Chương 69: 2.27 Given Up - Linkin Park (3:09)

Z3ke [last online: 9 days ago] MushroomCleric And so I say to her "lady, that's why they call it a Charleston Chew!" DataDatum?? StoryLeech Mushroom… what the hell are you talking about? Did you just have a stroke or something? MushroomCleric No. I was trying to summon Zeke. You know how in movies or tv shows someone is in the middle of a sentence and then the protagonist bursts in? That's what I was going for.

I thought that if I started mid-joke he'd kick the door down and be like "good news everyone, I survived that horrible room." PaperSnakes ZEKE! COME BACK!!! Don't you see what you're doing to poor Mushroom over here? He's losing it. Also, yea, lore. We want more lore. ThreadbareOracle This place feels wrong with no updates. It's like we're all just idling and recycling all the old theories. Shootingblnks That's because we are idling.

We've gone through every permutation of the Witness Chambers like five times, and there's nothing left to squeeze out of it until Zeke comes back with new info. HexaDeweyDecimal I'm about to call ToD on this fanfic. The whole thing is feeling like we're stuck in one of those holding patterns where the writer swears that everything is already written and just needs a little bit of editing. Meanwhile, 15 years go by and we still don't have a finished story.

I've already gone through all the stages of grief with Doors of Stone. I don't need another Rothfuss situation in my life. InnerMarrow STOP. Do not put that energy into this thread. MushroomCleric Blocked. Reported. Emotionally devastated. ZEKE. IF YOU'RE READING THIS, I WILL KEEP POSTING BAD JOKES UNTIL YOU COME BACK. SignalLoss TBF, this is how a lot of fics die. They hit the peak, stakes get too high, the author realizes that they've written themselves into a corner, and then they just vanish.

Panzaro | We want more lore. | Zeke: Blooming Witch Good, Players Murderhobo Forum: No she isn't She is, Players confirmed a bunch of Murderhobos Zeke: Corva Bad, he's a body-hopping asshole Forum: No he isn't FopperyandWhim: Corva's a body-hopping asshole. At what point will this forum start to consider the things Zeke writes about as canon but cannot be confirmed yet. TVEye I think we've already got to that point.

Whenever Zeke comes back to drop more of his story, we're all going to be obsessively pouring over every word. In fact, I think that this whole silence from Zeke is a deliberate choice on his part. I don't think he's stuck, I think he's getting us to froth at the mouth for an update. Think about it. He disappears right when Binary dropped a bomb and he let the whole forum eat itself alive. People are turning on Binary. Foppery is over here uncovering lore. A shit ton of theories are being bandied about the place.

Soon he'll come back onto the thread and drop his story and we're all going to be laser focused on it. MushroomCleric Yes. This. Zeke is fine. Zeke is thriving. Zeke is taking his time to craft a 10/10 escape sequence. FingernailCHAFF Or he realized the jig is up and dipped. Binary might've been a jerk about it, but he did uncover the whole part about Zeke using a missing person's identity. That's not nothing. No matter what anyone else thinks, that's not a good look for Zeke. UnhelpfullyHelpful Eh, I don't buy it.

A bunch of people here have already posted theories on why Zeke would choose that as his username. It honestly feels way more like there's some personal connection going on there than "random guy picks a missing person's name for fun and weaved it into his SI fanfic." Gaminoru I think that the Grieving Friend theory is the one that makes the most sense for me. Like, this fic being a coping mechanism by a close friend feels a lot more plausible than the other options.

Odd_Start There are 2 reasons it could be acceptable though: the writer is a friend who wanted to memorialize his presumably dead friend's memory or as a way to cope with hoping his friend's still alive out there having an adventure. Or "Ezekial" had a mental breakdown, hid from everyone irl, and started to write his own SI story. Actually, if you think about it it makes little sense for a writer who wanted to write an SI to use an actual recently missing person in their fic.

The logical conclusion should be that the writer is someone related to the missing person in some way. Last_Admiral Or… that he had "Zeke" in his basement, tied up, and being tortured to spill details. Baramewth | Binary might've been a jerk about it, but he did uncover the whole part about Zeke using a missing person's identity. | Honestly, no. Binary is just using that shit as an excuse.

