Grey You

Grey You is the Spring 2022 special challenge path, introduced on February 15, 2022. This path adds variant rules and restrictions to an ascension run. Its description in The Bureau of Reincarnation reads "Resistance is goo-tile."

Divergences

• Your adventure begins with Your Friend Goo.

• You cannot consume things to gain Adventures, instead you absorb the item you attempt to consume.
  • "You absorb the...."
  • Your maximum HP and MP are not tied to Muscle and Mysticality, respectively. Instead, absorbing food grants you +2 maximum HP, booze gives you +2 maximum MP, and spleen items give you +1 maximum HP and +1 maximum MP. You do not gain stats, adventures, a consumption record, or anything else by absorbing consumables (e.g. you will not gain Breathitin™ charges). Absorbing muffins and other valuables will destroy them! However, eating black pudding can still cause a combat encounter.
    • Although you cannot normally consume food, booze, or spleen items, you still have the normal 15 stomach and 14 liver.
      • Black and White Apron Meal Kits can still increase your fullness.
      • Dungeons of Doom potions can still increase your drunkenness, and will not send you to Drunken Stupor until you exceed the normal 14/14 drunkenness.
  • Each item can only be absorbed once in a Grey Goo lifetime. "You've already absorbed this pattern of atoms."
• You cannot consume things from NPC stores, such as Chez Snootée or the Hobo Marketplace, or through non-standard consumption, such as sushi:
  • You are too gooey to eat here!
  • You roll up some delicious sushi, and then remember that you've chosen to forsake food during this lifetime. You unroll it and put the ingredients away.
• Instead, adventure generation is mostly gained through monster absorptions (see below)
• Upon freeing King Ralph you must choose a class. Your stats are set to 0, meaning that you will be level 1 after completing the challenge run. In addition, you will gain <max capacity> to fullness, drunkenness, and spleen, also if you have more than 40 adventures remaining, you will be reduced to 40.
  • If you gained any amount of fullness/drunkenness/spleen during the run, those numbers are remembered, allowing you to become overfull or falling-down drunk, etc.

Monster Absorptions

You have no mainstat, and the mechanics of stat gain have changed.

• You do not gain experience from other sources, including consumables, usable items (like Baseball), combat encounters, non-combat adventures (such as That's a Tidy Bowl, Man! or The Institute for Canadian Studies) or The Shore, Inc. Travel Agency.
• After winning a combat against a monster your nanites will automatically absorb the remains of your opponent (not to be confused with food/booze/spleen absorptions)
• Most monsters give +1 full stats to Muscle, Mystically, or Moxie
• Some monsters have give unique effects the first time they are absorbed per ascension (adventures, more stats, hp/mp)
  • The Grey Goose familiar lets you Re-Process Matter to absorb a select monster a second time in an ascension, providing the same unique benefit twice.

Click expand/collapse on the right to show/hide the table showing unique aborptions for adventure gains. (currently WIP)

Unique Absorbs -- Adventures
+5 Adventures albino bat Zone batrat Zone dire pigeon Zone G imp Zone(s) gingerbread murderer Zone grave rober Zone irate mariachi Zone Knob Goblin Bean Counter Zone Knob Goblin Madam Zone Knob Goblin Master Chef Zone L imp Zone(s) magical fruit bat Zone P imp Zone(s) plastered frat orc Zone swarm of Knob lice Zone swarm of skulls Zone W imp Zone(s) warwelf Zone	+7 Adventures animated rustic nightstand Zone basic lihc Zone(s) Battlie Knight Ghost Zone Booze Giant Zone Bubblemint Twins Zone CH Imp Zone chalkdust wraith Zone cloud of disembodied whiskers Zone eXtreme Orcish snowboarder Zone gluttonous ghuol Zone(s) Grass Elemental Zone grave rober zmobie Zone(s) guy with a pitchfork, and his wife Zone junksprite sharpener Zone Knob Goblin Very Mad Scientist Zone model skeleton Zone Ninja Snowman Janitor Zone oil baron Zone party skelteon Zone(s) possessed silverware drawer Zone possessed toy chest Zone revolving bugbear Zone sabre-toothed goat Zone serialbus Zone sheet ghost Zone skeletal hamster Zone smut orc pipelayer Zone swarm of killer bees Zone tapdancing skeleton Zone toilet papergeist Zone upgraded ram Zone vicious gnauga Zone whitesnake Zone	+10 Adventures 1335 HaXx0r Zone Alphabet Giant Zone black magic woman Zone blur Zone Bob Racecar Zone coaltergeist Zone fleet woodsman Zone Iiti Kitty Zone Irritating Series of Random Encounters Zone Little Man in the Canoe Zone mad wino Zone Mob Penguin Capo Zone One-Eyed Willie Zone pygmy blowgunner Zone pygmy headhunter Zone pygmy orderlies Zone pygmy shaman Zone Racecar Bob Zone Raver Giant Zone Renaissance Giant Zone swarm of fire ants Zone tomb asp Zone

