The halls outside were quiet. Too quiet for the middle of the day, but you wouldn't complain. You had a headache that had only worsened since the moment you woke up, and dealing with the commotion of people going about their day would only make you more frayed than you already were. All the same... You shambled through these empty halls waiting to be found. Your path took you towards the front, standing at the threshold to the entryway where Fen's station stood untouched.

The knight in question was nowhere to be seen, and you caught yourself squinting at his desk as if staring long enough would tell you more. The meeting room you'd held dinner in that one time was as empty as the entryway, save for the comfortingly familiar citrus scent that forewarned of your redhaired Testament's attempts to figure out tea. It hung faintly in the air still, seeping from the cold remnants of its brewing. You took a single, heavy breath of it and felt your mind start to clear as you turned on your heel and set a hand against your hip.

"Where is everyone...?"

"No one's allowed inside right now."

A soft voice provided your unexpected answer, drawing your attention back around. Ari offered a small smile when your attention finally landed on her, her dull brown eyes peeking out through perpetually stringy hair as she clutched a flesh coated walking stick before her. "Good morning, master."

"Morning..." You repeat dubiously. Even by your standards it wasn't that anymore. "What do you mean 'not allowed'?"

"Rinny said you needed rest."

Your brow arches skeptically. "And she vacated the entire headquarters for that?"

"No." Ari shook her head slowly, "Kara's here too."

"Ah." You intoned. Given the state Kara was in, you wouldn't be surprised if Rinnier had chosen to treat the demihuman like a disaster waiting to happen. That explained why this place had been so empty... But it wasn't as if you had many other places to fall back to. This had to be a temporary measure at best. "How is she?"

"I don't know. Bad?" Ari's smile shrank as she offered her meager evaluation. "She's awake, but she hasn't left her room. I don't know how much of the blood is hers... Do you know what happened?"

"Mm." A minute passes, and you don't bother to elaborate.

"Well..." She continues awkwardly, rolling the fleshen staff in her hands before sporting a brighter, more earnest smile. "You won! Rinny's been doing her best to clean up last night's operation, and she thinks we got everyone! I didn't let anyone get out, either!" The staffbound Testament practically beamed with her last words. "Not one, all night!"

>Ask about something (what?)
>Meet with someone (who?)
>Self care comes first.
>Other? (write-in)

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:
Irue Things (up to 74) - https://pastebin.com/PchcdWpw
A List of Forgotten Things (up to 74) - http://pastebin.com/kPEscJ3h
Irue's Memoirs (Scares the QM to update) - http://pastebin.com/sWnicrK7

Arc I - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DMjxLjSbvr-xcxqX9M_ysKaBV1zkUmu5/view?usp=sharing
Arc II - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cXL1fIYb22IqQ51wWUp3-IMZa2nV5TY8/view?usp=sharing

"Really I'd say anybody catching up should read threads instead of this because of what goes on in them, so this is more for looking back I'd say." - Ebook anon

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
Merciless Compass - https://pastebin.com/8Hy0krxv
Better Strangers - https://pastebin.com/mvShXpCt

Misc notes:Something has been retconned because on further consideration it would have been arbitrary on my account due to a QM failure to properly track time, which landed you in an unfortunate circumstance.

An unsatisfying attempt to track the timeline: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1TarAKEt4uvucx-3y4A5d2T46FPF3dXs60an9-AMrJUA/edit?usp=sharing

Memo:
1. Work through dying before it causes issues with the Shade scar.
2. Return and investigate the Dryad Shrine
3. Bring Miska and the other "People skilled with arms, with a taste for conflict" with us to the main house.

Itinerary:
1. Discern knights with an affinity for Mana worth polishing.
2. Train the most combat apt knights.
3. Track down Asche, who left to find the descendant of the Ice Queen's bloodline.
4. Track down the Tier siblings, currently located in Resuri.
5. Expedition for resources to the north.
6. Unfinished business at the Ruined Shrine.
7. Respond to your aunt's summons.

Current Goal: Respond to your aunt's summons.
What's On Your Mind:

>>4099312
>Ask about something (what?)
Firstly, Ask what Ari did with the people she, er, "caught." Also, if anybody came *in.*
Because I'm sure Ari absolutely loves Mim.
Secondly, what became of the people causing a scene in the town square, and the nature of the scene they caused.
Thirdly, we need to start a search for Raid so that Kara doesn't reach up through our ass, punch our teeth out our mouth, grab our hair, and turn us inside out into a grotesque approximation of a sea cucumber defending itself.

But once we're sure the house isn't burning down around us-
>Self care comes first.
There are absolutely people we have to meet but if we're to be a pillar for the community we need to look good, not just act good. Stumbling out a disheveled wreck covered in day old sanguine spew will raise the eyebrows of everybody but people into bloodplay.

So now is the time to see Markovic.

>>4099312
>Self care comes first.
Didn't we break our arm or something.
Also FINALLY! Been waiting a long time to see u again Riz. Very nice

>>4099312
>Ask Ari about who tried to get out, what became of them, and who tried to get in while we're engaging in self-care.

Our current short-term goal should be to ensure things go smoothly here while we're seeing our aunt. Dealing with the arriving Paladin is an important part of this.

>>4099330
Marchovic probably still hasn't arrived.

>>4099312
>Hug Ari
>Ask her to tell us everything that happened
I remember telling Ari we'd spend some time together but I think our schedule is permanently full of suffering.

I wonder if we could fool Raid into believing that we killed the pack so he doesn't lash out at Kara? First order of business would be cleaning the blood off Kara and having the aspiration eat the evidence.

>>4099312
Oh and I guess
>Ask Ari to help us wash the blood off
Ain't gonna be easy wish a broken wrist

What did you retcon?

>>4099819
Something horrible. Horrible!
SUFFERING PLUS ULTRA

I won't be updating until much later tonight, but hello everyone! I will now talk about things I'm sure none of you care about.

Timeline!
We have one now! I considered setting it up to be a decent recreation of the whole timeline from the start of the quest until now, but as you can see that didn't happen. We had a quite a few fuzzy-time inducing timeskips which would have made that ugly to try and chart out.

On a general scale however, I estimate that it's been around half a year for Irue since the quest started? Probably a little more than that. The first arc leading up to Carona's destruction took place within the span of roughly four months, there was a one month drunken timeskip, and you've spent a ~1-2 months in your efforts since. That puts us pretty comfortably around the seven month mark!

Going forward I'm probably going to utilize the timeline primarily for specific instances of keeping track of the cast being split, but you're also welcome to specifically request a running tracker of something I don't think of.

Itinerary and To-Do lists!
Basically an extension of the memo function, which I'm not pleased over. I wrestled with a few different formats for this, because if I was going to create two MORE lists for you guys to slot items onto, I wanted them to be more meaningful than just another additional reference list. To that end, I considered trying to incentivize management and tying in the utilization of the list into a mechanical interface screw.

Ex: Dialogue options leading to your goals would be marked as such.
Trashed: Holds your hand too much, leans on your agency to make your own decisions, and mass effect's paragon/renegade system is bad.

Ex: Dialogue relevant to your goals in an update are color-coded to stand out to you more easily!
Trashed: Holds your hand too much, encourages disregarding uncolored information, discourages discerning opportunities for yourself, and aesthetically it's obnoxious.

Ex: The option to shift into a "goal oriented" mindset where in your default interactions with people and situations would place lower priority on information and avenues unrelated to your currently configured goals. This runs the risk of ignoring people who need you, or situations that you could have resolved, in favor of pursuing your goals. An emulation of how focusing on achieving your goals can sometimes make you lose sight of the people and things around you.
Trashed: Leans on your agency, felt bad as a QM to railroad even if you explicitly opted into it, you all do a good enough job of this without mechanical enforcement.

So in the end you just got a new list. I don't know if it will help any, or if there's a more interesting thing I can do with it, but it is what it is for now.

Itinerary is your catch-all "things we want to see to".
Current Goal is your most pressing matter currently.
What's On Your Mind is an additional matter you're trying to balance while handling your current goal.

As always, these are entirely yours to update, manage and assign. I'll remove items as they become irrelevant, but only you guys can decide when to add an item, or when to assign it.

>>4099819
>>4099822
The timeline spoils this if you look at it. If you'd rather not know what was retconned I don't advise checking out the spoilers, and anyone responding to this post should probably use spoilers as well just for good measure.

After sending Mim and Gehr back, you teleported to Carona and arrived before they did, then immediately decided to push forward with the purge ASAP. Due to reasonable apprehension of Ari's Dryad favor being publicly discovered if she was kept in town, you assigned her and the Oakenrue to guarding the perimeter of Carona.

Due to you cutting through travel time with a teleport then rushing the operation, the purge was set to line up exactly on the days that Mim and Gehr should have arrived back in Carona, where they would have encountered Ari and the Oakenrue, and you already know exactly how that encounter ends. Dryad has nothing but seething hatred for Luna and its favored.

In essence, Mim and Gehr died off screen.

So, why was it retconned? Because this was my fault, and not yours. I did not do a proper job keeping strict track of time, so even if some of you were keeping careful note of all that, there was a fuzzy period created after establishing HiH with Rinnier that made it unreasonable to hold any of you responsible for the consequence of disastrous schedule conflicts.

While it is entirely possible most, or perhaps none, of you had considered this outcome, it was too drastic for me to accept going through with if there was any degree of arbitrariness in my decision, and by nature of me having to dictate where in that fuzzy-time between establishing HiH and beginning the operation the incident fell, it would have ultimately been something I was responsible for rather than purely your own choices which led to it.

I spent about a week thinking it over, and whether the decisions leading up to it were enough to warrant going through with it regardless, but there are things which are inviolable and no degree of QM error are acceptable. This was one of them.

>>4099312
>>Self care comes first.

>>4099846
Does the itinerary have limited slots like the Memos?

IIRC, we haven't recovered the newborn Oakenrue yet, that should be on the itinerary.

>>4100176
>Does the itinerary have limited slots like the Memos?
Yes, it should have six slots. It has 7 currently because I forgot to remove #7 when it was placed as your main goal.

Theoretically you could have as many slots in the itinerary as you want, but for the sake of your to-do list not getting too huge I'm capping it at 6 (and then whatever two you assign to Goal/Mind, for 8 total).

Total slots may change in the future if I think of a satisfying way to make it more engaging.

>>4100212
Ok then, swap itinerary 3 for "Recover new Oakenrue from outside city". We spent less than a day with it before haring back to town, and we don't want it trying to come over the walls looking for us or something.

>>4099330
>>4099363
>>4099635
What happened to the people Ari caught? Did anyone come in?

>>4099330
>>4099635
What was up with the town square, anyway?

>>4099330
>>4099335
>>4100157
Self care. We need a bath! And new clothes!

>>4099647
Ari I'm covered in blood, help.

>>4099330
Gotta find Raid before we become a sea cucumber.

>>4099635
Hugs?

alright, writing!
----
Itinerary:
1. Discern knights with an affinity for Mana worth polishing.
2. Train the most combat apt knights.
3. Recover new Oakenrue from outside city.
4. Track down the Tier siblings, currently located in Resuri.
5. Expedition for resources to the north.
6. Unfinished business at the Ruined Shrine.

Done!

Crud, I forgot, we ought to check on Miska.
Specifically if she got lynched after running off on her own.

>>4099312
> pat Ari's head and praise her for doing a good job.

Secret loyalty weapon: headpats. >>4100459

>>4100212
Ultimately, I think the itinerary is the best solution, because it seems to me that our main issue is forgetting the context during the long gaps between threads threads.
I think though that it should have a larger, if not unlimited, slot cap. At least as an experiment.

>>4099868
Jesus Christ.

That's, uh, yeah. A level of granularity that I wasn't prepared for. Glad you exerted your discretion there.

On the whole, feeling pretty optimistic about how we survived the whole purge. Even the Kara stuff and the Behemoth Damocles Sword hanging over us doesn't detract that we've gotten a good grasp on the actual conspirators and are making significant progress.

I'm leery about Raid's reaction the the slaughter of the demi-humans. We can maybe talk him through it? I mean, he IS a sociopath to a vague degree but now Rue and Kara are pretty much his only reliable system of support.

>>4100754
You know, I expect Raid to to just make fun of Kara for being stupid enough to believe Maro.

"So there were some who tried to escape?" You'd expected as much considering Ari was assigned there in the first place. "Where are they now?"

"I dunno, probably still out there." Ari blinked owlishly, exchanging miscomprehension with you for a silent tick before leaning forward in alarm. "Was I supposed to do something with them? I put them all together, that's good, right?!"

"No- Yes, that's fine." You shake your head, "I was more wondering if Rinnier had any plans for them."

Ari sighed in relief. "I don't think so. I guess she'll want them buried eventually?"

"..." Your head tilted. "You... Killed them?"

"No." She holds out the fleshen walking stick blandly. "This one did, I watched."

"You just... Let it kill everyone trying to escape last night? And then made a pile of dead bodies outside town?"

