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Your circumstances weren't quite comparable enough to say it'd deepen your understanding of Dryad, but if you and Lily could connect easier then you were at least interested. "Are there any particular exercises you'd suggest I try?"

"Hmm?" Whatever thoughts were brewing in her eyes were brushed away, her immediate response held at the tip of her tongue long enough for a glancing evaluation. "Jogging? You could use more stamina in the near future than anything else."

You directed an irked glower her way, leaving the former princess visibly confused. "With an apparition?"

"Oh!" Crimson eyes widened slightly. She poorly hushed a laugh at your expense, attention slipping just above your head as she considered Lily. "I'm not sure a Salamander apparition's methods would translate well. Or that you have the skills to translate it in the first place... No-" She waved her hand peaceably between you. "-It's just... You don't seem the dancing type?"

"Rinnier please, I know how to dance." You sniffed, vaguely offended at the insinuation. "Learning was part of my curriculum."

"Alright. So, how do you do it?"

"...I'm sorry?"

"Dance." Something between amusement and genuine interest gleamed behind her eyes. "Are you comfortable with rhythm? Improv?"

"I know a handful of formal ones...?" You retreat a half-step, blinking at the wash of disappointment that replaced her expectations. "Is that not what you meant?"

Deep red tresses shook in response. "Not exactly, but it could still work. Learning to flame dance was one of the first things we'd do; had to, because otherwise we ran the risk of accidentally burning ourselves. Our apparitions needed to learn to be as mindful of us as we were of them... So: dancing."

"Makes sense. And since I'm not exactly at risk of Dryad setting me on fire..." You let the rest of that thought go unsaid, comfortable you were back on the same page again. "Coordination still sounds like a good place to start. Does this sort of thing assume you're already decent at communicating?"

"The opposite. Being aware of each other came first, and the attention we'd learn to pay each other led to better understanding. There's plenty to be said for not needing to explain yourself at all and trusting your partner to know how to support you."

The wistful way she spoke left a sinking feeling in your gut, but you had to admit that it sounded... Enviable. You doubted you had time to achieve the kind of coordination she was alluding to, but it was a sound place to start from. All that meant was trying to teach Lily to dance. Trying to remember how to dance.

Your body would remember once you got started, though. Alouette had made sure of that.
>>
"So how does maturing into an Aspiration typically change one?" Disastrous visions of teaching Lily to dance aside, that seemed like it was going to be a significantly more relevant question to you soon.

"You'd know more about that than I would." Rinnier shrugged. "I've never spent much time learning about that."

"No, but you have experience with it that just studying didn't give me. The general idea I know: More freedom, a stronger ego, an increase in autonomy..."

"...I guess that sounds right." A finger tapped her lower lip thoughtfully. "Mn, I see what you mean. I'd never thought so clinically about the process. Did you have any more specific questions about it?"

"No, nothing in particular. More, just what kind of experience you had with it. Did yours have any dramatic changes to it?"

"No, no. Not really!" There it was again. A wistful tone you weren't used to hearing out of the spitfire Testament. She lingered on the thought, visibly sorting her thoughts before continuing. "We were careful to control their growth so that they wouldn't mature beyond their apparitional state too quickly. It's important to build a relationship before then, since they're always more independent later. You wanted to draw out their infancy as long as you could, really, while they were still cute and obedient - So as a side effect, we had a long time to get to know them. Dramatic changes usually don't happen without some kind of formative event or trauma."

...You could think of a couple things that may have qualified as that for Aegis. The fact you'd really not established much of a relationship with it at all before it matured was another awkward piece of low-key anxiety tossed in the back of your mind, because if that was what determined an Aspiration's preferences, then you'd effectively passed Aegis off to Ari very early on. Before she was even capable of communicating with it, even.

It made sense, though. You were well aware that Apparitions would carry their experiences with them when and if they managed to mature beyond the need of a core and become an Aspiration - The key factor there really being to consider that transition to be the stability of their ego. Apparitions were, to an extent, impressionable. Malleable. Often operating only on instinct and their natural form of Clarity. An Aspiration was something that had grown beyond that instinct and formed its own thoughts and opinions.

As far as your Mana studies went, the Shrine considered Aspirations nurtured into existence by an adept to be 'artificial': Tainted by deliberate human experience. A separate matter entirely from the naturally born Aspirations that very rarely occurred in the world. With the subject now very firmly in your lap, the idea that there was any meaningful difference between what the Shrine considered an artificial Aspiration, and one born naturally, seemed more and more mired in a question of moral principle.
>>
It went a long way in explaining why Apparitions very rarely matured when left to their own devices. There would be no catalyst to nudge them beyond the simple, instinctual life they were born with- And when there was a catalyst, it was liable to be a severe one.

So, whether it was proximity to Dryad's Throne, or the stress it had lived through, Aegis was a child that had been forced to grow very... Very quickly. You weren't liable to see any more dramatic changes out of the flesh-clad Aspiration, but whatever course it had found in life was already deeply set.

Lily, on the other hand, was a child - Exactly the child you'd thought of her as. She was young, naive, and curious... And staying with you, it wasn't a question of if she would become an Aspiration, but when; When, and under what circumstances. You weren't exactly in a position to offer her a safe and stable environment to mature in, and if that process was something Rinnier and the Teranford family had tried to drag out for as long as possible then you had even less chance of that.

Time, especially on the scale of years, wasn't something you had in abundance.

"Irue, are you alright?" A touch snapped you out of your thoughts.

"I'm fine, just thinking." Rinnier hummed something, withdrawing the hand on your shoulder. "What was yours like?"

"Incorrigible and stubborn." She snorted, "Even as an Apparition it wouldn't listen half the time, and the other half it'd take an argument to get it to cooperate. It was incredibly embarassing trying to get it to do what I wanted in front of people." She threw a hand in the air, fingers curling as if to strangle out her ire. "My father's was well behaved, my brothers never had this problem, just me! Just me! I swear to you it was born broken somehow."

"That's... Not what I expected." You smile slightly at the display of exasperated seething at your side. "It was always like that?"

Rinnier gave an irritable huff. "No. For like a month and a half it was a sweet and precious thing. And then it shed its horrid little disguise and became a hellion. The only saving grace was that it didn't listen to anyone else, either! If you can call that a grace in the first place. Father let it go on for a year to see if I would curb it on my own before deciding he'd provide me an 'example' of 'proper communication'. Whatever he asked it to do, it chose to set fire to his desk instead. I was punished for that!"

You stifled a giggle in the middle of your throat, earning yourself a dirty look from the distressed redhead. "Sorry, sorry. That must have been horrible." You can't imagine how miserable either Lily or Aegis could make your life if they'd followed that sort of example.

"It was." She affirmed resolutely. "It was awful, and I hated that little bastard."
>>
Rinnier had once stressed to you how it felt to be cut off from Salamander - Long ago, when you'd been more stranger than anything else. As if an entire sense had been lost, a color removed wholesale from the world. A blander, duller existence. Muted. It wasn't a loss you could relate to, as the exact thing she'd lost was something you'd never been able to get for yourself... And hearing her talk, you realize now that it was more than just that connection she lost in the process.

You had a choice to push further over her Aspiration, to wonder aloud what had happened to it at the end. Had they rebelled? Had they been snuffed out? Had they simply left? When the connection was broken and Salamander forsook the royal family, what had come of their Aspirations?

You had that choice and you hesitated, glancing at the flame haired Testament indecisively, wondering if it was worth ruining this rare moment of openness. The question formed on the tip of your tongue regardless. "What happened, then? To your Aspiration. Or... Everyone's, really."

A breath of silence filled the gap, her lips pursing thinly together. When finally the answer arrived, it was carried on a tired and bitter sigh. "...The Mana's favor is fickle. Shortly before Teranford fell, they attacked us. Tried to raze the royal palace, everything in the city..." Her voice closed to a resentful whisper, "...The royal family."

