ARG/July-October 2019

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## July 2, 2019

Suses chatted with the community. His microphone was broken by Phil, so he spoke in plain text rather than dialogue boxes.

## July 3, 2019

The Archivist delivered a letter to the Clockwork Concierge, and the Concierge spoke with Manfred about it.

 **Clockwork Concierge** | -I need time to consider our options, but I agree that Kammesennin is trustworthy.

## July 4, 2019

The Scrying Orb produced another vision, a sneak peek of The Iron Hood. Later, the Clockwork Concierge held a meeting with Kammesennin to discuss The Archivist's letter.

## July 8, 2019 (Discord)

The Clockwork Concierge and Suses revealed the exact hour for the release date of the Picnic Panic DLC and its soundtrack.

## July 8, 2019 (Twitch)

TwoCPlus ran a speedrun of The Messenger for a Games Done Quick Community Spotlight, which was streamed on Twitch. The actual Shopkeeper dropped by and interjected with her own commentary in the Twitch chat.

As TwoCPlus traveled through the beginning portion of the Tower of Time, The Shopkeeper complained that her dialogue in the Tower of Time-summoning cutscene got skipped.

 **LeShopkeeper** | I mean my performance was pretty good in that last cutscene, why would you skip it like that?

After TwoCPlus traveled past the Tower of Time statue of The Iron Hood, The Shopkeeper noted that it was the same person as the one from the Money Sink.

Just before TwoCPlus engaged in the Arcane Golem boss fight, The Shopkeeper declared a one-on-one battle between herself and TwoCPlus. When Wombada asked The Shopkeeper if he was allowed to open the cabinet, she forbade it.

 **LeShopkeeper** | No @Wombada

As TwoCPlus traveled through the second Manfred chase sequence, The Shopkeeper complained that the stream lacked enough Pitou.

As TwoCPlus began the Manfred boss fight, The Shopkeeper continued to complain about her dialogue being totally ignored.

After TwoCPlus defeated Manfred, The Shopkeeper berated Manfred's brutal treatment.

After TwoCPlus defeated Barma'thazël, The Shopkeeper insulted Barma'thazël with a pun.

After TwoCPlus completed the cutscene involving Soldier's death, GundamJehutyKai accused The Shopkeeper for being the one responsible for Soldier's death. The Shopkeeper deflected the blame.

 **LeShopkeeper** | Not quite, @GundamJehutyKai

## July 9, 2019

The Clockwork Concierge had Kammesennin deliver The Archivist's scroll a day earlier than scheduled. The document is titled "Ramblings\_of\_a\_lost\_soul.png." After the scroll was deciphered by the community, and in reference to the final line of the scroll, the Clockwork Concierge brought attention to The Artificer's newly-released blog post on the official website, which revealed more lore about The Artificer himself.

 **PhΩmega** | https://themessengergame.com/announcement/the-messenger-website-is-now-live/

## July 10, 2019

Rainbowdragoneyes delivered the Picnic Panic OST to the official server.

## July 11, 2019 (Discord)

On the release day of the Picnic Panic DLC, the Clockwork Concierge and Suses conversed a little bit with the community.

 **Clockwork Concierge** | The button has been pressed.

## July 11, 2019 (Twitch)

Soleil streamed her first runthrough of the Picnic Panic DLC on Twitch. The Shopkeeper dropped by to offer a couple of comments.

When Soleil began the trip towards Bamboo Creek's Big Time Shard to farm lots of money to afford toys from The Craftsman's Corner, The Shopkeeper commented on the amount of time it would take.

Soleil asked The Shopkeeper how long the DLC would be, but The Shopkeeper did not give a time estimate.

Soleil opted to do a runthrough of Picnic Panic where she attempted not to kill any Voodkins. As Soleil was traveling through Fire Mountain and passed by some Flamethrow Voodkins, The Shopkeeper commented on the hypocrisy of not killing Flamethrow Voodkins even though she would kill enemies such as Tropical Ranged Kappa.

## July 12, 2019

The community and Clockwork Concierge held extremely lengthy conversations and negotiations about raising the interaction cap for more Time Shards. In the end, a satisfactory agreement with the Concierge was not made, so the interaction cap remained unaltered.

The Concierge also inquired if the community would prefer for the next opening of #the-shop text channel to occur when the community accumulated 5,000 or 6,000 Time Shards. The most expensive available upgrade (The Jukebox) costed 5,000 Time Shards, but the two other available upgrades (The Letter H and Pitouette) costed 3,000 Time Shards each. So the community could either wait until 5,000 Time Shards, in which The Shopkeeper would arrive slightly earlier, or they could wait until 6,000 Time Shards, in an attempt to purchase the two cheaper upgrades in one go, rather than just one upgrade. A vote was arranged for the community to choose between 5,000 or 6,000, and the majority voted to wait until 6,000.

 **Tommy** | What was that?

 **Chacw** | If it happens often it loses the charm

## July 15, 2019

The Clockwork Concierge posted a free Steam code for The Messenger. JustDenys1, who did not own the game, very happily claimed the code.