Ari's tentative smile flinched under your questions, slowly retracting the staff to clutch nervously in front of her. "Was I not supposed to? Not even that rock guy?" Your eyes widened reflexively, fragments of last night rushing back to you. That's right, you'd killed the Artemis agent, but his bodyguard had still been alive when you left.

You hadn't specified how vicious to be in dealing with people escaping, but to some extent you didn't think the abomination you'd lent Ari would jump immediately to slaughtering people... In retrospect, maybe you should have. It had experienced a lot since it was born, and warped into whatever human-flesh covered, twisted existence it was now; Besides its unceasing hatred for Luna born from Dryad itself, you really knew nothing about it these days.

"No, you did well. I expected that Gnome adept to keep being a thorn in our side, but you already took care of it." In the end, it wasn't as if your choices lately left you any room to chide anyone else over something like this. You reached out to ruffle her already stringy hair, but catching sight of your bloodied hand forced you to reconsider... It was all well dried now, but you weren't about to flake it off in her hair. That moment of hesitation, however, was all the opening Ari needed to step deftly past your hovering hand.

"I don't mind the blood." She admitted plainly.

Ari peered up through stringy bangs as she sidled closer, standing calmly scant inches away. No, you had to revise that notion, she wasn't standing there - She was waiting. Her chin tucked, angling her eyes meekly upward when you failed to respond. "Master?"

"Did something happen?" You regretted the question the moment it left your mouth, but those words were the first to bubble to the surface. Something didn't sit right, but what other answer could you expect to a question like that? especially after last night. Rather than wait for an answer, you shook your head and wrapped your extended arm around her shoulders idly. "...Nevermind. good job Ari, I'm proud of you." She did everything you'd hoped she would, and more beyond. Some praise for that wouldn't be misplaced.

"Mm..." The smaller Testament stifled a giggle of satisfaction under her breath while leaning into your bloodstained clothes.

If the rest of Carona were as easy to please as Ari, these past few months would have gone much smoother. "Besides those trying to escape, did you encounter anyone from the forest?"

"Not someonem But something?" She intoned carefully. "I told it to wait."

So it had already made it back? "I'm surprised it listened." You wouldn't exactly call those apparitions disobedient, but they were very similar to overenthusiastic children. Even if it wanted to please, it would become restless if left alone too long.

"Mine is stronger." She noted with almost ticklish pride, "It's an Aspiration now, did you know?"

The fleshen rod sandwiched between you pulsed dully, perhaps aware on some degree the conversation involved it. You'd expected that it had shed its core at some point, but to hear someone else actually voice the idea... The fleshen abomination had well matured beyond its child-like apparitional state. You can't help but wonder if Dryad's slumber, or the rerousing there of, played any part in its final steps.

"Have you gotten better at communicating with them?" You eased her away to take a closer look at the Aspiration, currently masquerading as a walking stick covered in human flesh. It was a curious sight... If one defined 'curious' as 'deeply unsettling'. As far as you knew, Rinnier still hated the thing.

Ari, however, held onto it as if it were her most treasured possession. "I make progress, and then something goes wrong." She shook her head apologetically as frustration colored her report. "I took a break like you asked me to, though! I'm ready to work harder at it now that everything is over, so I can be more useful to you next time."

It almost made you laugh, but blithe prospect of increasing her own usefulness left a discomfort in your chest. Even more so that the path to achieving that would align her further and further with Dryad. It wasn't a choice to be made lightly, and you weren't in the position boldly claim you didn't or wouldn't need that power in the future, either...

You pulled Ari back into a brief hug before letting her go. You needed time to think over whether you should keep encouraging her development... or not. You'd spent so much time when you'd first met trying to nurture an interest in the Mana, and with her affinity being polished so diligently you had to be amazed - And a little jealous, if you were being honest. This was the route you had hoped she'd follow from the very beginning, and she'd taken to it swimmingly. You knew full well there would be consequences if her affinity with Dryad continued to grow, but the prospect of what asking her to abandon the path she was on this far in made your stomach churn all the same.

"You're fine as you are." You catch her eyes seriously. "I don't need you to push yourself just to be useful."

"You're pushing too." She returned, driving a stake clean through your gut as your smile stiffened.

"That's different." The look in her eyes told you well enough that wasn't getting sold. "I have a lot relying on me, I have to do what I can."

"Rinnier's not the only one who can help you." The frailer brunette unexpectedly dug in her heels.

...This wasn't a point she was going to compromise on. "No, she's not. I'm relying on all of you. Kara as well." A heavy sigh dragged your shoulders down as you thought about where you'd even start with that. From the depths of that fatigue, a dull laugh clawed its way up. "But you're right. I guess I'm the last person any of you want to hear say 'take it easy'."

It felt like you were getting chided by more and more people lately. "Well, enough of that. I need a new change of clothes, and a bath on top of that." You glanced down at yourself for emphasis, bearing a wry smile that just barely survived the flinch of seeing yourself in the daylight. Kara probably looked even worse. "I actually may need your help with that, I uh... Broke my wrist last night."

"...?" Ari blinked up at you confused. "Does it hurt?"

"..." You opened your mouth to respond with the obvious, but... "No." You stared down at the offending appendage, misshapen and crushed to the point of uselessness. "...It doesn't. I'm still in need of an extra set of hands, though."

Ari nodded, evidently as uncertain of your answer as you were. "I'll get the water ready, Master."

You watched her make for the door. There was a sense of satisfaction that was hard to place in seeing the once near-cripple girl having grown strong enough to move about on her own again. There was pride and... Maybe relief? Or satisfaction? You weren't sure what to call the warmth it spurred.

"Ari, wait-" She turned at your word, "-Do you know what happened in the square last night? Or anything about Dullem and the other knights?"

"No." She shook her head apologetically. "I've been here all day."

You waved her off, freeing her to go start a bath while you were left with your thoughts again.

You needed to ascertain the state of Carona, the sooner the better... And if you didn't make immediate overtures towards finding Raid, you couldn't be sure what Kara would do - either to you, or herself. Ari had unexpectedly already met with the latest Dryad apparition, so for the moment you could rest assured it was behaving itself... But you probably couldn't expect that to last forever, either. And then, once you were sure the precarious balance of this place wasn't about to bring everything crumbling down around you, that still left your aunt's summons. As well as everything else you'd continuously put on the backburner.

You may as well start keeping a list of it somewhere before it got so long you started forgetting things.

Still... It would take Ari some time to finish preparing a bath. You couldn't exactly leave the headquarters like this, either. That left you time, and a nearly empty building, to yourself.

>Check on Kara
>Wander through Rinnier's room.
>Sift across Fen's desk.
>Continue bothering Ari.
>Take time to Meditate (To who?)
>Other? (write-in)

>>4100802
>Try to set our wrist before our monstrous regeneration does it incorrectly.

>>4100802
>>4100804
Or no, this is better left to a professional. Instead,
>Check on Kara

>>4100802
>Wander through Rinnier's room.
Rinnierier

>>4100802
>>Wander through Rinnier's room.

>>4100802
>Take time to Meditate (To who?)

Dryad.

By meditating on all OUR people and what they mean to us and how far we are willing to go for them.

Expand our posessiveness to the town of Carona. We don't really like it, but it's OURS now. We proved that with the purge. The purge was good. The purge was RIGHT. Not in any like, moral sense, but fuck 'em they made their choice. A whole universe of possibility where the could choose not to fuck with us but they insisted on it, and if staying alive meant killing them when they wouldn't stop well - the wolf eats the fox.

>>4100805
>>4100802
This first, then meditate on Dryad if Kara isn't awake yet.

She's hurt, we should prioritize her. She's our Testament, same as the others. Also our friend. Carona can burn a little bit more while we take care of this.

>>4100804
Why don't we just use the book to return to a healed form?

>>4101453
Aw shit. I forgot it could do that.
Let's do it.

>>4101453
Because we don't need to be fully healed right now. In fact it's a decent excuse for not being there for our knights.

>>4101495
Fair enough. Well. Since it doesn't actually hurt, I guess.

Although lack of pain is usually a very bad sign when experiencing significant trauma.

>>4101495
We could also just turn back with the book when we need to.

Or get a cast put on and then fix it inside the cast.

Or not have to explain jack shit to our Knights becausw they have maxed out loyalty and don't expect us to show up anyways. We can always just tell them we got caught up dealing with the demi-human situation also.

>>4101495
It also just occurred to me how inhuman this line of thought is.

"Oh, crushed and mangled limb? Hrmmm, could be useful. I could fix it, but better leave it for now."

>>4101580
>We could also just turn back with the book when we need to.
Yeah I'm not against healing ourselves if we're in a position where we need to, I just don't want to
resort to using our powers for convenience. We're fucked up enough already.

>>4101594
> You stared down at the offending appendage, misshapen and crushed to the point of uselessness.

> I just don't want to
resort to using our powers for convenience.

I mean. We're well past the point of "convenience" here.

>>4101612
When's the last time we solved a problem with our hands? We can fix it at any time using the relic, right? I'm not saying we should stay like this forever, lets just exhaust any other options we have first. Besides, Irue always seems to heal from any damage without leaving a so much as a mark so I get the feeling this isn't as serious a wound as it seems.

>>4101672
> When's the last time we solved a problem with our hands?

All the damn time? Rues strength is in using tools. IDK, when's the last time you chased down your dinnet and ate it raw, then slept naked in a tree.

Rue doesn't have the luxury of indulging in vanity like that. She has to use the tools available.

What's next, send Rinnier to doght without her weird flaming staff that we never used the fire option on?

Note to self, get oil for Rinniers staff to spew flames with.

>>4101672
Also when is the last time we had a problem that could be fixed without using other people or artifacts or aspirants under our control?

Rue ain't got those kinds of problems.

>>4101594
How would using the book to heal be bad?

>>4101716
Because using relics and powers from ateliers always have a price, we have a limited understanding of what the web and the bracelet are doing to us but we don't understand what kind of effect using the diary is having on Irue, and the idea of paying an unknown identity themed price scares me.

Again, I'm not against using it if we find ourselves in a precarious circumstance but we're safe now, we should at least do our due diligence in asking for healing from one of the wisp adepts at the shrine or basic medical attention from our knights.

>>4101725
Do we know that for sure that they always have a price? Doesn't the bracelet only hurt us because we were using it in exactly the wrong way, and even then we were able to heal from using it?

The web as well, isn't it only because we were using it wrong that it was addictive, and we've resolved that now?

>>4100802

>Check on Kara

>>4101453
>>4101456
Support. The more I think about a messed up arm, the more it grosses me out. I suppose we could leave it mangled to manipulate Kara but that feels wrong.

>>4101744
There's a lot of unknowns on the specific aftereffects they have on Irue, we know the price for using the bracelet wrong but we don't know how to use it correctly or what using it correctly would even look like, it can be used to communicate with mana but I feel like there's more, like we're missing something big.

Using the web with Rinnier has unlocked the full(?) offensive power of the web but does not seem to have reduced the effect of dulling Irues feelings when not in the web, in the last thread Riz alluded that this is the reason Irue had such an underwhelming reaction to having her arm broken.

Rinnier will also be vindicated on calling us a hypocrite for using the relics flippantly. Up until now we've only used it when we needed to (as far as she knows). This is frustrating because Rinnier is full of shit and it was absurd to call us out on using the diary to fix the damage caused from literally dying after telling her off for using it on her fat tits.

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>>4101765
A broken arm is a big deal.

Also, what do you have against Rinnier.

Don't be a clown.

>>4101767
What is your malfunction anon?

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>>4101769
That's my question for you.

You want to wander around with a fucked up arm, and think that's somehow gonna fuck Rue up less in her identity as a person instead of having her fix the arm with the book.

Because of REASONS that you don't actually know, but fear.

And then you go off on Rinnier.

What's your malfunction, Anon? Are you the guy who keeps ranting about killing our aunt?

>>4101775
>You want to wander around with a fucked up arm
I'm not going to say it a third time.

>Are you the guy who keeps ranting about killing our aunt?
No, I'm one of the guys that always argues with him.

OH YEAh. Well I think we should... hug Rinnier

>>4101779
Well at least you're not that guy.

Are you the guy who keeps suggesting we put a Dryad core into the Behemoth?

>>4101784
No, but I like that guy.

>>4101784
You say that like it's a bad idea.

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>>4101791
Well in that case I can vote to not fix our arm.

Honestly I started day drinking at lunch and this kinda feels like its starting to get out of hand.

But thanks. Glad to hear you like me.

>>4100802

>>4100804
Rue's pain tolerance is a little low for that, but we should get it treated properly. Using the diary to heal as Rue will definitely have an effect on our psyche.

>>4101793
Have you considered not posting for a bit?

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>>4101793
fukkin lol

>>4101794
Honestly, so long as we do something about it

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>>4101803
Dryad is the true Oaken-Waifu.

>>4101822
Yeah fuck it, Irue has been alone too long. Cummies for the lifelord! Dicks out for Dryad!