Click expand/collapse on the right to show/hide the table showing unique aborptions for stat gains. (currently WIP)

Unique Absorbs -- Stats
Muscle +3 stone temple pirate Zone +5 Burly Sidekick Zone +5 Knob Goblin Mutant Zone +5 sleeping Knob Goblin Guard Zone +10 angry bugbear Zone +10 Fallen Archfiend Zone(s) +10 Fitness Giant Zone +10 toothy sklelton Zone(s)	Mysticality +3 baa-relief sheep Zone +5 fiendish can of asparagus Zone +5 Quiet Healer Zone +10 Blue Oyster cultist Zone +10 bookbat Zone +10 forest spirit Zone +10 Hellion Zone(s) +10 Possibility Giant Zone +10 senile lihc Zone(s) +10 tomb servant Zone	Moxie +3 craven carven raven Zone +5 drunken half-orc hobo / hung-over half-orc hobo Zone +5 sassy pirate Zone +5 Spunky Princess Zone +10 demoninja Zone(s) +10 gaunt ghuol Zone(s) +10 Gnefarious gnome Zone +10 Punk Rock Giant Zone +10 swarm of scarab beatles Zone	Max HP +5 fluffy bunny Zone +10 beefy bodyguard bat Zone +10 vampire bat Zone +20 corpulent zobmie Zone(s)	Max MP +5 Zol Zone +10 Grumpy 7-Foot Dwarf Zone +20 plaque of locusts Zone

Skills

• You start with only one path specific skill: Pseudopod Slap
  • Further skills are gained by post combat absorption.
  • Non-goo skills are not accessible, and you can't use skillbooks such as the Emotion chip. ("This is not how grey goo acquires knowledge.")

Skills in Grey You are gained by defeating certain monsters. There are 63 in total numbered 27000 -27062.

