VEBBINQUEST Announcement & Discussion

VEBBINQUEST has begun.


VEBBINQUEST will be a one-day premiere event taking place on April Fool's Day, 2019.

A malformed thing named Vebbin finds himself at the will of inputs from a variety of strangers. He is set forth on a quest for revenge. For twenty hours, you will be in majority control of all of his faculties, able to utilize his role as 'protagonist' to achieve great or terrible things. Your success in completing this quest will hinge on a variety of factors. You will have to be clever, you will have to be quick, and your actions are inevitably moderated by the speed at which the narrator can complete the next update. If suggestions are too menial or too complicated, you will lose time.

You will have one day.

You will only have one day, as you have always had.

From the arbitrary times of 4:00 AM PST to 12:00 AM PST, constrained within one American's April Fool's Day, you will have this slim opportunity to achieve your task. Regardless of outcome, your gateway into Vebbin's life and universe will close at midnight, once April Fool's Day has commenced.

TIMES AND DATES
The Beginning
The End

AN OFFICIALLY ENDORSED SEQUEL TO LAST YEAR'S
You Wake Up In Some Guy's House

WHICH CONNECTS TANGENTIALLY TO
You Wake Up In A Bar

Art by Myeth!

VEBBINQUEST begins in approximately nine hours.

This will be a long venture, and nobody will (or should!) be awake for the whole duration, but I hope you tune in whenever it's convenient! Even if you're not familiar with this universe or are dropping into the middle, don't be afraid to throw a suggestion in and have fun with it. Success and progress relies on everyone pitching in, and I hope people get out of it, even if they're just getting into it.

VEBBINQUEST begins in one hour, on April 1st, 2009.

There won't be any going back from this. Somebody's got to be here for the whole duration, and I don't think it could be just one of us at a time, waddling along.

That's why there were four of us.

There had to be four of us, scattered throughout the globe.

When it was midnight here, it was morning there. The worst hours were complimented by the best hours. I know it's just something we found, just somebody we came across, but I always felt like it was meant to happen to us four. Narrator dropped in on our forum and changed how we look at the world, the universe. It gave us a new purpose.

I don't feel so great calling it an adventure any more.

Not after what had to happen.

Not after what we did.

VEBBINQUEST has begun.

you only have a limited time as VEBBIN. when the clock hits midnight (12:00 AM PST, 3:00 AM EST, 7:00 AM GMT) you will be taken out of VEBBIN's perspective, regardless of the status of the mission or its narrator (kilozombie). you will accomplish your task, or you will fail

WITS - cleverness
GUTS - confidence
ARTS - creativity
REASON - calculation
TRUST - compassion

POWER
each usable once
gain new by destroying or creating

character art by MYETH

click on MUSIC for MUSIC

IT BEGINS

Them's some flippin spooky tunes right there.

muffy was mentioned by the mosquitoman who hunted player-controlled beings. man they were bad at sniffing those out huh

SUMMARYQUEST

Refrain from reading as a 'starting point' to avoid spoilers. SUMMARYQUEST is designed to be read as a glossary or postmortem for the main adventure, VEBBINQUEST. It can be read concurrently, but isn't much of an adequate replacement.

Automation by this personal Input Aggregator's professional AI unit will do its best to summarize and clear up information that may have been lost, but has been instructed not to make things 'easy'. Whatever that means...

Refer to the final entries for a BEFORE VEBBINQUEST, an AFTER VEBBINQUEST, and CLOSING THOUGHTS.

UPDATE 1 (20:00 REMAINS) Treaded Trading, B-5091-RSATOShow

VEBBIN arrives at a Treaded Trading Post on B-5091-RSATO and confronts an old acquaintance named MENTAL WART. At this point, all he knows is what he was told by a dying Stax in his final moments-- that he was erased by a player-controlled being with unrestricted power. All the starman can give VEBBIN is the PCB's code before perishing into nothing.

MENTAL WART professes that it knows VEBBIN requires knowledge, and asks about it.

The rules of VEBBINQUEST are established. At the end of twenty hours (in Eagle Time's universe) the adventure will end, regardless of how much time passes in VEBBIN's reality.

