we know, has already cracked. That's why we've got the Character Metaguards guarding the gaps. So presumably the broken pieces fell out into our side. And the cabal somehow... followed Mr. A's face... (that bit's still not making sense)... to one of the pieces, and stole it.

So yeah, I think the pieces were in the real world all along.

[Blurred_9L]

Can we assume that the echoes where Mr. A's face appears are pieces of the wall? Or are all of the echoes pieces of the wall?

Edit: If the first is true, shouldn't we check the places where we found those echoes again? Maybe we'll find something else.

Edit2: Mr. A just confirmed that the echoes are not the wall pieces. https://twitter.com/YouHaveFailedUs/status/269302230107168768

[Dryunya]

Update: the pieces are in the real world.
I think that that thingy on the front page of the comic was, indeed, a wall piece (it's so satisfying when the WMGs come true! ). Now confirming this.

Also... 5 pieces - 5 guards. Hmm, makes sense.

If the pieces are near the echoes with faces, then it's VERY easy for the Cabal to find them. They might just split up and get them right now. In that case we would be limited maybe to a week or so. Which is why I assume it's more difficult (meta, meta...).

[Qara-Xuan Zenith]

GUYS. this should have been obvious, but clarification:
THE ECHOES THEMSELVES ARE NOT THE WALL PIECES. THE PIECES ARE PHYSICAL OBJECTS.

[Blurred_9L]

New information, it seems the agents already recovered the other 4 pieces. This makes me think that maybe the Cabal attacked one of the metaguards inside the wall.

https://twitter.com/YouHaveFailedUs/status/269302929096323073

https://twitter.com/YouHaveFailedUs/status/269303025980559360

[Dryunya]

I asked if we can secure the pieces ourselves. He seems to have considered the offer, but we don't have to (yet).

[JRPictures]

I asked if we can secure the pieces ourselves. He seems to have considered the offer, but we don't have to (yet).

Well then, we need to send The Cabal back then.

On the other hand, the whole fourth wall pieces concept is pretty cool.

[narrativedilettante]

I asked if we can secure the pieces ourselves. He seems to have considered the offer, but we don't have to (yet).

I'm guessing he thinks the safest course is to send the Cabal back, then get the remaining wall pieces. If we collect the pieces now, we may inadvertently make it easier for the Cabal to find them.

Or, it's just a better idea to get rid of the Cabal and not give them time to make a plan.

[Dryunya]

What is absolutely not cool is Mr. A's lack of information on this. We Could Have Avoided All This if he told us it was a possibility.

[Sicon112]

What is absolutely not cool is Mr. A's lack of information on this. We Could Have Avoided All This if he told us it was a possibility.

Doubtful. I for one understand perfectly why he did this. There was little we could do even had we know the wall piece locations; we couldn't have fought off the Cabal. It would just place us in pointless danger. Furthermore, any method he chose to reveal this would also reveal it as a possibility to the Cabal, and he wasn't sure if they already knew. However, even had he revealed it to us without alerting the Cabal, there is no way for us to transfer that information between us securely, and the more people know of it,t he more chance of a leak.

[Qara-Xuan Zenith]

What Sicon said-- and also, from what he said in the video, it sounds like he hadn't known it WAS a possibility. As it is, we've been getting up-to-the-minute updates on the situation. I don't think he's withholding information, or facilitating the crisis.

[narrativedilettante]

I mostly agree with Sicon, but this is not doing much for those of us who have been criticizing Mr. A for withholding information. If we're going to trust him, he needs to trust us. He didn't even let us in on this being within the realm of possibility. I get why he kept it from us, but it doesn't look good.

[Blurred_9L]

I mostly agree with Sicon, but this is not doing much for those of us who have been criticizing Mr. A for withholding information. If we're going to trust him, he needs to trust us. He didn't even let us in on this being within the realm of possibility. I get why he kept it from us, but it doesn't look good.

Even if all of this could have been avoided, right now our main focus should be finding the echoes. It wouldn't do us good if we didn't take action because we're doubting him.

[Dryunya]

Doubtful. I for one understand perfectly why he did this. There was little we could do even had we know the wall piece locations; we couldn't have fought off the Cabal. It would just place us in pointless danger. Furthermore, any method he chose to reveal this would also reveal it as a possibility to the Cabal, and he wasn't sure if they already knew. However, even had he revealed it to us without alerting the Cabal, there is no way for us to transfer that information between us securely, and the more people know of it,t he more chance of a leak.

Not all communication has to be public. Mr. A has email, you know. And the pieces, being physical, are perfectly movable. We could carry them home or put them into a safe, with elephants.

[Sicon112]

Doubtful. I for one understand perfectly why he did this. There was little we could do even had we know the wall piece locations; we couldn't have fought off the Cabal. It would just place us in pointless danger. Furthermore, any method he chose to reveal this would also reveal it as a possibility to the Cabal, and he wasn't sure if they already knew. However, even had he revealed it to us without alerting the Cabal, there is no way for us to transfer that information between us securely, and the more people know of it,t he more chance of a leak.

Not all communication has to be public. Mr. A has email, you know. And the pieces, being physical, are perfectly movable. We could carry them home or put them into a safe, with elephants.

And then the Cabal would show up, kill us/manipulate us/outright steal the piece from us and we would be no closer. The faces would have lead to the pieces anyhow, so they could track that. Should any of us attempt to communicate our knowledge to any other metaguards, or even begin acting off, the Cabal would be tipped off. The more of us he told, the more likely we would be to leak the information. Also, we are most definitely NOT the best choice for such a task ANYWAY. He obviously had the pieces under SOME level of protection, but it seems to have relied on them not being found, which was a perfectly reasonable way to act up until JUST NOW.