He wanted to prove to everyone he was right about Zeke, and when he found out about his real life disappearance, he used that as justification to punish him. Binary reeks of terminally online, self-righteous, prideful asshole, and I hate him so goddamn much. Hopefully the story doesn't end here. Zeke's probably gonna drink that potion and put it in his puzzle skill to escape. Or the Witness or whatever gets him out of there somehow. Silentcrusader Fractures is a deeply toxic fandom.

So far, people are getting what they want, but I definitely feel like we've seen some real asshole behavior. This fandom breeds very demanding people, along with a giant sense of entitlement. ShivSays | we've seen some real asshole behavior. | Cough Binary Cough Cringyusername If nothing else I GOTTA commend Binary for his calm, rational and very thought out plan and strategy to get Z3ke out of the picture in a very clever and extremely exploitative way.

SomeOneElse007 Yeah that's about the level of unhinged I'd expect from a salty gatekeeper on the internet. Proper for the plan minus points for being a gatekeeping ass. Like, genuine kudos towards the whole system he built, perpetuated and kept up for… however long it was. The trap was set and executed sublimely if I do say so myself. Kyrsvun I don't think Zeke is gonna trust any Primaries moving forward… Daecl Oh yeah. This would never have me trust anyone on the forum ever again.

MushroomCleric Hey Zeke, what's brown and sticky? A stick. Please come back. Tenset | I don't think Zeke is gonna trust any Primaries moving forward… | Was thinking the exact same just earlier today regarding the Primary system. It's flawed, the Primary is more of a determiner of objectives and goals before anything else. The inability to dissent means that warning Zeke of potential threats could be seen as going against the Primary. A fun solution? Create another role.

I thought up the idea of a 'Guardian' role earlier today whose sole purpose is to prepare and act in the best interest of Zeke's IMMEDIATE survival. They're the person that comes up with contingencies to the Primary's ideas, the one who tells Zeke when it's time to gtfo, and the sole passable voice of contrary to the Primary. Cold_Reboot Yea, but that wouldn't have really protected him against Binary's plan. Binary kept everything pretty hidden from all of us when he gave Zeke the instructions.

He probably knew that if Mushroom or Story had the instructions and tried to head into the Witness Chambers, they would have cottoned onto the trap and told Zeke to stay away. 3Schofields Mushroom did try to warn him, but by then it was probably too late. That's why Binary waited a few days to do his villain monologue. He wanted Zeke to not update for a bit and make it seem like he got trapped in the sandbox room.

HandsWithoutArms Tenset, you're basically saying that we need to build a mod system into the Primary system. I'm not sure if that'll work. LurkerOfSurfers Given the fact that the mods have been sitting on their asses as flagrant abusive behavior has been unveiled… I'm going to say it: the mods have been in on it the whole time. They're the ones who get to say what the random number generator says, and they made a deal with Binary that lets him have the reins of where Zeke's story goes after [x] amount of players.

Seriously, I'm side-eying them right now and if anyone else even thinks that's the case, this forum might just have an even bigger issue on its hands than just assholes who cannot live a little, good lord. JakeKamas I don't think the mods are necessarily in on the plan to end Zeke's story like what Binary wanted, but I do think Grave is choosing, or at least weighting, the next primary decision as opposed to actually choosing randomly from the pool of primaries. CrimsonProphecy88 Nah.

I don't think Grave is in on it or doing any shenanigans with the primary system. He was probably just as blindsided as the rest of us. That being said, we do need some way to protect Zeke from malcontents who would just pop in here and give him bad or harmful information. Cringelord | I GOTTA commend Binary | He needs a flare gun to the face. Not just for trapping Zeke, it's mainly the way he gloats being too cringe, even for me.

The missing person doesn't actually matter to him, it's just a public justification to look like a good person while ruining the fic that he immediately undermines by yapping about his perceived lore crimes and his superiority. He can't even lizard properly. Cringe. Novalis | Hopefully the story doesn't end here. | Well how does Zeke get out of this trap? If he were in it. The cleanest solution to dab on Binary - he was never in there. The Pale bros or someone else got to him before he got to the spot.

But if he is stuck there, maybe level his singing to 7. And hope to get to level 8 before starvation gets him. On level 8, scream his way out like Majin Boo from DBZ. HighPriest So my current theory is that Zeke either hired another scout to help and that guy got trapped, or Zeke went to the Anchor Guild to help find those things only to be told that people who go in there never come back. And because of this realized that Binary tried to murder him and has been stewing in rage.

