The Artificer

* 8-Bit
* 16-Bit

### Instruction Booklet Description

Small and always over-excited, The Artificer is part of the same order as The Shopkeeper.

### Height

34 px. = 136 cm.

> "*Welcome to the Tower of Time! I put it back into its headquarters form after you beat the challenge. Which I had designed myself, by the way!!!*"
> ― *The Artificer*
>
>

    **The Artificer** is a character in The Messenger. He is a member of the Order of the Blue Robes. The Artificer is easily excitable, and he's always eager to "do the thing," which involves transforming into the Arcane Golem. The Artificer also designed the Tower of Time challenge.

## Profile

### Appearance

Like the other members of the Blue Robes, The Artificer wears a blue robe outfit and a necklace of round white beads; the outfit shrouds his face in darkness except for two glowing red eyes. He's short in height and a bit plump in appearance.

### Personality

The Artificer has a one-track mind, mostly concerned about doing his favorite activity, which is "the thing." He's quite proud of himself for designing the Tower of Time challenge and is always willing to let Ninja repeat the challenge. The Artificer is so proud of his work that he wants Phantom to try out his challenge as well. He is very excitable, but he has trouble reading the situation or just plain up decides to ignore the others when the other members of the Blue Robes tell him to calm down.

The Artificer dabbles in research related to the Corrupted Future and is interested in learning what's inside the portal to the Corrupted Future so he can win a bet against The Shopkeeper.

The Artificer has a positive outlook on things, such as encouraging the others even when things seem grim with the Mask's return.

## Main Story

Ninja arrives at the top of Glacial Peak, where The Artificer, The Prophet, and The Shopkeeper are waiting. The Artificer is excited about Ninja's arrival and expresses his desire to "do the thing." After Ninja summons the Tower of Time by using the scroll, the Blue Robes enter the Tower one-by-one. The Artificer is the first to enter the Tower, and before he goes inside, he requests Ninja to do his best to complete the Tower of Time challenge so that the Blue Robes have the opportunity to "do the thing."

Ninja reaches the top of the Tower of Time where he encounters the Blue Robes, and again, The Artificer expresses his desire to "do the thing." The Prophet begins a speech, but The Artificer gets impatient and rushes to teleport away first. The Prophet is not pleased, but The Shopkeeper and The Prophet teleport away as well. The Blue Robes return in the form of the Arcane Golem. Ninja and the Arcane Golem engage in battle, and Ninja eventually wins.

In the next room of the Tower of Time, the Blue Robes trio awaits for Ninja. The Artificer senses Ninja is on his way, and The Prophet instructs The Artificer to let him do his job this time. Ninja arrives, and The Artificer complies with The Prophet's wishes and stands there silently during the "Test of Faith" segment.

Later in the game when Ninja is in the Tower of Time HQ, he can head to the right to reach The Artificer's room. If spoken to, The Artificer greets Ninja and speaks fondly of the time they "did the thing." The Artificer is disappointed that the other Blue Robes members do not want to "do the thing" anymore. He explains that he is the one who put the Tower of Time back into its headquarters form and that he was the one who designed the Tower of Time challenge. Ninja can then speak to The Artificer at any time to repeat the Tower of Time challenge.

If Ninja investigates the scary-looking portal in The Artificer's room, The Artificer explains that, after years of research, he learned that one of the items that needs to be recovered is in the very future the Blue Robes are trying to prevent (the Corrupted Future); the portal leads there, but the portal needs to be powered by a relic imbued with demon magic (the Demon Crown).

Ninja obtains the Demon Crown by defeating the Demon King and places the crown inside of the machine linked to the scary portal. This powers the portal, allowing Ninja access to the Corrupted Future. Ninja obtains the Key of Courage from the Corrupted Future and returns back to The Artificer's room. The Artificer is surprised but delighted that Ninja made it back safely and asks what he found. Ninja replies that he encountered an abomination beyond words. The Artificer finds this info totally amazing and asks if Ninja encountered anything else. Ninja replies that he found one of the Music Notes. The Artificer is happy to hear this because it means that The Artificer's calculations were true and that he won a bet against The Shopkeeper, meaning The Shopkeeper has to do the dishes for a week. The Artificer thanks Ninja. Afterwards, if Ninja investigates the scary portal again, The Artificer mentions that the portal no longer works since it's been destroyed from the other side. However, The Artificer does not mind, since the Blue Robes obtained what they needed.

At the end of the game, Monk, The Prophet, and The Artificer are seen at the top of the Tower of Time, waiting for Ninja, The Shopkeeper, and Phantom to arrive back safely from the Music Box. The Artificer is excited at the prospect that he'll finally get to meet Phantom in real life. Ninja, The Shopkeeper, and Phantom arrive, and The Artificer wastes no time in asking Phantom if he would be interested in trying out his Tower of Time challenge. The Prophet tells The Artificer to give Phantom some time to recover, but The Artificer is insistent, explaining that he had been waiting for this moment since he was first given the scroll. The Shopkeeper berates The Artificer's behavior.