UPDATE 2 (19:22 REMAINS) Treaded Trading, B-5091-RSATOShow

VEBBIN collects inventory on his various powers, granted to him in especial capacity because of VEBBINQUEST, and not due to his own obtaining of these objects or techniques. He asks MENTAL WART how the thing knew about his arrival, and MENTAL WART states that it has known about Stax's death and VEBBIN's overdue arrival to ask about it.

MENTAL WART notes that for information to be given, there would have to be proper exchange.

UPDATE 3 (18:39 REMAINS) Treaded Trading, B-5091-RSATOShow

VEBBIN asks what could be exchanged. MENTAL WART asks for a creation, or perhaps a memory-- something artful.

UPDATE 4 (18:19 REMAINS) Treaded Trading, B-5091-RSATOShow

VEBBIN decides to tell a story of the time he met Vebbin, the other one-- the resident of Kethobos without a home. However, he rolls low on his ARTS check, and the recitation of a memory ends up not being enough to satisfy MENTAL WART's request, perhaps due to the fact that VEBBIN owes it something greater.

UPDATE 5 (17:42 REMAINS) Treaded Trading, B-5091-RSATOShow

Frustrated by MENTAL WART's lack of cooperation, VEBBIN threatens it successfully with a high GUTS check and has it cough up information. MENTAL WART seems aware of the WGART system granted to VEBBIN as a result of his quest.

MENTAL WART offers VEBBIN four locations where Stax was rumored to be, against his normal behavior. These are:

1. The Plamsa Blast Factory's uppermost deck
2. A Spiritual Reducing Centre on TERTY Island
3. Treetalker Frensy's arms distributary
4. Local hub of the Counsel of Pairtree

However, for threatening it, MENTAL WART notes that it will likely send its bodyguard, FAX ARMS, to hinder VEBBIN.

UPDATE 6 (16:59 REMAINS) deep space, Vebbin's shipShow

Utilizing a solid WITS check, VEBBIN convinces MENTAL WART to leave him alone until the end of his quest. He floats on over to his crashed ship, boots it back up, and starts heading to TERTY Island. Meanwhile, messages from his coworkers including VOOL, Arivv and Fixer blink on and on.

UPDATE 7 (16:09 REMAINS) Spiritual Reducing Centre, TERTYShow

VEBBIN asks his shipcook to send out a good-luck broadcast into the universe, and also requests some information on the upcoming location. Once he arrives at TERTY and enters the grand building of the Spiritual Reducing Centre, he's transported to the same room where Stax once was, and first encounters some sort of authoritative figure resembling a tree, named Artathe Maxalithius.

UPDATE 8 (15:33 REMAINS) Spiritual Reducing Centre, TERTYShow

VEBBIN attempts to be REASONable in his probes for information, but Artathe seems to have noticed his status as player-controlled being, and seems conflicted by the moral standpoint of hunting a PCB while simultaneously being one. Artathe then brandishes some sort of indescribable weapon.

UPDATE 9 (15:00 REMAINS) Spiritual Reducing Centre, TERTYShow

Despite more attempts to REASON with Artathe, with plenty of numerical success, the brambly figure seems unaffected, and finally decides to attack VEBBIN, dealing damage to VEBBIN's FORM.

UPDATE 10 (14:17 REMAINS) Spiritual Reducing Centre, TERTYShow

VEBBIN finally decides to use force, brandishing his recharger gun, setting the power to 8x, and supercharging Artathe, sending him hurtling backwards in immense pain. In response, after being threatened by another top-notch GUTS check, Artathe finally coughs up some information, about some kind of plyxoglass nebula arts shop and 'secret home' or 'safe house'.

UPDATE 11 (13:39 REMAINS) deep space, Vebbin's shipShow

VEBBIN decides to leave Artathe alive, setting off in his ship once more to travel towards the Counsel of Pairtree. His shipcook offers to try and occupy his time with messages from VOOL and cohort, but as VEBBIN doesn't reply, the shipcook also offers to read a message from Light's Only Tender or broadcast more.

