Previous Threads:
http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive.html?tags=Valen+Quest

Where things are said: https://twitter.com/Riz_QM
Where things are asked: http://ask.fm/RizQM

Assorted Supplemental:
Current Abilities - http://pastebin.com/PchcdWpw
A List of Forgotten Things - http://pastebin.com/kPEscJ3h
Irue's Memoires - http://pastebin.com/sWnicrK7

Write-ups:
Kara's Day Out - http://pastebin.com/8ZbiSKLs
Adventures with Asche - http://pastebin.com/RNviCBJu
The Reclaimed Doll - http://pastebin.com/n6miP1qT
In Your Shadow - http://pastebin.com/EfeeHFAE
Friends Forever - http://pastebin.com/Yn0QaTVB
The Woman Beneath Steel - http://pastebin.com/pMGgiHC3
Paper Flowers - https://pastebin.com/Pk0W7rEm

Misc notes:Pending interest in opening a discord for Valen. It would be locked while the thread is running, but I figured I'd pose the possibility.

Memo:
1.
2.
3.

>>3338482
You came back!

Starting us off nice and easy as usual, I see.

>?
>Unwanted.
>All of the above

>>3338530
I want to run more consistently! It is my heart's desire! Also you can't be everyone at once, anon.

>>3338482
>Broken

My light is broken but I still work.

>>3338530
>All of the above

You are Irudbeksbmdejshvfhgerror

>>3338482
Oh wow you made it, congratulations! So uh, this is this a vote on what character we'll play as for the thread, right? I guess I'll choose

>Broken.
I wonder who broke

>>3338586
>is this a vote on what character we'll play as for the thread?
It is, yes!

>>3338530
Unwanted!

>>3338547
>>3338586
Broken!

I actually thought the vote was tied for some reason. Writing!

>>3338586
>I wonder who broke
I'll hazard this is Rue and her three testaments. Rue is obviously the heir. Scared would be Ari, Unwanted Riener, Broken Kara.

Unless someone else has followed this pattern before us. That seems to be a theme on occasion.

>>3338700
I think unwanted is Asche. We never take her on our suicide missions.

You're just broken after all. Are you that determined to remain a part of this story? You're hardly what you once were, can't you see your time is over? What you were supposed to be is beyond you now. You know that.

Does that offend you? Does it hurt to hear it? I don't know if you actually feel anything. The fact you're here at all puts every theory I've studied to shame. What are you? Oh I know what you are - what you were but not this... Whatever it is you're doing now. If I had known what I do now, I'd have paid so much more attention to you, you know?

It's too late for that now. Or, seeing you, maybe it's not. What kind of secrets do you have hidden away in that mind of yours, hm?

You won't answer me? You haven't answered me at all these past few months. You're terribly unfriendly when that stupid child isn't involved, aren't you? I think I deserve some kind of respect. Oh... Oh you know don't you? That's why you never cared much for me, isn't it? But we can move past that, can't we? After all it's not like there's any harm in it. I'm not really here anymore. I can't do anything, even if I wanted to.

Besides talk to you, of course. For what good it does. Like talking to a wall most of the time. Save for that short time period where even that was cut off. Hey, hey tell me, what happened to my little Ariel? What...

Oh you're going to ignore me? That's fine. I have time. We both have time, don't we?

A paper is set aside with the same minimalistic, fluid motion as the one before it, and the one before that, so on and so forth. The time you would put up with aiding the Teranford princess would end shortly, leaving her to dig through these records of missing people at her own leisure. She and Irue were searching for subversive elements within the records as a way to root the last of the resistance in this town. One of your many roles was to aid Rinnier in that while your heart's keeper was absent in a more pro-active venture... One which you'd been left behind on once again. Your other roles however were more varied, and a handful of them had even been self-assigned. A fact that years later you were still getting used to.

You wonder if Ariel would be proud. Your memories of her contain only information. Nothing you could understand. People were incomprehensible at the best of times, their actions leaving you exhausted just to keep up with. The only one you really needed to understand was Irue in the first place. Your heart's keeper had been making strides of late, growing more and more into their legacy. It hurt to watch, drawing an inexplicable pain in your chest as you struggled to understand what they were going through - And more importantly, what you could do to help.

All too frustratingly those answers came too late, when they came at all. This feeling of failure was something you ignored, just as you ignored That Woman's day to day taunting. She was unnecessary. This pain, what you believed to be 'anxiety' was unnecessary. You'd been useless to Irue back then as well, but you had learned. You got better. You made yourself useful. For a time, you had been the only thing your heart's keeper needed... yet those days felt further and further away.

You weren't needed anymore. It's the only reason you could think that Irue had started leaving you behind like this. Their eyes were focused further afield, always chasing and searching for something else.

Before you knew it, you'd felt your view of the blonde's back obscured by people you'd never met. People whose words held far more weight than your own. People who were more useful to what your heart's keeper was now.

"I'm finished."

Rinnier didn't bother looking up when you reported your status. Just as well, as the door was shut not a moment after the words left your mouth. If she had requests she could ask someone else.

"Heading out, Asche?"

One of Irue's followers called your name as you made to leave the building, prompting a single moment of patience from you to stop and nod a short affirmative. He was one you had discovered you could command to some effect. Many of Irue's followers turned out to be unsure of who held authority here, lending you the technical ability to move them about as you willed.

You weren't the only one who had taken to this discovery. You had significantly less faith in them to do as you needed than she did, though.

These self-assigned tasks were things you needed to carry out on your own. When Irue had needed a shoulder to cry on, you became that. When Irue needed a friend to distract them, you became that. When Irue needed a saviour, you became that.

You don't know what Irue needs most now. Memories of that day the blonde had spent unloading their emotions not to you, but to the princess of all people held a sting you still hadn't put behind you.

But no one noticed your teeth gritting as you walked the streets of Carona. No one noticed them gritting in that room, either.

You are Asche. Just Asche. There were terms used to describe you, poetic epitaphs which refer to you, but all of them were deemed too complicated. You were content to forget them, they held no meaning to you. You were broken, and what you were isn't what you are now. Now you are Asche, and you could change what that means. You had to change what that means, because if Irue no longer needed you then even this name was something you would rather forget.

>Make your rounds to expunge the uninvited.
>Retrieve an update from the experiments.
>Check on Dryad's Host.
>Other? (write-in)

>>3338734
Not too far off. I forget she exists most of the time.

>>3338915
hmm. Interesting. I don't like Asche, and now I have a better idea why.
>>Retrieve an update from the experiments.

>>3338915
>Retrieve an update from the experiments

>>3338940
>>3339045
Experiments!

It's a quiet night.

>>3339058
Yea, dunno why. They'll trickle in sooner or later.

Others would wander through this destroyed town but you had a goal in mind. Always focused, always driven. The town had seen better days, but it had seen worse days. You felt like you should remember them both, but whatever vestiges whispered such things to you were notoriously evasive about painting the picture. A lingering affection, soured by what they did to your heart's keeper. The notion of holding a rebellion against Irue in the first place was inconceivable. If they weren't strangers then the impulses tingling along your fingers might have found a more violent acknowledgement than the simple single-minded stilling you forced upon them.

Oh but they were strangers, just like these streets and so many faces. The fact they lived here was enough to stir something in you, but you didn't know them. Whatever they stirred wasn't something worth expressing to them, and you hardly knew how to express it even if it was.

Never the less, locating these experiments was a task swiftly accomplished. One way or another your heart's keeper had come into the custody of a gathering of them, with one in particular serving as a representative for them.

"Yo! Rare t'see ya round here, Asche."

Its tail wagged, lending you every bit the attention it gave Irue. Kara was its name. Her name. Something not quite human - Something that didn't belong. That shouldn't exist. It and the rest of its kind were aberrations of the world.

A fact that was irrelevant then, just as now. From the moment they stumbled into this world your heart's keeper had held some strange affinity to them. It wasn't something for you to judge, but that persisting interest meant you had long since accepted their presence. Most of them were failures, flawed in some fundamental way, but at least one of them seemed to have found its roots.

"Whatcha need?" Kara rocked back on her heels, stretching atop the ruins of a broken manor. "'Rue's got us sniffing out bodies, so I can't help ya t'much. I wanna get it all done before they get back."

Your neck craned back to meet the towering experiment's bright eyes, waiting for it to remember. And waiting. And waiting. And wait- It wasn't going to remember, you realized flatly. "What have you learned?"

"That there ain't a lot o' dead people down here!" Kara replied cheerfully.

"The Tiers."

Her wagging tail slowed as understanding crept across the experiment's face. "...The who?" Your arm rose, pointing directly through the ruins towards their now burned out estate. The experiment's eyes followed, squinting into the distance and catching on the destroyed portion of the wall surrounding Carona. Her fist lightly smacked against her palm a moment later. "Ah yeah, them! Ah... Huh. Yeah, hold on- Sasha!"

>>3339058
Timezones.
It's alright though, I am here now.

Your attention turned to another of the experiments when they approached, dull eyes shifting between Kara and yourself with coiled listlessness. Kara turned back to you with an overbearingly wide fanged grin, slapping the newcomer on the shoulder with enough force to send him staggering. "He's yer best bet! Well, Maro's yer best bet, but he's bein' an ass, so Sasha it is!"

Sea-green eyes peered up at him, finding a shaggy and unkempt individual whose lanky form was shared with most experiments. This was another of the group that Irue's flagrant misuse of the bracelet had crippled. He observed you wordlessly, exchanging a minute nod. He would do.

"Aight, have fun you two!" Kara's hand descended upon you, her absent minded hair ruffling jerking your entire body back and forth frenetically until she finally walked away, leaving you standing as if you'd just rolled down a hill into a Jinn apparition. You watched her go, entirely unaware of the destruction left in the wake of her simple affections, before turning towards the new experiment - This 'Sasha'.

Sparing the time wasted on words, you produced a bound journal. One you'd had the fortune of recovering from this very manor before it was dismantled by Irue's incorrigibility made manifest. "Tell me about this."

"..." He lifted it from your hand gingerly, flipping through the pages with a practiced ease. Too fast to read it, too fast even to scan it. Pages shifting before his face blindly before the covers snapped shut again. He shrugged. "They wrote in this. The ones a dead man kept to put us in check."

"Mercenaries?" You affirm briefly, "They've left?"

He shrugged. "I don't remember much after the fight. I don't think they were being paid."

"?"

Sasha shook his head slowly, scratching flakes free into his unwashed mane. "Maro pegged them as allies. The mayor gave orders, but he made preparations and took advice. Sellswords don't talk more than they're paid and this town wasn't that rich."

You blink, taking the journal back from the taller experiment deftly. Its contents were known to you in passing, mostly detailing dates and the passage of money. If it wasn't the mayor's, and the sums being moved weren't payments rendered... No, they definitely weren't. You had read precisely how the mayor had attempted to embezzle money for his doomed rebellion, what this experiment said was true - Carona didn't have the spare resources to move as this journal indicated.

So there was another angle involved. Something more than a single man forgetting who they owed their lives to.

Oh?
Leave.
Are you forgetting something?
You weren't.
It wouldn't be the first thing, now would it?
Your jaw clenched silently.

>>3339345
Asche knows very curious things.

Irue had encountered the type of people who could trade in sums like these, and given the irregular basis you had to assume the product being moved wasn't routine. A large influx occurred not long after you were betrayed that night.

You didn't have the connections you needed to make use of this information. If you involved the others you'd do little more than prove how useless you were now.