>>4100802
>>Check on Kara
I forgot to vote

Closing the vote soon!

>>4100804
>>4101759
>>4101794
This wrist is worrying. Maybe try to fix it up first?

>>4100805
>>4101452
>>4101759
>>4102018
Kara is worrying. Maybe try to fix her up first?

>>4101449
>>4101452
Relax and calm your mind. Dryad meditation!

>>4100810
>>4100918
What possible reason did you have for choosing this?

Alright, writing! There's a general concern towards trying to fix your wrist, but a split on whether or not to use the diary to just resolve it immediately.

>>4102503
Oboy I am excited to sleep with Kara. Full Hearts in Harmony. I wonder who took her memories of us summoning Shade.

But if she can trust us enough to sleep with us, she can experience what we've done herself. I'm confident in it.

For a single, dubious moment, you seriously considered using that freedom to go snoop through Rinnier's room. She wasn't here, and as far as you knew she probably wouldn't be back anytime soon. There certainly wasn't anyone else that would question it. Now was a rare chance to have the run of the place completely to yourself!

Except, specifically speaking, you always had the run of the headquarters. You were indisputably the highest authority here. You didn't actually have to explain yourself or your actions to any of your knights. Or your Testament, for that matter. This wasn't an opportunity at all, thinking of it like that implied there were times when you couldn't just do as you pleased. That was patently ridiculous.

...And it wasn't like you had any good reason to go in there in the first place. You had no reason to mistrust the flamehaired Testament, and it wasn't as if you'd left anything there; There really wasn't anything of interest to you in there. It was a stray thought, bereft of any particular reason or basis, and the amount of time you'd spent entertaining it was already more than it deserved. You had far more important things to do, and more important things to be considering, than something like this. More responsible things. Like what you were going to do with this destroyed wrist of yours.

It didn't hurt, and that was perhaps its only saving grace... And a major point of concern. You weren't terribly familiar with broken bones, but you're certain something like this should have left you in a fair degree of agony. It would be child's play to utilize the Diary of Reflections and simply leave the damage behind, but- If- If you did that, you'd be toying with a Relic in the same manner you'd made a point to lecture others not to.

Were the circumstances different? Probably. Your wrist looked more apt to fall off than stay attached at this point, so you would comfortably rank the direness well above Rinnier's shallow application. Were the circumstances different enough to warrant the risk regardless...?

No. Probably not. This wasn't life threatening, and you had no idea what manner of long term side effects might accompany flippant disregard for something as abstract as your 'identity'. It would be safer to find a Wisp adept willing to help you, and baring with it for now. Maybe you could get Ari to help you bandage it for the time being, if just to keep up appearances until you could get a proper healer to look at it.

...You probably needed a proper healer to see Kara as well. There really was no way of knowing whether somewhere underneath the gore you'd last seen her caked in were injuries of her own.

A heavy sigh brought you back to silence.

You knew exactly why you were so keen to distract yourself with stupid ways to waste time; It wasn't a coincidence that Rinnier's room would have taken you away from the one you were most worried over.

You didn't know what to do for Kara. You didn't know if there was anything you could do for her; Just the idea of seeing her again made you hesitate, because what then? What kind of face would she show you? What could you possibly say?

The longer you dwelled on it, the more you realized how thoroughly the demihuman haunted you. For all intents and purposes, you should have been ecstatic right now - In roughly a week you had ripped Artemis out of your hair by the roots, purged its local supporters, and gained proper control over Carona. You'd even done it mostly on your own, sans some unexpected aid from the Shrine itself. You had every reason to feel like celebrating... But instead you were pacing in the foyer of an empty building, trying to muster the courage to be more than arm's-length support. Finding, and making up excuses just to distract yourself from dealing with what was in front of you.

Shade bless, but you had always been terrible at dealing with people who were upset. You couldn't handle people crying without starting to cry yourself, and it felt horrible to catch yourself hoping against hope that after everything that happened last night, maybe she wouldn't be crying when you went in.

But... You had to do something. You couldn't leave her like this.

Your good hand rapped against a closed door, having followed the trail of blood on the floor to find the room your demihuman Testament had been left within. "Kara?" It didn't matter what you said, it wasn't as if you expected a response; Your hand was already moving to rest on the door knob as your voice dropped. "I'm coming in."

What struck you first upon entering was the smell. Like a physical blow, it nearly made you recoil when you stepped beyond the threshold to find the occupant in question with her knees clutched flush against her chest. Where you'd no doubt grown accustomed to your own rancid scent, the strench emanating from Kara's gore caked body was horrendous. You tried, and failed, to suppress a wince of empathy as you imagined what it must have been like for Kara's own nose.

For the smallest of mercies, she was, in fact, not crying. There'd been no shortage of it last night, but at this point you weren't even sure if she'd slept yet, and to describe her as too exhausted to keep crying... You couldn't say that was anything to be thankful for.

"How-" Are you doing? Reflexive words of concern, something to bridge this gap, swelled and caught in your throat as your rational mind beat them back down your gullet. You approached her slowly, understandably wary of the damage she could cause, even without meaning to. You swallowed your words and knelt several feet away. "Have slept?"

"..."

You swallowed again, receiving not so much as a flicker of her eyes in response. Even her tail remained conspicuous still, limply curled about her ankles.

This is what you were afraid. Seeing yourself reflected in her dull eyes, you felt as helpless now as you had in her place over a decade ago... Like you'd come this far, and still understood nothing.

>Keep talking to her. (About what?)
>She needs a bath more than you do.
>Offer some kind of physical reassurance.
>Leave. There's nothing you can do for her like this.
>Other? (write-in)

>>4102911
>Leave. There's nothing you can do for her like this.

>>4102911
>She needs a bath more than you do.
>Keep talking to her about meeting Raid. Which means bathing, clothing, making preparations, determining the time and direction of his arrival and so on. Get her to make plans.
I'm afraid us and Raid are the only two anchors she has.

>>4102911
>She needs a bath more than you do.
>Keep talking to her. (About what?)
>Raid can't see her like this, we need to clean her up and dispose of the evidence
>Offer to tell Raid that we killed the pack

>>4102911
>>Leave. There's nothing you can do for her like this.

>>4102911
>She needs a bath more than you do.
>Offer some kind of physical reassurance.

Grooming patterns. Also, Raid should be back soon, no? Can we send people out to get him, because Kara seems broken.

>Keep talking to her. (About what?)
>Raid can't see her like this, we need to clean her up and dispose of the evidence
>Offer to tell Raid that we killed the pack

This seems good too. But later, after we gauge what state she's in.

>>4103158
>This seems good too. But later, after we gauge what state she's in.
Yeah actually you're right, we don't know what we're dealing with yet.
>>4102911
>>4102922
Retract that part pls

>>4103195
Just want to say, if we want to tell Raid we totally iced his chump pack, how exactly did we do it? I can imagine the first thing he'll think is, "how did this literal twig kill an entire pack" since even depressed demihumans aren't exactly weaklings. I don't think he knows we can summon demons, after all.

>>4103312
Same way we can take care of the bodies. With our aspiration. Speaking of which, I think our abomination has earned a name by now.

>>4102911
>Help her bathe and change clothes. Talk about raid and focus her mind on the one thing in this world that's actually good for her.

Riz, add "use hearts in harmony with kara" to the list.

In fact, if she falls asleep in the bath let's try to sneak in a nap ourselves and use it with her. She doesn't understand words, words aren't going to help her.

>Call for Ari and tell her to fetch the town's healer to fix our wrist and give Kara a check-up

>>4103412
I don't think we should be letting people in to see Kara while she's broken

>>4103412
>Riz, add "use hearts in harmony with kara" to the list.

Itinerary:
1. Discern knights with an affinity for Mana worth polishing.
2. Train the most combat apt knights.
3. Recover new Oakenrue from outside city.
4. Track down the Tier siblings, currently located in Resuri.
5. Expedition for resources to the north.
6. Unfinished business at the Ruined Shrine.

What are you replacing?

Why do we want to HiH Kara again?

>>4103438
Nah.

I'm gonna constantly bring it up so don't worry. We'll have a bath, have a cry, maybe a fight, then a sleep.

>>4103444
Because she's the last testament to do so.

Because she has trust issues and it's the most open and honest we can possibly be with her.

Because it will let us better understand her.

Because Kara threads are best threads.

>>4103412
No, do not. We're far from unified on that.

>>4103448
Those reasons aren't all that convincing anon

Closing the vote soon!

>>4102915
>>4103122
It can't be helped!

>>4102916
>>4102922
>>4103158
>>4103412
Sausage isn't an acceptable material for a face mask!

>>4102916
>>4102922
>>4103158
>>4103412
Can't shut down now, Raid's gonna come back.

>>4102922
>>4103158
Offer to tell Raid you're the one who killed the pack.
>Note for this to maybe come up later?

>>4103158
Physical reassurance in the form of...! Grooming?

>>4103412
>>4103436
>>4103508
some division in whether to call for a healer to see to Kara as well.

Called for bath! And reassurances! And maybe grooming?

>>4104094
No for the healer.

>>4104094
Yeah, I mean we know how to bandage people, right? *What could go wrong*.

Tell me again how badly Kara is physically messed up?

>>4104094
Bathing together is a type of grooming.

Brushing Kara's hair out.

Sniffing it.

Letting her actually touch our below where we're holding it in our hand just to feel safe.

>>4104107
> Letting her actually touch our hair just below where we're holding it in our hand just to feel safe.

Haha I a word or two.

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>>4104105
>how badly Kara is physically messed up?
You don't actually know. Most of her is covered with assorted flesh. She is, quite literally, coated in her pack.

>>4104107
...

>>4104123
Well we might as well clean her up first before deciding on calling a healer.

Maybe we should send some Knights to check in on the mess and cordon off the splash zones so people don't panic.

>>4104123
I mean. Irue has a whole hair fetish thing. Kara is like, a thick maned demi-human? I see Irue sniffing Karas hair not in a sexual way but just in a way too focused on hair kinda inquisitiveness pluss Irue having the social skills of a highly manipulative toddler. Just all over the place.

Trust has been a running theme with Kara, too, what could be more trusting than letting her hold Irues hair that she values not like, more than her Testaments, but if both were falling off a cliff in a hypothetical situation she might instinctively try to save her hair first.

>>4100796
> That moment of hesitation, however, was all the opening Ari needed to step deftly past your hovering hand.

> "I don't mind the blood." She admitted plainly.

> Ari peered up through stringy bangs as she sidled closer, standing calmly scant inches away. No, you had to revise that notion, she wasn't standing there - She was waiting. Her chin tucked, angling her eyes meekly upward when you failed to respond. "Master?"

Also y'all just gonna sleep on this creepy. ass. shit right here?

>>4104123
>filename
plz no

>>4104131
We know ari is insane. I like how rue complimented her and told her "good job watching people get killed and smart of you to pile up the corpses" because that kind of reinforcement will obviously end well

>>4104157
She did do a good job, though.

And she didn't kill indiscriminately, that was good too.

Besides, Irue doesn't mind the blood much either.

Looking her over, Kara needed a bath more desperately than you did. Being covered in dried blood was one thing, but the gore which coated your Testament was tangibly thick; In some places it resembled raw sausage. Shifting awkwardly, you pushed to your feet and shuffled across the cautious distance separating you. "Come on, Kara. You can't sit in here like this, we need to get you cleaned up." You started to offer your hand to her, but the instant it took you to determine which had she'd broken last night was enough to make you rethink that plan altogether. "Ari's preparing a bath already, can you stand?"

...No response. She may have been ignoring you, but her half-lidded stare didn't necessarily discourage you from continuing. You gingerly lowered your good hand over her head, trying to stroke her hair through the accumulated grime. You can't really remember what Asche had done to help you all those years ago. The memories were... Dark. A muddied blur of days and nights melting together. What you do remember was that even at your worst, she hadn't often left you alone. Even if it was meaningless, something trivial and irrelevant, she had stood near and coaxed you through it.

All told, maybe just getting you to do those things had been the hardest step. For both of you. In some ways, Kara was in far worse a condition, but in others- "Raid won't be happy if he comes back to find you like this." -In others, she at least still had someone close to her.

Maybe it was unfair to taunt your Testament with her little brother, but you still felt her ears lethargically twitch beneath your hand. If she resented you for it... Keeping her from shutting down was more important. "It doesn't have to take long. We'll wipe you down and you can come back."

For a second you thought you'd roused her, played strongly enough on her concern for the only family she had left to coerce her into going along with you... But after the thought seemed to have wormed its way through her, her head only sunk lower. "...Kara?"

The demihuman uttered something hoarsely through her arms.

"...?" You eased yourself down to the floor next to her, resigned to not getting her up that conveniently. Her mutters continued, broken and half-formed words muffled through her limbs and clothes.

"Can't." She repeated, urgency beginning to bleed through her increasingly resolute - almost desperate - mantra. "Can't. I can't. Not Raid. I can't see Raid... I can't."