Name	Type	Description	Source
Pseudopod Slap	Combat	Deals 10 damage (1 MP)	Starting skill
Hardslab	Combat	Deal your Muscle in physical damage. (1 MP)	Remaindered skeleton
Telekinetic Murder	Combat	Deal your Mysticality in physical damage (1 MP)	Crêep
Snakesmack	Combat	Deal your Moxie in physical damage (1 MP)	Sewer snake with a sewer snake in it
Ire Proof	Passive	Serious Hot Resistance (+3)	Raging bull
Nanofur	Passive	Serious Cold Resistance (+3)	Ratbat
Autovampirism Routines	Passive	Serious Spooky Resistance (+3)	Spooky vampire
Conifer Polymers	Passive	Serious Stench Resistance (+3)	Pine bat
Anti-Sleaze Recursion	Passive	Serious Sleaze Resistance (+3)	werecougar (formerly creepy clown)
Microburner	Passive	+5 Hot Damage	Cobb's Knob oven
Cryocurrency	Passive	+5 Cold Damage	Knob Goblin MBA
Curses Library	Passive	+5 Spooky Damage	Lihc
Exhaust Tubules	Passive	+5 Stench Damage	Beanbat
Camp Subroutines	Passive	+5 Sleaze Damage	Knob Goblin Harem Girl
Grey Noise	Combat	Deals 5 damage plus any bonus elemental damage you have (3 MP)	Boss Bat
Advanced Exo-Alloy	Passive	Damage Absorption +100	Knob Goblin Elite Guard
Localized Vacuum	Passive	So-So Hot Resistance (+2)	Cubist bull
Microweave	Passive	So-So Cold Resistance (+2)	eXtreme cross-country hippy
Ectogenesis	Passive	So-So Spooky Resistance (+2)	Claybender Sorcerer Ghost
Clammy Microcilia	Passive	So-So Stench Resistance (+2)	Malevolent hair clog
Lubricant Layer	Passive	So-So Sleaze Resistance (+2)	Oil slick
Infernal Automata	Passive	+10 Hot Damage	Demonic icebox
Cooling Tubules	Passive	+10 Cold Damage	Ninja Snowman Weaponmaster
Ominous Substrate	Passive	+10 Spooky Damage	Animated ornate nightstand
Secondary Fermentation	Passive	+10 Stench Damage	Drunk goat
Procgen Ribaldry	Passive	+10 Sleaze Damage	Smut orc screwer
Solid Fuel	Passive	+10 Adventure(s) per day	Knob Goblin Alchemist
Autochrony	Passive	+10 Adventure(s) per day	Zombie waltzers
Temporal Hyperextension	Passive	+10 Adventure(s) per day	Pr Imp
Propagation Drive	Passive	+20% Item Drops from Monsters	Junksprite bender
Financial Spreadsheets	Passive	+40% Meat from Monsters	me4t begZ0r
Phase Shift	Noncombat	Gives Effect: Shifted Phase (10 Adventures) Monsters will be much less attracted to you (50 MP)	Spectral Jellyfish
Piezoelectric Honk	Noncombat	Gives Effect: Hooooooooonk! (10 Adventures) Monsters will be much more attracted to you (50 MP)	White lion
Overclocking	Passive	+X% Combat Initiative (Scales with your Muscle)	Big Wheelin' Twins
Subatomic Hardening	Passive	Damage Reduction: X (Scales with your Muscle)	Pooltergeist
Gravitational Compression	Passive	+Y% Item Drops from Monsters (Scales with your Mysticality)	Suckubus
Hivemindedness	Passive	Regenerate Y MP per Adventure (Scales with your Mysticality)	Mind flayer
Ponzi Apparatus	Passive	+Z% Meat from Monsters (Scales with your Moxie)	Anglerbush
Fluid Dynamics Simulation	Passive	Regenerate 8 HP per Adventure (Scales with your Moxie)	Carnivorous Moxie Weed
Nantlers	Combat	Deals your Muscle in damage (includes bonus damage) (5 MP)	Stuffed moose head
Nanoshock	Combat	Deals your Mysticality in damage (includes bonus damage) (5 MP)	Jacob's adder
Audioclasm	Combat	Deals your Moxie in damage (includes bonus damage) (5 MP)	Spooky music box
System Sweep	Combat	Deal your Muscle in physical damage If this defeats the enemy, it is banished for the rest of the day (20 MP)	Pygmy janitor
Double Nanovision	Combat	Deal your Mysticality in physical damage If this defeats the enemy, get +100% item drops for this fight (20 MP)	Drunk pygmy
Infinite Loop	Combat	Deal your Moxie in physical damage If this defeats the enemy, you gain 1 muscle, mysticality and moxie (20 MP)	Pygmy witch lawyer
Photonic Shroud	Noncombat	Gives Effect: Darkened Photons (10 Adventures) Monsters will be much less attracted to you (40 MP)	Black panther
Unused Combat Selfbuff
Steam Mycelia	Passive	+15 Hot Damage	Steam elemental
Snow-Cooling System	Passive	+15 Cold Damage	Snow Queen
Legacy Code	Passive	+15 Spooky Damage	Possessed wine rack
AUTOEXEC.BAT	Passive	+15 Stench Damage	Flock of Stab-bats
Innuendo Circuitry	Passive	+15 Sleaze Damage	Astronomer
Subatomic Tango	Passive	+15 Adventure(s) per day	Fan dancer
Extra Innings	Passive	+5 Adventure(s) per day	baseball bat
Reloading	Passive	+5 Adventure(s) per day	Bullet Bill
Harried	Passive	+5 Adventure(s) per day	rushing bum
Temporal Bent	Passive	+5 Adventure(s) per day	undead elbow macaroni
Provably Efficient	Passive	+5 Adventure(s) per day	Sub-Assistant Knob Mad Scientist
Basic Improvements	Passive	+5 Adventure(s) per day	BASIC Elemental
Shifted About	Passive	+5 Adventure(s) per day	shifty pirate
Spooky Veins	Passive	+10 Adventure(s) per day	ghost miner
Seven Foot Feelings	Passive	+5 Adventure(s) per day	dopey 7-Foot Dwarf
Self-Actualized	Passive	+5 Adventure(s) per day	banshee librarian