Irue had tasked you with finding the Tiers. You hadn't failed yet. You could still do this.

"The mercenaries?" Sasha only shrugged, prompting a nigh imperceptibly small frown. Irue understood you better than this. "When did they leave?"

"Probably after the Banshee."

You blinked, breathing out softly. Again. "Before that. When did they leave?"

"...?" His arms crossed, for small mercies seeming to understand that he wasn't answering your question properly. "They didn't. Not entirely. Sometimes they'd thin. We'd see new faces. I'd say twice a month."

Regular. Constant. New faces, reinforcements? No, you remember more. The guard had been changing, more unfamiliar faces replacing the locals. Where were the locals going? The town was in lock down. Replacing citizens... Missing citizens. The discrepancies in the list of missing people? It never stopped. The mercenaries never left. Even if this farce of a rebellion was over, people were still being sold.

Why? And where were the proceeds going? More importantly, who was buying them?

>Maro has answers you want. (Questions?)
>They held you prisoner once, you have that lead to follow.
>You needed to tend to your other responsibilities for now.
>Other? (write-in)

>>3339356
>Maro has answers you want.
Who commanded those mercenaries? Where were they from? Did their outfit have a name?

>>3339367
This I guess

>>3339367
>>3339393
Interrogating Maro!

Aight.

Sasha didn't have the answers you needed but you knew who might. The former leader of this congregation of experiments, the failure who had handled most of the face to face business, Maro. A victim of Irue's temper who brashly provoked - and consequently bore - the brunt of the blonde noble's ire. From what little you'd observed since, he was not one who took to the role of a victim easily. Maro had never gotten over the way your heart's keeper had humiliated him, never let it go, and that simmering resentment only flourished once his very position was ripped out from under his feet at the blonde's encouraging behest.

That lingering grudge had saved him in the short term, just as it would devour him whole in the days to come. An emotion, such a foreign thing to these failed experiments, strong enough to pull his mind back from the brink... And one that did little but nurture the incubating parasite planted within him.

"You know what I need."

"Fuck off."

As expected, he was uncooperative. Simple acts of spite were the strongest form of retort he could afford to lash out with. He didn't dare jeoprodize himself further. Kara held power now, but while that experiment could break Maro's body over her knees, the truth of the matter was plain and ugly, pulsating with every shred of self-denial he fed himself. The shadeborne scar that permeated his body and ate him from within as it fed on his every shortcoming - It screamed to you the image of his fear.

"You will answer me."

"Funny, I don't see anything in it for me?"

"The mayor's mercenaries." You spoke past him blithely. "Who led them?"

"None of my business."

"Where were they from?"

"Didn't ask."

"Did they have a name?"

"Guess I forgot."

You met his gaze evenly. Scowling as he was, there was little he could do. He was enjoying being able to deny you like this... But these were games you refused to play.

>Request Kara 'assist' your interrogation.
>Quicken the Shade within him.
>He can be sacrificed to something far hungrier.
>Other? (write-in)

>>3339470
>Quicken the Shade within him.
I wonder what kind of shadescar Raid is bearing. He seems to be well-adjusted.

File: Summer Child.png (293 KB, 554x604)

293 KB PNG

Upon further deliberation, maybe 6am on a monday morning was not the best time to begin.

Fortunately the thread will be running all week, so hopefully things pick up! And it's not just people abandoning ship because it turned out to be an Asche thread.

Anyway, I'll probably leave this here for the night and get some rest. I'd appreciate people weighing in on the Misc Notes thing as well, so I can make a decision by the end of the thread.

>>3339477
I'm not opposed to a Discord

>>3339470
>Quicken the Shade within him.

>>3339477
Yeah it's the timing, I only just got here

Regarding the discord, I wouldn't join it personally because I think discord is gay.
It just draws discussion away from the thread into that little box of cancer

>>3339490
It would be locked while the thread is up anyway.

>>3339524
We can make do without it if you ask me

>>3339470
>He can be sacrificed to something far hungrier.

So is Asche a dryad apparition skewed even further away from clarity and towards humanity ala doppelrue? Is that what's going on?

I'm conflicted on the idea of a discord, I don't think we need one if you're going to get threads up regularly again and it is indeed very gay but it could be useful for sharing info and theorizing if any of us are inclined to do so.

>>3339663
Also for whining at Riz to post next thread

>>3339490
This more or less sums up my feelings on the matter.
>>3339668
That's what Twitter is for.

>>3339470
>>Quicken the Shade within him.
I suspect the sacrifice would be to the behemoth, but I've been mistaken about what every option has actually meant so far.

>>3339470
>>Quicken the Shade within him.
This implies Asche has some control over Shade. Interesting.

What's also interesting is that Asche isn't a dispassionate professional like I'd always taken her for, she's just arrogant and considers everyone beneath her, including Rue herself. She only cares for the older better dead daughter, Rue's just the backup, only cared for because *she* would want it that way. I suspect "heart's keeper" is rather literal than we know.

>>3340011
I don't know what it is but I don't think it's arrogance. Something less human maybe.

Am I the only one that likes Asche?

>>3339474
>>3339484
>>3339962
>>3340011
Quickening!

>>3339663
Sacrifice!

How incredibly one sided. Writing!

One arm extends, a fistful of his tattered and dirtied shirt curled between your fingers. The size difference makes such an act comical: A maid barely up to his chest forced to stand close just to properly reach the haughty experiment's collar. The self-satisfied grin which leered down at you from on high was proof enough of just how aware he was of this, and how very little he thought of your attempts to manhandle into acquiessence.

But it wasn't your form he had to fear. The Shade within him lay dormant, feeding on the grudge and bitter feelings he nurtured to keep himself moving from day to day. It would wake on its own in the future, eating him from within as it sought to test someone unprepared and unqualified for its cruel proctoring. It lay dormant, but simply because it wasn't awake now did not mean it could not be woke.

"Keep your games." You muttered, dispassionately observing the split second of confusion which flashed across his face before you stirred the parasite within him. A singular pulse, like a waking nudge, and its sluggish murmuring was enough to turn Maro's body rigid. Confusion bled to wariness, fear, and in short order it was replaced with anger. A simple, practiced emotional response to convert his feelings into something he knew how to deal with. The same spiraling mistake that would coax something like a Shade apparition further from its incubation.

The ground raced up to meet you, body ill suited for physical conflict and all but incapable of keeping up with the impassioned reactions of one of the experiments. You had no idea when he'd moved or how he struck, but your body was already beginning to internally knit itself back together in the aftermath. You felt no pain lying there, sea-green eyes unblinking as you very deliberately pushed yourself from the ground- An action only briefly lived before Maro's foot arced up from the ground and caught your ribs, sending you twisting violently across the ruined manor wreckage. Your face struck the ground, splintered wood and broken stone tearing through your lips and nose as you rolled to a stop some yards away.

"What did you-"
"Maro!!"

Maro's own voice drowned beneath Kara's howl, a fight ensuing which you spared a glance for only during the sparse few seconds your face was turned that way. Pushing yourself off the ground, you stared disappointedly at one of the rips freshly accumulated on your uniform. It would need sewing before it got worse.

Across the manor ruins, following the skidded trail of debris from your own skipping flight, Kara's fury had all but driven the rebellious experiment into the ground. Even from here the tremors could be felt vibrating along ground.

It was unnecessary. Something you needed to stop before he was rendered too injured to answer you. Yet even still, you found your eyes lingering one moment longer on the damage you would need to sew back into place later. One more 'scar' on this set of clothes, all but covered already in minor reconstructions. A necessary measure for clothes worn year in and year out, and you'd worn no other for over a decade. You'd taken such care in making your repairs as subtle as possible, but this... It was too large.

"Ah, Asche?" Kara's tirade ended as you, rather than any other onlooking experiment, tugged at her shirt to pull her attention from Maro's shuddering, bowed body. Driven to his knees but no less rebellious, this beating did nothing to damage his spirit and everything to nurture his resentment. "...Y'alright there?" She turned her back to him, all but dismissing her former pack leader in favor of kneeling to look you over with a frown. "...Y'don't look hurt. I dunno what Maro's game was, but we're really sorry-"

"I am fine." You assure her softly, suffering under her heartfelt inspections with a deadpan gaze and unblemished skin. You were fine. Of course you were fine. Your uniform was not. It could be destroyed.

"...Aight, if y'say so." Kara's tail shifted nervously. "I'll put the bastard in line for this, please don't go tellin' 'Rue about this. I'd really 'ppreciate you keepin' it secret, yeah?"

You nodded simply. "I still need answers."

"Answers? From Maro?" The experiment frowned, "Ah yeah, told you he was bein' a right arse lately. Y'sure about this?"

You nodded again, looking past her to Maro as he curled into himself and found his feet under him once more. Despite being driven into the ground like a fence post, it wasn't Kara he was backing away from. You'd be less surprised if you didn't know precisely what your presence did. Even if he had nothing to fear from you, your proximity had stirred the Shade within him. It had forced fear onto him, and every step closer you took was another chance that you would do it again.

...Is what someone ignorant to the parasite's nature would believe. That all consuming fear wouldn't abate. All you had done was quicken its incubation, shortening what little time he had left before it woke to consume him. Those episodes would only get worse. Your presence, your proximity, they didn't matter at all now.

But there were still answers you needed from him, and so you advanced on him, stoically dismissing the reversal of roles as you loomed over his now floored posture.

"No more games."

He recoiled with fangs bared when your eyes bored unto him.

"Tell me everything."

The mayor's "mercenaries" if they could be called such were led by a Wisp Adept. Someone who for what Maro had gathered had been onboard the foolish attempt of a coup long before the experiments had been drafted into it. It wasn't that this man and his mercenaries had been brought on to keep Kara's natural strength in check, but that they had been there first and found it convenient.

It was an unfortunate truth that Maro never discovered where they'd come from. Seeing as they had seniority in the operation, the experiment had opted not to provoke them any more than necessary as he negotiated payment and rewards for the pack's services. On the other hand, the experiment himself was hardly one want to respect the privacy of others - His decision to play nice with them found its roots further than simple amiable employment conditions. There was someone, or something, bigger behind them. The mercenaries came well capable of delivering information on the Valen house hold, the movements of Irue's aunt and uncle, and more interestingly, the seemingly fulfilled promise of allies who could do more for the rebellion than wield a weapon.

Extracting all you needed to know from the experiment, you left him behind. His fate had been sealed the moment Irue's poison had set in his veins; Today only cut the time that much shorter.

This Wisp Adept though. You don't think a brigand would carry a title as needlessly sophisticated as "Paladin". You didn't know enough about how people threw such vague titles around, but you were passing acquaintance with another who bore that title. Comrads, maybe. Or former associates? Peers?

Questions you would need to find other sources of answers for, as Alouette was out of reach.

>Investigate the catacombs you were held prisoner in
>Pursue information on the title (How?)
>Repair your uniform immediately.
>Other? (Write-in)

>>3340553
>Pursue information on the title (How?)
Maybe the wisp dudes at the shrine know? probably a long shot, im going to sleep

>>3340553
>Investigate the catacombs you were held prisoner in

>>3340553
>His fate had been sealed the moment Irue's poison had set in his veins; Today only cut the time that much shorter.
That's... not good. He can't be the only demi-human like this, and them going critical is only going to further sour relations.
>coax something like a Shade apparition further from its incubation.
Are...are they incubating Shade apparitions? That is supremely bad news.

