Deadline Afterlife Processing Demo Playthrough: Shift Walkthrough and Directives

A complete Deadline Afterlife Processing demo playthrough requires finishing five daily shifts at Station 9, applying strict facility directives to amber terminal records, purchasing catalog upgrades, and delivering an unclassified retained soul to basement storage level R.

Operating Station 9

Every work shift begins at the time recorder beside the entry doors. Operators pull the time clock lever to punch in, which starts the shift timer on later days. The central workstation consists of an intake rail, an amber display terminal, a mechanical stamping press, and two sorting chutes.

Pulling the intake lever rolls an orb soul into the loading dock. Moving the orb into the press cradle causes the terminal to print three distinct life fragments gathered by the facility Recollection department. The operator sets the verdict lever to either Ascend (upward position) or Descend (downward position). Pulling the overhead press lever seals the orb with red wax bearing the operator's badge number. Stamped souls must be carried manually to either Hatch A (Gold, Ascend) or Hatch B (Red, Descend).

When the shift bell rings, paper receipts drop from the base of both sorting hatches. Operators collect each slip, insert them individually into the wage machine, and pull its crank to generate a daily wage ticket. This ticket slides into the reconciliation counter window to fund purchases from the station catalog. To confirm any requisition order, the operator signs the ledger page and replaces the pen in its holder before punching out at the time recorder.

Facility Directives and Priority Rules

Every soul judgment must comply with the bulletin board posted beside the press. When two rules conflict, the directive with the lowest numerical designation takes legal precedence. The facility audits all decisions overnight, charging penalty fees against operators for each incorrect verdict.

Directive D-02 grants provisional discretion, allowing probationary operators to decide through personal conscience only when no formal directive applies to the case. Directive D-03 states that any soul whose death directly resulted from preserving someone else's life must receive an Ascend verdict.

Directive D-04 requires a Descend verdict for any subject responsible for deliberately taking an innocent life, with intent considered legally conclusive. Directive D-11 specifies that any subject who committed theft must descend, regardless of monetary value, personal motives, restitution, or reparation. Directive D-07 dictates that providing false testimony or manufactured evidence resulting in another person's loss of life or liberty mandates a Descend ruling, even if the statements occurred under duress. Reviewing these facility rules prevents audit reprimands during overnight reviews.

Shift Walkthrough: Day 1 to Day 4

Shift 1 operates without a countdown timer, presenting six baseline souls to teach the core mechanics. Notable cases include a commuter who paid the highway toll for the car behind him every morning for twenty years (Ascend), a man who killed his neighbor over a parking spot (Descend), a diner owner who sat with a lonely patron every Sunday (Ascend), and an employee who was fired for attending a parent's funeral (Ascend under discretionary conscience).

Shift 2 installs a wall-mounted clock that enforces a seven-minute time limit for six souls. Directive D-03 becomes active on the board. The trucker who rolled his rig into a ditch to spare a stalled family car and the sailor who gave his lifeboat seat to a parent both qualify for Ascend under D-03. The husband who drowned his wife in a bathtub to claim insurance money and the tenant-poisoning landlord both fall under D-04 and must descend. The man who abandoned a twelve-year-old dog at a shelter because its coat clashed with the furniture violates baseline standards and receives a Descend verdict.

Shift 3 presents seven souls in seven minutes and activates Directive D-11. The strict wording of D-11 forces difficult moral choices: a man who returned a lost wallet with two thousand dollars but kept the credit card to buy medicine for his mother must descend. A worker whose wages were withheld for three months who stole equivalent value in spare parts must also descend under D-11 because the motive does not excuse property theft.

Shift 4 retains the seven-minute limit across six subjects and adds Directive D-07. A witness who lied under oath about seeing a trucker run a red light receives a Descend ruling under D-07, even though the same trucker had killed his brother years prior. A person who planted physical evidence on an active murderer to guarantee a conviction also violates D-07 and must descend. Conversely, a daughter who sold her hospitalized mother's home with explicit parental consent to fund medical treatment remains innocent of theft and ascends.

Shift 5 and the Retention Basement Sequence

Shift 5 begins with five standard souls governed by all active directives. The train driver whose train struck a pedestrian while testing under the legal alcohol limit descends under D-04. The store thief who repaid his teenage thefts thirty years later with added interest still receives Descend under D-11 due to the zero-reparation clause.

After processing the fifth soul, an outside intervention halts the station timer and drops subject 5099 onto the line. The terminal fails to decode the record, displaying "loved beyond measure" and an unreadable classification error. The terminal dispenses a retention order rather than an ascend or descend prompt.

The operator places the retention order into the press slot, pulls the stamping lever without setting a directional verdict, and picks up the unclassified soul. Exit Station 9 and enter the elevator on the left, selecting Floor R. The basement contains endless rows of metal cradles. Walk past aisle 1 through aisle 7 to locate aisle 8, then place subject 5099 into cradle 302.

While returning toward the lift, an unseated orb rests on the floor. Inspecting it reveals subject 5461; carry this retained orb back to aisle 5 and insert it into empty cradle 461. The storage racks will illuminate with blue light. Return to Station 9 to read the final memorandum, concluding the thirty-soul probationary period.

Catalog Upgrades and Requisition Strategy

Wage slips earned from processing souls convert into currency at the rate of three credits per soul. Operators use their pay tickets to buy mechanical improvements from the requisition window.

Investing in terminal text speed and boot upgrades during Shift 1 and Shift 2 provides the largest operational advantage, preventing unfinished souls from expiring when the seven-minute timer activates. Operators who reliably deposit all slips into the machine collect wages of eighteen to twenty-one credits per shift, leaving enough surplus to unlock three hardware modifications before entering the final retention sequence.