"Oh." Thinking back to how fire had reacted to Rinnier in the past, that... Tracked. "I'm sorry for asking."

"Mn.." She shook her head, less at ease than she was minutes ago but fortunately not angry. "It's not your fault. I probably needed to talk about it eventually. That was the spark for everything going up in... Well, flames. Literally and figuratively." A wane smile flashed your way, "Our royal family maintained its claim to the throne by divine mandate, Salamander's indisputable favor. Our whole foundation crumbled that day, civil war broke out in earnest not long after."
>>
You let the conversation dwindle there, standing under the morning sun as a breeze picked up through the whispering grass. Having the Mana that you built your right to rule around try to burn your capital city and royal family down seemed the most justified cause of changing leaders you could imagine off the top of your head, but... "Was there any warning? Explanation?"

"Before they betrayed us?" Rinnier shook her head, brows knitting together as she dismissed the idea. "Our favor was stripped that day, they wouldn't speak to anyone. All that mattered was trying to drive us out."

"No-" You interject pointedly, "-Salamander didn't drive you out, though? You said civil war ensued. The attack failed, and last I heard, Salamander abandoned the nation as a whole."

"Yeah?" Rinnier turned a tired look your way, holding her hand up for emphasis. "And you've seen first hand what Salamander thinks of us now."

"I know you're skeptical of it, but humour me." You press, feeling on the cusp of something. Gears in your mind churned, puzzle pieces slipping together frighteningly quickly. "Was your favor stripped all at once? Or had it been harder to talk to them leading up to that point?"

"I don't... Maybe?" Rinnier returned irritably, pausing to take a deeper breath... Before trying to give you the patience you'd asked for. "Something like that may have happened, yeah. I remember the oracles complaining that their communions were growing hazy."

"...Oracles?" You blink, sidetracked momentarily.

Rinnier waved her hand dismissively. "Old codgers who consulted Salamander and advised my father."

you mouth an 'oh' before shaking your head. "Right. Hazy. What about you, specifically. Did you have issues communicating leading up to that day?"

"...Yes. Sort of?" She frowned, discomfort and irritability floating through her eyes. "My Aspiration had been particularly ornery for several days, but it was always a pain in the ass. Was that supposed to be our warning?" She turned the question back to you with some disdain.

"Maybe. But not for what you think." Teranford was Salamander's land, a territory near the Throne of the flame Mana itself. If it wanted people gone, it wouldn't have failed... And under no circumstances would it have abandoned its own Throne. "Mana are deeply possessive of their favored, if it's being taken from them then usually they become aggressive in an attempt to keep people and places to itself. You've mentioned that the land itself was being teraformed, didn't you? Changed from the desert to something lush? Green?"

"...You're suggesting the Salamander Mana attacked us to try and protect us from being taken by something?" Rinnier hazarded.

"I'm suggesting that maybe you weren't forsaken at all." You raise red eyes to meet Rinnier's.
>>
"If there were another Mana that contested Salamander, one that could have overriden its presence, then that would explain everything, wouldn't it?" The former princess wasn't convinced, but the indecisive sway in her stance led you to press your case further. "The difficulty in communication as its connection dwindled, the sudden aggressiveness, the way it not only abandoned the people but the land itself."

"Alright... Let's say you're right." Rinnier grumbled skeptically. "What Mana, why, and what does that mean ultimately?"

"Dryad." You gestured emphatically to Lily, the wooden mask perched atop your head ambiently. "Mana of life. Most of its apparitions are plant or tree based, it's single handedly responsible for how verdant our territory is."

Her eyes flicked from yours towards the apparition in question, a frown set on her lips... And slowly the skepticism melted. Reforming, slowly, into something akin to coiled hate. "...So it could be responsible for the teraforming as well, which would have indicated a significant presence of the Mana in Teranford just prior to..." She trailed off, but neither of you needed to complete the sentence.

"So Dryad is to blame for ruining my life, destroying my country, and setting in motion the events that left all of my people forsaken by the Mana they dedicated their lives to." She concluded acidly, turning her attention back to you. "Why?"

"That... I don't know." You admit, wilting a little. "I told you about the Atelier. Dryad... Has problems. By all rights it shouldn't have been able to exert its influence between its Atelier, much less that far south. Not on its own, anyway."

"...But if it had agents to act on its behalf?" Rinnier lent the notion through grit teeth. "Like a community of nomads cultivating its presence under the cover of agricultural techniques?"

"Maybe?" You're not convinced Dryad could have done anything even with help. It had been kept fast asleep in its Atelier, sealed away from the rest of the world. "All of Dryad's adepts were killed a long time ago. The only people who would even know it exists at all anymore would be the people who sealed it: Artemis."
>>
"Ephlesia..." Rinnier murmured. This was beginning to retread ground you'd touched before; Suggestions that her brothers had led an exodus of her people from the civil war directly into the waiting arms of the people ultimately responsible for causing it. "It all comes back Ephlesia, doesn't it? Your Atelier story, Teranford's civil war, La'Fiel's... You're going to trace everything back to Artemis?"

"Unless you have a better solution." You retort, "We know Artemis is involved in stoking the tensions here in La'Fiel, they were directly responsible for the rebellion in Carona. I know they were responsible for sealing Dryad. If I'm right, and Dryad is somehow responsible for what happened in Teranford despite being sealed, then that means..."

"Artemis, right." Rinnier grumbled. She held a hand to her temple, gently massaging her forehead in an effort to fend off a headache far too early in the morning to have. "...I can feel my blood pounding over this."

Was it a good sign that she was taking you seriously enough to be angry over it? While heartening in its own way, it didn't make seeing her like this any better. You proffered an apologetic smile. "As for what all of this means though... I don't know yet. But, Rinnier, if Salamander didn't forsake you, and it's just been driven away by Dryad, then isn't that better?"

"Better?" Rinnier's shoulders tensed as she turned to you, sparing a withering glance at Lily before looking out into the woods. "Why would that be 'better'? I can't hear Dryad, and even if I could, I'd only hate the thing. I don't want to be a Dryad adept. I wouldn't want that damn thing in my life at all."

"Better because if Dryad could be convinced to give you up, Salamander would be waiting to stake its claim immediately." You point out, stepping up beside her. "...In theory, you could be a Salamander adept again."

Her jaw tightened, but not a word escaped. A long, drawn out silence stretched between you...

"Theory?" A weak murmur, reticent and small.

"Theory's about all I'm good for." You affirm, wearing a faint, self-deprecating grin. "But if I'm right..."

"If you were right, I'd kiss you." She sighed, and with a small laugh, tried to roll the tension from her shoulders. "...Enough of all that, though. I didn't plan on ruining my morning thinking about stuff like this, and even if it's true... What we're doing won't change. We're already well past the point where knowing any of that would have helped us stop what happened."

Rinnier stepped away, grit on the road crunching under her boot as she made her way back towards the knights.
>>
A sobering thought, as you watched the wind catch her hair as she left...

Even if you were right, it was too late to stop what happened.

Even if you were right, it might still be too late to stop what was happening now.

You are Irue Valen, blood heir to house Valen, and it was time to get moving. You were eager to see what your aunt's summons were about. Later tonight you imagine Ari would be back and ready to be quizzed on Wisp, so it would probably help to think up some questions to ask her ahead of time. You had the rest of the day for that, which... Who knows how long the day would last.

And- Dammit, you forgot to ask Rinnier about Kara.

>Chase her down to ask anyway on your way back to the knights
>Focus on trying to work with Lily. Rinnier suggested dancing...?
>You have other plans today (like what?)
>You may skip the rest of the travel time, but you have to quiz Ari regardless.
>>
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:Guess who left off in the middle of a conversation? That was hell to pick back up.

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:
>>
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>>4882111
You came back!