I wonder if "experiment" is a deliberate name. A hint of their origins?

>>Repair your uniform immediately.
It will generate annoying questions.

>posting in the middle of the day
Who are you and what have you one with Riz? Or should I call you DoppleRiz?

>>3340597
It's been very cloudy. I knew yesterday it would be a very rainy, dreary day which is why I was comfortable going to bed a little earlier than usual last night. These days are always a treat.

>I wonder if "experiment" is a deliberate name.
Much of Asche's dialogue is very deliberate. Her perspective is an unusual one.

>>3340553
>>Repair your uniform immediately.

>>3340590
Title information!

>>3340596
The catacombs!

>>3340597
>>3340709
Uniform repair is of utmost priority.

Writing!

For now, the tear in your uniform was what bothered you the most. It needed to be mended now. Before it had a chance to get any worse. You fingered it absently, feeling the cloth worn to a thread between your nails. It had been soft when you received it, but years of toil had seen that worn from it. What remained in these tired vestments now was the only comfort they brought you... A small thing which you had taken great care to guard and preserve in as unobtrusive manner as possible.

Yet looking at these scrapes, it wouldn't be possible this time. Most of them could be recovered well enough but the tear your fingers traced around... You would have to find a way to obscure it. These reluctant thoughts kept you heavy company as you left the experiments to their business and returned to the building the princess has claimed under Irue's name in the heart of Carona. It was a place you felt correct in returning to - No other place in this town was better suited to have offered its aid to the blonde noble's legacy than this; A statement whose truth would be unchanged whether it had been as small as a hovel or a mansion unto itself. The meaning behind it was meant to be judged in cycles over space.

It wasn't necessary that you return to here precisely, as the needle with which you sew was one you kept on your person at most times, but it was a safer decision. A place where you could slough your clothes without needing to cast concern for prying eyes, carefully inspecting your reparations.

You nodded wordlessly as the follower at the front greeted you, stride unpausing as you traced your way back towards the room Irue had laid claim to. As you did not sleep so much as wait, you had never seen a reason to hold a room to yourself. There were few of them as it was, rendering the sole reasoning Irue had succeeding in arguing you into a room at the old estate a moot point.

...Not that Irue had raised a concern over it since you'd arrived in Carona for good. You knew well how much had weighed on their mind since the Rite had begun... Or you thought you did. Recently you wondered if perhaps you weren't as well informed on the matters of Irue's feelings as you used to be.

Your sewing slowed, lingering overlong on the growing gap between you once more. When had it grown like that? You remembered every moment you had ever spent with Irue, what happened that you were suddenly being left behind? Lately it felt as if your presence did little but agitate the noble. Even after you'd finally found an opportunity to speak with them over the bracelet, the intimacy you thought would resume had stayed so distressingly out of reach.

It wasn't a question of whether or not you would find a place in Irue's life again - You had to. The further your heart's keeper drifted, the more hollow your actions became. The more damning your dreams became. Memories from a piece that lay dormant growing ever restless as the widening gap proved reluctant to mend.

As hours passed your sewing resumed. A delicate and deliberate process of tedium that allowed your fingers to move without thought. This was the closest to meditation you would ever come, but it didn't help you understand yourself any better. When all was said and done what remained was a scar upon the familiar maid's attire. One of a select and rare collection of carefully threaded stitches which you're certain you couldn't hide.

...How long had you spent simply staring at your uniform now?

You suppose it doesn't matter. It wouldn't fix itself, but your mind ran ablank thinking of how to approach it. It was a simple task. A physical alteration to conceal something. It had no deeper meaning.

It had no deeper meaning.

There was nothing more to it.

You just... Were going to lay here on this bed a while longer. You couldn't leave the room until you redressed, anyway. And you couldn't do that until you decided how you were going to fix this.

You were going to fix this.

>Resume searching for the Tiers.
>Learning more of Paladins took precedent.
>Everything was on hold until you found an appropriate method of covering those stitches.
>Other? (write-in)

>>3341347
>>Resume searching for the Tiers.
Work on the wisp adept is useless, as anything she does find won't reach rue until she gets back, which won't happen until the mission is done or things go sideways.

>>3341347
>>Resume searching for the Tiers.
I take a certain amount of please in her working on a dead end task. And if she does find something, all the better.

>>3341347
>Everything was on hold until you found an appropriate method of covering those stitches.
Well this is ominous, I hope Ashe doesn't fucking kill herself.

>>3341455
>>3341466
The search continues!

>>3341500
Gotta fix it. Can't get distracted, gotta fix it.

Asche needs a smoke break and a cute heart patch over the tear, obviously.

Clothed once more, you take leave of the safe place for the second time today. A small blemish marring the waist of your uniform, indicative of the stitch you'd yet to think of a proper and permanent solution for. Your arm brushed against it more than strictly necessary when you passed, doing what you could to hide it despite yourself; no one here would ask questions of you, but it wasn't as if you were hiding it to avoid attention. It was an embarassment, and something to be kept private. Something that had suddenly shot terribly high onto your list of priorities to handle... But also something which couldn't precede your search for the Tiers.

You needed to find the Tiers. If you could just do that then maybe things would start going back to the way things were. It was a task easier said than done though, especially this late. All of your efforts to dig up more information on their whereabouts had led you to an increasingly comprehensive understanding of the mayor's rebellious efforts, doomed as they were to fail, but key components remained absent.

Where had they been taken the night the experiment betrayed you? You know they had held you captive in the catacombs but there was no way of knowing what else was hidden down there. Simply because the Doppleganger that had near consumed your heart's keeper had stumbled upon you didn't mean that it had exhausted the options below... Or perhaps it had, if you were to take into account the way it - and later Irue's - presence projected itself. But if not there, then where? They had to be held somewhere and you had already spent any time you could spare searching the woods for bodies. The only things to be found there were your own victims from your initial infiltration, and whatever new additions Dryad's Host had made.

If you were right then searching for them inside the bounds of Carona was a fruitless effort. The journal indicated an influx of resources not long after your betrayal, and consequently, after the Tier estate was burned to the ground. That meant they were held only long enough to be sold, charitably, or that what was being sold were the exotic creatures they'd been domesticating... Which had, quite similarly, not been seen since.

There remained the possibility that they had simply been killed, just as they were the night you had arrived and saved them. That your efforts that night had ultimately only delayed their death, rather than prevented it. That somewhere you'd missed the churned earth marking their shallow graves. It was possible, and if that were true then at the very least finding their bodies might still be enough for Irue to trust you again.

But for now, you had leads which seemed to point beyond these walls. You would follow them first. If you were wrong then the bodies would remain where they lie, but if you were right then forgiveness was still in reach. You could still make this right.

For now there were two places you needed to find: Where they were held, and where they were taken. If you could find out what was sold - Confirm it was the Tiers - Then maybe you could find out who they were sold to, or at least to where.

>Search the Behemoth enclosure.
>Traverse the catacombs.
>Consult the Atlach Nacha
>Other? (write-in)

>>3341966
>Consult the Atlach Nacha
As an Undine apparition it should have a way with secrets
Btw why didn't we ask Mim about Tiers?

>>3341976
If by "we" you mean as Irue, then it's because she technically cannot help you. As is reiterated fairly often, Mim is first and foremost the Representative of Luna and thus not at liberty to freely offer aid to political agents or get involved in outside conflicts. She bends this rule when she can for Irue on account of trying to maintain their friendship, but it can only go so far. Also I don't believe anyone ever voted to do this, but if you had then this would have been your response, more or less.

If by "we" you mean Asche while you weren't controlling her, then it's because solving problems by involving someone else would only further prove how useless she is to Irue now.

>>3341966

>Consult the Atlach Nacha

The third question has a very simple answer, in that it'd obviously be in the Valen archives. As it is such precious information, it would certainly not be in the public section, which leaves the Founder's personal library - Incidentally that would also most likely be the source of any such information in the first place. So the information you would be seeking could be found there!Except you went there, and it wasn't. What did you find there...?I hope you haven't forgotten already.

>>3341966
>Consult the Atlach Nacha

>>3341342
>>3341347
Why is Asche so insistent on hiding who she is from Irue?

>>3342013
I am unsure what this is in reference to.

>>3342023
Just something that I came across while looking for clues about the Tiers.

Also why doesn't Asche get a new uniform instead of constantly repairing an old one?

>>3342023
hey, did we find out what happened to that inn waitress whom we offered to become our maid, unaware that most maids don't face deadly danger on a regular basis?

I wonder if her Father or Brother would know where people got sent off to, or where she ended up. Seemed like she was running with a bad crowd.

>>3342023
Also, reading in the ask.fm it said that we (and Ari) could provide power to the Oakenrue.

Additionally, there are all the cores from the Oakenrues left behind still.

So . . . . could we collect those cores, and then re-power them, for a creepy as fuck OakenArmy?

>>3342023
>Did we ever clear out the remaining mercenaries working as guards?
Nope! You had no idea which guards were mercenaries or not, and the destruction of the Banshee gave them all ample time to go to the ground.

Hey, so what about the Demi-humans recognizing them? They must at least be able to point to some faces, whom we can then interrogate with a little "bad cop / terrifying abomination" play.

>>3342031
The function of the clothes have negligible value to her. The meaning of them is everything. They cannot be replaced. She has fought diligently to keep them presentable for precisely this reason and in fact learned to sew entirely because of that.

It goes unmentioned because Asche has often been left out of frame due to the choices made, but every so often her uniform acquires some new accessory. A strip of lace, or the like. Irue assumes she finds something that strikes her fancy, but it's typically because something has happened she couldn't mend well enough and she found something to sew over the stitching so it wouldn't be noticed.

>>3342038
>what happened to that inn waitress whom we offered to become our maid
You spoke with her father. Her brother has been missing since the Mistral's Child swept through Carona, and shortly there after in the aftermath he says that his daughter Jill left Carona on her own.

>>3342045
It's not an impossible task, but you would be remiss to consider yourself an infinite battery. You've barely context for what it means to be the life support of the one you have.

>>3341964
>The only things to be found there were your own victims from your initial infiltration, and whatever new additions Dryad's Host had made.
She left dead bodies out in the open in the forest? Isn't that how you get Oakenbears?

>at the very least finding their bodies might still be enough for Irue to trust you again.
ha.

>>3341966
>>Traverse the catacombs.

>>3342038
We poked around a little, I think, but that bridge burned prettily, so we haven't pressed. IIRC, our current HQ is made out of that tavern. And the father is dead.

>>3342056
Actually, I think we might be going about this the wrong way.

We should figure out who would need/benefit from Beast Tamers the most.

Where did all the beasts go? Who has the resources to keep and maintain them?

>>3342055
> You've barely context for what it means to be the life support of the one you have.

Plural?

>>3342064
Wait no sorry I misread it. It's late. I'm out.

>>3342055
> but every so often her uniform acquires some new accessory.
These are the sort of details I love your writing for. We aren't the center of the universe, merely a character within.

>You've barely context for what it means to be the life support of the one you have.
On the plus side, it'd be nice to have at least one more oakenrue that's actually ours, instead of "loaned" to Ari. As long as anons didn't immediately give it away again, as they seem to love doing with anything useful we acquire.

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It seems like the vote is leaning towards Atlach Nacha for now, but I'm going to leave it here while I take a break for the night. I have some things to do tomorrow so we'll probably pick back up a little later than usual, but I didn't want anyone staying up for hours waiting on the next vote.