Essentially, telling us specifically would be unwise regardless. Better to use some of his agents. (Also, it wouldn't work for meta-reasons)

[Dryunya]

Well, with elephants. What's done is done. It had to happen for meta reasons, and, if that glowing thingy in the comic IS the wall piece, it had to happen Because Destiny Says So. Let's move on already.

Now, we need to know how are the faces related to the pieces' locations. If the Cabal knows, so should we - if anything, we must know our time limits. AND we need to collect their echoes. So far, we have 1 on M&M and 1 on Erik. Not much.

Did we have any echoes near the one announced? Because if we didn't, the relation between the faces of Mr. A and the pieces is not trivial.

[WackyMeetsPractical]

On the chats, I shared this theory about a possible location of a wall piece, and I was hesitant to post it here, due to concerns that the Cabal may read it and get ideas as to where to search for the next piece, but after much conversation, we've decided we can't keep this on the chats and that ultimately, it will not backfire on us later. Let's hope we're right.

Theory: The wall (was) in London, at the King Cross Station, hidden inside the Complete Works of Sherlock Holmes and caused Holmes to feel incredibly ill.

Evidence: Mr. A's face showed up in the London Echo, which was also the place in which Holmes mentioned feeling incredibly ill. Holmes mentioned feeling sick as he approached a book that was oddly placed there. A mentioned that the pieces were "wrapped in fiction" which to me means it's likely that the piece was placed inside a book.

Reasoning: We have been considering what may have been making Holmes' sick that day, since up until then, nothing to that effect has ever occurred. A piece of the wall showing up could very possibly be such a thing. The wall, being the barrier between reality in fiction, may have a strong connection to the fictional characters. Holmes' mentioned feeling as if his essence was feeling drained, which could possibly be caused by the wall attempting to drag him back to the fictional world.

Why I'm sharing this here: The Cabal must already know all this. They were able to find one piece, so they must've been able to find a way to track them. A mentioned that his face in the echoes has lead them to the pieces. Meaning the Cabal must know that any place with a face can potentially lead them to a piece. Therefore, they must've known about the one in London. So we're not telling them anything new. Also, we believe the piece has already been moved, since Holmes' mentioned going back the next day, and not only was the book gone, but he no longer fell ill. Either an agent has moved it before the Cabal can get to it, or that is the piece that the Cabal has stolen. Either way, it's no longer there.

[Sicon112]

Before someone asks me, yes, I do, to an extent, support this theory. It doesn't seem too far off, and offers a plausible explanation for the way Holmes reacted that day. I also encouraged the posting of it on the forums, since it is now quite obvious that the areas where fictionals tended to crop up were also areas with a wall fragment. Australia, London, New York, Seattle, and probably one more in the Los Angeles area that the Cabal already have. These wall fragments will have been moved by this time, and the Cabal obviously have figured out the correlation already. Unless, that is, Moriarty isn't as intelligent as me, which, as I'm sure we can agree, is a pretty absurd notion.

[Dryunya]

The theory is credible, but it begs the question: how did they manage to get their hands on it without feeling sick? Did they wrap it in tinfoil or something?

[Qara-Xuan Zenith]

The theory is credible, but it begs the question: how did they manage to get their hands on it without feeling sick? Did they wrap it in tinfoil or something?

They've all got real-world contacts they could have mobilized, once they knew where to find it, in order to physically take it for them. (Though that doesn't explain the comic image, where they seem to be fine holding it up and admiring it, but with elephants.)

[WackyMeetsPractical]

The theory is credible, but it begs the question: how did they manage to get their hands on it without feeling sick? Did they wrap it in tinfoil or something?

Oh! I got it! New theory! It wasn't the pieces that made Holmes sick. It was a defense mechanism that the agents placed on the pieces to keep troublesome fictionals away. But with real world agents, the Cabal could have the defense mechanisms removed, and could thus hold the pieces without trouble. Aha!

[Dryunya]

That's pretty omnious. For some reason I don't think that's the case. They may have some "business acquaintances", but having actual henchmen would put them way out of our league - I'd say a dozen of Punch-Clock Mooks lead by Evil Genuises would be more effective than three dozens (that's my estimation for the amount of active metaguards) making up a Ragtag Bunch of Misfits.
I think if Moriarty managed to establish himself as the Napoleon of crime once again, competing with him would be hopeless. So, meta makes me think they are mostly operating by themselves.

...The latest events have taken most of our advantages away, though, so who knows.
And, by the way, I mentioned in my response to Erik's letter that fighting us is illogical on their part. Now I'd say it's quite the contrary - they have a course to stick to, and it's quite a sensible (if possibly self-destructive) plan, so bargaining for the best outcome is no longer their only option.

Accepting the logic of their plan doesn't stop me from hating their guts, though. We're in for an actual confrontation.

[H22]

[="WackyMeetsPractical"]

The theory is credible, but it begs the question: how did they manage to get their hands on it without feeling sick? Did they wrap it in tinfoil or something?

Oh! I got it! New theory! It wasn't the pieces that made Holmes sick. It was a defense mechanism that the agents placed on the pieces to keep troublesome fictionals away. But with real world agents, the Cabal could have the defense mechanisms removed, and could thus hold the pieces without trouble.

I'm a bit suspicious of this - how did they know troublesome fictionals were about, knew the locations, and so on? It would seem to me to be over-preparing a bit. Also, I agree with Dryu, in that I don't think they have a huge network of henchmen.

[Qara-Xuan Zenith]

They don't need a network of henchmen.
All they need is Juan's fiancee.