UPDATE 12 (12:52 REMAINS) pairtree counsel, V2A6A, hiveShow

Instead, VEBBIN opts to 'timeskip'-- time passes quite normally for him, but conveniently sails by in VEBBINQUEST. He finds himself at the Counsel of Pairtree sat in some kind of chamber with an old friend named Erae Path who opts to give a bit of information on the culprit of Stax's death, but not enough.

UPDATE 13 (12:21 REMAINS) pairtree counsel, V2A6A, hiveShow

VEBBIN probes for more information about Stax's safehouse, and confirms that he did, indeed, have one-- but that Erae Path also recommended some kind of cafe on a space station named Mime Crypt Omicron. Upon telling Erae that he plans to leave to coax the rest of the answers out of the culprit himself, Erae objects and begins to try and hold him in the office.

UPDATE 14 (11:36 REMAINS) pairtreeShow

Driven off course by an errant suggestion, VEBBIN fails to leave before Erae Path drags him in, restraining him completely and beginning to transform the world around him. She speaks of some sort of attempt to 'pair' him more perfectly with the inputs on the other end-- as well as getting rid of "Vebbin" himself, starting by heavily damaging his FORM. Colors change, and the Counsel of Pairtree shifts to a more sinister form.

UPDATE 15 (10:59 REMAINS) about to be gone, let's be honestShow

VEBBIN utilizes his power of bexeretation to begin unmaking Pairtree and Erae Path, destroying the world around him in violent, reality-shattering fashion. He watches as his ship is stolen by some other resident of the Counsel trying to leave, and spots a few ships flying by which would make suitable vessels.

UPDATE 16 (10:03 REMAINS) deep spaceShow

An extended period of inactivity leaves VEBBIN completely alone in the deep, uncomfortable depths of space with little to nothing for support.

UPDATE 17 (9:43 REMAINS) deep space, Vebbin's shipShow

VEBBIN uses his power of Creation to form himself a new vessel. Without a shipcook but with a new form of transportation (as well as a gained Power from destroying the Counsel of Pairtree and creating his new vessel) he returns to some awareness, though needs some kind of destination in order to set off.

UPDATE 18 (9:02 REMAINS) frensy's abode - MEGACOMPLEX Z9587Show

Having seen how frantic things can get, VEBBIN lets the quest time-skip past his journey, arriving at his new destination-- treetalker Frensy's arms distributary. He immediately enters with a question on if he could get information, to which the friendly Frensy replies enthusiastically 'yes', and offers to buy one of his Powers for a form of arms.

UPDATE 19 (8:21 REMAINS) deep space, Vebbin's shipShow

VEBBIN quickly asks as much as he can about Stax in the most pointed of ways, which Frensy seems to reply to well, noting that Stax came to buy a weapon to kill the player-controlled being, who was his close friend. She also recalls that he was headed to a safe house afterwards apparently given to him by Plamsy the Dunce, and that his safe-pass password was "Lethicas Wells".

Once this information has been unceremoniously dumped on VEBBIN, he's thrown out of Frensy's abode after trading his 'vesert' for a pair of FAX ARMS. He knows his destination now, being the Plamsa Blast Factory, but he considers ways to approach it. He seems to be realizing the time limit, and how close it looms.

UPDATE 20 (7:32 REMAINS) Plamsa Blast Factory, top deckShow

VEBBIN decides to land peacefully on the Plamsa Blast Factory's top deck, which ends up being an overall smart decision. A large collection of insectoid bodyguards crowd around the strange vessel before the sea of them is parted by the seeming leader of the factory, being a bug named Plamsy the Dunce, who speaks to VEBBIN with some distance, yet friendliness and familiarity. He says that he will give VEBBIN information, but that they had met before, and that he'd like to talk with the Homeowner for longer before he simply leaves again.

VEBBIN remains incredulous, and has little time left.

UPDATE 21 (7:08 REMAINS) Plamsa Blast Factory, top deckShow

Utilizing a very solid TRUST check and a promise to Plamsy to meet in the future, VEBBIN manages to convince the insect to give forth information about Stax's safehouse, which he does with some reluctance. The place where Stax spent his most secretive, vulnerable moments- and where another clue may lay- is called TX-AX Eleven.

Before starting off to leave, VEBBIN considers bringing Plamsy along, though considers the havoc he's already wrought to the people around him.