If I can get out an update before my business starts tomorrow then you shouldn't need to worry about it closing in the usual hour window either, so take it easy! In the meantime if people have questions or comments, I'll do what I can to address them when I've got a moment.

>>3341996
Does looking for missing persons after a disaster the Shrine is already helping with constitute "aid to political agents"?

>>3342124
In this case, yes. The Tiers have been missing since well before the disaster and are a family tied extremely closely to the Valens, as they are one of House Valen's only two retaining bloodlines.

There's more you could read into that statement as well, but it may only tell you what you already suspect.

>>3342129
I'm thinking more about the people who went missing again because there were sold to slavers

>>3342140
The Dominion of Luna, and by extension the Shrine, is already cooperating with you on this matter by sharing the reports/records and helping you narrow down the likely suspects.

Though it's worth noting that you have two theories for those missing people. One being that they were sold to slavers, and the other being that they are supporting the mayor's rebellion even after its failure by undermining your management efforts.

>>3342129
Honestly, it's entirely possible they ran away to Valen forces and are at one of our other holdings.

After all, they didn't know us so we aren't the Valen that would come to mind when they were looking for safety.

> Nooooo, don't ask our Aunt for help at all costs even if it's just a simple letter to check.

We could also ask our Uncle. Unless he's the one who took out all the info about Dryad that was supposed to be in the inner library where he spends all his time.

Fucks sake. Let's send a letter or something to ask about them, it's so easy and low cost.

>>3342189
I can at the very least confirm that they haven't retreated to any other Valen holdings. If your family was aware of their status, you would have been made aware during the time Irue visited, if not since.

>>3342192
If our family was aware?

Well hopefully Irue had better luck with her party of cool kids. Cooler than Asche.

Does that dress represent all the lies she's told Irue by omission over the years?

>>3342202
Yeesh, anon. The only thing she might be blamed for is keeping silent about the bracelet.

>>3342207
And all the stories behind the rips.

>>3342202
what's with your hateboner for asche anon? she dindu nuffin

>>3342355
Everyone just feels bad for her now, but she's been using Irue. Maybe she cares about her, but she's been bad at caring for her.

Maybe because she's an inhuman abomination, but it seems like she's using Irue to keep lying to herself in a codependent relationship instead of actually helping Irue.

It's like she never taught us to fly so we wouldn't leave the nest.

>>3342355
Also she killed Shadowrue.

>>3342390
Blame Anon Anonymous for that, not Asche

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>>3342387
Just because she preferred being alone with Irue doesn't mean she's responsible for Irue's 10 year stagnation, her duty as a maid does not extend to raising a child (that was our aunts job). Also it was mentioned in a previous thread that Ashe was the only one who bothered to nurse Irue back to health after our parents died, that hardly counts as being bad at caring.

>>3342387
>but it seems like she's using Irue to keep lying to herself in a codependent relationship instead of actually helping Irue.
This sums it up pretty well. She only cares for the original Ari, and only deals with Rue because Ari wanted it that way, or was commanded by her to do it. Everyone else is beneath her, only noteworthy by how much they are needed to achieve Rue's goals, in a pitiful attempt to be important to Rue.

>>3342391
We've discussed this before, but the blame lies with Asche there, as she killed ShadowRue in cold blood, without even considering or attempting other options. We'd been stuck that way for quite a while, an extra few days to determine alternatives would have been all it took, even if in the end there was no alternative.

>>3342678
Asche might love us, but she isn't our friend.

She's like a crippled mana, all jealousy and . . . Huh.

Huh.

I wonder, what would happen if Irue meditates on Asche?

> What could go wrong?

>>3342678
Yeah I disagree with you on the latter

>>3342678
>only deals with Rue because Ari wanted it that way
I fail to see what could make you think so.

>>3342684
I also still think that if we can't find the Tier sisters, we should plant an Oakenrue in the Behemoth.

>>3342129
> as they are one of House Valen's only two retaining bloodlines.

Probably grabbed by Caylens bitch when she passed through, for schemes with Artemis.

I wonder if Caylen could help us find them.

>>3341964
> your heart's keeper

The bracelet? Is Asche some sort of artificial mana? A shard of Dryad grown in a Homonculus? She can't die or be harmed apparently, so that's different.

What happens if we poke Asche with one of those funky trees?

I'm honestly just tossing out wild theories here. For fun!

>>3342686
How so? I would have been quite unhappy if the search for alternatives came up dry, but Asche would have done her due diligence, and would be free of blame in this matter.


I kinda wish the Shade adept was more of a traditional priestly type; it'd be nice to be able to talk to him about the whole DoppleRue thing without being mocked and flirted with.


>>3342696
It's an inference, but it reads pretty clear to me in her internal way of addressing Rue as her "heart's keeper", her desperation to be important to Rue, and her way of thinking about Rue. She thinks about dealing with Rue like it's a job or duty like something she's gotta slog through, not with respect or affection.


>>3342704
We've only got the one that got perma-loaned to Ari. Even if we could get it back, I've rather not lose it again.


>>3342710
Asche gave Rue the bracelet herself. She was with us long before that. She does have some Shade control, and unnatural healing, so she's clearly not human.

>>3342713
There are cores in the woods by our house!

We could get it super hammered on Faedeka then feed it some cores. All the cores! Make up for their lack of individual energy with sheer numbers!

Then feed it MORE Faedeka!

I mean. Seriously I can't think of any good plans for dealing with the unkillable beast.

Riz said it was a thing that we could do, last thread.

>>3342713
Look maybe we could gather cores and Faedeka . . . Just in case.

Besides we'll probably need Faedeka from around town anyways. For the Demihumans if nothing else, to purge whatever it is of Shade we left in them maybe.

We can send people to gather them up for us. We have that power now.

>>3342713
>She thinks about dealing with Rue like it's a job or duty
She thinks about everything like it's a job or duty. She thinks like a robot, because she very likely is.
I also encourage you to reread Asche's pastebin and note the part where Irue had "taken" her after Ariel's death. That doesn't seem like Asche was fulfilling Ariel's wishes.

>>3342721
>There are cores in the woods by our house!
The cores come *from* apparitions. I don't think you can reverse the process, or at least not without some way of putting more power back into the cores.

>We could get it super hammered on Faedeka
No thank you. Every time we've drank the stuff massive problems result. Also the stuff was coming from Dryad; with it back to sleep and the mansion cleaned out of the stuff (and wrecked), I doubt we could acquire any even if we wanted to.


>I mean. Seriously I can't think of any good plans for dealing with the unkillable beast.
Currently, the best plan is to get Kara to take a massively sturdy spear and run it through the thing's lungs and heart. No oxygen, no life. It's not a great plan, as we only get one chance and failure doesn't leave room for fallback plans, but it's more likely to work than anything else so far. I'm not sure what an Oakenrue would accomplish. Ari's tame one already had it's power reduced when Dryad went back to sleep, and even at the height of it's power it couldn't have taken a Behemoth down.

>>3342724
>Look maybe we could gather cores and Faedeka
While the cores could be useful, we couldn't keep them in the town. Those cores contain raw Dryad; I wouldn't be surprised if adepts can sense cores at a distance, and anyone discovering them could cause things to go downhill very fast.

>For the Demihumans if nothing else,
Even if we still had access to Faedka, the Demihumans freely partook during the month-long binge with the rest of us. It helped a little, maybe, but an alarming amount of them still committed suicide.

>We can send people to gather them up for us.
Even if we weren't constantly lacking in manpower, they'd be detecting (somehow) and collecting Dryad cores. If Dryad's existence leaks out, we will be at war with the Shrine.

>>3342746
> The cores come *from* apparitions. I don't think you can reverse the process, or at least not without some way of putting more power back into the cores.

That's why we get a whole bunch, and soak them in Faedeka!

> No thank you. Every time we've drank the stuff massive problems result. Also the stuff was coming from Dryad; with it back to sleep and the mansion cleaned out of the stuff (and wrecked), I doubt we could acquire any even if we wanted to.

We aren't drinking it though. We could mix it with the Abomination sap and see how it goes.

> I'm not sure what an Oakenrue would accomplish. Ari's tame one already had it's power reduced when Dryad went back to sleep, and even at the height of it's power it couldn't have taken a Behemoth down.

Well, since we would put it inside the Behemoth, I was hoping it could like merge with it. Or act like cancer and tear it apart from the inside after spreading through it. Or pull it into Dryads dream and keep it asleep.

Maybe we could throw it into Dryads Atelier?

>>3342754
How can they sense Dryad without a Dryad Adept? Wouldn't they have sensed the Adorable Abomination?

>>3342759
>Faedka
>I doubt we could acquire any even if we wanted to.


>Well, since we would put it inside the Behemoth,
I'm... not even going to touch that.


>>3342763
This is speculation, but I suspect cores of any mana would be detectable by adepts.
Even if they can't, someone could stumble across any stored in the town easy enough.

>>3342773
That's why we hide them . . . In the Behemoth! You'd have to be nuts to look in there!

>>3342773
Buuuut I'm serious it's worth a shot I think.

>>3342746
> I don't think you can reverse the process
You can, we used our bracelet to activate a core and summoned a salamander apparition at no apparent cost to ourselves. If you want to check, we did this shortly before entering the fae woods in order to allow Priat to find us easier. We did not undergo the same strain that comes with summoning apparitions without cores.

Going off what Riz said in this thread about how the oakenrue is powered by Irue and Ari I gotta say summoning lots of them is a terrible idea. With that in mind, killing the behemoth with an apparition is the only idea I've seen that has a chance of working without any collateral damage. It goes without saying that we don't want them to fight each other, rather give it an order like this-

>Take root in the behemoth, slowly strangle its vitals and ensure it never wakes up again.

The only problem with this that stands out to me is how killing a helpless opponent would be this apparition's first act, this would have an impact on its personality.

I'm also curious about the dryad juice idea, Irue should never touch the stuff again but maybe we can save Raid with it? I don't want Raid to die of shadow cancer.

>>3342790
>dryad begins to wake up again in 200 years
>a giant rampaging skeleton covered in man eating plants emerges from the ground

>>3342797
I mean. If the Apparition took root in it, Ari could probably control it?

And the Abomination would have a friend!

Hopefully we could mitigate the energy cost by using a bunch of cores, and then having it be dormant.

> 200 years later, not our problem.

>>3342797
> The only problem with this that stands out to me is how killing a helpless opponent would be this apparition's first act, this would have an impact on its personality.

It's Dryad. It's all about that nature stuff. Nothing more natural than eating to survive and thrive.

>>3342815
That's besides the point. Sure, anything born of dryad will likely have no qualms about killing, but consider our abomination. The first order we gave it was to protect Rinnier and Ari. It has internalized that order, functioning now as a full time bodyguard, it will kill to carry out that order, yes, but this is just a means to an end. My fear is if the first order we give to a new apparition is to kill, then maybe it will internalize killing as a goal in and of itself.

It's a problem but not an insurmountable one I think, we could raise it for a while during our trip north to give it some context and blunt the impact of our order on its personality.

Just another idea on the feasibility of hiding this thing when not in use: tell it to turn into something pocket sized and sleep until called upon, let Asche keep it. If she can't keep it safe then I dare say no one can.

>>3342826
I don't disagree, but
>let Asche keep it.
Plz quite trying to give away powerful items/things anon. That's how we lost the first one.