Dodough NGL I think Zeke got kidnapped and his tech tablet either stolen from him or broken. I don't think he got anywhere near the dev room. Bilbo It should be noted that there are ways for Zeke to resolve this without interacting with the Witness Room. First one is that he just didn't go there on account of suspecting binary, and that all this time he was chilling and reading forums.

The second one would be that he tried to go there, but then got ganked by whoever in the process, and that he was a captive ever since. Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. KickInator The thing about the not going part is that if that was the case, then Zeke would have already posted once Binary made that muahahaha evil speech of his. Unowenfanfictionacct My money's on the Pale Regiment coming to the rescue.

I can't have been the only one that picked up on the sexual tension between the Arch Lector and Zeke, right? There's no shot a man as domineering as the Arch Lector would let their soul mate just swim away freely. It's fairy tale 101 that true love starts with saving the damsel in distress, and the Arch Lector is clearly a well-read man. He's got Zeke on a line and as soon as the line gets stuck he'll be there to rescue him like a knight in a shining porcelain mask.

Snypehuntee007 Unowen has been infected with the Zeke-less Madness. MushroomCleric Hey Zeke, have you heard about the constipated mathematician? He worked it out with a pencil. I am not stopping. Saltmines In hindsight… why did we all just go along with the whole Witness idea? Binary pushed it when he was made Primary, but why didn't anyone here push back at all? JimothyTheBarber Seemed like a good idea at the time. Ridiculously_Average_Guy | Seemed like a good idea at the time.

| What about this mission will be useful for Zeke's ultimate goal, though? The Reclaimer made sense since killing it led to Zeke getting a Keystone Elixir, and a 7 in a combat or survival skill will keep Zeke alive long enough to actually get home. What does looking for the Witness get Zeke? Daecl Yeah, I'm not super sold on this 'Witness' fellow having any satisfactory answers. TheWoo Being fair, if you need information, going after the guy with all the information of where you are is a solid option.

Finding him and convincing him to help you is another matter of course, but it's a very viable plan. SomeOneElse007 I'm not sure if this forum has thought through the logistics of attempting to find a being that can see the present and future who may not want to be found. Dodough | Well how does Zeke get out of this trap? | Zeke should put that keystone elixir into a seduction skill so that he can find and then rizz up all of his enemies.

Before you know it, Zeke's gonna have a whole polycule of lovers at his beck and call to protect him. 7Spirals Dear god no. The shippers would become absolutely unbearable. I already had to go and wash my eyes with bleach after reading Mchiavelli's Zeke x Corva fic. DangerX ^7. A disease has been spreading in the forum, and sadly the only cure is death… death to corvaxzeke. Ambysta I was a corvazeke truther since the very beginning.

RedMonty The idea of an absolutely furious Zeke logging back into the forum and getting completely t-boned by a ZekeXCorva smutfic is hilarious. LurkerOfSurfers Wherever the story is going next, I'll be there especially if it has Binary slander in it. Z3ke (Original Poster) Yea. Fuck Binary. MushroomCleric ZEKE!!!! YOU'RE BACK! MY JOKES WORKED! How did you get out? How did you survive? Where the hell have you been? And why haven't you posted in a couple days?

Were the Witness Chambers blocking your forum access somehow? You've got to make sure that you write that into your update. PaperSnakes Everyone shut up!! Zeke's typing. DataDatum Wait. Hold on. You're actually okay? You got out?? Hadyoudone | You got out?? | Clap clap clap* Good job Zeke, now go fight god. Z3ke (Original Poster) Yea. I got out of the room and out of that neat little execution chamber that Binary sent me into. I know what you're all waiting for.

You wanna know my trick and what I found in the room, right? Of course you do. That's all anyone here cares about. So, I'll walk you through it. The last time I posted, Binary had just stepped in as my Primary and he promised that if I went looking for the Witness, I'd get answers to all my questions. He even said that I might find a way home. It sounded great. I got all my gear together and told my landlady that I was stepping out and heading off on an adventure.