>Chase her down to ask anyway on your way back to the knights
>>
Welcome back.
>>4882111
It's probably best to let Rinnier think on that particular revelation before dropping the bomb that our dog ran away.
>Focus on trying to work with Lily. Rinnier suggested dancing...?
It is also an aerobic activity and thus contributes to some physical development. Hopefully.
I had the idea to combine dance with combat as a more performative duel or spar might, can even get some knights in on it, but while getting every single one of Irue's bones including the small ones of the ear broken is a hilarious idea it is also an absolutely horrible one when control over the apparition is not quite assured, nor is their understanding of what a practice bout is supposed to be.

We just shouldn't do this for too long. Touching your wood too much makes you go blind.
>>
>>4882111
>Focus on trying to work with Lily. Rinnier suggested dancing...?
Giving Rinnier space to thonk, seems like a good idea.

Something to reflect on would be to consider that we have now come to the conclusion that Artermis has at very least undermined and engineered events in La'fiel, Teranford and elsewhere for long enough, well before we were "born" to cause all of this to transpire; what other unfortunate events have they had their hands in, involving the lives of those that surround us, and especially our own.

I have a strong suspicion that they were at very least, heavily involved in our family's murder especially considering that they know that Behemoth can be "tamed" it wouldn't have been impossible to have the one on that day to have been guided by someone.


We also need to contact Caylen using the Jinn Branch once we get to the house to see if we can convince him by any means we can, to get him to turn around and come back.
>>
>>4882110
>I know they were responsible for sealing Dryad.
Technically not true; the Shrine sealed Dryad. Artemis was responsible for studying the disease that infected it.
Though IIRC Luna adepts were the principal agents in the sealing.

>>4882111
Welcome back. Figured you'd show up sooner or later.
>Focus on trying to work with Lily.
Dancing doesn't seem like something Rue would willingly engage in. Hide and go seek, or some sort of children's game maybe?
>>
>>4882328
Of course!

>>4882769
This is an important technicality, and also entirely correct. Artemis was a branch split off from the Luna Dominion after the sealing of Dryad, assigned with study and the isolation of fragments retrieved from the East Heaven dead zone.

Since then however, the split has become more than a designated formality and Artemis itself has grown into a powerful faction by its own right, occupying the city of scholars, Ephlesia. While their origin is part of the Shrine, they've fully split off and become a semi-opposing faction at this point due to their vocal clashing with the Luna Dominion over how best to handle the dissemination of knowledge.

I'll close the vote a bit later tonight!
>>
oh, goodness this quest.

I remember reading it and really enjoying it around the time rue was in the ice palace but I lost track of it
time to reread
>>
>>4883686
Welcome back, anon! Hope you have fun catching up!
>>
>>4882111
We told Rinnier a lot and any more might be been overkill but I noticed we talked around the terraforming method, the nomads used those fragment things to make lobotomised dryad trees like the one that's taken over our manor. We have the tree fragment, the magic telephone fragment and I believe we picked up an unaligned fragment on our previous expedition? Maybe Mim took that one, I can't remember. Anyway, Rinnier might be able to make some kind of inference from this information so it's worth bringing up next time.

>Focus on trying to work with Lily. Rinnier suggested dancing...?
We must raise our future wife with care, she absolutely needs to know how to dance.

Welcome back Riz. This quest has been a fixture in my life for so long, it always makes me happy when you come back.
>>
>>4883743
>This quest has been a fixture in my life for so long
It's really weird when I think of how long Valen has been running. I really thought it'd have concluded by now, but the times I ran started getting more sporadic. Occasionally I wonder how the lives of my anons have developed in the meantime, like... What if some of them got married? How many different jobs have they held? What if they've moved to different regions? Did they get through covid okay?

It probably sounds strange, but occasionally I find myself wondering and worrying about stuff like that. I hope everyone's done well for themselves, or at least found a path to say they're not ashamed to have walked.
>>
>>4882328
Actually, what about Kara?

>>4882331 (dance spar?)
>>4882393
>>4882769 (hide and seek? a game?)
>>4883743
Dance Dance Apparition!

Alright, writing!
>>
>>4883753
You are a caring person. I hope you're doing well too.
>>
>>4883753
>I hope everyone's done well for themselves, or at least found a path to say they're not ashamed to have walked.
Tragically I have found myself in this strange and eerie place called /qst/. I'm not sure when I'll be able to get out, if ever. Maybe I need to get married to escape.
>>
Ok so now that we're in a bit of a lul, how far are we set, generally on the "Dryad getting all the revenge on Luna and anything that gets in their way regardless of the costs" train, and how much should we try and limit casualties because if we don't do anything after things kick off Artermis is going to cry to the Shrine and get everyone on their side which will probably either roll Dryad up in short order, again.

Or get drawn out with neither side doing much of anything other than running up the casualty counts until the magical "Nukes" start flying.
>>
Welcome back Riz! I don't have the time to participate, nor have I finished reading the archives, but I just wanted to welcome back qst's best QM and the return of it's best quest!
>>
...On second thought, you'd probably given her enough to mull over for one day. Talking to her about Kara could wait; She'd never had a positive opinion of the demihumans anyway. Sparing a glance back towards the forest line, you felt Lily's ivy tendrils playfully brush against the nape of your neck, and nudged her gently with your fingertip to readjust the mask perched over your crown. It slipped free from its position, settling comfortably over your eyes in a way that man-made products likely could never compare to.

"Dancing, huh...?"

It'd been a while since you did that, and you only vaguely remembered some of the formal steps. You could do worse than spend your time on the road working to get more comfortable with Lily, seeing as you'd made enough mistakes raising Aegis... This one you wanted to at least try and do right. Teaching her to dance was certainly an option. Could you dance on the road? ...Did you want to dance your way to your aunt's?

Knowing you were going into conflict in the future, making it more of a performative spar sounded more efficient. Or it would, except you didn't know where to begin when it came to sparring - A problem you had successfully gotten around thus far by utilizing desperate flailing, skillful manipulation, and self-destructive relics of ill-understood power! ...Thinking about it, you should probably address your own lack of sparring knowledge before trying to draw Lily into one.

The sheer amount of effort you imagine you'd need to spend to get Lily to understand what sparring is was already giving you second thoughts.

What other options did you have... A game, maybe? Hide and seek occurred to you briefly, but there weren't many ways for you to hide in a moving escort, and even less ways for Lily to seek without meandering about ambiently. Fetch? Jump rope? You didn't play a whole lot of games as a kid, what options were there, anyway?

You offer a vague question up to Lily, wondering what her preference on the matter was... And dancing seemed to win. Or maybe she just liked the idea of moving. Whichever the case, this was going to be your day now.
>>
Step, 1, 2, 3... Step? No, that's not...

"Shut up, Rinnier."

"I didn't say anything."

You dutifully ignore the amused lilt in her voice as you return to your phantom dance partner. Ideally Lily would have not been a mask while this was ongoing, but there were a handful of problems to address first... The most pressing of which being that you needed to keep moving while dancing, and formal dances did not typically extend in a straight line indefinitely. You were starting to remember the dusty, unused-patterns that'd been stuffed in the back of your mind all this time, but it wasn't helping when you had to readjust your position constantly every few steps.

So you improvised. You had the ingredients necessary for dancing, you just needed to adapt to your limitations and make it work! This was easier said than done, and thus Lily had taken to observing curiously from her perch as you pieced together what, exactly, you were going to try and do with her.

Occasionally Rinnier would snicker, but that wasn't important.

Step, 1, 2, 3... adjust, 1, 2, spin...

Lily's idle wonder and excitement over the process was, at the very least, a gratifying encouragement to keep going. She was keeping a close watch over your movements per your promise-slash-warning that she'd need to be doing it with you when you were done figuring out what, precisely, you were doing at all.

Hopefully you didn't tire yourself out before you got to that point, because walking all day on top of dancing was taking a toll you hadn't properly calculated when this plan started.
>>
A bead of sweat slid down your cheek, tickling the skin on its way down. The sun had risen well overhead at some point, and your calves were starting to ache. A few months ago, you would have been completely exhausted - Now, you were just a bit winded. What you had to show for it was less than you'd have liked, but more than enough to function for what you needed.