"He's not here yet." You make the mistake of trying to squeeze her shoulder and instead feel your fingers sink into the mottled, raw meat like grime caked to her. "Yet. He's going to be, he's still alive, I'm going to-"

"No!" Her guttural growl cut you off, rising up like curdled blood from the pit of her throat; It set even the hair of her tail on end. "I... can't meet Raid again, I killed everyone... I can't... It's my fault, he's going to hate me...!"

Your mouth shut tight, letting her outburst run its course before she began to sink back into herself in a miserable panic. Maybe... Maybe reminding her about Raid wasn't the best thing to have done. On some level it was heartening that apparently she still trusted in you enough to believe that Raid was still alive, that he would be back - And Mana bless, you pray you weren't forced to eat your words over that - but the time she'd spent crying had dulled that panic. Given her jarred mind time, and space, to creak forward again.

Just far enough forward to fall into another pitfall after she realized she would have to explain herself to her little brother.

"Kara, cal-" No, no, you absolutely could not tell her to 'calm down'. "-Hold on, Listen to me-" You grimaced as you slid your arm past her shoulder, like snaking it along a trough of slaughtered livestock, to try and hold her attention. "-Listen, Raid..."

You... Have no idea if he'd actually hate her for this or not. You didn't think he was much like his sister at all, so whether he had the capacity to be emotionally attached to them or not was questionable.

"...Raid will listen to you, alright?" Your mind turned quickly over what you did know of the boy, settling down a path that could get dangerous. "You didn't do... any of this because you wanted to. You had a good reason, Kara. You can explain yourself, he's going to listen."

"He's going to hate me." She babbled miserably, emitting squishy noises that made your stomach retch as she buried her face into her knees. Her whole body trembled under your arm. "I fucked up... I fucked up bad."

"He's... Not going to be happy." You acknowledge evenly, "But I don't think he's going to hate you. You're all he has left now."

"Again."

Now was a rather poor time to realize that you actually knew very, very little about Kara. Her past, her actual relationship with Raid and her now former pack... Nothing. She wasn't about to elaborate either, and maybe that was for the best right now. She certainly wasn't in any state for prying.

But if you left her like this, there's no telling what solution she'd come to on her own.

>Coax her into facing Raid.
>Offer to take the blame.
>Just try to calm her down for now.
>Other? (write-in)

There's no real guarantee anything you choose will work, but it is the direction Irue will try to encourage.

>>4104242
>Just try to calm her down for now.

It doesn't have to be solved right away. Kara can get clean, she can tell us what happened while she figures out what she wants and then we can help her get that.

We can fix this, we can explain it to Raid or take the blame for whatever she did so that she can keep Raid.

She might be all he has left, but she has us and Ari and Rinnier as well so in a way Raid has all of us also.

We'll take it one problem at a time, for now let's start with cleaning up. Then we can work our way through the rest of the things that have to be done.

>>4104246
>>4104242
Can we get her some food, too? With juice or water, no alcohol.

>>4104242
Damn, I hoped mentioning Raid would give her motivation to go on.
>Just try to calm her down for now.

>>4104242
>Offer to take the blame.

>>4104242
>>Just try to calm her down for now.

>>4104242
>Just try to calm her down for now.

It did happen only the other day, maybe time can scar it over just a little. We really do need to amend this lack of knowledge though; maybe when we find Raid we can get it from him.

>>4104247
She likes apples. Get her apples.

>>4104465
While the town is on the mend, it's still a far ways off from having access to things like apples.

>>4104560
They literally grow on trees

>>4104242
>Just try to calm her down for now.

I'd say get her some apples, but that would break the flow right now.

>>4104563
During fall. If we have any orchards nearby. If anyone is bothering picking apples when more nutritious foods are much more valuable at the moment.

>>4104242
>>Offer to take the blame.

>>4104571
But Rue is a noble. So she gets apples.

iirc when we went to the valen estate or thereabouts raid pulled Irue aside and said he would fuck her up if she abused kara in any way? Kid cares more about her then anything, and a good deal more than what we're told that demihumans are capable of. It happened again after the alcohol episode, and pretty much every time we're alone with him he talks about his sister. He's been concerned about the pack dynamic for a long time

>>4104242
Tell her about all the times he's threatened Irue if she mistreats her, how protective he is. He cares about her, not the pack retards and not maro

Either way she needs to be cleaned, being covered with bits and bobs of old bullies is not healthy

Oh and,
>You're all he has left now."
Irue is so bad at this lol

We might be able to get her cleaned if we feed her some faekda

I haven't reread in a long time and I haven't had time to go check so please if I'm Wrong do negate my vote. I'm reasonably sure that I'm not wrong, but eh.

>>4104827
I'm gonna need you to be more specific!

>>4104242
>"You're all he has left now."
But she has both of us.

Sure, Raid probably don't think too highly of Irue aside from "she's got some seriously whack magic shit going on, I don't want to mess with that", but we're here for both of them. They are a one package deal.

Worried about saying it out loud because Irue had a serious case of foot in mouth syndrome... She'd just end up nonchalantly say "if he does hate you at least you've got me!"

>>4104836

>>4104786
>>4104827
>>4104837
All me, i dunno what's up with my ids

Alright, I am home! I'll be closing the window and writing soon!

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>>4104246
>>4104258
>>4104397
>>4104465
>>4104567
Don't push her, don't involve yourself, just calm her down!

>>4104269
>>4104600
You... You can fix this.

>>4104247
>>4104811
Faedka will fix our problems!

>>4104786
notes about Raid to help encourage her.

Alright, the vote outcome looks pretty obvious! I got about 2.5 hours of sleep and went through an 8 hour lecture and a 4 hour round trip today though, so I'm probably just going to crash and try to make an update in the morning.

As an aside note, apples are a tricky thing to get a hold of currently. This was touched on a bit the last time they were accrued (by Asche!) but supplies are at a premium after the Mistral's Child, and simple things that La'Fiel would otherwise have in spades - such as apples - aren't so abundant to you because merchants have been giving Carona the cold shoulder for some time.

It's unlikely you'll scrounge up more of them around town, but they aren't too difficult to acquire overall. There are multiple ways you could go about doing so, it'd just won't be done immediately. One way, for example, would be if you tasked the demihumans with searching for wild apples using their superior sense of scent.

>>4105302
> Implying they wouldn't just ferment the apples.

>>4105354
Cider is weaksauce, unless they've got distillation set up in their beatnik woods somewhere they'd want to make somebody else turn it into proper firewater.

>>4105302
Wild apples are shit though. You need to carefully preserve your tasty cultivars with grafting, anything that grows from seeds will more likely than not be only good for cider.

>>4105441
>>4105354
Lol.

Maybe we should do some fan stuff. Any ideas for ms paint?

>>4106155
Oakenrue removing insurgents.

>>4106155
Kara and Irue in a bath.

> perspective from behind them, so all we can see is their hair.

>>4106921
the fuck

>>4106922
Just the backs of two heads, resting above the rim of the tub as Kara lies in Irues arms after Irue cleans the gore off her.

I mean. You don't expect Irue to get her hair *wet*. So it would be in an updo, while Kara's would be all loose and flowing from being freshly washed.

>>4106929
that's a pretty weird thing to draw. And "ms paint" was meant to suggest it's shitty, so ideas 4 something simple would be better

>>4106155
shouting at mim
getting drunk for a month straight
Forgetting
getting speared through the chest by Reiner's pole/staff/thing
initial meeting of Oakenrue
being woken up at the beginning of each loop
shadowrue
hunting the snake
"Jinn calls me"
getting our teeth kicked in by the paladin
almost dying to that oakenbear
biting the mayor sowing the seeds of our hate of the town
choosing a hairband
passing the Testament
others wondering at Rue's... ambiguity

Not all of these are really suited for paint, but hopefully they at least spark some ideas.

"...I don't know what happened before, but Raid cares more about you than he does anyone else."

And maybe reminding her that he didn't have anyone else now wasn't the best approach. A stupid mistake, an amateur mistake, and one you'd have never made if your only goal had been to exploit her vulnerability to get what you wanted. Dealing with people was at its easiest when you held them at arm's length; The more you concerned yourself with someone on a personal level, the more complicated it got.

Your lips pursed, trying to shake the creeping frustration and desperation off as Kara's panic worked to fray your nerves. "I know he does. You're almost the only thing he's ever talked to me about. He gets jealous when you spend too much time with other people, just... We'll take this a little at a time, alright? I can talk to him first. We'll get you cleaned up and we'll figure things out."

"Shoulda never come 'ere."

It hurt in ways you weren't prepared for to hear that; Ways which soundly made up for whatever physical pain your mangled wrist was conspicuously lacking. Whether it was something brought on under the weight of recent events or something she had genuinely begun to feel, it still hurt. Your rational mind rallied immediately, pointing that for everything you'd done for her, there was no reason to feel guilty over this. No point in tormenting yourself over something that she, by all rights, was only saying because she herself was in pain and trying to escape.

But rationality was a poor defense, and an even worse balm. Doubt clawed rivets through its paper-thin gauze, questioning whether she had been actually wrong when she had observed that her life had only steadily fallen apart after meeting you. Much of what occurred had been your fault, either directly or indirectly, after all... And the longer you dwelled, the more apt you were to recall one scenario or another and begin to wonder if you could have done something different then. If there had been a moment staring you in the face that you missed.

...You weren't about to make this about yourself. The death of Kara's pack was blood on her hands, and hers alone. You knew that. Yet... Still. In a way you struggled to justify - That someone so presumably close to you had done something so drastic left you with the guilt that somehow, there must have been something you could have done. Some part to play, long before now, which could have prevented the state she was in now.

And to even consider that left you at a such a complete loss as to where to so much as begin that it only confounded the sense of helplessness you felt trying - and failing - to console her.

Ari's muffled voice sounded through the door. "Master? The bath is ready."

In the end, you couldn't coax her from the floor. You don't know if your presence here was even helping, or just making it worse. If the latter were a possibility, maybe it was better to pray it wasn't doing anything at all - But!

But you had made your resolve already. Made it once, and then again, and again, and again, and again. Kara was your Testament, and she needed... Someone. Maybe it wasn't you, maybe Raid could help her where you couldn't, but you were the only here right now. You weren't about to abandon her because it was hard. Because it was heavy. Your resolve wasn't so flimsy that you'd let that discourage you.

"Ari, change of plans." You called back, "Can you bring a pair of rags and the water to the door?"

"Ah? Y-Yes! I'll be right back, Master!" The timid Testament briefly showed her confusion before squeaking an affirmation. Barely minutes later, she had returned with the rags in one hand and several fleshy root-tendrils encircling a rather large bucket of water. She held the rags out questioningly. "Is this what you needed?"

"Yeah, this will do." You look over the abrasive scrap of cloth as the fleshen rod obediently set its cargo behind Ari, and in arm's reach of you. You sighed, submerging the rag within with your good hand... Only to realize you lacked the requisite second hand do what you wanted. "Ari-"

"I can handle this much, Master." Her answer carried a soft confidence, a tone which was vindicated by the fact she had already knelt to dip - and wring - her own rag before you spoke.

You nodded, flashing a small, grateful smile as you took it in hand and turned back to Kara. Unresponsive, buried in her own arms... You let out a sigh and started from the top, plopping the warm, wet rag over her head.

Bits and pieces of flesh had congealed in her hair, holding together clumps of it that you could feel even through the rag as you worked to disentangle it all. Scraps of dried blood that, once moistened, slowly broke apart and let you pull away small handfuls of the gunk at a time.

It was fortunate that Ari was prompt with exchanging rags while you worked, as the filth which accumulated in just the time it took you to try and wash Kara's scruffy hair clear had already stained the bucket of water a foreboding reddish-black... And created a small pile of little cream-colored fragments of varying sizes and shapes. Sometimes they had come free, buried within a particularly frustrating knot, or half-hidden under chunk of stubborn flesh.

You had probably found three before realizing what they were. It did nothing to make this task any less disturbing to you.

But her hair wasn't even properly cleaned yet and both you and Ari were now left to wait as the Dryad Aspiration carried out its menial duties to acquire unsullied wash water. You might legitimately be here for hours before so much as starting on your own bath.

Yet while you occasionally still winced as you felt the flesh work free, and felt the nausea in your stomach settling into a semi-permanent state of 'repressed gag', the ritual carried its own sort of... Familiar catharsis. She wasn't cooperating with you, but she wasn't resisting either - And if that meant sometimes you had to roll her head one way or another, or hold up an ear to carefully clean out the inside, then her lethargy served just as well. It was only after a new pail had been brought and your rhythm settled in did the source of the faint, misplaced smile playing across your lips occur to you.

In another building. When the mess she'd made wasn't nearly so personal. When her resistance had been stubborn recalcitrance.

"Tell me when you get hungry, Kara." You echo the words gently, lathering through her hair to scrape blood from the roots. "...I'll get food for you. Real food. Turkey. Or, maybe some apples if we can find them."

