Taffywaves ARG

The Taffywaves ARG or The **I'm Lost ARG** is an Alternate Reality Game that was created by user Taffywaves. It spans across the internet through media and platforms such as Twitter, Discord, Wattpad, Twitch, and Instagram.

The ARG is a semi-independent subplot of The ArtistSMP. It begins *outside* of the ArtistSMP's main lore, but ends *with* it.

## Storyline

### Token

**Token**, one of Taffywaves' original characters, accidentally killed her father and her best friend, Hiromitsu Ueda. Distraught by this, she sought to find an alternate reality in which she could live peacefully and avoid the consequences of her actions. Unfortunately, she discovered that in every universe her father would end up dead, Hiromitsu Ueda would be seriously injured, and she would be the cause of it all. Furious, Token pushed through more universes and discovered she was actually created by the user Taffywaves. Seeking revenge, Token created a computer virus that could infect Taffywaves and their computer.

### Before the ArtistSMP

On January 1st, 2021, **Taffywaves** was trapped in her computer by a virus known as 404RGB. This virus feeds on computer files but requires a user to perform actions externally, much like a real computer virus.

404RGB's main goal is to take control of Taffywaves, the ArtistSMP, and more computers until it can develop a weaponry system powerful enough to wipe out the human race.

While Taffy was brought into the digital world, her original character, Hiromitsu Ueda, was kicked out into the real world. Hiro acted as a replacement for Taffy, as the world would not be able to function without a theoretical set of molecules in the correct space and time. Hiro has an Instagram account which he uses to communicate with Taffy across the different dimensions. Taffy, in turn, uses a Twitter account where her responses to Hiro are fed through. Occasionally, Taffy may also used this to speak to the public.

### The ArtistSMP

On January 30th, Taffy saw a light near the end of the dark, encoded, dimension she lived in. As she walked towards it, she entered a portal leading her to the ArtistSMP. 404RGB, now attached to a "physical" form, persuaded Taffy to take itself with her. Currently, both 404 and Taffy reside within the code of the ArtistSMP. As events unfolded, 404 continuously tried to manipulate Taffy into making decisions. Eventually, after a talk within the hidden room in Taffy's book store, 404 unlocked some of Taffy's memories for her. Taffy discovered that 404 had actually persuaded her to bring itself with her into the game, which left Taffy furious. 404 also revealed that if Taffy lost all 3 of her canon lives, she would not be able to return to the real world.

After the events of the **Luminary Tournament**, 404RGB was angry that **Oddity** had won the position of Luminary. In order for 404 to successfully control the server, it must be in the highest position of authority to take action. While Taffy talked with 404RGB, it ended up corrupting her in attempts to kill Oddity and regain the position of Luminary.

However, before this plan could begin, **war** broke out between The Cove and The Villaj. 404 decided that killing Oddity would be counter-productive now that the war was occurring. After the first Villaj meeting, Taffywaves and **Double0doodles** talked about the future for the Villaj, training opportunities for those interested in fighting, and the war as a whole. 404 saw this as an opportunity to gain more authority, as Double was the head of the Villaj Guard. 404 channeled itself through Taffywaves' trident, which infected Double with its code.