UPDATE 22 (6:31 REMAINS) TX-AX ElevenShow

VEBBIN gives Plamsy the choice, and the bug eventually settles on the decision to come along, albeit with some caution. With that done, VEBBIN wastes no time boarding his ship once more and setting off into space, landing on TX-AX Eleven and immediately entering the given code Lethicas Wells. He feels himself 'timeskip' once more past all the time-consuming travel until he's landed in a small apartment which must have, once, belonged to a starman named Stax.

UPDATE 23 (6:09 REMAINS) TX-AX ElevenShow

VEBBIN reads a logbook authored by Stax.

It details the starman's first contact with some kind of creature made of blood, a player-controlled being who remains friendly but seems to threaten him with the idea of nonexistence. She tells him that she created him, which is a subject difficult enough to wrestle with that Stax heads to the Spiritual Reducing Centre and Counsel of Pairtree to work things out with her, to little avail. He considers trying to blow her up or otherwise kill her, but PCBs rarely (in his words) die like they're supposed to, and he's not willing to destroy their input aggregators, unlike VEBBIN.

He finishes out in a last entry by saying he plans to meet for one last discussion in a cafe with a friend, ROCKS-Easy, which VEBBIN realizes must be the cafe on Mime Crypt Omicron. VEBBIN also notes a large rasonare fire weapon, which he takes with him.

UPDATE 24 (5:41 REMAINS) Mime Crypt OmicronShow

VEBBIN resolves to tell Plamsy little of this for now, and simply heads off towards the mentioned space station, his resolve shaken but still holding relatively strong. He travels to the cafe with another "timeskip", where it resides inside a small-orbit blast station known as Mime Crypt Omicron, built as a memorial replica. Once inside the cafe, he spots who seems to be ROCKS-Easy speaking to the cafe's owner, a coiling worm of some variety.

UPDATE 25 (5:17 REMAINS) Mime Crypt OmicronShow

After entering the cafe with some casual swagger, VEBBIN speaks to the cafe owner, whose name he learns is Light's Only Tender. The worm seems to recognize VEBBIN with even more familiarity than Plamsy did, and even calls his "quest" by name. It seems to have an inclination to help VEBBIN without any seeming need for pay, like VEBBIN has come by several times before for several different reasons.

UPDATE 26 (4:51 REMAINS) Mime Crypt OmicronShow

VEBBIN utilizes an incredibly effective REASON check to ask for a lot of various kinds of information about Stax and his bloody PCB companion. ROCKS-Easy leaps into the conversation, professing that it was there for the meeting and witnessed the two speak and eventually get into an argument which resulted in Stax getting injured. It also notes that the player-controlled being's name was Muffy, finally giving a title to the culprit of VEBBIN's woes. ROCKS-Easy notes that they went to the medical bay with a blue doctor of some sort, and Light's Only Tender lends VEBBIN a plate of cake for his troubles.

UPDATE 27 (4:32 REMAINS) Mime Crypt OmicronShow

After thanking the cafe owner and ROCKS-Easy, VEBBIN probes the cafe for any more answers. As he finds none, he decides to have Plamsy lead him to the medbay, which the bug does happily, noting that "a lotta people know the Vebbin that doesn't know 'em."

Once in the medical bay, VEBBIN strides in, looks injured, and manages to catch the attention of an especially blue doctor by simply staring her down. The doctor offers to heal VEBBIN's earlier wounds to his FORM.

UPDATE 28 (4:06 REMAINS) Mime Crypt OmicronShow

VEBBIN accepts the offer for healing, and asks for rapid-fire information while the doctor does so. She responds with surprise, but says that she did, indeed, heal a starman and blood-woman. Stax left in a huff, and she was left alone to converse with Muffy, who eventually expressed her interest to go and settle down on some sort of isolate, desert planet and start a bar.

This sounds very familiar.

UPDATE 29 (3:40 REMAINS) Mime Crypt OmicronShow

VEBBIN sets off out of the medbay with a brief 'thanks' to the unnamed blue doctor and begins heading towards his ship dock.