This time there was no momentary lapse into docility to take advantage of. No reaction that you'd spoken at all. Maybe she didn't remember. Maybe it didn't matter.

"...Thank you for not throwing me across the room this time." You continued softly, combing through her drooping, wet hair for spots you'd missed. The warm rag hung across her face while dripping beads of water along the cracking, slickened coating of carnage across her skin... And you hesitated, trying to find words out of an awkwardly stumbling heartbeat. "I hope... It hasn't all been a mistake to you."

No response. No reply.

You forced your faltering smile in place and stroked her hair back. "It may not make you happy, but I'm here if you need me. Though maybe I wasn't here when you needed me, or you didn't know that I was, or... I didn't know that you did." You felt your tongue starting to tie, twisting and curling unfamiliarly around a string of words you couldn't tell the ending of. You pressed the rag against her cheek, weakly scrubbing the flakes of dried blood free in pensive silence.

"I don't know." You admitted under your breath, heaving a sigh as you gave up trying to speak while Ari watched on quietly. "Come on, Kara. We need to get your..." You trailed off, the logical conclusion to actually scraping all this filth off Kara finally crystallizing. "Kara, if you don't work with me I'm going to have to just cut you out of these clothes."

Still nothing. Your head hangs, committed despite yourself to seeing this through. "Ari, make sure no one unexpected walks in."

"...Yes, Master."

You don't know if her lack of response no matter what you did was ultimately a blessing, or something to be dejected over. You could only push and pull her so much, even with Ari's aid to try and contort the depressed demihuman to properly scrub her down... But it could have been worse. At some point it almost seemed like she'd simply given up even resisting, rather than becoming frustrated and trying to stop you by force. On one hand that made stretching out her limbs a much easier affair. On the other...

By the time you were done, the floor was soaked in water, small piles of carnage, and tiny chunks of bone. Both you and Ari were little better, and Kara herself seemed as if she'd simply given up. There were a few times you had thought her eyes had twitched across you and Ari while she was being washed; Moments of unexpected stiffness in her muscles that made you wonder if she was finally through with being treated as if she were a doll... But nothing ever came of it.

Having seen her nude body in full, inch upon inch across her toned flesh and taut muscles, the thing which stuck most firmly in your mind was how many scars she bore. Of injuries from last night's slaughter you found more than her fair share; Already healing bruises and scrapes, some claw marks especially - whose angry red lines were already healing over - but by and large what you found were scars. Old ones, of all shapes and sizes, which left you running your fingers along her skin in silent wonder to feel the bumps of irregular tissue paint a map across her body.

Among them, the one which drew your eyes back time after time was one you felt in the pit of your stomach you recognized. A large gash along the center of her shoulder blade, as if something large had pierced the flesh and then been violently ripped free.

>Anything else you'd like to do with or to Kara?
>Attend to your own bath.
>It's been long enough, someone is probably back by now.
>Am I forgetting something...? (write-in)

>>4107033
The only thing I can remember that could wound Kara was the Paladin.
Is it him that we're forgetting about?

Other possibilities:
Injury received in slavery (does Ari have a similar one?)
Injury inflicted by a Dryad Apparition (where could we have seen one?)
Injury inflicted by a Revenant or another Shade apparition (if I understand the description correctly this kind of injury could've been inflicted by a giant claw)
Something similar to what we saw on the proto-demihuman kids in the Dryad Matrix

>Attend to your own bath.

A potential way to cheer Kara up could be to load Irue with optimism, energy and WAFF, then use Hearts in Harmony to try to share it with Kara. Doesn't seem too likely to work.

>>4107033
>Attend to your own bath.

>>4107033
>>Attend to your own bath.

>>4107033
>801 mention of Kara in the 1st act alone
Gods of datamining save me.

>>4107180
...And I found nothing. Sorry anons.

>>4107180
>>4107241
Did you try "shoulder"?

I'm gonna go look myself but I really am not sure.

>>4107033
Yeah that was sneaky of you, really sneaky. I *knew* I had read it but there were so few details in the thread.

>Kara's Day Out
>When you had stopped to think about that, a blossom of pain erupted from your back as you felt one of the stabby-toting guards drive the tip past the underside of your shoulderblade.

She was stabbed because Irue chose to attack Carona's city guards and eat Roderick like a savage.

>Remind Kara of what she is to us. Her battles are our battles. We are together, Irue and all of her Testaments and nothing will change that. She is NOT alone. Shared grief is half the grief, shared joy is double the joy.

>Apologize for not dealing with Maro before this had to happen. We knew he was an absolute piece of shit, but we never thought he was a priority issue.

>Try to explain what led to this. We made her pack leader because we believed it would help *her* grow and make decisions and we trusted that she would make the right ones. We didn't get involved or tell her what to do because we thought that would be best for *her*. It was our failure to understand just how bad Maro truly was and we fucked up somewhere if Kara didn't think that she could come to us to ask for help or advice.

We should have done this a long time ago, we had so many chances to talk to Kara but we never fucking did. Every damn thing in this quest boils down to a failure to communicate.

>>4107364
Damn. I skipped Kara's Day Out because I didn't think Irue would forget something she didn't even experience.

You did great anon.

>>4107033
That being said, voting against the following

>DON'T DO THIS: Try to explain what led to this. We made her pack leader because we believed it would help *her* grow and make decisions and we trusted that she would make the right ones. We didn't get involved or tell her what to do because we thought that would be best for *her*. It was our failure to understand just how bad Maro truly was and we fucked up somewhere if Kara didn't think that she could come to us to ask for help or advice.

It's easy to interpret this as telling Kara she had failed our expectations. This is not what she needs right now.

>>4107374
You're right. I'm trying to do too much at once there.

I'm going to blame exhaustion because I've nearly fallen out of my chair twice tonight from nodding off.

I'll retract it, Irue is bad at this consoling stuff as shown above. I can't accuse her of foot in mouth syndrome and then be an idiot all on my own in the same thread

>>4107364
Sounds possible, but I seem to recall Riz saying all the side stories and such were optional content, and as such aren't viable for Forgettings.

>>4107364
>>4107374
>>4107031

Supporting these.

wait, what colour headband is Irue wearing?

>>4107589
Grey. Ari is wearing the red one.

>>4107033
>Cover up Kara with a blanket or something.

Did we cut the clothes off and if so are there spares?

File: 4Getting!!!.png (53 KB, 549x709)

53 KB PNG

Anyway, here's a bad attempt at Forgetting face
If anyone wants to try improve on it go ahead

>>4107688
Needs more anticipatory dread.

>>4107688
Oh I forgot it's a hairband not a headband

Closing the window soon!

We should apologize for the scar and actually thank her for helping us back then. She wasn't supposed to get hurt because of us. And she got hurt by Maro again because of us, it all comes back to our mistakes and others pay the price

File: 1455613341240.gif (975 KB, 500x375)

975 KB GIF

>>4107054
>>4107061
>>4107093
After bathing the dog it is finally time to bathe yourself!

>>4107681
Don't leave Kara wet and naked on the floor!

>>4107364
Things to do with Kara! Including, especially, implying she has failed our expectations of her!

Writing!
----

Forgetting stuff! >>4107364 Surprised me and got the referenced scar exactly. While that wasn't the full scope of the Forgetting, there really isn't anything closer to a bull's eye with these than quoting the exact relevant line, and from a piece of supplemental at that.

I'm impressed! Besides the outcome of the Forgetting itself, this probably warrants something extra. I'll leave it to you guys to decide what you might be interested in; Specific pieces of lore, extra clarification of this or that, a write-up concerning certain events or individuals... You guys have until the end of the thread to come to a consensus on what you'd like to see.

...Some things are obviously not going to happen, though.

>>4107372
>I didn't think Irue would forget something she didn't even experience.
The write-up was a really easy way to get this one, but it's been addressed vaguely in other places. Specifically, Irue was aware that she had been injured during the early-quest escape from Carona, but beyond the acknowledgement it happened no one was ever concerned further. She's also been injured on several other occasions, and while not the explicitly referenced scar, I would have accepted any of those answers as well and redirected Irue's attention to the one mentioned.

Special shout out to >>4107054 who listed a few other incidents! One related to you, one not so much.

>>4107575
>all the side stories and such were optional content.
This is as true as ever. I don't expect any of you to read them, so I make an effort to ensure nothing contained within is necessary to you in the quest.

>aren't viable for Forgettings.
Also technically true. The exact details of Kara's wound could only be found in that write-up, but as mentioned above Kara has a lot of scars. One stood out to you more than the others, but identifying the origin of any of them would have sufficed. What's important here isn't the specific creation of the scar, but the realization that you knew moments she had probably gained them.

That said, if any of you do happen to read them and something shows up from one or another, I really can't be held responsible if it unsettles you.

>>4108530
>a write-up concerning certain events or individuals
How about one regarding Marcus and his posse? Could be interesting to see what they have been up to (before they all died)

>>4108530
>especially, implying she has failed our expectations of her!

These jokes are cruel, please don't :(

"Where were you, Kara?"

You knew this scar. Or, you felt like you should, at least. There was something familiar about the pale discoloration which gnawed at the back of your mind as you traced its patternless edges. She can't have gotten it last night, but... Recently? Maybe? You frowned, casting your mind back to try and remember.

She had come back both times.

Your brow knit pensively while your initial interest in one scar led you to another, then others beyond that. Some of these were much older than others. Some of them didn't look old enough. A number of the more concerning ones seemed like they had to have been gained within the past few months, but... When was the last time Kara had even gotten hurt? You- You couldn't remember.

...But you didn't know if that would keep happening.

Your eyes flickered across her bare back, searching for an answer written on her skin among the pale scripture. You couldn't name a single time Kara had been hurt, but that was ridiculous! She wasn't invincible, you had the proof of that right in front of you, and she'd been the vanguard of nearly every major physical conflict you'd ever been part of. She'd fought the Paladin head on, subdued the Behemoth at least once, helped you evacuate your knights during your first formal meeting with Dryad. One of your first memories with Kara was even-

Her slave garb, already rather worn, now resembled a forcibly punctured and ripped series of rags that had been haphazardly thrown over her.

The image of her ruined clothes flashed so vividly through your mind that it made your chest hurt. You remembered now - Why that scar seemed familiar. You had been so concerned with trying to cover your actions in Carona that you hadn't paid her any mind, more stressed and frustrated that she had gone missing than anything else... But she carried you from Carona in that shape. Did you think she was fine? That the weapons which had made ribbons of her clothes had just missed the one wearing them?

For each severed seam and punctured hole, the feeling that your fingertips could trace a memento along her skin made your stomach churn... But she hadn't seemed hurt. She... Never seemed hurt.

A wordless, frigid horror stirred.

"Beast. You've no skill, no technique. Have you lived your entire life relying on that precious strength?"

Of course you couldn't remember the last time she was hurt, you never paid any mind to it at all. She'd never seemed as if she were hurt; No matter who, or what she fought. Even when what she fought should have been outright impossible to emerge from unscathed. You had always been focused on something else, some greater goal, some more immediate concern... As long as Kara had proven ready to keep going, you never once stopped to question it.

You had no reason not to trust your demihuman Testament's self-evaluation. If she was hurt, if it had mattered, then all it would have taken was for her to say so - But Kara rarely spoke out at all. You could count on one hand the number of times she'd ever so much as asked you for anything, and those few and far between moments still dwarfed the number of times she'd ever pushed back.

In the months since you had claimed Kara as one of your own, how readily had you been satisfied with her so long as she did what you needed? Even when she'd overtaken the mantle of leadership for her pack, you knew she wasn't fit to lead - She knew she wasn't fit to lead. She wasn't even comfortable thinking for herself, much less being responsible for everyone else... And you saw the choices she was making.

"Faedka." Raid muttered, wincing as he pulled himself off his back and sat up. "Sis made a deal: If they could take her down, she'd give them more of it."

It was her pack; Her decision. You stayed out of it. Unless she asked, it wasn't your problem. That you knew she was in over her head... Wasn't enough for you to involve yourself. You watched her struggle. You watched her drown.

"Rather than let them tear themselves apart, she got them focused on her instead."

She never complained. She'd smile, she'd push forward, and in that way, she'd silently take everything on her self. So long as she kept her pack out of trouble, it didn't matter. You set her aside until needed, and left her to find her own way. You thought it would help her grow, that she'd reach out when she struggled.

She was never going to ask for help. You didn't know that. You couldn't have known that. She was never going to tell you when she was hurt, and you were never going to find out until you ripped off her shirt to see for yourself.

...And now it may have been too late for that realization to make a difference.

The words you wanted to say to her jumbled in your throat as you draped a blanket around her shoulders, wrapping it tight near the front. A difficult task, when you could scarcely keep your fingers from shaking... Either from shock, or fury, or something else entirely. It took everything you had not to demand answers from her, to ask why she'd kept everything to herself so stubbornly, to shake her in the blanket until something approaching an explanation tumbled out of her lips-

-But in equal measure, it was all you could do not to try to explain yourself. To justify why you hadn't stepped in during any of the opportunities you had. That you had trusted she'd make the right decisions, that the experience would help her grow. That you didn't get involved because thought it would be for the best for her.