While **Henki**, Double, and Taffy were sparring, Henki talked about their experience within the Void. They mentioned all the things they had seen, including a house covered in the colors red, green, and blue. They described it as being from another dimension, which highly intrigued both Taffy and the virus for their own separate reasons. Despite Henki's request that no one go to **the Void**, Taffy decided to visit as she thought it might be a way home. Taffywaves ended up jumping into the void, blacking out, and then waking up to a message from **The Mesial.** As soon as they were released, they ran back to fight in the war.

```

ᓵᔑリ ||𝙹⚍ ᒷ⍊ᒷリ ⚍リ↸ᒷ∷ᓭℸ ̣ ᔑリ↸ ᒲᒷ?

ℸ ̣ ⍑ᒷ∷ᒷᓭ ᓭ𝙹ᒲᒷℸ ̣ ⍑╎リ⊣ ∴∷𝙹リ⊣ ∴╎ℸ ̣ ⍑ ||𝙹⚍

╎ ᓵᔑリℸ ̣  ᑑ⚍╎ℸ ̣ ᒷ ℸ ̣ ᒷꖎꖎ ʖ⚍ℸ ̣  ∴ᒷ'ꖎꖎ ⋮⚍ᓭℸ ̣  ⍑ᔑ⍊ᒷ ℸ ̣ 𝙹 ∴ᔑ╎ℸ ̣  ᔑリ↸ ᓭᒷᒷ

Dont return foreign child, you may have use yet."

```

At this point, 404RGB had corrupted almost 50% of Taffy, meaning it would be more difficult for her to be in control of her character. While the fighting commenced, Taffy gained a terrible injury to the arm from **Bill**, who, at the time, was acting as an ally towards the Villaj. This terrified Taffy, as she was unsure how many canon lives she had after jumping in the void. Taffy notified Henki of this later.

Bill ended up double-crossing the Villajers and leading Taffy and Henki straight into the Cove's bunker, where they were forced to surrender. Taffy, as acting luminary, reasoned that she did not want to lose a canon life as she was unsure whether she still had 3 or 2. 404RGB had slowly been taking control, and Taffy lashed out at Henki when making the final decision to retreat.

Taffy had now been locked in her cell for several days. She spoke to 404, learning more about the potential dangers of dying and the results that would come from it.

As 404 slowly started to control Taffy more, she underwent a large personality shift that was noticeable by **Tilly** and Bill. She seemed irritable, cynical, and irrational which was a large turn from her outgoing and logical self. This, along with the glitching on her legs, marked the first time that any of the other members confronted her with concern. During the group-therapy session that the Covians had set up, the lights went out and Taffy was killed. This event marked the start of **The Werewolf stream**.

### The Rooms Past Reality

Taffy woke up one day, possessed by 404RGB. She is taken to an unknown location against her will, which is later revealed to be **404RGB's Castle** which appeared at the end of the season. 404 separated itself from Taffy's body, causing physical distress and harm to both parties. Despite this, 404 left to an area known as **The Code Room,** an area outside the bounds of Minecraft that display the server's code in three dimensions. 404 started to break connections of the code and replace them with its own, a practice that caused increased glitching in the server and the appearance of several holes to the void.

During this time, Taffy had been attempting to call Oddity, but could not reach her due to the lack of service. Taffy accidentally fell backwards out of the castle's tower, glitching into **The Backrooms** under the art gallery. There, she is chased by an unknown creature and proceeded to escape further down the hallway. She encountered a dark staircase, and without thinking, ran down it.

Taffy then appeared in **The Prismarine Room**, an area of similar likeness to The Backrooms yet made out of Prismarine. Taffy walked through the area finding several maps, many of which were covered in blood or incomprehensible to read. She was yet again pursued by another noise, and after a few minutes the stream "crashed."

It resumed again with Taffy in **The Dungeon Room**. She passed by multiple jail-like cells with buildings similar to that in the void. She encountered **Noka**, who spoke in a jumbled, difficult-to-understand language, and they provided Taffy with an Ender Eye. After looking around the building, Taffy gained four more Ender Eyes. Within The Dungeon Room, Taffy came across several statues of ArtistSMP members. Upon closer inspection, they seemed to correspond to the number of lives each player had lost. Walking further, Taffy encountered **The Mesial** once more, who explained that The Dungeon Room was an alternate version of **The Void.** He also stated that he wished to speak with 404RGB, but didn't know where it was. Taffy left, entering a crawl space that led her to a dark area with an End Portal. She placed the remaining Ender Eyes that she had collected, and left to go fight the dragon in **The End.**

After Taffy killed the Ender Dragon, she curiously entered the End City Portal that had opened after the fight. The portal dropped her in an unknown area of The End fixed with a large tree known as **The Heart of the Server.** This tree contained 3 sections, corresponding to The Overworld, Nether, and End, and a large, appendage-like bridge with a "missing texture" theme. The branches of the tree were made of command blocks, and the leaves were made out of redstone. Taffy ascended upwards, crossing the bridge and ending up in **The Code Room** with 404RGB.