CHWOKA notifies VEBBIN about the existence of You Wake Up In A Bar, letting the Homeowner determine exactly where it is that his target went. This utilization of his inputs to gain 'meta knowledge' amuses Plamsy, who notes that it's the whole point of being input-controlled. They ready up the ship and pile in, preparing to head to the final location-- Terrats, on Omega X-2905-FFROC. They take a brief pause and wonder if they're really ready for this.

UPDATE 30 (3:19 REMAINS) deep space, Vebbin's shipShow

VEBBIN sets off.

The isolate state of the vessel floating through space at a gently accelerating speed forces him to confront his earlier memories, and really stop to think about all the anguish that he's felt over the last... however long. Even if he were to somehow kill Muffy, his closest companion would be gone-- irrevocably. Annoying and persistent as he was, Stax was VEBBIN's rock.

He rests.

He time-skips.

Time passes.

UPDATE 31 (2:55 REMAINS) Terrats, Omega X-2905-FFROCShow

VEBBIN lands on Terrats. Him and Plamsy the Dunce explore the small town for a while as curious onlookers call VEBBIN by name, though he's not from here. After a long while of wandering, they finally arrive at a bar by the name of Tasty Tavern, where they find two people-- a patron, Vebbin, and a bartender, Muffy. Both player-controlled beings meet at the same moment.

MUFFIN TIME POSTS during UPDATE 31Show

Concurrently, posts #1 to #5 on the GATEWAY thread are made by inhabitants of MUFFIN TIME, corresponding with the arrival of VEBBIN. As they are controlling Muffy, they react (in almost real time) to the events in VEBBINQUEST. These posts aren't

Please Undo and zert the curt, the only two people awake at this hour, are immediately confused by the arrival of a second VEBBIN, and try to play it cool.

UPDATE 32 (2:23 REMAINS) Terrats, Omega X-2905-FFROCShow

VEBBIN initially plays it cool, conversing with Muffy and leaving her very confused. The Vebbin sitting at the bar remarks that he knows this other VEBBIN, and eventually VEBBIN gives up the act-- outright saying that he's here to take Muffy to justice for the disappearance and erasure of Stax. Vebbin remains confused and shoots out of the bar, leaving VEBBIN, Plamsy and Muffy.

Muffy finally says that she's "like you". Her inputs can't all be present yet because they live in different timezones, and she wants to help and explain, but she needs some time.

MUFFIN TIME POSTS during UPDATE 32Show

Concurrently, posts #6 to #10 on the GATEWAY thread are made.

Utterly freaked out, Please Undo tells zert the curt to try and call the other players of the adventure so they can help give input. As VEBBIN questions them, Muffy's given the command to try and stall, which is what she does in Update 32. The two players panic as calls to Tatring 5 and Maxeen go to voicemail.

UPDATE 33 (1:58 REMAINS) Terrats, Omega X-2905-FFROCShow

Although he'd like to help, Plamsy realizes he's not much use in this conversation, and decides to head outside to help comfort Vebbin, who similarly has no clue on what's going on.

VEBBIN grills Muffy. At this point, he knows he doesn't have much time with his inputs, and he needs answers immediately. After pausing for a short while, Muffy finally regains all of her inputs, and all of her cognition. She begins to explain.

For the people in the other universe, the ones controlling Muffy as they play MUFFINQUEST, the year is 2009, and the date is (similarly) April Fool's. They had been playing MUFFINQUEST for several years prior, and their narrator isn't a person like it is for VEBBINQUEST-- it's an automated system which acts instantaneously. This distinction led them to the conclusion that the YWUNIVERSE was as real as the world around them, or perhaps more real, even if constructed fictionally. They made the choice to try and limit their impact on it, for fear of damaging it, and this led to destroying Stax, one of their first creations.

Muffy could have chosen to erase Stax without leaving any memory of his departure, but to them, that was true murder. To leave VEBBIN and others with the memory of Stax would, at least, give them room to grieve. But it also lead to VEBBIN's ability to find her.

She ends off by saying she's sorry, truly sorry, but this hurts VEBBIN more than anything she could have possibly said.

MUFFIN TIME POSTS during UPDATE 33Show

Concurrently, posts #11 to #18 on the GATEWAY thread are made.