Skill progression

Each normal (softcore) Grey You ascension increases your initial stats by 1 each and your maximum HP and MP by 3. Each hardcore Grey You grants twice those values. Stat progression is maxed out at 11 runs, capping at 11 stats and 33 HP/MP.

Restrictions

• Grey Goo can't be accepted into any of the guilds. You will not be able to use a guild to unlock any quests or areas.
• Grey Goo cannot enter The Sea. Clicking An Old Man gives the following message:

That shack you saw on the main map was just a picture of a shack drawn on the ground.

• Standard restrictions applied while Grey You was the current challenge path. These restrictions were lifted on May 15, 2022.

Text

See The Council of Loathing/Grey You

Strategy

Breadth-first traversal; one-time adventure absorptions await in most zones, so roaming far and wide is the key to early turngen (and early class skill acquisition).

Early access to higher level zones is useful for learning the more powerful and useful skills. The Infinite Loop skill will enable quick levelling and is attainable early on by using the combat lover's locket or other wishing mechanic. If it is within means, it may also pay to spit on and yellow ray the pygmy for essentially 4 free pygmy fights in the form of writs of habeas corpus.

The lack of hero key generation (other than dungeon) means that alternative methods of key acquisition may need to be employed for sub 3-day runs. Possible methods include reminiscing a fantasy bandit and copying 4 additional for a fat loot token. Alternatively using the full-length mirror to chance a copy of zappable Vending Machine accessories.

Rewards

• A class tattoo is obtained when starting the path.
• Due to a bug, the hardcore tattoo was not available until October 21st, 2024.
• Players will receive a Thwaitgold protozoa statuette each time they complete a run.
• Finishing a Grey You run while it is the current special challenge path -- between February 15th, 2022, and May 15th, 2022-- gives players 50 (in Normal) or 100 (in Hardcore) extra karma points the next time they visit Valhalla.

History

• Did not reward bonus karma until 23rd February 2022.
• On 2022/02/25, ten new skills were added to the path and all adventure giving absorbs were changed via an announcement:
  • "The rewards of a handful of Grey You Challenge Path encounters have been altered: more +rollover adventure skills are now available, but instant turn yields are a bit lower on the high end."
  • Several monsters that used to give one-time adventure drops now gave skills that give rollover adventures
  • Furthermore, the remaining adventure absorptions from monsters were changed from the categories 5,10,15, 20 to 5,7,10
• Prior to 2022/05/21, completing a Grey You ascension did not set your organs to max capacity, allowing an exploity method of farming that involved scripting one-day runs that had 300+ extra adventures in addition to empty organs. It was fun while it lasted.
• On 2022/07/01, it was no longer possible to use non-standard consumption methods to use organ space to gain adventures... for the Grey Goo challenge path, instead of Grey You. This was corrected on 2022/07/02.

Ascension Paths
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Special Challenge Paths
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