Taffy eventually convinced 404RGB to stop replacing code. She stated that not only did both of them depend on eachother through a parasitical relationship, 404RGB was being sought out by The Mesial. Intrigued, 404RGB left with Taffywaves and returned back to the server.

### Post-Rooms

Taffy was extremely distraught about her experience. She returned to the SMP with one block of endstone, which she used to run experiments. Together, 404RGB and Taffywaves temporarily formed a truce, in which they both experimented on the server's stability, resources, and the existence of the Void. Taffy created a **Separation System** to aid them in research, a machine that temporarily separated her and 404's physical forms without causing damage. However, this was later exploited by 404 in the season finale battle.

As the Second Luminary Tournament approached, Taffy and 404 agreed to take upon a new presentation-- an overly-joyous, kind, innocent leader. This façade was good enough to win over voters, and Taffy won as the next Luminary of the Villaj. **Whespir**, who died in the crossfire of the celebration's fireworks, was soon replaced by **Siph**. Taffy went to go and talk to Siph, who stated that they knew Taffy was from "The Real World." He also stated that there was another person from the real world, **Kit**, although their identity was never revealed to Taffy.

At this point, the Mesial had been physically causing the server to fall apart. It can also be assumed that at this time The Mesial and 404RGB had already spoken, despite their interaction not taking place on camera. When Henki, Pastel, and Ice attempted to flee from the corrupted server, they ran into Taffywaves. Taffy revealed **404RGB's Castle** to them, stating that The Mesial would not be able to enter. Henki and Taffy go to a specific portion of the castle where Henki builds the final portal to leave. Eventually, when the corruption becomes to strong, the rest of the SMP Members also flee to the castle.

### Season 1 Finale of the ArtistSMP

The SMP members get trapped within the main castle entrance. They are seated in front of a stage, which opened to 404RGB separate from Taffy. 404 explained how Taffywaves got to the server as well as the exposition that was **Token's Revenge.** 404 ended off its monologue, rushing into the next room and leaving the rest of the players disoriented with blindness.

The SMP members fought through a number of difficult puzzles and trials, including parkour, a maze, a minecart puzzle, and an escape room. After completing all of the trials, the SMP members were left to fight 404RGB and a trapped Taffywaves. Taffy, stuck in a cell above 404RGB's Castle throne, was left with trying to decipher **The Final Code** in order to return home. Unfortunately, the stream had crashed, so Taffy's Point of View in the cell could not be recorded. It is inconclusive whether Taffy could figure out the code, however, in both Oddity's Finale stream and a later animation, it is shown that **Taffy had successfully escaped**.

## Paraphernalia

The overall goal of the ARG is to piece together a final code (a passcode) that will release Taffy from her computer. Strings of code and clues relating to Taffy will either lead towards ArtistSMP Lore or towards puzzle pieces of the final passcode. The puzzle pieces can be found anywhere on the internet, ranging from in-game displays to **websites such as this one**. When put together, they seem to be depicting a red, blue, and green string of letters written over a screenshot of an e-mail.

## Resources

Wattpad: https://www.wattpad.com/user/4NoteRisingScale

Taffy's Twitter (Virus): https://twitter.com/404RGB

Hiromitsu Ueda's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the.real.hiro.ueda/

ArtistSMP Lore Document: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1P8S6o1XnPzAQHodZo9bJZi6nIKNE0yU5vhemmC5h7rI/edit?usp=sharing