## July 17, 2019

Suses revealed that Pitou is actually bulletproof.

## July 18, 2019

Colos purchased tickets for him and Suses to attend Manfred's cloud-tasting event. Later, the Clockwork Concierge had trouble turning on his microphone (dialogue boxes) for a bit, then after fixing it, he went on to explain that the 4th opening of #the-shop text channel would occur soon.

## July 19, 2019

Suses officially announced that Colos bought the two of them tickets to attend Manfred's cloud-tasting event.

The community accumulated 6,000 Time Shards, which triggered the 4th opening of #the-shop text channel. Tommy The Lucky One (a.k.a. StrawB) was selected to be "The Messenger," and he participated in Chapter 2 of the text adventure, obtaining "The Letter E." Afterwards, he purchased "The Letter H" and "Pitouette," dedicating the purchase of "Pitouette" to Babushka. Purchasing "The Letter H" resulted in an upgrade called "The Letters A & U" to appear in the shop's talent tree, while purchasing "Pitouette" resulted in an upgrade called "Beach Oracle" to appear in the shop's talent tree.

Suses gave sage advice and revealed he had once touched the shop cabinet. Later, the community noticed that Sabout started drawing Pitouette.

## July 22, 2019

Sabout released his drawing of Pitouette. Pitouette also became a server emote.

## July 29, 2019

An opt-in "ARG" role was implemented into the server.

The Clockwork Concierge revealed that he once dressed up as a pirate while playing with "the kids" while they were hiding from The Fleshmancer. Talking about "the kids" saddened the Concierge, but he was comforted by Suses.

## August 8, 2019

The Clockwork Concierge awarded "The Letter R" in celebration of 2,000 total members joining the Discord server. He also revealed that The Fleshmancer was responsible for destroying the moon in one of the timelines, and the message was quickly deleted by SaboTeam.

## August 12, 2019

The Clockwork Concierge and Suses wished OHSHIET a "happy birthday."

## August 14, 2019

Suses made brief small talk with the community.

 **JustDenys1** | I'm good. Like hour ago, I returned to Morocco, and I will stay there, until new summer starts. And it's the third time already

## August 15, 2019

A few members of the community were confused how many accumulated Time Shards were necessary in order to trigger the next shop opening, since the cheapest available upgrade (The Jukebox) costed 5,000 Time Shards, while the other two available upgrades (The Letters A & U, and Beach Oracle) costed 7,500 Time Shards each. The Clockwork Concierge clarified that the next shop opening would require 7,500 Time Shards.

 **Clockwork Concierge** | In case there has been some miscommunication, the shop now opens at 7500 Time Shards.

## August 16, 2019

Kammesennin was struggling in real life to afford extremely crucial car repairs, and his car was necessary to maintain his job, his major source of income. Kammesennin was at risk of losing his home and livelihood, so he advertised his Twitch stream in which he would stream a Mega Man marathon with donation incentives in hopes he could raise enough money to repair his car.

Around 46 minutes into the stream, Sabotage Studio donated Kammesennin $1,000, with an accompanying message that stated "Thanks for everything." (The donation went off twice, but was only meant to go off once.) This donation put Kammesennin over the $600 goal, giving him enough money to repair his car. Kammesennin was extremely stunned and extremely grateful for the gift.

## August 25, 2019

Kammesennin pinged and thanked SaboTeam for providing him with the means to repair his car. In a joking manner, Suses was offended for being excluded from the ping. Suses and the Clockwork Concierge expressed SaboTeam's love.

## August 30, 2019

The Messenger's first birthday was celebrated. Sabotage announced Sabocup, a speedrunning tournament with prizes for both expert and casual players. The Clockwork Concierge posted a message hinting at the importance of the "spring equinox," but this message was swiftly deleted by SaboTeam.

 **Thierry** | I should do this in the proper channel then

* : 17
* : 17

## September 3, 2019

The Clockwork Concierge announced that ZerolagGaming would be speedrunning The Messenger at DreamHack Montreal 2019.

Although the community accumulated 7,500 Time Shards, The Shopkeeper announced she would open the shop next week's Friday instead of the current week's Friday.

## September 10, 2019

The Clockwork Concierge announced that the 5th opening of the shop would occur September 13, and that there would be news from The Archivist.

## September 12, 2019

The Clockwork Concierge chatted a bit with the community.

## September 13, 2019

The 5th opening of #the-shop text channel arrived, and Ashes was selected to be "The Messenger." The Shopkeeper gave "The Jukebox" as a free upgrade, which resulted in an upgrade called "Ramblings of a lost soul Chapter 2" to appear in the shop's talent tree, an upgrade that costed 1,000 Time Shards.

Ashes asked why collecting letters (such as "The Letter H") was necessary for the ARG. The Shopkeeper explained that collecting and then unscrambling all of the letters was necessary in order to summon The Archivist once again, and that the mystery word would not be "TUWHERA." The Shopkeeper asked if Ashes was interested in breaking the Scrying Orb to see whether it contained anything, and after a community discussion, they opted to keep the orb intact. They purchased "The Letters A & U" and "Ramblings of a lost soul Chapter 2," dedicating the purchase of "Ramblings of a lost soul Chapter 2" to their best friend, starryeyedninja.

