Fourth wall pieces

[WackyMeetsPractical]

Yeah, nobody really said anything about a network of hunchmen or punch clock mooks. I did use the term "real world agents" but that's a broad term that could mean anything. It could mean anybody they've met here in the real world that's willing to do them a favor. We know that Don Juan has a fiance, and Erik likely has some connections in the theatre. We don't know much about Morganna or Moriarty, but chances are they didn't spend this much time here without making at least one friend each.

As for whether Mr. A would go through the trouble of over preparing to protect the pieces in this world without knowing if there'd be troublesome fictionals, I'd say...Yeah! If you had something that valuable get sent to the real world, and you knew you were going to need them someday, and you knew that there were villainous fictionals also sent to the real world who would not want to be sent back (And let's face it, A knew about the Cabal for some time before we did), then yeah, he would have his agents here in the real world do everything humanly possible to protect them. And even if they didn't know about the Cabal, or any troublesome fictionals, do you really think they would take the chance. "THESE PIECES ARE IMPORTANT. IF WE EVER LOST THEM, THEN THE WORLD IS DOOMED. BUT WHATEVER, NO BIG DEAL. JUST LEAVE THEM LYING AROUND ANYWHERE WHERE ANYBODY CAN TAKE THEM WITHOUT TROUBLE. IT'S NOT LIKE ANYTHING BAD'S GOING TO HAPPEN."

[agoraoptera]

So, um. If the Cabal gets the pieces, they get to reseal the Wall with them on this side. Wouldn't sealing the Wall, I don't know, stop it from falling?

[Pixelmage]

So far we stand that the presence of fictionals here is harmful to reality. It would prevent the wall from falling, yes. But if their presence here damages reality, then we'll be unable to fix it, therefore dooming the world.

[WackyMeetsPractical]

So, um. If the Cabal gets the pieces, they get to reseal the Wall with them on this side. Wouldn't sealing the Wall, I don't know, stop it from falling?

Yes, but it's the character's presence here that bothers us. For one, the Cabal is dangerous, as Moriarty has already been confirmed to have murdered somebody here. Also, the fictionals mere presence may be what's harmful to our universe, not the cracks in the wall itself. Although all of that is speculation. The point is, we can't seal the wall because we want to return the characters first. If the wall is sealed before then, the fictionals are stuck here and there's nothing we can do about it.

[Dryunya]

I'll phrase it in Mr. A's words. He can seal the wall now, but he is not sure if it will be stable if the characters stay here (and, as usual, he doesn't have any empirical data). If the wall is not stable, well... we're screwed.
Also, I hold a grudge against the Cabal. So I'll work to send them back.

Considering that I can't get their echoes, these are mere words. =(

[narrativedilettante]

About sealing the wall with characters still here:

In the short term, it would stop further intrusions and possibly prevent further damage. But it would also leave the Cabal here, and considering that there are actual human deaths attributable to their presence, that would be a very bad thing.

In the long term, it's possible that the characters' presence here would cause more damage to the wall, perhaps causing a catastrophic failure down the road. Instead of the wall falling apart piece by piece, it shatters all at once and we don't have time to stop it. Maybe. I don't know enough about 4th wall mechanics to say for certain. (They don't offer that course at my school.)

[Erik M Walton]

My reaction to the cabal finding the 1st peice http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_W9WK7JtsM

[Scarab]

About sealing the wall with characters still here:
In the short term, it would stop further intrusions and possibly prevent further damage. But it would also leave the Cabal here, and considering that there are actual human deaths attributable to their presence, that would be a very bad thing.
In the long term, it's possible that the characters' presence here would cause more damage to the wall, perhaps causing a catastrophic failure down the road. Instead of the wall falling apart piece by piece, it shatters all at once and we don't have time to stop it. Maybe. I don't know enough about 4th wall mechanics to say for certain. (They don't offer that course at my school.)

Yeah, I think just their being HERE is presenting a risk, the echoes are a sign that they impact on our reality so long as they're IN it and there's no reason to suppose that'll stop if the wall is fixed with the Cabal on this side. That would be like... I don't know, bandaging an infected wound without cleaning it out first (I feel bad that I just referred to some of the fictionals as parasitic lifeforms, but that was the only analogy I could come up with at the time.

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.

Well I've decided to go with the most obvious route - I'm just gonna ASK the guy what he is exactly already and see if I can get any straight answers.

Also we should probably keep an eye on Deanna, as you say, Qara. It's not just the Cabal we have to worry about getting a hold of these things. Maybe she wasn't just a completely unrelated plot tumor after all.

[H22]

P.

[Pixelmage]

H, this is referencing the fact that he moved the pieces from their starting positions. We have to go look for the letters to find the new places, not that the Pieces are gone forever.

[Victin]

That's bad.

[Scarab]

That's bad.

Yeah so the experiment proved absolutely nothing except for pissing Mister A off... we're doing damage control about WHY we did it as we speak.

Now what do we do? Stop finding wall pieces?

[S_o_S]

I say we wait to hear Morgan's side of things. Has anyone emailed her to let her know about this?

EDIT: According to the chat, no, so I sent her an email to inform her. Waiting for a response.