You were not a rhythmic genius, so you doubted the alterations you'd painstakingly put together were going to get adopted into any formal social gatherings anytime soon, but for something adapted on the fly?

"So what does the partner do?"

"What?"

You wiped the moisture from your forehead, turning wine red eyes over to your Testament when she offered up a skin of water.

"That dance has a partner. You adapted your side, how does the partner's go?"

Water slid down your throat. Not terribly cool, but appreciated none the less, and your eyes drifted down to consider the skin that carried it.

You were regretting this dancing idea immensely.

"You could have waited until we stopped for the night to do this, you know." Rinnier mused.

"I have plans at night, and most of my time is open during the day." You shake your head, handing the waterskin back. "I don't want to skimp on the time I spend trying to work with Lily."

"Hmm..." It wasn't an unconvinced hum, but Rinnier's arms crossed beneath her chest as she looked you over. "If you were going to try and adapt an entire dance like this, why not just try and improvise from the start? It's more natural than rote repetition."

"I am not exactly a skilled dancer, Rinnier." You straighten your back, drawing in the cool air from a burgeoning breeze as you did so. "I wanted to start somewhere I was familiar."

"I suppose that makes sense. I would have offered to teach you, but that doesn't help with nurturing your apparition any." Rinnier's head tilted minutely to one side. "...I don't actually know how dancing would work with your apparition as a partner."

"...What?"

"When I suggested dancing, I probably should have been clearer: It was all improvisation. Free dancing. The apparition would wreathe itself around you in the process, and the goal was to continue the dance without touching one another, but stay as close together as possible." She gestured vaguely towards you. "A partner with their own set of dance steps seems like a complicated thing to try and teach an apparition."

"...You couldn't have told me that sooner?"

"You told me to shut up." Rinnier sniffed, affecting an offended tone - Wholly belied by the glint in her eyes. "Besides, I'm sure your knights appreciate having a new topic to gossip over. What kind of ritual is Ser Valen doing now?"
>>
"Please..." You heave a sigh, "Can you at least try to be helpful with this?"

"No," Rinnier quipped, "This is funnier."

"I wasted hours on this! At least give me an example to follow!"

"Ah... That, I can't actually do." Rinnier laughed softly, patting you on the shoulder. "I'm about to go check on the escort formation, and even if I weren't, I'm not used to dancing without a pole."

You arch a brow in her direction.

"Dancing and martial exercises aren't too disimilar once you have a feel for the rhythm, so I practiced with that in mind." Rinnier broke off, dusting her hands against one another as she made to leave. "Don't overthink it too much, just try and find a way for your apparition to move with you."

You watched her go for a moment longer, holding your hand up after she'd disappeared into the knights. Lily wasn't fire, she couldn't exactly just weave herself around you. She was wood, and... Ivy? Vines? You passed the query to her half-heartedly, only for the ivy that had been tickling your neck the past few hours to shiver. An excited affirmation came almost as quickly as the sudden spread of vines did, coiling around your arms just a little tightly for comfort.

It was disconcerting to feel, like your entire body was being consumed by a maw of tiny tendrils. Taken, wrapped and bound in an embrace you couldn't escape no matter how you struggled. A full body binding that... Reminded you even more uncomfortably of the way you'd woken up draped in greenery while sleeping in Dryad's Atelier.

It twisted and split along your hands, small flowers budding to cover the thin wooden skin which rooted itself to your body with rings of ivy slipped around your fingers. Less an exoskeleton as lightweight gloves, ending in vaguely pointed fingertips.

You wiggled your fingers experimentally, testing the resistance. At first it was too much to do more than twitch - A problem solved with Lily reluctantly loosening her bindings to give you more room to breathe. Literally. Beyond that, though you wondered just what this was supposed to accomplish.

"This isn't exactly what I meant, Lily."

Her response, such as it was, consisted of being conveyed the dream of a hug so big it could hug every piece of you simultaneously. The omnihug.

You sighed.

"The point was not to touch me, though?" A singular, reluctant moment passed... And the bindings loosened just a little further. "You're still touching me."

Spirals of ivy vines coiling in mid-air around your limbs. Carved wooden hands, split in half to float at the ends of leaved tendrils above and below your own. Your legs remained free for the moment, uncoiled, unbound, and unmolested by Lily's attempt to make her omnihug dream a reality after being argued back down to a reasonable limit.
>>
Could you have wings? Probably. Would they let you fly? No. Would they look cool? Depends on who you asked. Were you going to walk down the road with giant flower wings? No, no, definitely not. And so you worked to coax Lily into forming herself around you in a way you would accept. Something scant, not too intimidating. A small handful of vines, absentmindedly twitching and curving in the space around your arm as they supported Lily's own multisectional hands - Now resembling less the hand they were meant to have been and more floating thorny digits.

Digits which, theoretically, should mimic the movements of your own fingers.

Theoretically.

"Lily, pay attention."

...There they go, thorny fingers wiggling like a nest of confused snake heads. Perfect.

"Now, no matter how I move, you shouldn't touch me. We'll stay like this... Let's say until night. Can you do that?"

An immediate disagreement.

"Why?"

Lily returned to you the notion of dancing - which to her, evidently, translated to hugging while moving. Elaborate, sophisticated hugs. This was, she complained, the exact opposite of that. This was the antihug.

"It's important awareness practice-" Or so, you tried to explain.

The Dryad apparition retorted plaintively that hugging made you very aware of each other and was a better idea than not hugging. Unfortunately that is not the awareness you were aiming for here, and so her disagreements were vetoed and the practice resumed with mildly rebellious snake fingers.

You rather rapidly began to realize, however, that the most crippling detriment to this plan wsn't Lily's cooperation - It was her attention span. So long as she remained focused on you, you could move almost as you pleased! Catching her off guard every now and then with a skip, or a sudden swipe of the air, or twirling as you walked... The last of which nearly resulted in you being tied up by your own arms. But her attention could only stay on you for so long before it wandered, and the child's extended tendrils gained a mind of their own to try and snare butterflies nearby, or begin tugging on your clothes, or... Something.

You were fortunate to not be too close to anyone else, or you imagine she would have attempted to enact her omnihug plans on one of your knights if they strayed too close.

Lily was a sweet child, and she did try to be obedient. She tried hard.

But there were many things which needed hugs in this world, and she could provide them. She would provide them.

...You try not to feel too discomforted over the certainty she held in this.
>>
Evening was approaching by the time you'd sorted yourselves into something resembling satisfactory performance. At this point even you were starting to grow distracted, and you realized you still needed to think up some Wisp related questions for Ari to see how well she'd handle being quizzed.

Now the basic idea was somewhat taught to Lily though, you could do this a little more easily day to day! Maybe one day you could even trust her within touching distance of someone else.

>Questions for Ari? Up to 3.
>Anything else you'd like to do before she shows up?
>>
>>4885597
>welcome back qst's best QM and the return of it's best quest!
I am skeptical of these things. But I'm glad to know someone else is enjoying the quest! I'm kind of curious where you are in the archives, and what turned you on to Valen. Are you new to the quest, or just catching up after falling off?
>>
>>4885821


>What are the hallmarks of a Wisp creature or adept?
>What is the relationship between Wisp and their Adepts?
>How does Wisp's connection with life compare with Dryad's?

Seems like a good variety and a ramp of difficulty (With some useful insight for her in there as well)

Also, take the time to collect yourself so you approach this as a conversation, not a lecture. The idea was to keep her stimulated, so pay attention and listen to her

We can ill afford another failure.
>>
>>4885821

>>4885865 Has a good mix of questions, and we may be able to get more insight on the last one if we tell Clara about Dryad, the forest and subsequent happenings.

Another thing to potentaly test out if dryad wakes is if we can revive the bodies in the Catacombs (there's probably a reason why they were entombed), or follow the river looking for wherever the "fey" touched bodies end up.


