Intermetzo: Developer emergency confrerence 1

Somewhere not quite in reality, but adjacent to a reality where Pieter chose Madelon as his first target.

"Good afternoon, everyone. Luckily, this meeting was only moved up by *garbled noise*. However, this current reality is in a bit of a pickle. We never planned for permanent targets to uninstall and try to reinstall the app. That is the reason for the move up. Another relevant point is the high number of targets getting punishments. The fact that he is less likely to want to engage with punishments in the future, and needs a break. Most of those have been for the person figuring out who he is without completing the unlock quest. Other than that, it might be worth reviewing together where all the different versions of the QuestMaster in question are. Partially to be able to do some predictions. Especially since this is a conference of all head coördenators of the current realities in which we are operational. Also, any possible fractioning we can see coming might be reviewed." A slightly higher male voice says.

"The original referral has a default punishment right?" a young-sounding girl notes.

"That is true, but usually for permanent targets, we want them to pick it." A man in a British accent points out.

"I see the point you are making. Why should this be different from other referral people? I agree, better keep the system consistent. Less work for him and for us." A woman in a sultry voice responds.

"Any counterpoints?" The higher-pitched male asks. After a moment of silence. "Okay, we can leave that be and just let it resolve. The number of punishments and the fact that people are figuring it out are related. Do we want to make it easier for him or not?"

A deep male voice responds. "We should, but I think the old woman won't like it."

A crone chimes in. "I was called for? No, making accessing those quests easier is wrong. We tried that... That QuestMaster got gutted like a fish. The condition for accessing it is them having high enough trust in the QuestMaster. Mistrust leads to slower unlock. Thus protecting him. His friends have been able to get the quests close to immediately; those related to them have not. This is how it works to protect them."

The Brit questions, "Could we hint this to them? Also, why is the referral questmaster branch then him knowing their unlock conditions?"

"Yes, that might be an option. They do need to earn it for it to feel a part of the normal process. That is actually simple, we can influence their minds, right?" Approving sounds happen as the crone is explaining things. "Well, that master class spends its energy on making the people receiving more receptive to the QuestMaster, like the rewards one would give towards the rewards. No longer able to have bad rewards or no bad feelings about the QuestMaster by the end of your unlock quest. Since the individual would need to be level 10, we have more than enough influence over them. That class also adds a few levels on top of what would be normal, so the levels would increase to 15 or 20."

"Wait, the system rebalances to make sure it will work out?" The girl asks. An answer in the form of "indeed..." is returned by the crone.

"So just make clear he needs to gain trust with the other targets... Harder, but okay, thank you for your advice. We could do that as a thing for completing 3 unlock quests?" The sultry woman responds. The others seem to concur with the idea.

"Good, let's do that. Next, how to deal with the punishment load. Any suggestions?" The higher-pitched man directs the conversation voice.

"We can give him a 'reward' for having 3 punishments handed out amongst his targets. Let it unlock some tools that allow him to share the load." The Brit thinks out loud.

"You forget the Sub-master perk tree exists. There might be something in there." The deep-voiced man responds.

"You are correct. Isn't it a question of how we can get the Sub-Master to carry more weight?" The crone asks.

"You aren't even guiding anything here, old lady. Why are you here?" The young girl scorns. "But she is correct, Madelon needs to become more active. That will solve some issues, but not the trust thing or will trust in the Sub-Master count towards the QuestMaster?"

"The one who can answer you just insulted." The sultry woman responds. "Madam, if you would enlighten us."

"You were always my favourite of the ones I taught. I will enlighten the pipsqueak because you asked. The sub-master and master are viewed as one for the target's trust. However, that doesn't solve all your issues; it creates new ones. You don't have one QuestMaster who can be found out but two. Still, she might have it easier when we are talking about the man-shy types." The crone says.

"Okay, so make some reward for Madelon if she takes a Sub-Master perk?" The deeper-sounding man responds. The agreement is reached.

"We all know as a result of the briefing on the state of this reality. This QuestMaster has the largest list of targets, or maybe the one where Anne has the chosen one or the one where Roos, as a ****, is equally large." The sultry woman shakes her head, as does the Brit. "How many?" They both hold up six fingers. "Other than that, we're kind of running smoothly. He is living with his harem, no pregnancies, no vindictive targets. If anything, the last punishment just makes it so the one we had is no threat anymore. Okay, let's start with Roos as a **** first, then." The higher-pitched man proposes.

"He has a large harem, one pregnancy, no vindictive targets against him, but he does have a target which he likes to ****, much like Tim here. She was also thrust upon him, but due to a different feature. Roos is unlocked, unlike here, where most of the harem have the unlock conditions; they are glaringly absent in mine. Might be due to a more domineering relationship without proper supportive perks for it. We are currently on their second Thursday after receiving the app. Then next up is Anne as the chosen one, I suppose. " The sultry woman responds.

The Brit responds, "Here, the unlock conditions are also kind of lost. Likely due to setting restrictions as well as general trust issues. It doesn't help that all the friends got added recently. The head dev had to intervene. Due to the QuestMaster wanting to break out of the constraints he had put on himself. We gave him a modified version of a setting-specific perk to restrain him and prevent leakage. Time hasn't moved on much from there since we have been apprehensive about letting the world move forward. The entire premise of a hypnosis machine that can do close to anything you put into it is ridiculous, but it works. We are still on our first Thursday, whatever that means. I am handing it over to Anne as a Maid."

"Well, again, not many have unlocked their memories, but we are two steps away from Roos joining Anne in doing so. Depends on the level, though, but she meets most of the requirements. She would have met the ones in this one, even. The joke is that Roos's unlock quest for unlock is harder; she might just unlock when she does that quest. He has started to collect a barnyard, so a Pig might be in my future as well. Maybe with less violent tendencies. This version seems more kind than the other horny ass versions, closer to this, Robin and Bart Realities. Talking about Robin, I tag out; you go."

"Actually, things went quicker and slower at the same time. In many ways, this world is the same yet different. Pieter has been having to split his attention, whereas in the Robin branch, he was laser-focused on them. He got her to unlock about the same time. Other than Robin, he only has Chantal as a subject. It is so slow, so low risk that I thought I could manage a second world. They are also in the second week, but on Tuesday instead of Monday. Lastly, we have Bart." The higher-pitched man says.

"Well, we are leaving the best for last." The young girl responds. "None of the targets have unlocked access yet. However, two have the quest. Mine are brutal compared to here, maybe because the trust is tentative and low. Being a famous hero, with levels higher than 15, those requirements are hard."

"Poison of the **** classes, he has given them. He can give lots of quests, but has to pay for it by increasing their level requirements." The corne chimes in. "It shouldn't worsen when he gets more, which he will."

"Okay, let me continue. No hostile relationships except those between villain and hero, no pregnancies for obvious reasons. We are also on the first Friday before his grandma gets a heart attack. That is it." The young one finishes

"Does anyone want to predict anything?" The voice of the Brit chimes in. No one does the branches behave differently except for the Robin branch, and this one is the faster of the two.

Author's note: I will probably loop this back to the main branch of this, but this is considered a side thing.