[Pixelmage]

Why should we stop?
I mean, he needs us to Refic the characters. He can't do anything to stop us, and the Cat has said that as long as 1 crack is still open we can send them back.

We have a deadline, worse comes to worst, we need that wall sealed, characters gone or not. We just learned that we can do it, and cAke is, to me, being like a stubborn baby because we didn't do exactly what he said. If he follows our efforts he should know we intend to send all characters back, not threaten and complain as if what we did was shot his dog... Not that I expected something else from him, but still, I say we ignore the Large Ham and focus on saving the world, because ultimately that's what we're here for.
If we had proof here and now that Mr. A is the real problem, our task would be to take him out, and we'd do it, because we WILL save the world.

[Scarab]

Why should we stop?
I mean, he needs us to Refic the characters. He can't do anything to stop us, and the Cat has said that as long as 1 crack is still open we can send them back.

We have a deadline, worse comes to worst, we need that wall sealed, characters gone or not. We just learned that we can do it, and cAke is, to me, being like a stubborn baby because we didn't do exactly what he said. If he follows our efforts he should know we intend to send all characters back, not threaten and complain as if what we did was shot his dog... Not that I expected something else from him, but still, I say we ignore the Large Ham and focus on saving the world, because ultimately that's what we're here for.
If we had proof here and now that Mr. A is the real problem, our task would be to take him out, and we'd do it, because we WILL save the world.

Well if we don't stop the world might end with the Cabal stuck on this side, I guess.

Although that video talked about theCabal stealing the pieces themselves, I think it's safe to assume they're gonna try and do that sooner rather than later.

[WackyMeetsPractical]

Maybe you're right. But maybe we should get a few more refics under our belt before we go fetch the next one. We don't want to move too quickly. We have a lot more refics to writer then pieces to find.

[Pixelmage]

Precisely.
We just learned that we can do the piece gathering at the last minute, as there are no riddle layers to break through.

I'm not saying to go for the pieces at once. That's not my wish. For now, the next step is doing all the refics we can. If we hit day 20 and didn't send them all back. Then we go for all the pieces and seal the wall anyway.

I'm not advocating for sealing the Wall now guys. Just saying that we shouldn't be bullied into not doing it by the Eldritch Abomination giving the orders from the void.

[Scarab]

Maybe you're right. But maybe we should get a few more refics under our belt before we go fetch the next one. We don't want to move too quickly. We have a lot more refics to writer then pieces to find.

I still say the best idea here is to use the wall pieces as a last resort plan: lets refic like crazy, try and do all we can and who knows, maybe we'll succeed. (I kind of think morality has to come second to our survival here, guys.) Then if it gets to a point where we're sure we're running out of time and aren't going to make it, we go for the wall pieces.

By that point, it would really honestly be better to seal the wall even if it means there's stil la risk presented by characters being on this side, because it'll be a choice between us all dying on the 21st and us all dying maybe a little while AFTER the 21st.

[Pixelmage]

I think I just bought a fight with an Eldtritch Abomination...

But if this pans out...
https://twitter.com/YouHaveFailedUs/sta ... 9807469570

It'll mean that he is willing to carry out our contingency plan on his own, freeing us to focus exclusively on the Refics.

[Qara-Xuan Zenith]

With respect to Enlil and everyone here, it's clear that we really hurt A with both the Wall piece retrieval and our way of informing him about it. Not pointing fingers; all the damage control has been done.

But it's not something we should need to do again. A just answered a LOT of questions/concerns, and, as WitchPixie alluded to, made some BIG concessions.

I really think we should let the Wall piece retrieval totally drop, at least until we've sent in all the refics. I want to remain polite, but I'm not going to yield on this point.

[Pixelmage]

Update on my tweeting to Mr. A.

For now, I propose we cease looking for the pieces as a token of good faith towards Mr. Administrator.
He agreed to consider our Contingency Plan.
If he does agree to it, we don't have to get the pieces ourselves and can focus exclusively on the Refics. So, for a few days, I propose we do that, both to give him time to ponder and show that we can uphold our side of the proposal.
I can't force anyone's hand. But if he does agree, I believe a gigantic part of our conflicts are resolved.

[BlackWolfe]

I've been missing for so long I doubt many of you know who I am. I was contacted via PM (by QaraXuanZenith, and, as turnabout is fair play, I'm pretty sure I don't know who that is) in the hopes that I would be able to acquire the piece (excuse me, I note now it's an echo, not a wall piece) located at G'raj Majal on Red River here in my home town. I posted a reply to the thread in Troperville, but have been informed that the bulk of work on this project is taking place over here instead. In order to ensure my message gets to as many of you as possible, I am repeating it now:

I do not own a smart phone. I can capture images of G'raj Majal, but I cannot scan them with any apps. If I can be of assistance in any other way, please don't hesitate to let me know. (I realize time is tight on this. We've got, what, 17 days?)

Having said that, I've done a little research, and I might be able to make this work after all. I'll keep you updated. You can reach me by tweeting to @parchmentscroll.

(I had done a silly puzzle thing here, but I decided that was just a bit too much.)