>Anything else you'd like to do before she shows up?
Tell Lilly she did a good job and Ask for a Hug,

Reinforcement is important to cementing learned lessons.Also Irue could always use more hugs, especially since things are only going to get worse, much worse.
>>
>>4885816
Lily is adorable.

>>4885821
>What does Wisp like?
>What does Wisp hate?
>How do you protect yourself from a crazy Wisp-powered terrorist?

>Reward Lily with a hug. Positive reinforcement is important.
>>
>>4885823
But I believe them wholeheartedly!

To answer your question I actually caught the very first thread live and it was apparent to me that the writing was of high quality, but at the time I did not participate in any quests and so simply choose not to participate in Valen quest either and instead simply lurk even as you lamented at times only having 3 voters.

My apprehension doubled after Irue wandered through the forest and fought a bear and I began to adopt the then (and perhaps even now) commonly held view that Valen quest was a "hard quest" after she first went to the temple.

I kept up with the quest as it was written until Irue was replaced with the dopplerue, then real life got in the way and I dropped off for a while. Then over the years I read the archives and got to the end of the first arc after Irue dealt with the mayor, I reread this part multiple times as I kept forgetting stuff because I kept having to stop catching up with the archives due to real life. I vaguely remember having gotten a fair bit past this part but then forgot much of the events after my most recent drop off. Since I have no job and no obligations now I intend to catch up starting from just after Irue dealt with the mayor, since my clearest recollections are from the first arc.
>>
>>4885815
>The apparition would wreathe itself around you in the process, and the goal was to continue the dance without touching one another, but stay as close together as possible."
Hm. Yeah, see, the point of the fire dance was to figure out how to interact without burning. That's not really relevant for a plant-based creature.
Next time this comes up, I'll back some sort of martial work; sparing or choreography or something related.

>>4885817
>Could you have wings? Probably. Would they let you fly? No. Would they look cool?
They would absolutely look cool. Or really dorky. Very polarizing, I suspect.

>>4885821
I'm still too rusty to figure out decent Wisp questions.
On the hug stuff: Maybe a hug can be offered as payment after completing tasks we set for it? Might be workable, so long as we don't train it to expect a reward every time it does something.
>>
>>4885821
>How can you expect a wisp adept to behave?
>Describe the values Wisp adheres to and values that would be antithetical to Wisp, how would Wisp and its adepts react to these opposing ideals?
>How would you approach dealing with an enemy wisp adept? (distinct from the how to kill question)

>Anything else you'd like to do before she shows up?
Um, follow up on the words lesson we gave Lily before?
>>
>>4885817
>>
>>4886037
On things to do with Lilly we should review our time in the Forest Atelier to see if can pick anything up or ask Marchovic for access to any poisonous seeds / plant material since he collects them for "resistance training".

On that note Thread #73 >>3604082, Assuming that some sort of Poison was used by Artermis, it might still be there at the Ruined Shrine; and so might be worth investigating for our own use or building a resistance to
>>
>>4885972
>>4886037
>>4886381

I am not explicitly against hugs, but I caution making performative gestures with a being that has close access to our mind and is learning from us.


Irue may do well to get and give some hugs, but the last thing we need is to teach Lily how to manipulate.
>>
>>4887072
This is true, we should endeavour to treat Lily with sincerity.
>>
>>4887072
Depending on exactly how she turns out, having a second that can direct people around, and participate in combat, or act defensively in our stead could be useful since having Asche cockblock us at every turn makes that impossible.

Another thing we could to would be teach her to talk properly so she isn't just repeating things she has heard without understanding what they mean, though that might have to come later once she has matured.

I sort of envision her as a body double, bodyguard, healer and effective anti adept rolled into one.
>>
>>4887258

I believe that Irue's habit of regarding things and people as tools or solutions is ultimately her most dangerous flaw, and would like to direct her when possible to self-examine and consider them less pragmatically.

Lily wants to help. We can teach her and guide her development to be useful, but it's important to consider her as a companion first.
>>
>>4887295
We have the same problem with Ari, they were (and still are) both far to impressionable at this point of their development to allow for it to be completely freeform, and considering the time constraints we are under we may need to accelerate things even if it turns out to be substandard or not exactly what we wanted.

But on that note, depending on how long we have before things come crashing down we should have time to keep trying if we need to.

I'm going to go over our time in the "Forest" Atelier and see if it turns up any activities to try.
>>
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>>4885865
>>4885876
>>4885972
>>4886094
Wisp questions!

>>4885876
>>4885972
>>4886037
Positive reinforcement for Lily! She did her best.

>>4886094
Chatting with Lily! Word lessons are important, probably?

Closing the vote here, I'll get to work!

>>4886112
Lily loves you. Also saved this! I am beginning to wonder if you just have a photoshop template for this face saved for future variations.
>>
>>4887072
This is true. She already spends quite a bit of time in contact with us.

>>4887258
I've had the same rough idea about her long term role. Ultimately, it would be the same as what Aspenrue was supposed to fill.

While I suspect proper talking isn't in the cards for a long time, teaching better communication would be a worthwhile endeavor.
>>
>>4887578
"Kim's game" is something we could do pretty easily to develop memory, and "Hide and Seek" or "Spotlight" could encourage camouflage or stealth development, Scissors Paper Rock could be used to train her to look for "tells"


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim%27s_Game
>>
>>4887438
>I am beginning to wonder if you just have a photoshop template
No. It's a Sai template
>>
"That wasn't so hard, was it?" You weren't sure if the fatigue setting in was from the walking, dancing, or trying to coerce Lily. Whatever the answer, the day had passed blessedly swiftly with something to occupy your attention. "A little more practice like that and we'll be ready."

Curiosity. The unworded, general question over what you'd be ready for.

"...I don't know." A second passed before you admitted yourself. "But if things keep going like they have so far, there'll be something. We're going to be ready for it."

You were tired of being caught completely unprepared and out of your depth. Given you had declared your primary enemy to be a faction of Luna Adepts with generations of headstart in sabotage and subterfuge, an generous observation would be that you were going to only get even further tired of feeling this way in the days to come - That you acknowledged this did nothing to make you want to tolerate it any more patiently.

Thus, every little bit counted. Time spent with Lily, quizzing Ari, training your knights... Preparing yourself and the people around you as best you could manage.

The apparition in question let a shiver tremor through its coiled ivy, self-assuredly planning to also be ready! She was oddly endearing, the more time you actually spent with her. Positive, enthusiastic, affectionate and supportive... Naive, almost to a fault at times, but sweet. She'd worked hard today, so you didn't hesitate to brush your fingers over the mask's surface in an approximation of a well earned petting for the apparition.

You had the half second forewarning of Lily's surging satisfaction before the ivy which had been dutifully attempting to coil about you touchlessly rapidly bound itself to your arms.

Lily loves you.
>>
Trying to extract yourself from a twisted net of vines was how Ari eventually found you, having stopped several paces short to observe your vain efforts for... Longer it had taken you to notice her, you're sure.

"Do you need help, Master?" Her head tilted to one side, dull brown eyes watching you closely as you paused to adjust your grip on Lily's vines.

"No, Lily is just being a little clingy."

Ari's eyes flickered up towards your mask, then back to you. "Lily says you needed a hug?"

"I didn't need a hug, but Lily worked hard today so I let her have one." you correct absentmindedly.

"So if I do well, I get a hug?"

You finish extricating yourself from Lily's hold, turning an exasperated look Ari's way. A faint quirk of her lips smiled back at you, one arm looped behind her back as she waited for you to finish. "We'll see how well you do. How's your day gone, by the way? Did you spend much time working on what we talked about?"

"Mm..." Ari nodded, stringy brown hair bobbing in time. "I'm getting along with everyone. The knights are nice."

"Making friends?"

Ari shook her head this time, the smile never quite leaving her lips. "No, but they know who I am."

"I'd prefer them be a little more familiar with you than that."

"Are you friends with them?" Ari's head tilted, watching you patiently as you thought over the innocently dropped question.