Newly-arrived Maxeen and Tatring 5 attempt to resolve the situation, telling Muffy to be honest, and to let VEBBIN know they're sorry, but that they're also all present now. Each input tries to calm each other down, including Maxeen, trying to assure them that they might simply 'reappear' as Muffy if they die.

UPDATE 34 (1:27 REMAINS) Terrats, Omega X-2905-FFROCShow

VEBBIN snaps back. He declares that Muffy is not noble or special for relinquishing her power, and especially ignoble for relinquishing it in such a destructive way-- erasing his best friend for a selfish goal. He chides their choice to hide away on an obscure planet to live a quiet life when given the power to actually fix the problems in his universe. He finishes by saying if they're unwilling to be good, then they ought relinquish their control of Muffy entirely, and their view on the universe.

After what seems like an eternity of deliberation, Muffy finally responds that she is holding strong to her decision. Her inputs have come to a unanimous decision, and this leads to VEBBIN posing one final ultimatum-- relinquish, or perish.

Muffy says she has decided to die, and VEBBIN rears up to use his rasonare fire weapon. However, at the last moment, he makes a decision-- to utilize his inputs in a more creative way. His extensive experience dealing with input aggregators and player-controlled beings, as well as currently existing as one, leads him to the realization that he could make a GATEWAY.

He does so, suddenly connecting Eagle Time to the Muffin Time MUFFINQUEST thread, and all hell suddenly breaks loose.

MUFFIN TIME POSTS during UPDATE 34Show

Concurrently, posts #19 to #23 on the GATEWAY thread are made.

The inputs are emotionally drained at the realization that they may lose control over Muffy, who has long acted as support for them. They each resign themselves to a form of death with various degrees of success-- Please Undo breaks down into anger and zert the curt leaves to cry, and Tatring 5 affirms that they've chosen death, and that they're sorry to Muffy.

Between this update and the next, posts #24 to #29 on the GATEWAY thread are made.

Schazer enters Muffin Time through the GATEWAY and begins posting, continuing to pose the ultimatum in a more personal light. Tatring 5 is in disbelief that the inputs are now directly invading, and Please Undo, noticing that they're using the same GATEWAY as awkwardcarapace, threatens to somehow hurt awkwardcarapace, throwing shots in the dark to try and protect Muffy.

UPDATE 35 (1:03 REMAINS) Terrats, Omega X-2905-FFROCShow

Things begin to break down for both VEBBIN and Muffy as their inputs duke it out in a forum separated from them. Acting mostly on their own cognition, the both of them converse with a more gentle tone. Muffy remarks that she doesn't want to die. VEBBIN remarks that he doesn't particularly want to hurt Muffy at this point, or free her, or anything along those lines-- his thought in the moment was to try and use Muffy's power to bring back Stax, and his own inputs to send in the order to do so.

He says he's never had a happy ending, and asks if she wouldn't mind helping accomplish that. Muffy speaks about her inputs, calling them 'kids' who grew up with her as a coping mechanism for feelings of inferiority-- that she knows it intrinsically, because she is all four of them.

MUFFIN TIME POSTS during UPDATE 35Show

Between this update and the next, posts #30 to #40 on the GATEWAY thread are made.

Schazer offers the inputs an olive branch, trying to cool off relations, and also helps Ten11 post on the forum. This Ten11 post reaffirms that they can't just be passive observers-- they'll be affecting their universe no matter what they do, and they can't truly accomplish their goal while they still exist.

While Ten11's at it, they send in an input to Bring Back Stax and for Stax to Exist.

CHWOKA and Reecer6 enter the thread, as well, shitposting slightly and forcing all the inputs to confront their issue head-on, instead of from behind a forum adventure. Schazer realizes that the inputs themselves aren't all that mature, even if they might not be literal children.

UPDATE 36 (0:48 REMAINS) Terrats, Omega X-2905-FFROCShow

The input sent by Ten11 in the MUFFINQUEST thread causes all Stax throughout the universe to reappear once more, seemingly unaware of their disappearance. In the Tasty Tavern, a Stax who lives on Terrats finally comes back. For a moment, Muffy and VEBBIN talk about what it's like having inputs, and Muffy notes that it was one of VEBBIN's inputs that recreated Stax. After a moment, however, VEBBIN can't hold it. He scurries over to hug Stax. It might not be his Stax, but it's a Stax to be sure.