 **Clockwork Concierge** | Good day, Shopkeeper! Right this way.

 **Clockwork Concierge** | Most people don't.Welcome, Radicole!

## September 17, 2019

DazKen asked for more info about submitting their speedrun for Sabocup. Eventually the topic of Steam version of the game came up during the conversation, and Suses posted a free Steam code (which was eventually claimed).

## September 18, 2019

Around 1 a.m. EDT, the Clockwork Concierge and Suses chatted with the community. Suses wished StrawB a "happy birthday." The Concierge revealed that he used to serve a dark purpose, and after he was freed, he was given a more welcoming appearance by "the kids." He also hinted at Pitou's seeming immortality.

 **StrawB** | Yeeee

 **Radicole** | est bois

 **StrawB** | Thankies

 **Soleil** | because he is a robot

## September 19, 2019

Around 1:50 p.m. EDT, the Scrying Orb hopped online. It was seen typing something in the #scrying-orb text channel, but it did not post any messages. It hopped offline shortly afterwards. Its avatar was updated, but it went unnoticed by the community.

Around 4:55 p.m. EDT, DarkHawk and other community members noticed the Scrying Orb's updated avatar, which had the silouhette of "The Letter L" within it. Discussions and arguments broke out about whether or not to break the Scrying Orb in order to obtain "The Letter L."

At 5:22 p.m. EDT, during a discussion about the mystery word potentially being "AEPHORUL," The Archivist joined the Discord server. At 5:24 p.m. EDT, he visibly appeared in the list of members in the right sidebar. The community freaked out. But at 5:26 p.m. EDT, The Archivist left the server.

Discussions continued throughout the day, but the orb remained intact. The Scrying Orb was also nominated to have the "Ninja" Discord role.

## September 20, 2019

Discussions about whether or not to break the Scrying Orb continued. Suses mentioned that he once punted the Scrying Orb, but it didn't break. Despite the amount of support on the side of breaking the orb, the community continued to exercise caution and left the orb intact for the time being.

 **Suses** | I once punted the orb, but it didn't break.

## September 27, 2019

Colos contracted torticollis due to extreme yoga, so he and Suses headed to Quillshroom Marsh for a mud bath.

## October 3, 2019

The Scrying Orb's magical power subsided for good, and the orb appeared to be unbreakable. The Clockwork Concierge predicted that Spiderbenb, one of the proponents for breaking the orb, would be upset about the turn of events.

Suses was egged on by the community to punt the deactivated Scrying Orb. After equipping Scrying Shoes, he punted the orb really far, which caused the #scrying-orb text channel to be deleted from the server. The community, hoping that the orb would break in order to obtain "The Letter L," instead lost the orb completely. The community was disappointed by the outcome, which saddened Suses. Although the community assured Suses that he did nothing wrong, he left the server with a "papate" (goodbye).

## October 4, 2019

The Clockwork Concierge announced that the Spooktober community event, something previously unmentioned up until this point in time, was cancelled. He explained that gathering calcium via spooky Messenger art and memes would have triggered a Ruxxtin AMA.

## October 15, 2019

The Clockwork Concierge wished Stéphanie a "happy birthday."

## October 26, 2019

Day 1 of the Sabocup tournament qualifiers commenced. It was streamed on sabotageqc's Twitch channel, with TwoCPlus, DreamHazard, and Clippy as the commentators for the second set of races. In the Twitch chat, The Shopkeeper dropped by to offer a few comments.

The Twitch chat, along with DreamHazard, praised and promoted Rainbowdragoneyes for his work on The Messenger's soundtrack. The Shopkeeper chimed in with her opinion on Rainbowdragoneyes.

TwoCPlus noticed The Shopkeeper in the Twitch chat and thanked her for providing upgrades that allowed the speedrunners to speedrun quickly through the Any% speedrun category.

DreamHazard mentioned that there are speedrun categories where speedrunners ignore talking to The Shopkeeper, so she apologized. The Shopkeeper replied that getting ignored is a fairly common occurence. Simultaneously, Minous27 asked if The Shopkeeper had any stories to share, and The Shopkeeper replied that she wanted the focus of the stream to be on the speedrunners.

DreamHazard talked about how upon release of The Messenger that speedrunners used to have to mash buttons to advance the text quickly. Since it was highly requested by speedrunners, the developers added a text-skip feature in one of the very early game patches. The Shopkeeper suggested a different sort of game alteration, stating that Queen of Quills deserved to have a boss track that wasn't identical to Emerald Golem's.

 **LeShopkeeper** | Big L on RDE right there

DreamHazard suggested that a Quillble minigame would be an even better idea.

## October 27, 2019

Day 2 of the Sabocup qualifiers commenced.

 **Clockwork Concierge** | Godspeed, runners!

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**Next (November 2019-February 2020) →**