She told me that my room would still be available for when I got back. Then I headed to the Roaring Drake to let Patch and the others know I was headed out. Daryl and Jared were on something like day four of their drinking binge. Jared barely registered that I was there and Daryl tried to stand up and say something about coming with me, but then he forgot what he was saying halfway through his sentence. Patch, though, called me over to the bar and started asking questions. Where was I going? Who told me about it?

What did I expect to find? The second I mentioned the Witness his whole demeanor changed. The guy perked up like I'd just said the name of an old ghost story that he half-believed in. The next thing I know he's telling me that he's coming with me and he just needs a few minutes to grab all his gear. I asked him why and he just grinned at me and said I've got "a fountain of good luck pouring out your ass."

"I may be retired, but what kind of former adventurer would I be if I didn't tag along at least once on one of these trips you're always taking. Thirty minutes later he was back at the bar with his patched-up coat on and a revolver at his side and a bag in his hand. He tossed me his bag and told me to store it away for later. And then we were off. I followed Binary's instructions to find the Witness Chambers.

We went down into the Under-MIZ and I already had that map from the Anchor Guild, so plotting the route to the place was easy enough. I found the sites Binary talked about, connected them all together, and we set off. Patch was a much better delver than Jared. I'm not saying that to be mean or anything. Jared guided us through the Under-MIZ and the Flooded Neighborhoods and the Factory and back again. But Patch was something else entirely.

"Strolling" isn't really a word that I ever thought about using when talking about moving through the Under-MIZ, but was exactly what it felt like. We strolled through the place. Five minutes passed and there weren't any monsters. Ten minutes and I still wasn't hearing or seeing any danger. Twenty minutes and I was starting to get a little uneasy.

We hadn't stumbled across any scavenger crews, I didn't see any shadows of delvers who were doing their own thing, and the hair on the back of my neck wasn't getting raised from monsters trying to ambush us. The whole thing made me nervous as shit. The last time I'd been in the Under-MIZ, I'd kinda made a mess of things. Word had spread fast about me and my group and we'd been trailed as soon as we left the Anchor Guild.

I'd been a little wary of coming back to the Under-MIZ because I half-expected a bunch of opportunists to be tracking me. I expected bounty notices and wanted posters and people trying to glom onto me and find out where I was going and what treasure I was chasing. But nope. Nothing. There wasn't any pursuit and no tension and nobody trying to ambush us. All that happened was Patch guided us forward like we were out for an evening walk instead of descending into one of the most dangerous places around.

Eventually we reached the location Binary told me about and both of us just stopped. The building in front of us was a ramshackle thing that looked like it was going to collapse if one of us breathed on it wrong. Patch studied it with a faint frown, like he was trying to reconcile what he was seeing with everything he'd heard about the Witness. I just stared at the thing like it was a big joke.

I figured I'd walk into the place and find you all standing around, waiting to yell "surprise" and tell me that I'd been had. Patch glanced over at me and there was a question in his eyes. This is it? I shrugged my shoulders and then gave him a nod and stepped inside. The graffiti on the wall was exactly where Binary said it would be. I pulled out my flashlight and flicked it on. The beam cut across the wall and caught the markings. A few seconds later I reached out and pressed my hand against the wall.

Or at least, I tried to. Instead, my hand slipped through the wall like it wasn't there at all, and I stumbled forward trying to catch my balance. Behind me, Patch swore. I turned just enough to see him staring at my arm - or at least, the half that hadn't sunk through the wall - like he was trying to decide whether to follow me or drag me back out. The hallway on the other side was exactly as Binary described it. It was a narrow, stone thing that stretched out into the distance.

I took a few cautious steps forward and swept the flashlight ahead of me. The beam didn't catch more than just stone and empty space that disappeared out into the dark. A second later I felt a hand on my shoulder. It freaked me enough that I almost crapped myself until I realized that it was just Patch following me. We walked that hallway for what felt like a mile. My flashlight lit up the place and gave us just enough visibility to keep moving, but it didn't show anything new. It was just… more hallway.

There weren't any markings and we didn't need to turn anywhere. It was just the same stretch of hall that repeated over and over again. Finally, we came to the end and the hallway opened up into a room. The room was absolutely massive. It was a circular place with smooth stone walls that curved up and away into darkness. In the center was a slightly raised dais. No. Not a dais. Well… maybe it was. I don't really know. Maybe it was a plinth? I don't know.