MUFFIN TIME POSTS during UPDATE 36Show

Between this update and the next, posts #41 to #55 on the GATEWAY thread are made.

Sunspider arrives in the thread, offering another solution to the Muffin Time inhabitants-- to treat Muffy's existence as an opportunity to fight entropy, find purpose, and make things better than they found it. A defeated Tatring 5 notes that he's just a teenager, but that he really does believe in his connection to MUFFINQUEST, and believes in treating it like it's real-- as real as the people on Eagle Time.

CHWOKA puts in an input to summon a big duck, and so does Reecer6. Ten11 suggests that maybe instead of desperately trying to remove anything they make, they should deal with problems pragmatically-- not removing people, not erasing actions, just sending inputs to have Muffy deal with problems, like with a normal adventure. Tatring 5 freaks out at the addition of ducks, but eventually Please Undo relents, deciding to just take out the ducks manually, taking this advice to heart.

Utterly emotionally drained, zert the curt finally gets off the forum, sending one last request for Muffy to guide the ducks out... and for the rest of Eagle Time not to hurt Muffy.

UPDATE 37 (0:25 REMAINS) Terrats, Omega X-2905-FFROCShow

Ducks appear as a result of Muffy... or, at least, the cascading mess which is Muffy's current inputs. The 'tender decides she'll just shoo the ducks out of the bar instead of zipping them out of existence, while Stax professes complete confusion.

An extremely, extremely exhausted VEBBIN decides he should probably... head home.

It's been a lot longer for him than it was for you.

MUFFIN TIME POSTS during UPDATE 37Show

Between this update and the next, posts #56 to #63 on the GATEWAY thread are made.

awkwardcarapace once again shows up, confused as to why all these new people are in the forum after having crossed over to Muffin Time! Tatring 5 struggles to explain the recent happenings to awkwardcarapace, seeming as drained as the rest of everyone.

Ten11 asks how they knew Stax caused such damage with his appearance; Maxeen comments that it would only be noticed to them, since they were the only people to see a universe without Stax. Struggling to summarize with the limited time they have left, Maxeen simply resolves to go to bed.

UPDATE 38 (0:17 REMAINS) Terrats, Omega X-2905-FFROCShow

Muffy works to herd all the ducks out of Tasty Tavern.

Stax decides it might be good for him to head home, too.

The bar is beginning to empty out. From outside, Plamsy can be heard calling after VEBBIN, making sure there's room in the ship for him, too.

MUFFIN TIME POSTS during UPDATE 38Show

Between this update and the next, posts #64 and #65 on the GATEWAY thread are made.

CHWOKA tries the Double Fakeout to convince the Muffin Time residents that he's actually Stax. Ten11 asks if there's any record of their discussion about removing Stax from the universe, to little response.

UPDATE 39 (0:12 REMAINS) Terrats, Omega X-2905-FFROCShow

Muffy finally clears out the bar.

On a whim, in his last moments, a suggestion tells VEBBIN it might be worth recommending a hang-out time with Muffy, since she isn't present on Terrats in the future of You Wake Up In A Bar. He recommends she asks her inputs if they'd like to meet sometime. She comments that she'd like to, and since she's just an extension of her inputs...

MUFFIN TIME POSTS during UPDATE 39Show

Between this update and the next, posts #66 to #77 on the GATEWAY thread are made.

Tatring 5 mentions that they have limited time to communicate, since the end of VEBBINQUEST is incredibly near. It isn't long enough to dig up archives, so Tatring asks if maybe someday in the future, their forum and Eagle Time could... reconnect, somehow.

CHWOKA recommends awkwardcarapace comes back home to Eagle Time, and Sunspider tries to create a connection, with unknown results.

In the final moments, Tatring says they're glad to have met Eagle Time, even if they don't understand any of the people on it. "Muffy will take care of Vebbin. Vebbin oughta take care of Muffy."

awkwardcarapace heads home in the final moment, leaping the gap back to Eagle Time before the GATEWAY closes.

...

Eagle Time says goodbye to Muffin Time.