The Mask arrives on scene, causing the group to worry. The Prophet and The Shopkeeper doubt that they can defeat the Mask since the Mask had grown too powerful. But The Artificer encourages the group not to give up so easily. The Shopkeeper asks The Artificer for suggestions, and The Artificer suggests they should "do the thing." The Shopkeeper doubts this will work since the Order has been reduced down to three members, but The Artificer explains that everyone present can "do the thing" since everyone is attuned to the scroll. The Artificer raises one arm up in the air and rallies the others to follow suit. The group each raise an arm up into the air and they teleport away, returning together as the Arcane Golem to face off against the Mask. The Arcane Golem and the Mask struggle in a laser beam duel, but the Arcane Golem ekes out a victory, shattering the Mask into many pieces.

## Picnic Panic

*For the main article, see Picnic Panic.*

With the Picnic Panic update, the Money Sink in the shop becomes clogged. In search for a Money Wrench, Ninja enters The Artificer's room and interacts with the tools on a nearby machine. Ninja requests if he can borrow The Artificer's Money Wrench in order to fix the Money Sink. The Artificer is shocked, believing that the Money Sink was "destroyed during the raid," and he ponders if "he" (The Iron Hood) is still alive. The Artificer offers to hand over the Money Wrench in exchange for all of Ninja's Time Shards. If Ninja agrees to do so, he acquires the Money Wrench.

As Ninja is about to leave for the Picnic Panic timeline via a portal in the shop, he is interrupted as The Artificer casually walks in. The Artificer is concerned, stating that his devices detected a portal opening and that it is his job to open portals. The Shopkeeper reassures The Artificer not to worry, explaining that Ninja is merely leaving for a side-adventure. The Artificer requests to be kept in the loop if they happen to "do the thing" during the adventure, since he is eager to participate. Despite The Shopkeeper's reassurances, The Artificer remains put and expresses his disappointment that nobody really pays attention to him compared to The Shopkeeper or The Prophet. The Prophet, upon hearing his name, teleports into the shop, sidetracking events even further. As The Artificer and The Prophet get caught up in a conversation, Ninja quietly takes his leave through the portal and into the Picnic Panic timeline.

Ninja reaches the Voodoo Heart, where Barma'thazël's evil plans come to fruition. Barma'thazël and the Dark Messenger "do the thing" and form their own unique take of the Arcane Golem. The Artificer teleports on scene, learning that his "do the thing" prediction came true. He realizes that the situation is grim and returns back with The Shopkeeper. The Artificer, The Shopkeeper, and Ninja each raise an arm into the air and teleport away, returning in the form of the Arcane Golem. The Arcane Golem and the transformed Barma'thazël duke it out in a boxing match, and the Arcane Golem eventually emerges as the victor. Barma'thazël is defeated, but he takes the opportunity to absorb the Dark Messenger's voodoo energy into a magic seed before teleporting away to escape. The Phobekins that were held hostage by Barma'thazël are freed, and The Artificer partakes in the celebratory picnic, much to his delight.

### February 21, 2019

While The Shopkeeper chatted with Rainbowdragoneyes, she mentioned she would ask The Artificer to open a portal in order for Rainbowdragoneyes to reach SaboTeam's office.

## Trivia

* The Artificer is referred to as "FAT\_MAGE" in the dialogue files and "FatMage" in the picture files.
* In The Artificer's room in the Tower of Time HQ, there are a few objects of interest.
	+ The Arcane Golem's right hand can be seen lying on the floor. A panel on the side of Arcane Golem's index finger is missing.
	+ A tentacle is seen floating within a long vertical tube. This could be related to the tentacles seen in the background of the Corrupted Future.
	+ Rocks seep from the back of the scary portal and resemble the ones found in the Corrupted Future.
* The "Live Messenger Q&A" revealed more information about The Artificer.
	+ Monk got the scroll from The Artificer at first.
	+ The Artificer joined the Order of the Blue Robes after The Prophet.
* Thierry Boulanger, the main director and writer of the game, revealed that The Artificer is not, and has never been, a human.
* The Artificer runs a blog on the official website for The Messenger. He has revealed some background information about himself.
	+ The Artificer is a robot that was built to keep alive the memory and genius of a group of child engineers.
	+ The Artificer actually works for the Clockwork Concierge.
	+ The Artificer wants a bigger budget so he can buy more Arcane Golem parts and build an even bigger Arcane Golem.

## Gallery

The Artificer's 16-bit talk portrait icon.The Artificer's 8-bit spritesheet.8-bit sprite of The Artificer holding his arm up.The Artificer's 16-bit spritesheet.16-bit sprite of The Artificer holding his arm up.Beta version of The Artificer's talk portrait icon.Beta version of The Artificer's 16-bit spritesheet.Official T-shirt design for PAX East 2018, which depicts The Artificer with a happy expression.

## References

1. ↑ https://themessengergame.com/announcement/the-messenger-website-is-now-live/
> "*...I've been preparing this speech for decades...and he just...*"
> ― *The Prophet*
>
>
3. ↑ Developer Interviews#Live Messenger Q&A - June 2019 (Part 1)
4. ↑ Thierry's Lore Tidbits#March 29, 2019 (#2)
5. ↑ https://themessengergame.com/blog/