"...I'd prefer them to be a little more familiar with me than they are." You repeat after a moment. "But alright, small steps."

"Hmm..." The brown haired Testament gave an understanding nod and sidled closer. "I tried thinking over what you asked me to. I'll get a hug for answering questions well, right?"

"I don't recall mentioning that." You reach out to pet Ari absently, feeling her brush her cheek against the palm of your hand in the process.

"Lily got rewarded."

"Lily is a child." You note wryly, catching a brief flash of irritation flicker across Ari's faintly smiling face. "Now, let's see... Sit down, let's talk for a bit and see how much you still remember."

"Yes, master..."

"Irue."

"Irue." Ari amends herself with a cheerful lilt as she settled onto the ground.
>>
You'd start simple, you decided, and work up to more complicated questions depending on how things went. Settling into the grass opposite Ari, you reached for the easiest starting point you could think of: "What does Wisp like? What are the traits and things it favours."

"Wisp likes people trying their best." Was her immediate answer, and you expected as much - It was a simple question. "It favours... The healthy, and people who are never satisfied, because it's never satisfied. It likes people who don't give up, and trials, and unreasonable demands."

...Alright. She wasn't necessarily wrong, but you have to wonder when she started having such strong opinions on Wisp. "Why would you say it favours the healthy, as opposed to people being healthy because they're favoured?"

"Because when you're born sick or frail, people think you're spurned by Wisp." Ari explained, "Wisp is the Mana of vitality, the Mana of health and strength, right? So its favour has to come before the trait it embodies."

"So, since its favour comes first, wouldn't that imply that by being healthy they were favored prior to their health?"

Ari's brows knit, and she opened her mouth to object... Pausing, with a look of concentration as she picked her words. "...No." She shook her head resolutely.

"Alright," You folded your legs together, curious to follow your Testament's thoughts. "Why?"

"Because Kara was probably stronger than a Wisp adept, but the Mana don't favour the demihumans at all." She began, "...And the Wisp Representative in Carona is blind. If Wisp's favour preceeded health, then someone supposedly spurned by Wisp couldn't become an adept of Wisp. So even if Wisp's favour can grant health, there has to be something there before that for it to favour, and I think it prefers people with a higher... Higher... base? Perimeter?"

"Parameter."

"Yeah!" Ari nodded gratefully. "Higher parameters."

"So if that's true, and Wisp is biased towards higher parameters in its favour, how did Carona's Wisp Representative become a Representative?"

"Mmn... Don't know, but... I think people can change easier than Mana. Even if you're not born loved by one, it doesn't mean you can't be loved?"

You rest your chin in the palm of your hand, rolling her answer around in your head. She made fair points, but you're not sure what to think of them. Nothing she said was incorrect, strictly speaking, but it would take a Wisp Adept to directly dispute Wisp's biases.
>>
"So moving on, what does Wisp hate?"

"Umm..." Here her confidence faltered. "I'm not sure it hates anything? It and Shade erode each other, but I'm not sure they dislike one another. It can't hate failure, because it expects its favoured to fail, doesn't it?" She looks to you questioningly, "Wisp has high expectations and always disappointed, but it wants people to keep trying. So... Giving up, maybe?"

The Mana don't hate one another, no. Even though Wisp and Shade dissolve one another's presence, and their adepts are often at odds, officially speaking the Shrine taught that the Mana's opposition to one another was an existential dichotomy rather than a strict dislike.

...Although, officially speaking, the Shrine didn't teach Dryad's existence at all - But technically speaking, Dryad wasn't a Mana anymore. Hmm. "Would you say Dryad hates any of its siblings?"

Ari blinked owlishly, her mouth opening into a small 'o' before her lips pressed together in a thin, furtive line. A deep breath filled her small frame, eyes drifting shut... And there she sat, several breaths of silence filling the clearing sans the mildly distant din of your not-so-far-away knights. When she opened her eyes, small glints of amber speckled her brown iris - sinking back into the muddy surface almost immediately.

"No."

"...No?" You hesitate to push the answer, wary of prodding Ari to try and dive deeper for an answer-

-Yet such fears seemed unfounded as she simply shook her head. A resolute, confident answer. "It wants its siblings to understand."

"Understand what, exactly?"

Artemis had traumatized Dryad so deeply as to tear it from its Clarity - A fundamental necessity in weakening the Mana of Life's strength and demoting it from an all powerful existence to merely an Aeon of pseudo-divine status. By all rights, between that and its reaction to Luna all this time, you'd imagine hate was something it learned intimately in the process.

"Pain." Ari's answer was discomfortingly light hearted. "Suffering. Rejection. Loss. The way it feels to have the things you love ripped away. Loneliness."

You stare at one another for a long, awkward moment.

"That sounds a lot like hate."

"It's not." she assured you brightly.
>>
You filed that uncomfortable tidbit away for the moment and clear your throat. "Going back to Wisp, could you describe the values Wisp adheres to, and values that would be antithetical to Wisp?"

"Hmmn... Values..." She rolls her eyes skyward, huffing softly at the hair covering her brow. "I think it values perseverance. And ambition. Or... Not ambition exactly...? Like wanting something bigger than you have, or too big to have, maybe." She held her hands before you, trying to physically illustrate her thoughts in a more understandable way - and failing. "But even if it wants that, it doesn't expect to get it."

"So how do you think it reacts to that? Always wanting something, but knowing it can't get what it wants. How do you think its adepts react to that?"

"I don't know." She offered an easy admission, shrugging unhelpfully.

No. You were going to need to prod her a bit more for a better answer. "Well, how would you react?"

"If I wanted something I couldn't have..." She sighed, thinking it over slowly. "I'd try different ways to get it. Maybe I was doing something wrong, or maybe I could get it if I tried something different." She pieced her thoughts together slowly, deliberately, before presenting them to you. "I think I'd need to be patient."

"Would you give up?"

"You never gave up." She returned earnestly.

"...Alright." You nod, taking the answer for what it was. "So following that, how do you think a Wisp adept might behave? In general."

Your mind drifted to the Paladin, who had become something of a recurring thorn in your side during your time in Carona. At this point you had nurtured a legitimate grudge in the man, so you'd be far luckier than you could count on if you never saw him again. The worst part was just not knowing when or where to expect him next... And with Kara gone, your options for dealing with him had dried up miserably.

"They would be stubborn. Devoted. If they had a goal, I think they'd probably die before really giving up on it." Ari mused, "...I think... They might expect to never get what they want? and be that much more willing to do something drastic to see it happen. Even if they're not there to see their dreams happen."

...Yeah. That sounded depressingly like what you expected.
>>
"So, let's say you made an enemy of a Wisp adept." May as well consult Ari on this - Additional minds thinking about it could yield something useful. "How would you go about protecting yourself from them?"

"Stay with you." Ari answered blandly, meeting your wine red gaze with absolute sincerity.

"...Let's say I made an enemy of a Wisp adept." You supply, "How would I protect myself from them?"

"You?" Ari tilted her head to one side. "...?"

"Humour me." You grin over her confusion. "What would I do? What could be done in general?"

"In general... I think keeping a Shade adept nearby would help. Or other Wisp adepts. Or maybe Aegis? Apparitions might be strong enough to help. Umm..." She trailed off, fingers stroking slowly through the grass at her side while reaching for a better answer. "...Not make one your enemy? Make it up to them somehow?"

Nothing you hadn't thought of to some degree, but you expected as much. "So what about me, specifically? What do you think I'd do?"

"Find something he valued more than himself and hold it hostage." With this she lit up, looking up to you with a glint of admiration.

"..." Your tongue slipped across your lips awkwardly. "What if I already messed that up?" By complete accident, mind you. Or necessity. You needed those mercenaries out of the picture before realizing he was probably leading them.

"Then..." Uncertainty tinged her tongue, testing the waters for a second answer... Before it seemed like she found something to dust off, half-forgotten, from the back of her mind. "Criticize his dreams until he was a broken and depressed wreck?"