If you had known what Maro was planning-
If you had somehow contributed to the reason Kara never turned to you-

You don't know... And you worry that it's too late to make it right.

"Kara, I'm sorry." You swallow a torrent of divided words, finding only grains of sand left on your tongue as the tide receds. Dry, gritty, and unpleasant to speak. "I knew Maro was probably going to cause trouble again, but I didn't-" No. No excuses. "-I shouldn't have let you do this alone."

To tell her that she wasn't alone now? To step in and offer your hand when all she felt was resentment and regret? To try and remind her of some family ideology about the intimacy of your Testament when these exact circumstances spit in the face of everything a proper relationship with one's Testament should have been...?

Did you even have the right?

"For what it's worth, you have a home with me. Whatever happens... That doesn't change."

You waited, and watched; Searched the bundle of blankets for something - some sign - that she'd heard you... And left the room in silence, with nothing to show for it.

Standing in the hall, you drew a heavy breath and felt the weight settle on your shoulders. It was easy to lose sight of all the progress you'd made last night, staring down the abyss like this. You still had the bigger picture to consider, plans still in motion that needed your attention. If you let it all slip now, then whatever meaning Kara's actions had would well and truly be wasted.

"Ari, is there any hot water left?"

"No. But I can get more?"

"...Don't worry about it." You shake your head, rolling the idea around in your head. "I need to cool my head, anyway. Wiping down with something cold might help."

"Is there something I can do, Master?"

You considered the question, slowly trying to reframe your mind before you actually had to talk to someone.

>No. You just needed space.
>Something Ari can accompany you for! (what?)
>Something you need Ari to go elsewhere for! (what?)
>Other? (write-in)

>>4108736
>No. You just needed space.

>>4108736
>>No. You just needed space.

>>4108736
>Something you need Ari to go elsewhere for! Get a healer here.

>>4108844
>>4108736
This. Also have her tell the Knights to lock down the Demi-Human camp so we can search it for evidence.

>>4108859
I'm afraid to ask... What kind of evidence are you hoping to find?

>>4108736
>Something you need Ari to go elsewhere for! (what?)
Bury all the demihuman corpses so they don't turn oakenbear. Tell her to find us again after she's washed herself off, we should have words about becoming too attuned to Dryad, I'm worried about how easily she brushed us off earlier.

>>4108885
Linking them to the Artemis cult, I presume?

>>4108898
>>4108736

Supporting this.

>>4108844
I think this is potentially dangerous, her physical wounds appear to be healing fine at the minute but we don't know how she'll react to being stripped naked and prodded at by someone she doesn't know. Worst case scenario the local healer ends up as pulp on the wall, we should be present at the very least.

>>4109074
Rue also needs a healer reasonably importantly.

>>4109102
True

>>4108736
If she could fetch a knight that would be great, we need to send someone to make sure Raid is not actually prisoner at the graveyard. We promised to find him.

I'm worried about sending people out to search in the forest but if it's dangerous for them it is dangerous for him, too. Maybe Ari should find and escort him.

Thank her for the help with Kara.

gonna close the window soon!

>>4108739
>>4108785
Space. Space is enough, time to yourself.

>>4108844
>>4108859
You're going to need to see a healer sooner rather than later.

>>4108859
Secure the area the demihumans were staying in! We'll search it later to see what we can find.

>>4108898
>>4108909
Have the Aspiration deal with the demihuman corpses. Last thing we need is more oakenbears with Dryad waking up.

>>4108898
>>4108909
...And speaking of Dryad.

>>4109320
If you can hail a knight and send them here, that'd be nice too. Also thanks for helping with Kara.

Writing!

What you needed the most right now was just space. Time to yourself, to decompress, defragment and reassemble after all the excitement. You tuck loose strand of hair behind your ear. "A lot, actually. I need the the area the demihumans frequented quarantined for search later... And for their corpses to be cleaned up."

Kara should have been the one deciding what to do with the bodies, you guess. If they had any interests regarding what was done with their dead post-mortem, you imagine being eaten by an abomination wasn't one of them. Although... Now that you thought about it, Ari's Aspiration was a mana born of Dryad. Despite its peculiar nature and appearance, having your body eaten by it technically fulfilled the Valen family tradition of returning your body to the forest.

...You shake your head, setting aside potentially unsettling conclusions about the nature of your family and Dryad's relationship for the moment. "I also need to meet with a healer sooner rather than later, and for someone who knows what went on in the square last night to make a report. If I let that lie too long, something I don't know is bound to try and bite me."

"Yes, Master." Ari's reply came a half second late. Less than a beat, but delayed - It was a sort of hesitation you weren't used to hearing out of her. You glanced curiously to your left to see what was wrong, only to catch yourself staring conspicuously at nothing. "...Master?" You blinked, following her voice more attentively to the other side to find her peering up at you quizzically.

"I confused myself for a second." You admitted uncertainly, "Are you fine with handling what I was talking about?"

"I'd prefer to be of use in other ways." She demured, "But something like this is no problem, Master."

None of it was particularly what you would describe as the responsibility of a Testament. In fact, between this idle grocery list of chores and the bath earlier, it was a workload more fit for a handservant... But you could only need what you needed. "Sorry, right now the only other thing I really feel like I need is time to think." Your lips quirked wearily. Not quite a smile, not enough to reach your eyes. "After the operation last night there's a lot of things I need to get done and attend to at once, and there's already things vying for priority after we've wrapped things up here in Carona."

"I know. You're coming back to your room tonight, aren't you?"

The abrupt non-sequitur left you off-kilter, and the answer took a second to form. "I should be?" Mostly because you had to stop and think about why you wouldn't be. "Why? Where else would I go?"

"Because it's cold sleeping alone." The smaller brunette whined. "But since you said all that's left is to clean things up here, there's no reason you'd end up elsewhere, Master."

You stopped outside of your own room, digging your nails through your hair to sate an itch as you scowled ornerily. "I don't plan on vanishing in the middle of the night to go jump in an Atelier or anything, of course I'm coming back. We need to have a talk later tonight, anyway."

"About what, Master?"

"Your affinity." You summarize shortly, "...And more importantly, there's more about the honing of it that you probably haven't studied yet which I want you to be aware of." Because you couldn't exactly tell the girl to stop, but you weren't about to let her barrel ahead without knowing what the dangers were.

Ari's posture straightened, having visibly caught her attention as she looked to you brightly. "You'll be teaching me again? Like you used to?"

"I don't know if it would qualify as teaching, seeing as I lack my library..." Which was something you'd not given a whole lot of thought to really, but there were a lot of books still back at your overrun estate. They'd be immensely useful if you wanted to try and ferret out and subsequently polish the affinity of your knights without involving the Shrine. "...But yeah, I guess it's been a while. I've learned a few things I think you need to know as soon as possible."

"Tonight, then?" She repeated curiously. "Before we sleep?"

You nod, not even really needing to consider it. "Probably. It's private material, so others having gone to settle in suits it fine."

"Yes, Master!" The brunette chirped merrily. "I'm looking forward to it!"

With that last exchange you were alone again. Alone in your room, with your thoughts and a wash rag and a basin of lukewarm water. It was far from the luxurious bath you'd left behind at your estate, but what you needed right now wasn't a several hour long soak and deeply lathered hair care so much as... To not resemble a butcher. If it were only that much, a birdbath would suffice until you had better opportunities.

Opportunities... Some part of you had legitimately entertained the idea that once you'd uprooted Artemis from Carona and sorted through the remaining dissidents that you would be done. You could just move on to other things. Other, far more important, things - Like continuing to gather and establish a power base, pursuing Artemis, or- Or really anything that wasn't the obligatory tying off of loose-ends you wished you could just handwave away. Instead you found yourself beset on a number of sides with tasks demanding your attention, not the least of which now came in the form of your aunt's official summons and your Testament's broken heart.

You were mostly certain that Raid was fine. It was unlikely he'd even made it back to Carona in time to be kidnapped and used at all, so his survival wasn't really a concern. His reaction on the other hand... That you had no idea where to begin predicting. You had to hope your initial judgement that he would prioritize Kara's well being would prove accurate, because if it didn't you had no idea what Kara would do.

However, as concerning as the possibility that you were wrong about her little brother was, what stubbornly carved out a niche for itself in the forefront of your mind was simply that your aunt had summoned you. This wasn't an invitation, it wasn't an optional visit. She didn't call to ask if you would meet with her, it was all but an explicit order for you to drop what you were doing and go.

It was unimaginably rude between noble peers, and still rude and uncouth even between family members in most cases. A very literal discarding of any pretense of personal respect - This was a matter wholly and fully formed by authority. An authority which, you'd like to note, she only still questionably held as the head of House Valen because you hadn't forcibly claimed regency from her yourself. You'd passed your Rite, you were legally an adult, and as blood heir to House Valen that meant her stewardship could be ended the moment you asserted yourself.

...It wasn't entirely that simple, obviously.

If the rest of the world continued to acknowledge your aunt as the head instead of you then there was nothing you could do. If she resisted after you chose to force the issue, and you lacked the necessary political backing interested in seeing your claim officially recognized, then all you'd succeeded in doing was making a very powerful enemy.

Never the less, while the possibility hadn't escaped your consideration all this time, you couldn't bring yourself to fully believe your aunt Clara would do that... So the only reason she had this authority to summon you was because you had chosen not to devest her of it in the first place, and instead accepted her decision to saddle you with this miserable township.

You knew that.
She knew that.

So why would she choose now to pull a card like that, when your respective positions were already so mutually precarious?

Ruminating on mysteries like that was only going to stress you out and cause frustration. While the idea that she'd had a change of heart and decided to simply disown you from your inheritance was enough to spark the occasional flicker of indignation, it was difficult to stay persistently mad over it. The predominant emotion, and the feeling which plagued you most, was simply... Confusion.

Aunt Clara had never summoned you before. Not even when you were a child. It didn't make sense.

In far less time than it had taken to wash down your uncooperativve demihuman Testament, you were once more in a presentable state - Save for one rather badly mangled wrist, which you hoped to get resolved later. The cold water hadn't made for a relaxing experience, but there was little better to shock your muddled mind into focusing than shivvering droplets trickling across your skin.

Your lukewarm birdbath had provided some other benefits as well, not the least interesting of which being the curious realization that the only sensation your broken wrist seemed to be missing was pain. You'd no problem feeling the gooseflesh rise across its crushed and fractured surface while the evening air cooled your moistened arm... And while using it was beyond you, your tentative attempts to scrub it hadn't produced so much as a twinge of discomfort.

Physically, at least. You are fairly sure you heard clicking and grinding when you were cleaning it, muffled through the flesh. It was disconcerting to the say the least, and a powerful incentive to stop prodding it. The sooner you had this looked at, the better.

In the meantime, you could finally afford to leave the headquarters and actually gather information on Carona yourself. Several hours after having woken up, you were both mentally and physically... Somewhat presentable again. You stepped free of the building's confines and onto the cobbled stone steps leading up to it, breathing in the subtly changed Caronan air....

...Right as the sun was starting to set. Glimmers of orange and golden yellow painted long shadows across the uncomfortably silent town. It felt like standing on the precipice of a forest holding its breath.

Lost in that sight, it took you a moment to pick out the silhouette of a man actually sitting on a bench further down the road. His head rose as you stepped towards him. "Ah, Ser Valen? What can I do for you?" Your good hand set on your hip, allowing you to stare up at the man. You recognized him, recognized his face, but not his name. One of your knights, one of the many you didn't personally know yet. "I er, you did need me, didn't you?"

Short hair, stubble on his chin that you imagine he'd shaved recently. His eyes met yours only fleetingly, darting into your gaze out of a sense of perpetual curiosity before looking away meekly. A cycle which repeated itself over and over as the man himself grew restless under your silent inspection.

"I apologize Ser Valen, maybe I misunderstood-"

"No," Your idle mind interjected confidently. "I asked Ari to send you along." And if she'd managed this, you imagine a healer would be on their way sooner or later as well. No need to seek one out in the meantime.

>What do you want from this guy?

>>4110027
>You are fairly sure you heard clicking and grinding when you were cleaning it, muffled through the flesh.
The fact that this doesn't bother Rue more is disconcerting itself. I've got good odds the healer os going to freak out when they see the damage and realize we've been ignoring it for the better part of a day.

I assume this guy is here to tell us what happened in the square. Just ask him to give his account of what he saw.

>>4110027
Holy crap, we spent a whole day washing Kara?

>Report on yesterday's events
>Also on what is Rinnier doing

>>4110027
>Ask him what he saw yesterday.

>>4110016
Did we just accidentally cock-block HiH with Kara because of manipulation from Ari?

We gotta talk about boundaries and the fact that Ari is going to have to learn how to share. Has she considered sleeping beside Rinnier for instance, or finding someone else worthy?