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>>3342826
Why would we tell it to kill the Behemoth when we could tell it to tame it?

And the order to protect Ari and Rinnier was reinforced, like a lot, and we barely supervised it.

Also killing the Behemoth would be the last resort if taking it or keeping it asleep didn't work. And it's easier for us to put down an apparition than it would be a Behemoth anyways.

I just remember that in the Atelier Dryad could control the animals of the forest. I5 was a whole thing.

Window will be closing shortly! I expect we'll get a couple updates tonight, but I'm a bit worn. I'll address some things in the meantime.

>>3342202
>>3342226
>Does that dress represent all the lies she's told Irue by omission over the years? All the stories behind the rips.
Most of the rips and tears have been a result of inexperience, clumsiness and inattentiveness. It's been referenced on occasion but Asche's competence was something hard earned; She was a terrible cook, near incapable of cleaning, yard work was absolutely beyond her, etc. Her outfit would suffer a lot of nicks, tears, and on occasion she probably burned the hem of her sleeves.

Her skill at sewing is thus one of her most developed (and least mentioned) capabilities due to how often she found herself having to clean up after herself. This would also occasionally be applied to laundry she did for Irue, as she was similarly kind of terrible at that as well.

>>3342387
There's... There's a lot to unpack here and I am not sure I actually should.

Ultimately character interpretations are up to you, and I try to keep tabs on the general mood and perception of a character in order to color Irue's thoughts and reactions towards them. I'll note that in some cases you've probably seen resistance to this (Most notably regarding Clara and Asche), and this is typically because Irue's opinion of them started skewed strongly in one direction. Rather than being neutral and immediately dipping negative, they started positively and would instead gradually degrade.

These are not set in stone. Even good relations will break down as trust and good will crumble, leaving nothing to stand between your ire. You can, for example, eventually learn to hate Alouette despite Irue identifying her as a mother figure.

>>3342773
>cores of any mana would be detectable by adepts.
Cores are generally recognizable by other Adepts, but they can't outright sense them. For easy visualization, imagine a Jinn core. If you're a Gnome Adept then you're aware of Gnome mana, where it clusters, how it moves, what have you. Because of this you would innately be able to discern a nearby Gnome core because of how potent it was - But being fluent in Gnome doesn't give you insight into how any other Mana moves. You could theoretically walk past a Jinn core for months and never notice it because the clustering of Jinn mana was entirely invisible to you. However if you were HOLDING that Jinn core then the Jinn mana infusing it wouldn't at all play nice with Gnome mana, so you would understand from that contact (or violent lack there of) that it was the core to a different kind of Mana.

From there comes the question of identifying what kind of Mana the core belongs to, but that's elementary in most cases, and at worst it can just be brought to a Luna Adept.

>>3344370
> I'll note that in some cases you've probably seen resistance to this (Most notably regarding Clara and Asche), and this is typically because Irue's opinion of them started skewed strongly in one direction.
This is one of those odd side effects of starting a quest in the middle of a life. Backstory never seems to hit as hard unless you've live it yourself. But that takes time, and isn't always interesting to work through like that.

>Cores
I figured Adepts would have some interaction with the cores, as they're both involved with Mana. Good to know they couldn't home in on them if we dug them up, but keeping Dryad ones in the city is still dangerous.

>>3344413
A behemoth at home is dangerous, let alone poking it and hoping it dies. Hell, Irue is dangerous, arguably more than the Behemoth of she uses the bracelet. Ari and the Adorable is hella world ending dangerous.

"Safe" stopped being an option a long time ago.

>>3344453
>Some parts of our life is dangerous, might as well throw caution to the wind

Alright, vote called for Atlach Nacha now that I have some food.

Writing!

>>3344453
You could use that to justify anything. "A Behemoth is dangerous, but so is asking Mim about Dryad, so might as well ask away."

He also never mentioned "safe".

Honestly if we don't find the Tiers in the foreseeable future, we should just go ahead and kill the Behemoth. Because waiting any further is a bad idea

>>3344466
Keeping cores is dangerous, but not as dangerous as stabbing the sleeping behemoth let alone having it wake up.

>>3344463
Since the Tiers share the Valen bloodline, I wonder if maybe the Fae took them or something.

>>3344531
They don't share the bloodline, they are retainers for them. The Tier family is a bloodline which has sworn to support the Valen bloodline, and has done so for generations.

>>3344530
Not sure how that's relevant to anything. Walking down the street is less dangerous than attempting to kill the behemoth, and more dangerous than staying at home all day.

>>3344370
>I try to keep tabs on the general mood and perception of a character
I hope you will avoid the vocal minority bias.

>>3344545
Whoever shouts loudest is objectively correct, anon.

>>3344546
ASCHE A CUTE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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>>3344546
FLATNESS.

IS.

JUSTICE.

>>3344596
Asche is flat incidentally.

who else here /Rinniergang/

>>3344605
Rinnier is a good girl too.

>>3344605
Only if you can properly pronounce her name.

>>3344604
Cause she's a robot.

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>>3344617
Robots, too, are justice.

>>3344614
rin-eehr

it's hard to express through letters shit

>>3344623
I think it's ri-nyeh

>>3344627
yeah that's actually better. I'm not good explaining pronunciation in english through text

>>3344627
Ren-wah. All French like.

>>3344623
Rin-î-ay.

No hard R or else it's racist.

You were searching for information best kept hidden; A secret in all but name. While you could walk the length of Carona yourself in search of answers, there was something closer which might be able to guide you more effectively. Your heart's keeper had turned over its location to the favored months ago in return for some measure of aid and cooperation, yet there may still be a chance to barter. The Atlach Nacha were, as all Undine apparitions, avid collectors of things best left forgotten... And it is against the nature of those who hoard such things to help others remember.

It was not the easiest approach. You were beyond taking the easy route. Results were all that mattered to you now, even if you needed to part with something to make it happen.

"Hold, we can't let you go any further." A pair of favored stood before you, cordoning off entrance to the Atlach Nacha's nesting tunnels. To protect you? Protect them? Whatever the case it was keeping you from where you needed to be. "Do you have business out this far, young miss?"

"Didn't think we had anyone in Carona who actually wore maid uniforms... Oh, you're with the Valens right?"

The two of them talked amongst each other, slowly putting together the truth behind your identity as you watched and waited. Your heart's keeper had envied the favored for nearly as long as you had been at their side; a strange notion, but hardly the first time. Perhaps it was something that would never change. The two before you spoke in a bland tongue, not unlike children... Given time, they may well come to know Undine's doting words, but for today their command of its language was crude and halting. Much of the elegance of its flowing melody was lost on them, too far beyond them to hear much less comprehend.

Had it been otherwise they would have stopped you sooner.

The response was faint. Territorial as they are the Atlach Nacha had no doubt been loathe to give up the ground they were forced away from, yet the favored's desires held priority over their own whims. Even mannered as it was, Undine was a far cry from its sibling Shade - It saw no value in excessive resistance and the loss of its nieces and nephews. In the end the deciding factor had most likely been that the favored who had approached requested retreat over revelation. As long as they could take their secrets with them, then their territory, such as it is, was a small and meaningless price to pay.

For that reason alone they would abandon the Atelier which birthed them, and the lost soul which nurtured their cores... If she were still present then you would have simply asked her, yet she spoke a mingled and tortured language even you struggled to comprehend. To be granted an audience would be a difficult enough task, nevermind an exchange. You were not your heart's keeper. You did not hold her favor.

Yet pushed back as they were, the Atlach Nacha would come when called. Even now you knew their numbers to stir, rising with curiousity from unplumbed depths. You could feel them moving closer, filling out the sunken tunnels as a rising tide. It was the first moistening of earth at the mouth of the mines which heralded their arrival, while the babbling favored who thought themselves fluent wouldn't hear their Mana's own chiding words until water lapped at their ankles.

By then it was too late to run. You watched on blandly as even the desperately clawed trail of their fingers in the gripless mud was swallowed, finally raising your eyes to meet the multifaceted sapphire orbs of the Atlach Nacha - A name which identified one, but was born to all; it was to all you exchanged acknowledgements with now.

"You called." It rippled with a voice of legion. The monster before you was no less than a mass of obedient children, too excited to maintain form beyond their coagulated morph.

"I seek something hidden." You murmured quite unnecessarily. A habit of human speech you had painstakingly learned which held no merit, no meaning, to these children.

And so they writhed, silent and reluctant, as you knew they would. A secret is not kept by giving it away. They are children, but hardly fools. In any incarnation, even the slimmest of Undine's patient depths knew the value of what lay concealed and forgotten. "It is not yours to know."

You came prepared to bargain. It was possible you could simply demand it from them, but every loudly spoken word was one more chance to draw Undine's gaze to your personal matters. Already you risked the shadows in their waters becoming a vessel to the endless, crushing abyss. She would have questions you did not want to hear. But what could you offer instead?

>Perform a favour for knowledge.
>Offer something you know to be lost to the depths.
>human squabbles aren't meaningful to the Mana, demand answers.
>Ask something about yourself instead. It is yours to know.

>4 hours
that took too long, what the hell.

>>3344694
>human squabbles aren't meaningful to the Mana, demand answers.

Tell them that the one who keeps Dryads secrets, who is favored by the soul that nurtured them, needs the knowledge.

A secret shared is not a secret, but then again it's also no longer a secret of there's no-one left to keep it from.

Stop fucking around and share a smaller secret to keep the rest.

>>3344694
Also did Asche just straight up murder the Shrine people?

>>3344711
They'll be fine. Probably. It's not really up to her or her business.

>>3344692
>even the desperately clawed trail of their fingers in the gripless mud was swallowed
Okay WTF
Did Asche just kill two more people
That's... that's not cute at all
I like her much less now

>>3344694
>Perform a favour for knowledge.

>>3344712
Has Asche ever asked, like, anything at all of Irue?

Can we put a note to ask ask Asche what she wants, some time?

>>3344694
What the fuck is going on? Can Asche talk to every mana? That's insane.

>Perform a favour for knowledge.

>>3344728
>Has Asche ever asked, like, anything at all of Irue?
No. She is actually somewhat stubborn even regarding accepting gifts and forms of luxury as she feels them unnecessary and wasted on her. See: Her reminiscence on her room back at the estate. The exceedingly few things she does have are cared for meticulously. See: Her clothes.

Memo:
1. Ask Asche what she wants, some time
2.
3.

Memo updated!

>>3344711
Well she didn't murder them, really. It was more the mana they worshiped that killed them.
>>3344694
>Perform a favour for knowledge.
I' m sure Asche's up for anything, as long as it doesn't harm Irue.

>>3344754
Mana summoned by Asche.

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Alright, going to leave this open while I rest. I don't expect the vote will change any, but I don't see a point in closing the window and then going to sleep.

Sorry for probably wasting everyone's time tonight, I didn't think I'd hit a wall like that.

>>3344761
It's all good. Tha is for running!

>>3344761
Thanks for running!

>>3344694
>Perform a favour for knowledge.

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>>3344647
Rin-N'wah

>>3344694
>>Perform a favour for knowledge.
This is a bad idea, but it's too late to back out.

>You watched on blandly as even the desperately clawed trail of their fingers in the gripless mud was swallowed,
Good to see my mistrust in her is well placed. That was incredibly stupid, wasteful and pointless. More murder in cold blood.

>while the babbling favored who thought themselves fluent wouldn't hear their Mana's own chiding words until water lapped at their ankles.
...what *is* Asche? She can freely communicate with multiple Mana?