You... You can't say you haven't done that, but you're not sure how to feel about being called out on it. Much less by someone looking at you so warmly. A heavy sigh slipped your lips, shoulders sagging under the... accusation? Expectation? "How do you know about that, Ari...?"

"Know about what?" Ari blinked, once again inquisitive - And causing a pause in the back of your throat.

"...The mayor of Carona. I never told you about him."

"...?" Her head tilted, the smaller Testament rocking back and forth nonchalantly. "I had a dream about it a little while ago. Was that who it was?"

Oh.

Oh, the dreams from 'Hearts in Harmony' weren't one-sided.

You felt your stomach twist while that took its time sinking in. You'd worried as much, but having it confirmed belatedly like this wasn't terribly heartening. "What else did you dream about?"

"I can't really remember." Ari admitted, "It's been a while. You just seemed very heroic during that one, so..." She trailed off, drawing small circles in the grass with the tip of her finger.
>>
"Alright... Last question, then." You shook your head, trying to dislodge the weird feeling you'd been left with. "This one will be difficult, and I don't actually know the answer either, so think carefully about it, alright?"

"Mm!" Ari nodded seriously.

"How does Wisp's connection with life compare to Dryad's?"

"Ah... Um." Ari's finger stopped in the grass. From silence, and a sudden stillness, Ari pressed the palm of her hand into the grass and considered the blades springing up from between her fingers. "...I know the answer, but explaining it is..." She struggled to tell you exactly what her problem was - Struggled and failed, and the failure only frustrated her wordless tongue-tying further.

>Wait for an answer now. She'll blurt something out if you make her.
>Give her time to think it over properly. At the very least it should help her make it understandable.
>On second thought, don't answer that.
>Other? (write-in)
>>
>>4889777
Ari has definitely wracked her brain hard. She deserves a commendation.
>Give her time to think it over properly. At the very least it should help her make it understandable.
>>
>>4889777
>Wait for an answer now. She'll blurt something out if you make her.
>Give her time to think it over properly. At the very least it should help her make it understandable.

Why not both?

Also
>Admit to Ari that we regret what we did to the mayor, or at the very least that's not the kind of person that we want to be anymore. There was probably a better way to handle that.
>>
>hug ari
>>
>>4889777
>Give her time to think it over properly. At the very least it should help her make it understandable.
>Other? (write-in)
See if Lily could answer that

Also hug Ari
>>
>>4889777
Yeah, let's hug Ari. We're basically her parental figure, so we shouldn't be stingy with affection in order to promote a healthy attachment style.
>>
>>4889772
>It likes people who don't give up, and trials, and unreasonable demands."
...Isn't that more Shade's wheelhouse?

>"It wants its siblings to understand."
Gonna have to disagree there. Dryad has never been understanding of the other Mana when we've spoken with it. Rather the opposite, if I'm remembering correctly.

>Your mind drifted to the Paladin, who had become something of a recurring thorn in your side during your time in Carona.
Speaking of hate...

>"Stay with you." Ari answered blandly, meeting your wine red gaze with absolute sincerity.
...She is aware of our miserable track record with violence, right? We'd be a liability, or at best useful as a distraction.

>"What if I already messed that up?" By complete accident, mind you. Or necessity. You needed those mercenaries out of the picture before realizing he was probably leading them.
Wait. Is that how we were supposed to have handled that mess originally? I don't think so. Following her own logic, a Wisp adept would be more likely to be willing to sacrifice something they valued in pursuit of a goal.

>Give her time to think it over properly. At the very least it should help her make it understandable.
no hug; we already explained our reasoning.
>>
>>4890338

No. Shade loves you for your potential, not your achievement or diligence.

The strongest warrior in the land will never satisfy Wisp the way the meekest urchin pleases Shade for simply braving the night, even if he never returns.


As for Dryad, she wants them to understand her _Pain_. She wants to teach them her experience, which, from a mortal perspective is pretty similar in shape to vengeance.

>>4889777

>Give her time to think it over properly. At the very least it should help her make it understandable.

>Hugs as long as it's clear she gets one for being Ari, not for answers or good behavior.
>>
>>4890373
>Hugs as long as it's clear she gets one for being Ari, not for answers or good behavior.
Seconding this
>>
>>4890338
>...Isn't that more Shade's wheelhouse?
Irue noted this is a bit of a weird take on Wisp, and isn't sure when Ari gained a strong opinion on the Mana in question, but the general idea isn't wrong. >>4890373 outlines it well, but to further illustrate from Irue's understanding:

Wisp is never satisfied with you, no matter what you do. You should have done it better, faster, more efficiently, more effectively. And even once you manage that, it's still not satisfied with you - you should have done something more important instead. It appreciates that you are still trying, that you haven't just given up, but you're never going to be good enough. It has unreasonable expectations of people, so Ari postulated that it likes unreasonable demands, since that is what she views it as making constantly.

Shade is always proud of you. It believes you can do it, whatever "it" is. It's the kind of thing which will remind you of all the things you've done and be like "hey remember when you did that? That was amazing, you're amazing". That said, it's also utterly merciless, and if you happen to die trying to do something, that's just the limit you found. It will remember you fondly.

Wisp won't kill you for failing, but your success will never warrant its satisfaction or full hearted praise. You brought peace to the country? Took you long enough. Look at all the people who died in the meantime.

Shade, no matter what you do, is always in your corner. It believes you can do it, that you're capable of anything, even if you're nervous. Did you take a walk after spending two months in your bed, depressed? You're the man! You're doing it! You can do anything, just try!
>>
>>4890861
Thinking about it, your experiences with Shade have not often been encouraging, so a better way to frame it would be...

When Wisp sets a goal for you, it expects you to fail. Even if you succeed, you failed because you didn't succeed enough.

When Shade sets a goal for you, it expects you to succeed. Even if you fail, the fact you made the attempt at all is a success of its own in some ways. If you die in the process, you died a hero and a role model worth its respect.

It is a little funny to me that Shade and Wisp wound up taking such a major influence in Valen's story compared to... Anyone else. Even Dryad and Luna don't seem to come up as often.
>>
>>4890900
I think it may be partially because of how many people that Irue has interacted with that are linked to either, and the fact that their adepts appear at least to be the most combat focused or willing to do dumb things for any reason under the sun they can find.
Would Clara's "investigation" have turned up who invited the Main branch on their fateful journey to Teranford, and would they have been affiliated with Artermis / the faction that suggested importing the relic [Priat mentions this in thread #53 >>589662 ] (even if the timelines don't overlap).

I have a feeling that this could come full circle or at least give us a target to go after (If Rinner cooperates) on the way over, with Dryad backing us up or as a quick proof for the Shrine that Artermis has failed, in it's original goals and needs to be "cleansed".

Also what was Irue's "dad's" position on Artermis and their goals.
>>
>>4890900
>Thinking about it, your experiences with Shade have not often been encouraging
Ha! Our relationship with Shade is indeed best described as "complicated".

>When Wisp sets a goal for you, it expects you to fail. Even if you succeed, you failed because you didn't succeed enough.
Are...are /we/ Wisp?

>spoiler
ShadowRue is what kicked things off with Shade, which is the source of the majority of the complication.
FWIW, I'd be down for Rue to work more with some of the more neglected Mana. Jinn really only had the one large negative interaction; same with Earth (Genome?); Aside from the Ice Queen, we haven't seen hardly anything of Water.

>>4890861
Thanks for clearing that up. I'd always associated Shade with, in a word, struggle. Looks like he's more of a "sink or swim" kinda guy. He's the dude that'll cheerily say "you can do it!", regardless of your ability to actually do it.
>>
>>4889777
>Give her time to think it over properly. At the very least it should help her make it understandable.

FINALLY out of the woods. Missed this quest like you wouldnt believe
>>
>>4889800
>>4890092
>>4890138
>>4890338
>>4890373
>>4891388
Think it over! It was a surprise question anyway.