>>4110023
Aunt Clara summoning us

- she isn't in control anymore and someone else is using her authority.

- Shit has Hit The Fan and she doesn't have any time left to train us up on how to rule with Carona anymore.

- We've passed her test and she's going to fully support us.

In order of liklihood.

>>4110027
>What do you want from this guy?

Report on yesterdays events. How he feels it went, how he feels about being a knight afterwards. How the other Knights are feeling about it. How the wounded are doing, what they need. How the people of Carona are acting towards them.

>>4108530
>I'll leave it to you guys to decide what
I want the lewd imposter back

>>4110027
>ask his name
>ask if there were any casualties or wounded
>ask about the Web
>try to get him to relax while he gives us his debrief

>>4110627
She's jealous because she's becoming more attuned to dryad. We gotta get her to stop becoming more attuned for both our sakes or else her behavior will escalate and bring heat down on us.

>>4110085
>we spent a whole day washing Kara?
Part of it! Irue woke midway through the day in the first place, Kara took up ~1-2 hours, then your own self-care and decompression took a while. In respect to how many hours of the day though, most of it went to sleeping after last night's events.

>>4110627
>Did we just accidentally cock-block HiH with Kara because of manipulation from Ari?
HiH with Kara hasn't been a set-in-stone goal or activity. There's been some talk of it happening, but no solid decision as to whether it's something you should and will attempt.

So no, Irue currently hasn't made any plans in the first place to attempt it. On the other hand, if you were waiting for the vote to do so to arise before locking it in stone then this is liable to delay it.

>>4110651
>I want the lewd imposter back
I'm probably going to regret asking this, but... Can you explain why?

>>4110835
>I'm probably going to regret asking this, but... Can you explain why?
You've been 4chan around long enough, you should know. Anons are always thirsty.

>>4110835
I'll back Hearts in Harmony with Kara.

> Lewd imposter

I think they mostly post in QTG.

>>4106921
This is me.

I'll be closing the window soon!

>>4110921
I typed a lot of things here to the effect of denying that my cute anons were like that but every re-reading sounded cliche and so I gave up. I'd still like a proper, specific explanation of what they were hoping to see or get out of that return, though Asking for someone to come back feels like there's something you guys want or need that I'm not providing for properly, and I'm not sure how I can help that if I don't really understand what it is I'm lacking.

>>4110651
So explain yourself!

>>4110631
You've forgotten the most likely reason:

- Alouette almost killed her and Clara wants to talk to us while she's still alive.

>>4111433
That anon was just trolling, Riz.

But to counter-offer:
>I'll leave it to you guys to decide what
Extra clarification on how to use the bracelet correctly.
I get it's intended to communicate with Mana, but what did we do wrong?

>>4111613
I am super concerned that the Behemoth is gonna wake up while we're gone. Especially since the Karamobile is currently broken.

Not sure what we can do with the remaining time limit. Teranford sisters are still lost (can we clarify what, if any, info about their location we got from Asche? Like an address would have been good but a city or town name or something would have been nice too.)

So are we gonna fuse a dryad core with it? We can get one from the Aspiration tree. It might slow down Ari's assimilation to weaken the aspiration too.

>>4111686
Okay I think this has been asked several times already, but why the hell would we want to plug a Dryad core into the Big B?

File: 1541144160799.png (343 KB, 2518x1024)

343 KB PNG

>>4110036
>>4110085
>>4110128
>>4110638
>>4110651
What happened in the square!

>>4110085
Where's Rinnier?

>>4110638
Reactions?

>>4110651
Injuries, personal inquiries...

Writing!
---

List of things you've expressed interest in so far. Keep in mind there'll need to be a consensus on what actually happens in the end!
>>4108544 - Write-up focusing on Marcus and his bandits before they all died!
>>4110651 - lewd imposter!
>>4111621 - More information about the bracelet!

>>4110631
Again with the anti-Clara paranoia. Come on anon this is stupid
>>4110835
I do not support HiH with Kara, for one

>Who the hell is the "lewd imposter"

>>4111689
Dryad can control animals, the braclet lets us control apparitions. Use the core instead of part of our soul.

>>4111708
I don't think any of those are anti-Clara? They're all her needing our help.

What do you have against HiH?

>>4111924
Maybe I misinterpreted the post, but I think it's pretty clear that Clara is on her deathbed and needs to meet us before that.

>>4111923
>Dryad can control animals
<citation needed>
So far Dryad did exactly none of that.

>>4111939
Yeah, she did. In the Atelier in the past it was explained to us in detail, and a crucial plot point since the animals were attacking Lunas envoys under Dryads control.

>>4111949
That was an awake Dryad though.

"You were part of the knights in the square last night, weren't you?"

"Aye, Ser Valen." The man affirmed quickly. "It's a night I won't be forgetting anytime soon."

You weren't sure how to parse a tone like that. He looked exhausted, but that probably wasn't unusual after what happened. "Hmm... Your name?"

"Zane, Ser Valen."

The answer came immediately; Not so much as a blink that you'd needed to ask. Your evaluation of this one rose a notch out of relief alone. Your lips quirked into the ghost of a smile before continuing. "Zane, what can you tell me about what happened last night in the square?"

"..." That smile, small as it was, was immediately strained when he proved to hesitate. "Which part, exactly?"

"As much as you know. Consider it a report on how things went on your side last night."

"Wouldn't Captain Dullem handle something like that...?" He wondered doubtfully, meeting your even stare for the laborious moment it took him to realize he'd just questioned you. "Er, right, a report! I... Think things were going well last night. We were organized into several groups, each of us responsible for handling different parts of Carona during our initial sweep-"

"I'm aware of how you were organized." You wave his preamble away unconcerned. "What went well? What went wrong?"

"Everything went well at first. There were a few runners, but by and large things were handled peacefully... Until those screaming lights started showing up, at least." Zane's shoulders tensed. "I'm not sure who set off the first one, but apparently they were using them as warnings. I heard they're called flares? Once went off, more of them started going off, and suddenly everyone knew we were coming."

You hadn't planned for anything like that... But you didn't even know something like that existed until last night. "Something like this is to be expected dealing with Artemis..." you sighed, "So discretion failed us, how did everyone end up in the town square?"

"A few of the runners had friends who weren't on the list. I don't even know if they were involved and we just missed it or if they were sticking up for their neighbours." Zane fidgeted uncomfortably recounting his confusion. "It would have gotten out of hand if Dullem hadn't shown up when he had. Guess he had better luck, because he showed up with a crowd of his own- Long story short, the runners started congregating in the town square to give some kind of speech... And they had hostages."

Your weight shifted reflexively, crossing your arms as he stumbled over that last detail. You had seen them, it was what drove you to such drastic measures last night, but hearing someone else say it didn't make you any happier about it. "How did they get hostages?"

"If I had to guess, some of them got the drop on one of our other groups before retreating." Zane sighed, "I don't know, though. Captain Dullem is looking into it."

You had already suspected it, but... "They took some of us hostage?"

"Aye, Ser Valen." He confirmed dutifully. "I got there late and only caught the tail end of their speech, but it seemed like their speaker was trying to make an appeal to the crowd. I figure they knew they were cornered, so it was a last ditch attempt to band Carona together and tell us all to leave."

"Bold of them to think they had a say in the matter." You mutter. "Seeing as we're still very much in this town, that didn't go well for them?"

Zane winced. "Some of the crowd seemed like they were leaning towards it to be honest, Ser Valen... But the ones Dullem rounded up were quick to thrown in with us, and things started getting tense. Think everyone was real nervous 'bout how things would turn out; Most of the folk I've seen and talked to today still seem real shaken up over it all."

"Makes sense. Carona's seen more chaos in the past half a year than I'd imagine it has in the past few decades." You sighed. "Well it's fine it stopped before a proper riot broke out, but what kind of casualties are we looking at?"

Zane blinked several times, making a face as if to question you again before thinking better of it. "Casualties, right. I've not kept up with it but for the most part it was only some knocks and licks. Sprained ankles, some broken bones, nothing serious. Well, some of them got it worse." He corrected himself morbidly. "A fight broke out, I think-" His mouth shut, and what came out next was a lie. "I don't know what started it, exactly. Not long after it did, one of their 'flares' seemed to break, or something... It went off in the crowd."

With a lie that obvious you wondered if you should even press for the truth...? The better question would be why he seemed compelled to lie to you in the first place. More importantly though, "A flare went off in the crowd?" You raised a hand to your mouth, "So that's why... You said some were hurt worse, what happened?"

"Fire, mostly, Ser Valen." Zane's summary was short and to the point. "None of us had any idea what happened at first. Just, there was a sudden burst of light- It blinded me, and probably everyone else too. We couldn't hear anything but screaming at first, just this shrill, horrendous shrieking, and when it stopped everyone else was already screaming. A lot of the Artemis supporters were already on fire, and some of ours too. And... Most of the hostages."

He shook his head. "It'd been a while since I saw fire like that. There was nowhere to run, the people trying to escape ran straight into the rest of us, and the fire just spread from person to person from then on... Then all at once it was- Gone." He looked down at you with open awe written across his face. "I thought a miracle had happened, but... We went from a nightmare of blue flames to pitch black, and then some kind of paralysis settled in. It was like waking from one horror to the next. Couldn't move, could barely breathe, couldn't see. The only thing you could hear were people screaming all around you, confused and scared, and those poor bastards who were on fire still crying."

He drew a shaking breath, exhaling heavily while wringing his hands together. "I don't know how long we were stuck like that. Minutes... Maybe an hour, I don't know. Eventually Miss Lamandra arrived, and the night... Well, the night was more or less over. We could move again."

"...So." You murmured stoically from behind your hand. "How do you feel about being a knight now?"

"I-" Zane hesitated, licking his lips nervously. "I... I'm not sure, Ser Valen. Last night was going so well, and then it... Wasn't. At the end, I thought- What if this is it?" A desperate, shaken look haunted his eyes as he looked to you. "What if this is how I die? Blind, paralyzed, surrounded by screaming?" His eyes clenched shut, shaking himself free of the recollection before he continued solemnly. "I don't... Know that I'm cut out for this, Ser Valen. But I don't know what else I can do after you took us in."

Wine-red eyes narrowed. An action born of consideration, which none the less caused the man to wince as the gears in your mind started to move again. "Is this a common sentiment among the knights?"

"That- I don't know." He seemed nervous when he answered, but you didn't suspect he was lying again. "I know a few of us are still pretty shaken up about it. I can't speak for anyone else, and one woman seemed convinced it was your doing in the first place." He chuckled despite himself, "But I mean, if you need a report then you weren't even there, right?"

"..." His mirth died a pitiful death as you stared him down in silence. "And the people of Carona? How did they take it?"

"I couldn't tell you. I don't think anyone was prepared for what happened last night... It's probably still sinking in for a lot of people."

"Hmm. And the wounded, you said there were only a few scrapes? But that people had caught fire?"

"I don't know what they're looking like today." He admitted earnestly. "Most of the people I've talked to were already released. You know, sprain an ankle and you're not really sticking around the healer's tent. I haven't heard anything about the burn victims."

Maybe good news. Maybe not. Probably not. You weren't that lucky... But you'd had burns before and the healer in Carona fixed you up properly anyway - For a tidy sum. Whatever the case, Dullem or Rinnier would probably know more. Speaking of which... "Do you know where Rinnier is right now?"

"Miss Lamandra?" He echoed back, "I remember hearing she would be busy most of the day addressing the Crafter's Council. Captain Dullem seemed really relieved someone else was going to handle that, you'd think they tortured the man during those meetings." Zane forced a laugh, coughing it up somewhat awkwardly in an attempt to lighten the mood. "Course, the day's almost over now. I'd guess she's done with that by now."

A meeting with the Crafter's Council, but your headquarters were off limits... Nowhere immediately sprang to mind as a place to substitute a meeting besides the Shrine or the town square, and neither of those places seemed like good choices considering the circumstances. There were probably places you didn't know of offhand, though - You'd been gone for most of Carona's management. "Could you take me to where they were meeting?"

"I know the general area, at least." Zane sobered up, "Do you want to go now?"

>Yeah, let's go find Rinnier.
>You should make an appearance at the Shrine.
>See the town square for yourself.
>Some of the burn victims were your knights, you wanted to see for yourself.
>Other? (write-in)

>>4112076
>Some of the burn victims were your knights, you wanted to see for yourself.
I also think we should pay for healing all the burn victims, ours and Artemis, as a PR gesture.

>>4112076
>Some of the burn victims were your knights, you wanted to see for yourself.

>>4112076
>>Some of the burn victims were your knights, you wanted to see for yourself.

Do we even got money

>>4112442
ha ha, no. We've only ever had that one money chest we lifted off the mayor, and that's long gone.

>>4112463
At least we can give people I.O.Us then!

No we're broke.

Ask if anyone knows how to set broken bones

>>4112053
Good news! Dryad's waking up! Hence the apparitions even existing.