>>3344854
Obviously related to the bracelet.

>>3344856
I considered that, but she doesn't have it at the moment and there was no mention of grabbing anything for this meeting. A copy maybe?

>>3344864
I think he's saying that Ashe herself is intrinsically linked to the bracelet somehow.
>Irue is her "heart's keeper"
>She seems to be able to communicate with every mana, just like the bracelet
>Before Irue she was loyal to Ariel who previously owned the bracelet

>>3344872
Maybe, but she did have to come down here to talk to an apparition. The bracelet lets you talk to Mana directly, no intermediary required IIRC.

>>3344890
What do you mean? Irue would need to at least come face to face with an apparition in order to communicate with it. The bracelet isn't long range.

>>3344897
The bracelet her allows to to talk to Mana, not apparitions. Rue found an unintended function in using it to create apparitions, but I don't think it lets her talk to them.

>>3345001
But we've used it to communicate with our dryad apparition before, it can't understand us without it. Also apparitions are included under the broad term "mana".

>Once she had told you that when there was no answer, the bracelet would echo what was inside. If the purpose of this bracelet was to call out to the Mana, and the apparitions you called forth were only ever born from something inside of you... Had there never been an answer?

>...No, there was mana, and Mana. The bracelet had helped connect you to the golem once before, and in that instance it had allowed you to speak with it despite your utter lack of affinity. It needed something more than just ambient mana. A more powerful vestige of the Mana. Something that could answer your call.

The qualifying condition for communicating with mana using the bracelet seems to be sentience. This would include apparitions, aspirations and capital m Mana.

>>3345247
I'd Forgotten about that. The bracelet is much, much older than the original Ari (and as far as we know Asche) though. There's got to be more to it than Asche being connected to a previous owner.

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Riz can you elaborate on the the phenomena of named apparitions and named aspirations? Also what do you mean by "expand their dominion"?

>>3345277
Sure!

The primary criteria which separates an "apparition" from an "aspiration" is simply whether they need a core to remain manifested or not. The distinction does not at all imply a difference in power, but it can infer how dangerous or difficult to deal with one might be. For example when facing an apparition, all you really need to do in order to disperse it is to find and destroy its core. A troubling task for anyone who isn't attuned to that Mana and capable of outright sensing its location. For an aspiration on the other hand, it has no core. You can't just find and break it and call it done. You go from fighting something with a physical medium as a weakness to something that's a sentient force of nature which will by all likelihood ignore all forms of physical damage. In the latter case it's significantly more likely they will need to be appeased or talked down, though it's still entirely possible for them to be dispersed by a strong enough Adept (or multiple lesser Adepts working in unison).

Most apparitions/aspirations bear two identifiers you're already familiar with: Their Mana and their classification. The Mana is self-explanatory, "It's a Shade apparition!", while the classification is more like its species. A Revenant, Doppleganger, and Poltergeist are all Shade apparitions, but they are different kinds of Shade apparitions. These aren't names. It would be like if you identified Clara as "Human apparition, Valen". The key missing there is not what she is, but who she is. Ego, sense of self, that is of vital importance when considering the raw power of a manifestation simply because as you know all of them are smaller facets of the greater whole. Undine exists in every drop of water as ambient mana, but ambient mana is passive. Inert. The more defined an ego an apparition gains, the more sapient and aware it becomes, the more power it gains. The more capable it is of becoming a vessel for Undine itself to act through. Names are an indication of that ego threshold. Where a manifestation becomes more than a phenomena and begins to develop a specific personality and awareness unique from its peers. These names aren't just inherently obtained, they're either given by someone else (considered an artificial method of meddling) or assumed by the manifestation itself after a time (the natural method).

Any of Irue's apparitions would have gone on to become named if they survived long enough. They were born preternaturally powerful because a large fragment of their being was created entirely from a form of ego. The exception to this being the Doppleganger, as it had its Clarity stolen from it moments after its birth, so it never had the chance to grow as an apparition.

So moving on to the expanding dominions. The term "dominion" gets used without much explanation in Valen and the one you're most familiar with is in regards to the Shrine. The Luna Dominion, the Shade Dominion, etc. In this context it references "Dominion" a little abstractly, but it still refers to the claimed territory and expertise, influence, what have you of the given Mana. The Undine Dominion is under the care of Undine, it venerates Undine, it is the most knowledgeable and skilled in matters regarding Undine. They are the de facto authority on Undine.

Named aspirations create their own dominions. You may think of it as carving out a kingdom of their own, as to think of it as their territory isn't incorrect, but it also refers to their command of a Mana's language, which is in most senses equatable to their authority. The Mistral is often referenced here, as its "Dominion" is considered to be the full range of the northern wastes. Unlike the Mana who take a more passive role, it is a very real, very present, very active god which presides over the howling peaks of the snowy wastelands. Tribes venerate it, capitulate to its whims, and anyone who would venture north are forced to respect it. It wasn't always like this, though - It wasn't born with that oppressive reach and authority. It grew to those heights by consuming other apparitions and aspirations.

For an apparition to be consumed is a simple matter in most cases, as their physical medium is, again, their weakness. The mana which they require to manifest can be drained from it and drawn into another vessel, expanding that vessel's available Mana. Aspirations on the other hand are more troublesome to overtake, requiring a raw conflict of will. To properly visualize the process of an Aspiration being consumed, imagine a contest of ego where the loser's entire sense of identity crumbles and breaks down as they're held helpless with the inevitable understanding that every feeling and memory they've had is being melted away. They are fully conscious and aware of every piece of themself breaking apart, that gaps remain, and that more gaps are being made, until all they can be aware of is the gap in which they used to exist, before finally even their awareness of their own existence is taken. They are forcefully broken back down into what is essentially their raw components - ambient mana - and that identityless mass joins with the winner willingly. Because why wouldn't it? It has no thoughts or opinion on the matter.

In this way an aspiration (or apparition's) dominion can be expanded. Their authority grows, their power increases, their presence solidifies, and they can consume the very structure of an identity to melt down and reinforce their own. This, in turn, deepends their capacity to act as a vessel for their Mana.

>>3344694
>>Ask something about yourself instead. It is yours to know.
Why was I born?

>>3345490
She likely weren't even born.

>>3339353
So she has her own little Riz imp inside of her head. But it sounds like he's doesn't regularly disappear for months. or a year now and then.

Asche's Head Quest must be some real bullshit.

>>3345495
Of course not, she's the Reclaimed Doll. Will spider babies argue semantics or only you?

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>>3344707
Demanding!

>>3344716
>>3344730
>>3344754
>>3344803
>>3344854
Favour!

>>3345490
Something about yourself instead!

Gonna call the voting window on performing a favour here as well, going to get writing after I find breakfast.

>>3345506
A detail regarding this that's unfortunately not transmitted well through text - Irue's dealt with this same voice before. It was briefly alluded to at the start of the thread with Stupid, stupid child and Hey, hey tell me, what happened to my little Ariel?

I'm unsure how obvious this was, but seeing as in an audible medium you'd instantly know them to be the same, I don't feel too bad being more overt about it. Asche just deals with it every day for the past few months.

>>3345470
>These names aren't just inherently obtained, they're either given by someone else (considered an artificial method of meddling) or assumed by the manifestation itself after a time (the natural method).
So was Minstrel's Child's (the Jinn one that wrecked the town) name given or taken?

>The exception to this being the Doppleganger, as it had its Clarity stolen from it moments after its birth, so it never had the chance to grow as an apparition.
I assume this relates to the struggle we had during its manifestation, but can you break down 'Clairity' and how it was stolen?

>You may think of it as carving out a kingdom of their own,
Is it carved out of existing domains, or carved out within those demains? A state within a country, or a breakaway country?

>Named aspirations create their own dominions.
Sounds similar to how Aeons form. I suspect an Aeon is a human going through a similar process.

>Because why wouldn't it? It has no thoughts or opinion on the matter.
...That's a pretty terrible way to meet your end, no matter who or what you are.

>>3345525
Jumping into someone else's head is supposed to provide answers, not more questions!
You've put more thought into this one facet of your setting than many QMs put into their whole setting. I'm impressed.

>>3345611
>Mistral's Child
Given. It wasn't alive long enough to take one for itself. Pointedly, while it certainly qualified to be a named apparition, the name was technically given post-mortem. This has no meaningful impact on things, it's just trivia.

>Explain Clarity
It's the absolute understanding of your place in the world, the meaning of your life, and everything. All Mana inherently have this, Dopplerue would mourn its loss off and on. It was stolen, or rather ripped from it, because Irue forced it to deviate from its purpose and made it learn to be human instead. Anything which clouds or distracts a Mana from its steadfast understanding of its instinctual place in life can damage Clarity - This was also addressed in the Abandoned Child's Atelier.

>Aeon things
This has been addressed at some point prior, I believe also in the Abandoned Child's Atelier. To become an Aeon you need only lose your way between being human and the state of Clarity. It is most commonly achieved by an Adept hitting a wall and having things personal to them they can't let go which spirals them away from Clarity, but it can also happens to a Mana which has had elements it should never experience forced onto it - Such as Dopplerue's reluctant journey to humanity. Being an Aeon is not an "upgrade". It is not a pleasant experience.

>Carved out existing domains
A state within a country is a closer way to view it. The Mana ultimately have Dominion over the entirety of the world, as they are Creation. They're the Pillars of the World. There are "Thrones" where each Mana is most concentrated and abundant and they have been mentioned a few times. Where an Aspiration chooses to lay claim is of no concern whatsoever to the Mana, as it is akin to the neighborhood children running around the street. A big deal for the children, but the adults - When they can be bothered to pay attention - can only laugh and smile fondly at their enthusiasm.

The biggest thing to understand in this is that the Mana, for all their power, are typically passive. They are content in the world existing, as their presence suffuses every aspect of that existence. Aspirations are not possessed of this detachment and are more active and opinionated.

Anyway my breakfast is nearly done being cooked!

>>3345673
>Being an Aeon is not an "upgrade". It is not a pleasant experience.
After what we saw in the Ice Palace, I absolutely believe that.
What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet lose their soul?

>>3345470
Ah that clears that up, thanks Riz.

I really thought I was on to something there.

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>>3345777

"I offer action." You had precious little to part with and none of it would be done willingly. What value you had to bargain with came from what you could do that they could, or would, not. "What do you wish?"

Contemplative silence passed over the Atlach Nacha. This was the safest option available to you, something unlikely to attract Undine's attention. So long as you continued to deal only with these children you had no need to stand on guard against her tranquil eye. Smaller matters, for ephemeral concerns. Nothing one of the Pillars need concern themselves with. "The Ice Queen stirs. The scent of her sibling's blood caught in fleeting." What finall came from the assembled collective was more than you expected. "Jinn calls. It teases a reckoning between mortals. From the depths of her icen tomb she fears her brother to be used."

"He is dead." You correct flatly. "His time is past. Humans are not outside of time."

"She cares not. Her time is frozen. She would see her brother saved."

Your lips pursed imperceptibly, a silence falling over the mineshaft entrance as the Atlach Nacha's words concluded. They waited for an answer, yet held no expectation for you to do so immediately. This was the extent of their offer... And how desperate they must be. For what you wished to know, this was far more troublesome. "When did they pass?"

"He arrived before Jinn raged. They left when Jinn calmed." Its countless voices rasped in sequentially delayed syllables. "They are bound West."

