#s51

And here he fucking is. Scratch has dropped all pretense, and is contacting Aradia directly - but what’s he actually saying here? 

AA: ok DS: [...]  AA: why is he here DS: [...] articular instantiation. It’s not any of my busine [...] 

I think he’s talking about the kids’ session - another ‘instantiation’ of Sburb. He’s being evasive - refusing to elaborate on what the kids have done, as it’s ‘not his business’ to talk about other sessions. 

As for the ‘he’... we’ll talk about that in a second. 

I also love that this is Aradia’s icon for an unknown handle. She’s so funny. 

CAA: the direct effects 0f a scratch are limited t0 the sessi0n inv0king it CAA: we w0uld n0t experience 0r 0bserve th0se effects fr0m 0ur sessi0n CAA: but we w0uld experience the c0nsequences

Ok, let me see if I’ve got this straight. 

In the human session, the kids trigger an in-game phenomenon known as a ‘Scratch’. This has a direct effect on their session which has yet to be explained - but since this effect is localized to the kids’ Medium, it’s clearly not a portal out of the session.

As a consequence of this ‘effect’, a tear in Paradox Space opens into the troll session. This rift will lead to the death of Snowman, the destruction of the troll universe, the summoning of Lord English, and the sequestering of the trolls in the Veil. 

Oh, and since Aradia is getting information from Doc Scratch, literally all her intel is suspect. Any or all of what she says could be misleading, or false. 

CAA: in the f0rm 0f that which prevented us fr0m claiming 0ur reward CAA: he wh0se hand w0uld be f0rced by the scratch CAA: t0 emerge fr0m hiding

Based on the green lightning emerging from the rift, ‘he’ is undoubtedly an individual with First Guardian powers. Bec and Doc Scratch are the obvious suspects. If it was Scratch, Aradia should be asking ‘why are y0u here’ - but she might not know what he looks like. 

But the real dark horse pick - the man we know is heralded by the Great Undoing - is Lord English himself. Scratch could easily have gifted him First Guardian powers, the way he seems to have done to Snowman - indeed, if I were English, that’d be the first thing I’d tell him to do.  

CAA: but there w0uld be n0 adequate way t0 prepare CAA: even with all the f0resight at 0ur disp0sal CAA: f0r a f0e m0re p0werful than the king we will and have already defeated CAA: f0r a dem0n wh0 is indestructible CAA: 0mnip0tent CAA: and enraged

This is bad news for the trolls, but it doesn’t really narrow down our options.

According to Aradia, ‘he’ is:

More powerful than the Horrorterror King: First Guardians are basically unstoppable, and Lord English seems to eat universes. 

Indestructible: Admittedly this gives a slight edge to English, but we’ve seen Bec no-sell a bullet. 

A demon: Bec is a devilbeast, Scratch is named after the devil, and English has repeatedly been described as a demon. 

Omnipotent: First Guardians are described as omnipotent, so that doesn’t tell us anything more than the green lightning does.

This is 100% deliberate. We’re not meant to know ‘his’ identity just yet. 

CAA: 0ur duplicates w0uld buy us time

FAA: but 0nly m0mentarily

You’re telling me this is when the Mistake kicks in?

God damn it, it’s close enough to touch! Just give him this one!

FAA: bef0re we w0uld be able t0 claim it FAA: we w0uld be interrupted FAA: by s0mething FAA: which w0uld be ushered int0 0ur sessi0n by a rift in parad0x space FAA: a rift which we w0uld determine FAA: will be 0pened by f0ur members 0f a fledgling species FAA: wh0 will be playing in an0ther sessi0n 0f the same game that we will and have already played

Whatever the kids did, it ripped a hole into a foreign session.

And something fell in. 

FAA: their rift will lead t0 the great und0ing FAA: with0ut necessarily causing it FAA: n0t directly

I think we’re well past semantic arguments about ‘cause’, at this point. 

I’m much more interested in what agendas are at play, here - and I have a funny feeling that this is feeding into the Great Undoing for a reason. The kids didn’t do this on purpose - but someone did. 

FAA: such rifts are themselves supp0sedly benign FAA: useful even FAA: they are catal0gued phen0mena within the game itself FAA: with a pr0vided means 0f creating them FAA: and a wide range 0f scenari0s f0r which it might be prudent t0 d0 s0

Sburb actually lets its players poke holes in sessionspace, even providing them with the tools to do so. If this is a standard feature of the game, then the Mistake isn’t the Rift itself - it’s what it was used for. 

FAA: the incipisphere l0cals have a m0re f0rmal term f0r them FAA: they typically refer t0 such a rift as

FAA: a scratch

Mother fucker. 

FAA: and even th0ugh each w0uld be well prepared FAA: perched 0n the highest rungs 0f their echeladders FAA: equipped with the best weap0nry grist c0uld build FAA: versed in the deadliest fraym0tifs b00nd0llars c0uld buy

The trolls are 100% maxed out - and we know exactly what those weapons can do.

I haven’t heard of a Fraymotif before. Fray is a fight, and a motif is an important fragment of music in a piece, so I guess it could be a Player’s personal fight music. Maybe Sgrub Players really can’t lose when their theme music is playing.

FAA: even th0ugh the mete0rs fr0m the kings 0wn reck0ning w0uld be turned against him

My man!