It was a big circular thing that was smack dab in the middle of the room. Both of us stepped fully into the room to get a better look at the place. The flashlight seemed inadequate because the whole room was so massive, so I dug into my dimensional storage space and pulled out those weird glow-stick thingies that someone on the thread had insisted I buy. I cracked them one by one and tossed them out across the floor.

Dim green light spread unevenly through the room, pushing back the darkness just enough so I could see. But that didn't matter because there was nothing there to see. Binary, in his private messages to me when he was guiding me to the room, told me that the Witness would be waiting in the center. He said that he'd just be sitting there and as long as I offered him payment - either in the form of loot or items - he would answer any question I posed. But obviously he was lying his ass off.

I turned to Patch, hoping that he'd have something for me. Maybe he'd have an explanation or a good guess. He's a delver after all. I was expecting that he'd have some secret way to unlock the room or activate the chamber, but he had nothing. He gave me this confused and unsettled look, like the rules to the room had suddenly stopped making sense to him.

"Well… what now?" he asked, his voice echoing slightly in the empty space. I didn't have an answer to give him so I just shrugged and ran my flashlight over the walls. I was looking for some hidden seams in the stone, or maybe some graffiti I'd missed and I could shine my light on it and it would react the same way the entrance had. But again… there was nothing. We checked the floor, the stone plinth thingy, the walls, and everything else we could think of.

After about ten minutes of fruitless searching, frustration started to set in. I was ready to throw my hands in the air and call it. I was about to tell Patch we should head out and go back to the Roaring Drake where we could talk over what we were missing over a drink and some food. I turned back to the wall we'd just come through, but it wasn't there anymore. I swept the flashlight across the spot but found nothing but solid stone. There wasn't a distortion or shimmer or any hint of an illusion.

I walked up to the wall and pressed my hand against it and nothing. I pushed. Nothing. I started feeling along the surface trying to find any inconsistency or give at all, but still came away with nothing. I'm not really someone who's ever had issues with tight spaces. Sharks are my phobia. But standing in that room and realizing that our only exit had just disappeared started to get to me. Now, I'd read through the past few days of this thread.

I read all your escape plans and all the different ways you've all thought about how to bust out of the room. Some of you suggested that I drink that elixir and put those ranks into my Glyph Writing skill and magic my way out of the room. I can tell you right now that I still have the elixir in my storage space. Some of you suggested that I try and boost my performance skill up to Rank 7 and scream my way out of there. But, again, I've still got my elixir.

Some of you have suggested that I got outside help and there was someone who snuck into the room behind me and we were able to get out that way, but you're wrong. Nobody was there to help us. Nobody had followed us. Nobody knew where we were. Everyone's idea was wrong. The way out is actually incredibly simple when you think about it. It's so simple that it's almost insulting. You're all going to hate yourselves when I tell you the secret.

I know you all like to play through everything that I've been doing so you can "uncover" the lore tidbits I'm dropping in the story. I'll make it easy for you all and lay down exactly the steps you're going to need to take. First, you need to walk to the center of the room. Stand on that weird stone dais/plinth type of thing. Then you're going to take a moment to really let it sink in how completely screwed you are. Take a second and think about the walls and how solid they are.

Think about the silence of that empty room. Feel the weight of it pressing down on you. Understand that you're stuck in a deathtrap and let all that rage and hopeless and despair and all your other emotions just swarm over you. Then you start thinking up the tricks to use to get out of there. I mean, there's gotta be some kind of trick, right? There's always a trick. And you're right. Here it is. You're in the middle of the room and at your lowest point I want you to take a single giant step back…

and then you go and fuck your own face. CradleOfMirth What?? StoryLeech … wow. SoftLocked Uhhh… for some reason I don't think that's the answer to Binary's little puzzle. Z3ke (Original Poster) It is the answer. That's the solution to the puzzle you've all been banging your heads against for the past couple days. It requires you all to go and fuck your own faces. That's what's required of you. That's the answer that you're all getting because it's the level of help that you've all earned from me. So go on. GO.