Setting aside the matter of identifying her brother's descendant, this was another task whose conclusion was far beyond the borders of Carona. This wasn't something you could afford to do on your own, not without involving your heart's keeper in some way... Or worse, leaving their side until it was complete.

...But that thought made you acutely aware of just how alone you already were. How often had you been near your heart since the Rite began? If you left, would it even be noticed? Your heart's keeper was restless again. Your were trapped here again. Watching them go, unable to follow. You needed something to bring them back, but even when they came back, it wasn't to you.

>Accept.
>Request a lesser favour.

>>3345939
Is it talking about Priatt? Or maybe someone from Caylin's party? Regardless I don't think sending Asche away is worth it, I have a feeling she'll be useful when we visit the ruined shrine.
>Request a lesser favour.

>>3345939
>>Accept.
I am deeply curious as to the identity of her brother's decedent. I wonder if the relationship that a decedent would have resulted from came after the ICe Queen's seclusion, or before. If before, I would be it contributed to her isolation.

I know Rue told the shrine some information about the Ice Queen, but how much have they found out, and how does Asche know anything about it?

There's a certain irony in the decedent being chased away by a Jinn apparition of all things.

>>3345939
>Accept.

>>3346016
Lesser favours!

>>3346024
>>3346230
As you wish.

Here we go!

>>3345939
>"He arrived before Jinn raged. They left when Jinn calmed."
Hmmm, does that mean recently arrived?
>"They are bound West."
Also the Valen estate is west of Carona... So someone who has recently arrived and has business with our family? Either that or they were fleeing to Murla and maybe even Firl. Lets just hope they haven't gone too far west.

>>3346346
>Hmmm, does that mean recently arrived?
I doubt it. That family has ties here.
>Also the Valen estate is west of Carona...
That's a good point. Carona is about as west as you can get. Why didn't they flee south or east to one of the other towns? Maybe they were captured by the slavers, or are going to join them? Wouldn't that be our luck?

>>3346368
West is left on the map, anon. Carona is about as east as you can get.

>>3346374
...balls. One day I'll manage keep my directions straight.

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>>3346368
The closes town is Sylv but that's south of Carona. Although, if you take the roads (very likely that our mark did), it seems like Murla is the closest. So if I he was just running, that's where he'd probably be.

Here's the map I'm referencing, just to make sure we're on the same page here.

"It will be done."

Something stirred within as those words left your lips. An exhausted, sluggish groan of something left sleeping that hated itself for the second time. You ignored its vague and feeble murmurs until it sunk fitfully back into slumber, taking the haunting melody of its broken lullaby with it. Nothing would change until you got results, and if this is what was necessary to do that then... It wasn't as if it was the physical distance between you which had bothered you in the first place.

"What you seek is yours to know." they returned matter-of-factly. The exchange was completed without unnecessary fanfare and the truth left concealed was laid bare to you. The fate of the Tiers that night, the path that awaited them, and where your search would lead you. Everything you would have needed to uncover and put together yourself made apparent by the whim of the keeper of secrets who had overseen it.

You stood in the moistened earth and let your understanding settle. You knew what needed to be done now, but it wasn't something you could do. Not anymore. The longer you failed to pursue the tamers the less certain this information would become, the less meaningful this path would be, but the compact made to acquire it demanded your intention before all else - Such was the price paid. You had your answer now. You had the lead you needed. You... You'll be leaving in the morning, then?

"That's it." You murmur in hollow revery, turning from the empty mineshaft where the Atlach Nacha had already receded to make your way back to Carona. "That's really all you have to say."

You'd leave in the morning. It felt right.

There was still some time until then. Time for last minute preparations. You needed to leave behind what you'd learned so that someone could make use of it. Perhaps the Host of Dryad... You would be loathe to provide the princess with anymore meaning than she already had.

>Make your final rounds in Carona
>Seek out the Host of Dryad
>Make a specific preparation before you leave (what?)
>Other? (Write-in)

>>3346410
>it seems like Murla is the closest. So if I he was just running, that's where he'd probably be.
Agreed. Its been so long since the brother fled, I doubt he's anyone special by this point, though apparently he's hunted or something similar. I hope we can get some sort of identifier, otherwise this will be difficult.

>Make your final rounds in Carona
The sooner we set out, the sooner we'll be done.

>>3346437
forgot to link
>>3346441

>>3346437
>Seek out the Host of Dryad

This is completely pointless if Irue can't make use of the information.

>>3346437
>Seek out the Host of Dryad
tell her the stuff then
>Make your final rounds in Carona
I guess buying supplies? We should probably ask one of the knights who know about tracking to come with us. And maybe someone who can handle human interactions better.

>>3346437
>Make your final rounds in Carona

>>3346445
I wish Irue could meet him, but this is being done in persuit of info on the Tiers, which doesn't need rue's involvement at this stage.

>>3346456
Wait, didn't we already get it? The info?
>The exchange was completed without unnecessary fanfare and the truth left concealed was laid bare to you. The fate of the Tiers that night, the path that awaited them, and where your search would lead you. Everything you would have needed to uncover and put together yourself made apparent by the whim of the keeper of secrets who had overseen it.

>>3346456
Ashe knows where they are but can't act on it. I mean, I guess we could just let Asche take care of it once she's done finding this dude when the information is outdated and useless. If you want.
>The longer you failed to pursue the tamers the less certain this information would become
>You knew what needed to be done now, but it wasn't something you could do
>You needed to leave behind what you'd learned so that someone could make use of it.

>>3346464
>but the compact made to acquire it demanded your intention before all else - Such was the price paid.
We got paid before we did the work, but you don't try to rip off a Mana or apparition. We have to do the work before anything else, especially as following up on the info given will likely take a while.

>>3346472
Rue's timeline is uncertain, but she expected before she left that it would take a while. Assuming Asche has some way of knowing who to look for (otherwise this is basically impossible), this shouldn't take very long.

>>3346477
How does telling Ari where the Tiers are before we leave rip this thing off? I don't understand.

Worst case scenario Irue or Asche takes care of it depending on who comes back first, best case scenario they're acessible enough that Ari can have them rescued for Irue's return.

>>3346472
Oh, you want to pass the Tier info on in case this takes a while? Sure, but why would we entrust it to Ari of all people? Give it to Rinner, she's much more responsible and can take notes.

>>3346498
I thought you were saying we should pass off the descendant info and pursue the Tiers, I misunderstood.

>>3346502
Because Ari is-
>Combat capable
>Not currently doing anything
>A dryad adept capable of homing in on life signs, if you remember Elly's capabilities

She could totally act on this information depending on where they're being held and how heavily they're guarded. If she isn't capable of rescuing them then it doesn't matter who we leave the information with so long as it's someone Irue will check in with. If notes are the problem then have Asche leave a letter in her care too.

>>3346532
>Combat capable
Her rue-in-a-stick is, I guess
>Not currently doing anything
She's never doing anything, because she doesn't have the willpower. She's certainly not going to go out and do anything without Rue.
>>A dryad adept capable of homing in on life signs, if you remember Elly's capabilities
Fledgling, and hasn't shown any actual powers yet, afaik.

>She could totally act on this information
>Ari
>doing anything on her own

>>3346437
>Make a specific preparation before you leave (what?)
Leave the Tier info with Riener. Can't hurt, right?

>>3346502
You know, thinking about it, Ari could act on that information today. I mean tell it to Rinny or whatever, but make sure Ari is acting on it.

>>3346543
If she's so useless then why did we pass our Rite? It was because she impressed our Aunt by threatening her with the oakenrue for attempting to enter the town without Irue's permission, she also began attacking town guards on the walls and replacing them with our knights when Irue went missing. She's not the spineless worm you make her out to be.

Ari does pretty much everything she's told, it's just that she's rarely told to do anything.

>>3346543
Also,
>hasn't shown any actual powers yet, afaik
She found the oakenrue the day after it arrived, she had no way of knowing where it was except for her adept powers.

>>3346577
>If she's so useless then why did we pass our Rite?
You seem to have misunderstood the point of the Rite. It was never about strength or usefulness, it was about taming them, bringing them to our side. It's why we barely scraped by with Rinner; she was hostile with us until we earned her trust (via violence, but that's beside the point) which didn't happen until right near the end.

>She's not the spineless worm you make her out to be.
She's not spineless, just damaged. She came to us so damaged she wouldn't get out of bed. She's better than she used to be, but she's far from independent enough to leave the city, never mind go on a mission.

>>3346543
>because she doesn't have the willpower
Ari: Gee, I don't know if I can─
Asche: Irue will like you a lot more if you di─
Ari: Were are they!? I'll kill em! I'll kill em all!!

Just kidding. But in all seriousness though, I'm pretty sure Rumpy can go with her if needed.

>>3346616
>Rumpy
Reiner? She could technically, but she's busy being our regent, on account of how Rue doesn't know how to rule, and keep wandering off. We've been having manpower shortages for a long while now in all fields.

>>3346648
>Reiner
Yeah Renperf, that's what I said. It won't take that long probably. Fen's there anyway.

>>3346603
>It was never about strength or usefulness, it was about taming them, bringing them to our side
It was about both, the testament had to be judged both loyal and useful to Irue in order to pass.

>She came to us so damaged she wouldn't get out of bed
This point is fair, though I'm arguing under the assumption that Riz won't make us decide whether to send her without giving us the context necessary to know how difficult/dangerous it's likely to be based on what Asche knows.

>>3346237
I'm sure this will end well.

Asche is totally a reasonable and responsible person who doesn't need supervision


Pay no attention to the corpses in the tunnels.

>>3346437
I think we lost him.

>>3346532
>>3346445
>>3346437
Supporting for these reasons

Sorry, some things came up. I'll be a bit! Expect this to take several hours though, so if anyone needs to sleep please do so.

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>>3346838

>>3346437
>>Seek out the Host of Dryad
>>Make a specific preparation before you leave (what?)

Inform Rinnier of all the things you expect her to do to keep Irue healthy and happy. An exhaustive list of minutae with occasional allusions to extreme dangers like bracelets or drowning in the bath.

Don't go into any actual details of the dangers, as is tradition.

>>3346437
>Seek out the Host of Dryad
>Notify Rinnier as well. If the Tiers won't be found just because we're jealous of Rinnier, that would be much worse than providing her with some meaning. Priorities!

>>3346437

>Seek Out the Host of Dryad
>Make a specific preparation before you leave:

Find an embellishment for the repair in our uniform.

If there is a rend in one's physical armor, it must be repaired before you are called to action. If there is a gap in one's mental armor, it must also be filled.

It's not a meaningless indulgence: We cannot afford to break more than we already have.

>>3346441
>>3346453
>>3346456
Final rounds!

>>3346445
>>3346453
>>3346802
>>3346859
>>3347039
>>3347241
Seek the host!

>>3346543
>>3346859
>>3347039
>Asche
>Leaving things with Rinnier

>>3347241
Fixing uniform before we leave!

Matters resolved, dinner acquired, let's try and get out another update or two!

Searching out the Host of Dryad was an easy matter, even if it meant curving your return to Carona with a detour. She often spent her time in the burned out husk of the Tier estate, a place all bereft of curious eyes and ears to look over one's shoulder. Though the fire had only been some months ago, this charcoaled architectural skeleton had already become well and truly overtaken by nature as if it had been years since the blaze. An artificial growth, spurred on by its sole occupant as she followed Irue's wishes to delve into Dryad's favor with diligent meditation.