This is a clever trick. The meteors are already falling - all he has to do is tilt them a little, and let what passes for gravity in the Medium do the rest of the work.

FAA: and even with 0ne imp0ssibly lucky r0ll 0f the dice at the final m0ment

It’s your lucky day, Vriska! You - sort of - get to kill that spider twice!

There’s no way in hell this was luck, of course. Someone - Aradia, perhaps - must have been messing around with probability. Or maybe Vriska figured out how to stack her dice?

FAA: we w0uld 0nly narr0wly succeed

Victory!

It’s starting to dawn on me that this is actually happening. After two and a half thousand pages, we’re actually seeing someone complete the game. 

I see you, Bilious Slick. 

The Speaker of the Vast Joke has been showing up in the comic for months,  and I thought he was going to appear on Skaia. We’re already past that - but his imagery is still around, and the game isn’t over just yet. 

Before the victors sits another symbol - the house. The trolls started their journey at home, and it looks like they’re ending it there, too. 

FAA: but ultimately FAA: we w0uld pr0ve 0ur w0rth FAA: and the reward w0uld be within 0ur reach

The Ultimate Reward is the culmination of over 600 hours of effort.

It’s allegedly worth the destruction of an entire planet. 

...holy fuck, it’s right behind this door. 

Objective: Survive.

I didn’t even see the Aradiabots at first. They literally look like bugs next to the Horrorterror King - who I’m not even going to bother scaling. He looks big enough to be visible from Prospit.

FAA: m0bilizing 0urselves in such numbers w0uld be required t0 neutralize the kings psychic attacks FAA: it w0uld take 0ur c0mbined c0ncentrati0n t0 dampen the abilities he inherited fr0m glbg0lyb

I’m interested in how, exactly, Gl’bgolyb was prototyped. She wouldn’t fit in Feferi’s house, so she’d have had to deliberately reach in and poke the kernel with a tentacle, or something. 

Did she want to be prototyped? We still have no idea what the Horrorterrors want - or even if what they want is comprehensible. 

FAA: with0ut the cumulative eff0rt 0f 0ur d00med reserves FAA: with0ut the heightened mental and physical endurance 0f 0ur r0b0tic vessels FAA: with0ut the untimely demise we all shared bef0re this began FAA: vict0ry w0uld n0t be p0ssible

Heightened physical endurance was a given, but it sounds like Aradia’s robotic body also got a psionics buff. No wonder she got the drop on Vriska.

I’m not sure how telekinesis could dampen the King’s psionics, though. Maybe, instead, it was her necromancy that kept her party members alive. 

They’re all assembled - even Gamzee, who probably doesn’t know what’s happening. I bet he’s just wondering why that thing in the crown looks a bit like his goatdad. 

I’m not going to talk about the frog. Yet. 

FAA: i d0nt kn0w if it was just bad luck FAA: 0r an extensi0n 0f the curse Karkat insists he br0ught 0n us

Even our most informed Player is stumped by Karkat’s virus. 

I think its influence on the session is meant to be ambiguous - and even if it is real, Karkat isn’t to blame for the session’s difficulty. Sgrub was always going to find some way to challenge the trolls, and the virus was just one of its many possible vectors of influence...

FAA: that lead t0 the incidental and unf0rtuit0us pr0t0typing 0f Feferi's p0werful lusus FAA: with0ut which the battle w0uld have p0sed little challenge

...that, plus the Horrorterror Underlings. 

I’m starting to wonder if it’s even possible to hack, exploit, or speedrun Sburb. It’ll foresee anything you try to do, and throw it back in your face before you’ve even conceived of it. 

I’d obviously still try to break it, though. This is me we’re talking about. 

FAA: i think FAA: it was m0re likely just an0ther inevitability FAA: a pr0duct 0f c0llusi0n between the disparate f0rces at play FAA: a bargain struck between what Skaia kn0ws already and what the g0ds demand up fr0nt FAA: t0gether they 0rchestrate trials sufficient t0 ensure FAA: that in 0verc0ming them we w0uld be pr0ven w0rthy

Skaia and the Gods - I assume she means the Horrorterrors - are colluding. They’re working together, to test your worthiness for the Ultimate Reward.

This implies that Skaia is conscious - but that’s not much of a surprise. This game is full of conscious beings - Consorts, Carapacians, and the like - and Skaia is essentially a god of creativity. Of course it would be conscious. 

It also seems to confirm that the Horrorterrors are not, in fact, a real part of the game. Skaia wouldn’t have to collude and bargain with them if they were game constructs. 

Speaking of which, that line about their bargain is incredibly loaded - but I’m struggling to interpret it. It sounds like Skaia knows some of what’s going to happen in the future, but not all of it - and the Horrorterrors desire this knowledge. Indeed, they demand it. Maybe the bargain, as presented by Skaia, is something like this: 

“Preserve the sessions, advise the Players, and help me orchestrate challenges to prove their worth. In return, I will grant you some of my clairvoyance, which may be whispered to the dreamers of Derse.”

That’s pretty much a shot in the dark, though. I don’t know anything about this bargain, and I’m just guessing. It’s all very vague, and I guess it will remain so...

FAA: 0f inheriting the ultimate reward