FUCK. YOURSELVES. I'm done explaining anything to any of you. Not one person here thought it might be worth mentioning that the Witness Chambers is basically a death sentence. Nobody thought, "hey, maybe we should warn Zeke that Binary is a flaming asshole who is going to try to get him killed. Maybe we should give him a heads up." No. What did you all do instead? You hyped it up. You nudged me towards it and dressed it all up like it was just another fun little lore dive.

You all laughed and thought it was funny and thought it was another quirky little side quest. Don't act all innocent in this. Some of you knew, or at least you suspected that something was off. You pushed me and encouraged me and guided me to that room. Binary might have given the directions, but you all gave him the encouragement to do it. And why? Why would you do that? Because it would be interesting, right? Because it would be entertaining. Because what's the worst case?

I die and then log back into this forum with a new username and say that I got isekai'd into the story and the torch of this "fanfic" gets passed onto me, right Mushroom? New protagonist with a fresh start to keep the content rolling. Z3ke (Original Poster) Oh. And Binary, since I know that you're reading this, I saw all your posts.

I saw all that smug, self-satisfied garbage that you spewed about how the Witness wasn't real and that you knew it the whole time and you were sending me into an empty room and how you figured everything out and were trying to get me killed to protect your precious interpretation of the lore, or whatever the hell you were telling yourself. You were so sure of it. You were so confident. And you were so goddamn wrong. I found the Witness. I talked to him. Go ahead. Sit with that for a second.

There's a whole story there that you'll never get. It's so much bigger than anything that you idiots have been arguing about for pages and pages, and you're never gonna hear it. You'll never know. I'm not gonna tell you how to find the Witness. I'm not gonna tell you who they are, where they are, what they said, or how to get out of that room. You can all dig and speculate and theorize and tear each other apart trying to figure it all out. I don't give a shit anymore.

ClickWhirr You're seriously going to drop that and walk away? People have been waiting for an update from you. We all want to know about the room. Z3ke (Original Poster) Yes I am. And you know what? If Gravemind wants to jump in here and ban me for this, he can go right ahead. It doesn't matter because I'm done with this place. I'm done with all of you, so let me make this as perfectly clear as possible. FUCK ALL OF YOU. Binary in particular can suck a dick. You don't get the answer to how I got out of the room.

You built your whole identity on knowing the lore of this game and pretending that you're the smartest guy in the room. Well… solve the mystery smart guy. But you can't. Because you're a choad. That's all the payback I can get. I'm stuck in this garbage ass world. Even if I was back home, I can't reach through the screen and deal with you. I can't track down some asshole hiding behind a username. So this is the best revenge I'm going to get. You don't get the answer to the mystery. I hope it eats away at you.

GrognarTheGreen Zeke, come on. Don't do this. We can help you fix your fic. Just tell us what happened. K1LLPR1EST Yea. We've already got ideas for where you can take the Primary system next. Z3ke (Original Poster) IT'S NOT A GODDAMN FIC. And fix what exactly? What are you going to fix? Are you guys gonna fix how you all keep pointing me towards places that can get me killed?

Or how about you fix the part where every time I come back here and tell you all what happened, half of you call it bullshit and downplay the shit I've gone through? Which one is gonna be fixed first? I'm tired of all of this. I'm tired of not being believed. I'm tired of being treated like a content generator instead of a person. I'm tired of getting shoved into places that can kill me just so you all can make "cool lore discoveries."

And I'm really tired of getting shit on by all of you while I'm out here trying not to die. I'm exhausted. I'm pissed. I'm just done. I'm stepping away, for both my mental and physical health. This place is toxic as hell. When I first showed up on this forum, I thought you all were my best shot at surviving this world and maybe making it back home. But I was wrong. None of you have any interest in helping me. All you want is a show. So I'm taking that show away. I'm done. No more posts. No more updates.

No more "what should I do next?" No more anything. I'm out. PixelBaron For how long. Z3ke (Original Poster) That's a good question PixelBaron. The answer to which can be found in your own anus, so why don't you stick your head up there and start poking around a bit? I'm sure you'll find it eventually. HexaDeweyDecimal Called it. This is how the fic ends. Zeke couldn't figure out a canon reason to be able to escape the room and now he's just quitting. Man… damn Binary.

Ruining the best story we had on this forum in a good long while. MushroomCleric He'll be back. My jokes brought him back once, they can do it again. Hey Zeke, how does Hitler tie his shoes? In little nazi's. Please come back.