However - Rue was able to hack the original Oakenrue, remember? The one we let Dryad eat? Haha, nature, red in tooth and claw.

But that means we should be able to hack the dryad core in the behemoth, which is BETTER than Dryad controlling it.

>>4112076
>Some of the burn victims were your knights, you wanted to see for yourself.

We can get our arm looked at while we're seeing them in what I assume are the healers.

>>4112125
I mean, that's really what a ruler should do so I support it.

>>4112442
Pay for it by confiscating the property of the people who took the hostages. We should be executing the ringleaders, they set a bunch of our people on fire. I want them fucking dead.

>>4112463
Justification to the town for us going to see Clara. Make it look like we're taking to task the old Valen house and demanding the resources to rebuild.

>>4112076
>Some of the burn victims were your knights, you wanted to see for yourself.

It'd be good to see what we're dealing with. Particularly, what sort of fire it might be, because thi doesn't sound like normal fire at all. Actual flares don't use normal fire either but we don't know what the hell a flare is in context anyways. Might be good to grab Priat, or Rinnier, as theoretical experts on incendiary things.

>>4112469
Who knows if there are any in Caronavirus but it wouldn't be out of the question to go grab some loans, to be honest. As the ordained administrator of the town and a noble we've got a better "credit score" than most schmucks.

>>4112715
Irue has never even seen a bank stop making shit up.

>>4112739
I am somehow certain that Irue knows about the concept of borrowing money, official banks or no.

Damn. You're on to something, a whole bunch of people must have died. So we seize their assets

>>4112932
1.Kill people
2.Steal their stuff
4.Profit!

And thus Rue becomes the bandit queen

What could go wrong?

>>4112932
>>4112951
Uh, that's how almost all governments work.

We aren't seizing the property of the victims. But criminals who took hostages and killed people? Gotta make reparations. Fuck their families, they killed people what about those families.

Maybe Marcus has a cache of Incredibly Valuable Artemis Magical Relics™ hidden somewhere

>>4113032
Taking from citizens is going to piss people off and won't get us much since they're impoverished peasants living in a ruin. Wouldn't mind taking whatever artemis had though, I bet Marcus had some level of wealth with all the shit he had his fingers in.

>>4113264
I think taking it to provide care *for the people they set on fire* would be fine. If we do it to just the main leaders then we can in turn be lenient with the followers. Say we don't have the time or resources to investigate everyone for the events leading up to the fire.

That way nobody will want to get lumped in with the leaders because then they'll be punished too, not for opposing us but for hurting their neighbors.

window closing soon!

>>4112125
>>4112160
>>4112433
>>4112696
>>4112715
To the burn victi- Wow there's actually no other votes at all here.

Writing then!

Lmao we made a night of horrors by using the web

Imagine being paralyzed while burning half to death.

Dryad 1
Luna 0

"...No." While it was tempting to meet with Rinnier, you trusted she had whatever she was doing handled; You showing up would only slow her down. "I'd like to see the burn victims for myself, though."

"That should be easy enough. If you'll follow me, I think I know where they're being treated."

Zane's back straightened with an actual goal in front of him. He stepped aside, gesturing down the street politely and you fell in step beside him as he led you through Carona's winding streets. Stone and grit crunched underneath as you traveled, filling the conversationless gap with self-conscious footfalls. It was, you observed, a gracious cover for the pregnant silence which seemed to permeate your path.

You felt the eyes of men and women alike following. They lingered along the sides of the road, stealing surreptitious glances from the corner of their eyes - Turning away when their gazes were returned. A nervousness, perhaps, and an uncertain tension which left you waiting for the first word to be called. A question, an accusation. You were left waiting, longer and longer than you expected you would be, as that anxious energy only ever rippled fruitlessly over the surface of something deeper.

"You couldn't tell me this?" Your eyes scanned the empty streets. Ones made emptier by your approach, which only so very slowly filled in your wake. You wouldn't call it fear, but it was a queer sort of apprehension that followed the two of you.

"It's weird." Zane agreed quietly, sneaking his own glances back. "But I don't know what to make of it. If you talk to them they don't seem scared, really. Curious, maybe?"

You side-eyed him skeptically. "This is what curiosity looks like to you?"

Zane shrugged in response. Whatever you thought of it, your knight at least seemed correct in that it didn't necessary feel hostile. Just... Strange. Uncertain. The events of last night weren't liable to be forgotten by anyone anytime soon, and it was still too soon it seems for the people of Carona to have made up their minds how they would eventually remember it.

"We're here." Zane tugged at your attention some few minutes later, stepping up to hold aside a tent's flap.

What struck you first was the smell. A familiar vanilla scent that seemingly clung to the interior, mixing nauseatingly with something foreign and starkly bitter.

The patients themselves occupied mats laid upon the floor in spaced rows. Their states varied, with some so heavily burned it was difficult to recognize them while others looked as if they'd gotten off with only localized blistering. Those furthest from the initial blaze if you had to guess, but you didn't pretend to know what you were seeing. Compared to how many there could have been, you were relieved to see that there weren't actually that many people held up waiting for treatment here.

You hailed the healer's attention down once it became clear she wasn't in a rush, receiving a vaguely irritable glance for your troubles. "If you came for medicine, you'll need to ask someone else."

"No, I'm more interested in seeing what you have to tell me." You reply, spawning a glint of confusion in the patience-frayed healer's eyes as she turned a proper 'who are you?' look your way. A fortune then, that your bloodline was distinctive, as her brows rose not moments after meeting your eyes. "Irue Valen," You introduced yourself, more on principle of the matter than anything else. "I can wait if you're in the middle of something."

"Valen..." She repeated thoughtfully, seemingly more distracted inspecting you even after your introduction than before. "Irue Valen... Blood heir to House Valen, you live up northwest, in the woods."

"You-" You nearly stagger. "You recognize me? Really?"

"Not really." The healer admitted with a wry grin, one which only grew with as your hopes fell. "Some months back I had a kid stumble into my apothecary with burns asking for treatment, introduced themselves the same way. I'll be damned but you really were a Valen, huh?"

It was your own fault for getting excited that you were finally being recognized... And in some respects, you guess she did recognize you now. Just... Apparently it was because she remembered you from before. "Seems so." You return flatly, eager to move on with the subject. "So what can you tell me?"

"A lot." The healer reported brusquely, turning away as she spoke. "Less than I'd like. I've had a few deaths since last night, but most of them seem like they'll make it fine given some time to heal."

"The burns were that bad?" You meandered after her as she left, scanning the mats with a pit in your stomach for faces you recognized. "Are you expecting many more?"

"At this point? No. I've had to slow down my work on some of the worst injured... I don't want to say it was the burns exactly, though." The weary healer retrieved a small pouch from what passed as a desk, offering its tightly drawn strings to you matter-of-factly. "Lotta people got burned last night, but as far as I can tell the people near the thing that caused it all took it the worst. It's not just the flames that they were exposed to."

Fishing open the drawstrings of the pouch revealed a collection of very small, granular chunks of translucent crystal, tinged in blood. Not quite a powder, too large, but similar to tiny little misshapen pellets.

"Been fishing stuff like that out of people off and on all day. For some people it really burrowed down in whatever skin they had exposed, then as far as I can tell, each of those little pieces of shrapnel melted everything around it."

"Shrapnel...?" You scowled over the innocuous material, carefully tightening the drawstrings once more. "I was told it was some sort of warning device."

"Maybe it was." The healer proved thoroughly unconcerned with the true nature of whatever caused all this. "All I know is I can't afford to let any of my apparitions work on someone until I've gotten most of that junk out. Whatever it is soaks up the mana until it destabilizes, then... 'Pop'." She makes a small wave with her fingers illustratively. "The smaller it is, less it matters. Worst case scenario it just seems to dissolve into these real flashy lights, but the larger chunks like I got there?"

The healer trails off and shakes her head resignedly. If she was having to perform surgery on every subject before even introducing a Wisp apparition, that would slow things down tremendously... And time lost like that boded poorly for people already on the edge.

"Thankfully what you've got there is about the lot I've gathered so far. There's not a whole lot of it causing problems, but I can't take the risk."

"Understood... Do you have the names of the ones who've died already?"

"Unfortunately, no." The healer shook her head, narrowing her eyes as a lock of hair slid rebelliously loose. "I've not had the time to work on identification with patients still needing my attention... On the other hand, if luck holds then I won't have to work too hard. Most of the ones still with us aren't in any immediate danger, but I'm running out of salves and poultice. Those are things I'm going to have to make on my own, assuming I can scrounge up the materials for it."

"What do you-" You start almost reflexively, only for the healer to cut you off.

"Nothing like that, little heir. I know the materials are already in stock, I just have to dig them out. I was planning on doing that after I took a break, now that things have settled down... Then you walked in."

You sigh, feeling a weight slide off your shoulders unexpectedly. "I shouldn't keep you too long, then. When I heard some of the victims were my knights, I came worried."

"Knights, huh?" The healer mused thoughtfully, briefly glancing past you as the sound of movement drew her attention. "You done?" She called out over your shoulder... And received no response. You followed her line of sight, glancing behind you in time to catch Miska exiting the medical tent.

You thought to call out to her, only to blink and miss the opportunity when you caught sight of a familiar head of sandy blonde hair waiting outside in the evening sunlight. You caught him in what appeared to be mid-sniff, only seconds later making eye-contact before he slipped inside himself with a darkening scowl.

"What did you do?!" Raid hissed.

When he'd gotten back to Carona was a question that briefly flashed through your head, but that he had found you first was almost bewildering; For a crucial second, you just stared at the exact person you were looking for walked into your life. Raid took offense to this, jerking you forward by your shirt roughly and grinding his fangs together.

"What. Did. You. Do?!"

>Take credit for his pack's death. You killed them.
>Tell him what Kara did. This doesn't involve you.
>Deflect, try to find out what he knows first.
>Brush him off, you need to talk to Miska!
>Other? (write-in)

Well, he's alive.
>>4114300
>Other? (write-in)
Kara needs him.

Anything else, I'm presently unsure on. We could bullshit him, but I also highly doubt Kara will cooperate with our lie.

>>4114300
>Other? (write-in)
>Tell him that Kara needs him. Send him her way
Pretty rude of him to yank us. Shouldn't just let him do that when we're the heir of Valen

>>4114300
>Be vague.
>The pack betrayed me and tried to blackmail Kara by threatening you.
>Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

>>4114299

> "What do you-" You start almost reflexively, only for the healer to cut you off.

> "Nothing like that, little heir. I know the materials are already in stock, I just have to dig them out. I was planning on doing that after I took a break, now that things have settled down... Then you walked in."

Holy shit. The healer is now my most favourite person in the quest.

>Other
Tell Raid "Maybe I should be asking you that question, Raid. But regardless, you should know Kara's hurt. Marco and your pack . . . Well, you and I both know how Kara can be hurt in ways most demi-humans can't, and that Marco was really good at it. She needs you, but not right away, and not unless you're willing to take her side. It's bad, Raid. It's real fucking bad. So while words cannot express how relieved and happy I am to see you here and alive, I need to know if you had anything to do with this. I need to know if you helped Marco and your pack hurt her like this, Raid, if you stood back and let this happen to her, Raid. Because if you did then so help me by all the mana in the world that while Kara will forgive you I never will. You may think you've seen me angry and spiteful but I swear I will reach new heights just for anyone I find out had a hand in hurting Kara."

"Now come along. You need to see Kara as soon as possible, and whether or not you had some role in what happened I need you to be there for her now."

I dunno. On the one hand, Raid is the one person I expect to understand what Kara did. I don't think we need to lie to him about what happened. On the other hand, Raid may have been involved to some degree. If not now, he definitely was earlier.

But yeah. I'm placing the blame for this squarely on Marco and the pack, and preparing for the guilt for Raid when he finds out Kara did it because she thought she had to save his life.

Then we can help him with his guilt by directing him towards Artemis as being the remaining culprits, while getting him to actively work with us to help Kara get better so he doesn't direct his anger at us.

Really, my only regret with the Demihumans is that we didn't actually kill them all ourselves. Ironically, we tried so hard with them for Kara.

>>4114300
>>Deflect, try to find out what he knows first.

>>4114300
Also can we get our arm looked at before we go?

And can we start out with questioning tone and slowly transition to heatedly angry and then ice. fucking. cold. At the end of my write-in (if people want to use it).

>>4114300
>>Tell him what Kara did. This doesn't involve you.

>>4114497
No offense anon but I don't like this write-in

>>4114548
That's fine. What don't you like about it?

>>4114565
For starters, it's too verbose

>>4114548
Yeah I don't like it either, it's too aggressive and escalates the situation, from Raid's perceptive I'd imagine Irue would look like a guilty part trying to shift blame.

>>4114300
>>4114310
Seconding this, but also
>try to ease him into the truth of what happened rather than letting him go in with no info
>frame the whole issue as maro's fault
Irue's good at manipulating people, right?