Yet it wasn't purely her own power which filled these halls with greenery. You knew the moment the parasitic Aspiration recognized your approach, acknowledging you in silence and stillness even as you knew it to be alerting Dryad's Host to your arrival. This was her bodyguard, and a more dedicated and loyal thing you would be hard pressed to find - Born of Dryad's pure and single minded obsessive affection for your heart's keeper, made not only in a mimicry of their image, but nurtured on their very blood. It had known little but Irue as the light of its life since it was born. Arguably in a literal manner now that Dryad itself had been lulled back to slumber, as it relied on Irue and the Host of Dryad to remain awake and manifested at all.

It was a sweet child. Its mistress however...

"Asche?" Sea-green eyes rose to meet the incredibly plain appearance of Irue's least assuming Testament as she greeted you from the broken arch of a doorway, a skin of some manner of alcohol looped loosely by the strings around one hand. She ducked forward, slinking towards you in a slightly off-kilter manner as she negotiated the creaking and weakened boards underfoot. "Wine?" The waifish brunette raised her skin in rhetoric, its top already absent and out of sight. You stared wordlessly, a small, amused smirk slipping across her slightly flushed face moments later. "No? Figured. Only time I've seen you drink was when Master forced a mouthful of Faedka on you."

She took a swig, swallowing her own mouthful of the bitter alcohol as if it were water... And breaking into a coughing fit not seconds after as her body shuddered. "Eh... Don't give me that look. I never thought I'd get anything half this nice." She wiped the fermented juice from her chin, half-buzzed eyes drifting across you from behind her stringy hair. "So, what brings you?"

You could question where she got a skin of wine, but the answer was moot. She had been there when Irue outlined the authority of the Testament, after all. Dryad's Host could requisition what she pleased in Carona. It was one of the less indulgent things you knew the host to have done... And ultimately her behaviour was none of your business.

"Resuri." You intoned softly, "Tamers were sent down river."

"...?" Tension entered her posture for the first time sicne you'd arrived, sloughing the straps of her wineskin over her shoulder as she perked up. "Rinny's been irritated with Resuri for months now. Or was it Murla...?" Her brows knit together half-heartedly. "Maybe both. How'd you figure something like that out, though?"

You held your peace, but you could already see her wine-addled mind piecing things together with deceptive sharpness. What Dryad's Host lacked in raw physical strength they more than made up for in sheer cunning. "This is something big if it's true. No way Master won't be excited." Her skeptical frown held every bit of the habitual distrust you'd come to expect from her. "We both know you're not the favourite anymore. Why tell me?"

The simple barb went ignored. Even if you never cared for races of favoritism, it held enough shades of truth that its message was understood. "Busy." Came the summation of your explanation in a single word. "It's yours."

"Too 'busy' to be here when Master gets back, huh?" Ari prodded, receiving only deft nod for her curiosities. "Alright, I'll handle it. Starting to run out of ideas around here anyway." What remained of her wine sloshed in its skin as she shrugged, a single thought spared to what else Dryad's Host had entertained herself with in the semi-constant absency of your heart's keeper. While the princess busied herself with managing the affairs of Carona and the experiment's pack took up its attentions, it was Dryad's Host alone who seemingly had - and enjoyed - the otherwise free reign that came with being a Testament. All but a few knights were quick to bend to her whims simply due to past experience, yet with the shared authority of Irue's name at her command, much of Carona had become little more than a playground for the former slave.

"Why'd they took the monster trainers hostage?" She muttered, "Think they'll try to bribe us? I can't see Master caring about that."

"Slaves." You returned flatly, producing the mayor's journal. "Sold for funds."

"Hmph." The stringy haired brunette snorted darkly, a gloomy scowl drawing out the luminescent amber which shown through her locks. "Tell me that first. Mind if I keep this thingy?" She waved the journal in front of you, tossing it aside without a second glance after you acquiesced. It would be useless where you were going. "I'll make sure Master knows as soon as they get back. But you..." Her voice trailed off, and for the briefest of moments she looked at you without walls behind her eyes. "...How long are you gonna be busy for?"

Your eyes closed, shaking your head softly. You didn't have an answer, prompting Dryad's Host to avert her eyes with an awkward silence.

"If you take too long... you might not have a place to come back to."

...

It wasn't a threat. A warning? A fear? You don't know. It took you years to begin understanding Irue, and even that didn't seem consistent. Whatever feelings Ari suffused in those words, you could only acknowledge their earnesty. It was, in some form, the same fear which drove you to this in the first place. So even if you didn't understand...

"I know."

You nodded evenly in response. Without further ceremony you turned to leave - Pausing only when slender fingers grasped at your sleeve. You glance over your shoulder to find the amber luminescence of Dryad's Host staring back at you, her mostly emptied wine skin raised tentatively a final time. "Sure you don't want any?"

"No." It was meaningless for you to drink.

The single syllable answer freed your sleeve from her loosened fingers as her eyes slid off you, searching for some new detail to be found on the skin in her hand.

...Should you purge her of Dryad before you leave? Her meditation efforts brought her closer to the Mana even in its slumbering state; It would render her affinity severely weakened, but it may delay the inevitable mental influence Dryad's nightmares would exert on her. It'd been an unnecessary precaution while you were here to keep vigil, but with you leaving-

Was it safer to leave her empowered to aid your heart's keeper, or douse that power to protect Irue from what she might become?

>Flush her of Dryad before you leave.
>Move on.

going to leave this up, as the skyfire has risen in the meantime.

>>3347401
> Ask Ari if she wants us to purge her

Probably not.

It occurs to me, Ari might be totes willing to go mad if it makes her more useful to us.

Also I feel that Irue will be shocked and sad that Asche left her, even temporarily. We should remember to ask Ari where and why she went.

And then be disappointed Ari didn't ask those questions.

We might be awkward with Asche lately, but she HAS been there for Irues whole life.

>>3347401
>Move on.

>>3347401
Holy crap. Is it even Ari?
How the fuck will we deal with this all as Irue?
I feel like this quest is falling apart around me.

>Flush her of Dryad before you leave.

>>3347401
>Flush her of Dryad before you leave.
So this is what Ari is like when we're not around. Is she deceiving us with the wounded animal act?

>>3347398
>You stared wordlessly, a small, amused smirk slipping across her slightly flushed face moments later. "No? Figured. Only time I've seen you drink was when Master forced a mouthful of Faedka on you."
They grow up so fast these days... I like it!
>>3347401
>Move on.

>>3347509
Nah man. She grew up as a slave. She literally worships Irue and would die or worse for her.

But fuck everyone else. She's just imitating how she's seen everyone else in power act.

But if Irue mentioned that she didn't like seeing Ari drunk, she would stop in a heartbeat. Then make everyone else stop.

Go read the part of the quest where we discussed her name and what would have happened if we got her a gift.

Remember when Riz wrote that Priat PoV? People aren't all the same as they are around Irue, and Irue has her own perspectives colouring her interactions.

The quest from Irues PoV is that of an unreliable narrator.

>>3347401

She still has that headband, yes?

>>3347509
It MIGHT be dryads influence. Don't really know. Either way Irue doesn't know so we can't really do anything about it.
We'll just have to see how she acts when we get back to Irue's point of view or what happens if we vote to purge her of Dryad.

>>3347521
>She still has that headband, yes?
Probably... Why?

>>3347529
I think that was the thread or near it where Riz talked about how potentially batshit crazy OP Ari could have been if we made different choices.

And she is still that terrifying potentially. Because heavy emphasis on the crazy part.

>>3347401
>>Flush her of Dryad before you leave.
Rue's got enough problems to deal with, Ari going nuts is going to be even more of an issue to deal with.


She's been flagrantly abusing her power as a Testament. Rue's going to have to deal with that when she gets back if someone will actually tell her.


>>3347502
Right? I'm baffled.

>>3347509
It feels like it, though I suspect there's more to it.

>>3347521
>But if Irue mentioned that she didn't like seeing Ari drunk,
That would be treating the symptom, not the cause and meta, as rue doesn't know about this.

>The quest from Irues PoV is that of an unreliable narrator.
I don't think rue is an unreliable narrator, only a biased or colored perspective. True unreliables make things up and heavily distort things. Rue is only filtering things through her perception.

>>3347768
I was using Irue ordering her to do something as an example, not a suggestion.

Ari simply acts completely different around Irue, and the thing is the Knights are used to her leading, and they're more or less the authority around here. If anything, she is probably acting more like an average noble than Irue is.

And so long as it isn't to excess, it's just another type of taxation really. Not necessarily even an unwelcome one, since the person giving it to her has the chance to build a relationship with her that could come in handy later.

It would be concerning if Ari had any possible risk of manipulating Irue, but I straight up still feel Ari is all about doing whatever Irue wants before anything else.

>>3347930
Maybe she's a mirror of the kind of person Irue doesn't want to be anymore. I think it's based on what Irue taught Ari and how Irue behaved during the rite, we were a manipulative little shit and we explained how she could be one too. Our feelings have changed since then but we never sat down and talked to Ari about it.

>>3347962
We slept and shared our heart with her, after the changes were made.

Ari feels the power, but she feels responsible to Irue not the commoners or nation.

>>3347401
>Flush her of Dryad before you leave.

I can't help but be extremely worried, after that answer on ask.fm.

>>3347502
>>3347509
Perspective, huh. As if we didn't have enough to fucking worry about and here we get some real tasty meta to chew but can't act on.

>>3347962
I don't remember where or when but there were warnings.

>>3348019
I think Riz has told us a few times now that we shouldn't worry about the meta and just vote for what we want.

>>3348046
What if I want a cute innocent Ari instead of drunk manipulator?

>>3348054
Well I did vote for what I want.

I don't like using meta when I play anything, it's making the Worm quests a true nightmare for me.

>>3348046
Usually on the heels of missing yet another Forgetting, yea, he's said stuff to that effect.
I always here an implied 'because you going to fail no matter what you do anyway', though I know that's not the intent.

RIIIIIIIIZ I'M COMING FOR YOU
More seriously though, I'm up to thread 60 and I obviously have a connection (if a bad one) so I'll try to have a review up by the end of the month.
It's gonna take a while to write it as there is a lot to discuss but I owe it that much.

>>3348212
Can you write a review that is less than half of the quest's current word count?

File: Word crashed twice for this.png (5 KB, 260x166)

5 KB PNG

>>3347428
Ask before purging!

>>3347444
>>3347518
Moving on!

>>3347502
>>3347509
>>3347768
>>3348019
Purge!

Writing!
---
>>3347521
>Headband
Yes.

>>3348212
Oh, exciting! I hope you weren't too bored slogging through all the archives.

>>3348236
You made me curious.

>>3348449
>Image
As an addendum it could probably be trimmed down to about half of that in page count if I formatted it (Spacing gets smaller, fonts gets larger). I write mostly in N++ so I just copied it over for science.

~1k pages isn't bad I guess. It's like 14 pages a thread. Honestly puts into perspective just how much time and effort goes into writing actual novels!

>>3348449
>over 700,000 words

That puts you in the running for the top 50 novels by word count
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_longest_novels#List

Do you keep a local copy of the quest?

>>3348491
If by local copy you mean a masterfile of everything I've written? Then yeah. I've actually got the active file where I write things and a back up file I update periodically just in case.

That said I doubt Valen would be a single novel. I'd have probably broken it up into volumes or something, so it's much less overwhelming than it seems.