UPDATE 40 (0:02 REMAINS) Terrats, Omega X-2905-FFROCShow

The bar has emptied out.

VEBBIN has headed back home with Plamsy.

UPDATE 41 (0:00 REMAINS) Terrats, Omega X-2905-FFROCShow

VEBBIN says his final farewell.

Before VEBBINQUEST (heavy spoilers!)Show

In a different universe, an internet forum gains a new user named NARRATOR. The users on this forum, titled Muffin Time, gradually find out that the user is of some automated design-- and has begun a forum adventure, which is a newly-taking art form in the very early years of the Internet. These users play around with the inputs until they discover that the amount of control and power they possess inside the game is tremendous.

Several years pass with these users, named Tatring-5, zert the curt, Please Undo and Maxeen, growing attached to their character in the adventure, Muffy. As NARRATOR updates each and every half-hour except in times of great oddity, they've been tasked with staying on the thread at rotating hours-- thankfully, each of them resides at almost exactly opposite timezones. Muffy fills the hole of what they didn't have in the rest of their lives, and so does the fantastical YWUNIVERSE they now have access to.

At some point, the users realize that their initial experimental actions changed the universe, and decide to try and undo them, with the idea initially being brought up by forum user Please Undo. Over time, they get rid of places and events that happened as a result of them-- but when it comes to a character named Stax, they decide they must remove him destructively, leaving the memories of his existence in the minds of those who knew him.

On their forum, a strange 'gateway' opens up, aided by NARRATOR's use of new accounts on Muffin Time. Old remnants of a forum on another universe, Eagle Time, show through, including a user named awkwardcarapace. It's unclear why this opening was created, but it seems like for the people in the universe where Muffin Time exists, April Fool's is several days long, and this opening was created at the start. Once the users of Muffin Time find that strange thread with awkwardcarapace, Tatring 5 locks it down and all four players converse with awkwardcarapace for a while, guessing (correctly!) that the person is from another universe, given the ability to 'exist' by NARRATOR.

This coincides with their decision to erase Stax, and as they make their final preparations and have their final talks about it, awkwardcarapace is invited to join them on their forum.

After VEBBINQUESTShow

At an indeterminate point, Muffy leaves Terrats.

Vebbin remains torn up and doesn't want to talk about his Memoria counterpart, VEBBIN.

Four and a half years after VEBBINQUEST, Irregular Pulse takes place.

Five years after VEBBINQUEST, You Wake Up In A Bar and Pairtree begin.

Closing ThoughtsShow

I feel like this adventure was an enormous success, due largely in part to the amount of people with enthusiasm all throughout. It's weird working on something for a long period like a sprint, but it works, at least it can for me! Working where distraction or time-wasting is a literal non-option makes it very hard to get sidetracked, whereas with a YWUIAB update I'm trying not to drift to Discord or any of my tabs on Chrome, which are both ever-present options in my day-to-day...

It was less confusing than Irregular Pulse, and certainly more consistent than last year's April Fool's. I was astounded by how much people actually wanted to sympathize with Muffy and the Muffin Time characters, and since the end was completely open-ended, it was wonderful seeing how things came together in an overall very happy ending, something which (as several folks have said) doesn't happen too often in these adventures.

Still a little shocked about everything and the turnout, but happy. Thank you immensely to everyone who participated, even if it was only when you could find a chance-- I know that Monday, especially a Monday after Spring Break for some people, is far from the most convenient time. I hope next year's April Fool's can be even better, like how I think this surpassed YWUISGH by a mile.

That's about all. I hope to expand, in time, on the aftermath, including Muffin Time, but for now it's happily open. Certainly this thing working out has encouraged me to work on a lot more YWUNIVERSE stuff, including this summary and "The Chronochart", which is a complete timeline of all significant events listed so far throughout the story, for clarity, and that should be posted fairly soon.

Oh, and as an additional point of reference, the VEBBINQUEST characters have been added to The Lineup. As I doubt they'll get an intro card anytime soon, their entries are pretty big.

When does Ghostwriter take place?

When does Ghostwriter take place?

Right now, according to what I have on the Chronochart, it's about a year before VEBBINQUEST.