>>4890092
You kind of want an answer now, though.

>>4890092
you... regret... what you did to the mayor? First I'm hearing of this.

>>4890112
>>4890142
>>4890373
>>4890815
Ari deserves hugs!(...?)

>>4890338
No hugs!

Alright, let's see what we can do!
---

>>4890138
>Can lily answer that?
Of course Lily can answer it, but if Ari is struggling to explain it then Lily will be unconveyably worse.

>>4891388
Welcome back anon! What were you doing out in the woods?
>>
>>4891551
I'm the conscript anon, it was rated military exercise for 3 days. Shit kinda sucked but you feel great afterwards
>>
>>4891551
>First I'm hearing of this
? I thought Irue felt awful when she realised she just left him to slowly starve to death instead of giving him our well earned knife, though that was more on your end than any anon sentiment. If I'm wrong then ignore that part of the vote, I guess?

What happened to that knife by the way? Did Clara steal it? I want it back.
>>
>>4891567
Considering our "previous" attempts at using a sword, we're liable to be losing fingers in short order regardless of what we do.
>>
>>4891606
Wrong! The last time we touched a sword was just before we lost the knife, we got a chest of treasure and a weapon for Rinnier out of it.
>>
>>4891617
We still don't know what was up with that, either the bracelet is cockblocking us (like Asche is) or something more is going on.
>>
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>>4891622
...The bracelet? Could it really be so simple?
>>
Ari's comments on Dryad's position [>>4889773
] are similar to the "Attendant's" ( response chain startsThread#54 >>658018) comments.


No one we've seen with it had any other prophecies (Mint, Valen Ancestor? Ariel, Irue) so it could be or other doll related reasons.


Also I'm coming up with a list of stuff to do once we get to the Estate and break things down in to actionable things and points of interest to discuss with various people [including forcing contact with Caylen, and prodding Clara about the main branches death since everything is likely interlinked, on a dizzying level]
>>
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>>4891622
Actually I remembered something now that you brought up the bracelet.

Look at this weird early cgi looking thing that Riz posts in the OP. I was staring at the ask.fm version one day trying to figure out what it was when I noticed the filename. CompleteRelic.png

Is the Valen Quest logo Irue's bracelet with an additional ring? I think that's a fragment in the middle too.
>>
>>4891685
Since Asche has been less than useful, and won't explain things unless we ask, and even then is extremely evasive, nonsensical and counter productive we should ditch it somewhere, or attempt to figure out its "recent" chain of custody within the main branch and if that lines up with who gets "donated" to the Forest instead of entombed like the rest.


We should definitely go see the Valen Catacombs if we can spare the time at some point to verify some things, and remember fleeting times when our life wasn't so shit.
>>
>>4891669
>>4891622

From a purely practical standpoint, if it's the bracelet, it's a better than even trade. Our abuses of the bracelet may have been painful, but are significantly more valuable as a panic button than the ability to handle a weapon we've by our nature never used.

It's funny you mention it, but it might be some kind of curse or covenant involving either the bracelet or the main line. Is the origin of the Valen family's tradition of the Testament, monster taming and "slave holding" based in an incapability for direct combat in some or all of the family?

The Testament in particular feels like it might have been a tradition "rule patch" to avoid a diplomatic threat from singling out a Valen noble in dueling, or to force fragments of mana to respect that same noble even if he or she uses proxies to handle any less than elegant disagreements.

Of course, it could be misdirection. Irue seems to have been atypical from the start, and the combination of being mana-purged, carrying that bracelet, being Dryad's playdate and any number of other aspects could be to blame.

I wouldn't blame Asche too much by the way. I honestly believe she's doing all she can in her circumstances.
>>
Haha the bracelet makes things go kabloam haha!@@
>>
>>4891622
>>4891669
>>4892157
Didn't we figure out it was the bracelet doing that a long time ago when we tried to practice with the house guard? It's pretty easy to check: put bracelet in pocket, try to use weapon.
>>
>>4892157
Based on what I've seen I have a feeling that the Bracelet is used by the assigned "Warden of the Forest" of each generation It was turned back over to the Ancestor by Artermis the the Seal was implemented. as part of their toolkit, and the Wardens are the Valens that get "returned" to the Forest instead of being entombed.

If I'm right Ariel's body won't be found in the Catacombs which is why I want to go look.

Also that was a long outage
>>
>>4892505

That makes sense I think. They would quarantine the bodies just in case any remnant of Dryad or the corruption persisted. Last thing we need are Valen liches.
>>
>>4892538
But then who is doing the destruction of the bodies on the far end?

We could see to their potential reresection, via Dryad if we still have the bodies; they would at least be useful to bounce ideas off.

We should ask Asche why the Valens even have the Bracelet; and why it was given to Ariel, especially considering that it was present in the Forest Atelier.
>>
You kind of wanted the answer now, but it wasn't fair to put her on the spot like this. You'd given her warning to think about Wisp, not Dryad and its relations. "So you do know the answer?" You accepted her nod, "Well, think it over. Before we leave my aunt's, I want you to be able to tell me."

"Then I'll get a hug?" Ari perked up.

"No." You wrap an arm loosely around the smaller girl's shoulder, "You don't need a reward to have a hug."

There was hesitation, a second of immobility, before she hugged you back. "So I can ask for a different reward?"

You roll your eyes, patting her shoulder. "Don't get used to rewards."

"Tch." A dissastisfied click of her tongue was the extent of her response, but the once frail Testament didn't seem inclined to fuss over it. If anything, she only nestled more comfortably against your side. "Why are we going out to your aunt?"

"She sent a summons." You answer blandly, "That's all I know. It's unusual for her to do something like that, so I don't know what to expect, really."

"...Unusual?" Ari shifted in your grasp, curling her arms around your forearm to hold it against her.

"Hmm..." How do you explain this... "What do you know about my family and I?" Maybe it was a little late to be asking this, but you'd not spent a great deal of time focusing on trying to teach your Testaments about your family. Rinnier knew the details fairly well, Kara wouldn't have understood in the first place, and Ari... You never really considered Ari knowing to be important. Especially not in comparison to everything else that had fallen into your lap during and after the Rite.

"You're the heir to the Valen family, the house of nobility that owns this territory." She waited for your nod, glancing up at you for confirmation before continuing. "The Rite was about being seen as an adult, and when you passed it, your aunt gave you Carona to look after."

"Accurate." She'd been paying attention, you're not sure if that should surprise you. "As heir, technically the whole of House Valen should belong to me once I come of age, and as you noted, since I passed the Rite, I am an adult. Technically speaking, I'm not the heir to House Valen anymore, I'm the head of House Valen."

"And as Testaments, we have the same authority and standing as you." She supplied. "So if you're the head, why are we looking after Carona?"

"...Good question." One whose answer was complicated, and a little frustrating. "Most people don't know that I exist. I've lived mostly isolated in my house for years, since my parents died. Publicly, my aunt is the head of House Valen now. She's been the acting steward who handled all of our family's affairs for... Around a decade, really." And you'd discovered first hand just what that meant these past months. No matter where you went, your name was worth nothing if no one recognized you as the heir.
>>
"...So she stole the house from you?" Ari shifted to lay her back against you and relax.

"No." Your rejection came instantly, an almost reflexive denial of the idea itself. "I mean if she was going to do that, why would she have kept me around this long? Or educated me?"

If your aunt had wanted to steal the Valen family heirdom from you, all it would have taken would have been removing you from the picture at any time during the last ten years. Ten years in which you would have been powerless to stop her even if you wanted to. She had tried to marry you off, which was what prompted the entire ordeal up till now, but even doing that was a public acknowledgement that you were still there... It was probably the worst way you could imagine to try and get rid of an obstacle to control of the house after so long.

You shake your head, "No, aunt Clara's never seemed interested in keeping the house for herself. I can't even remember the last time she'd actually thrown her weight around as acting head... Not until recently." The arranged marriage, of course. Assigning you governorship of Carona. This summons... This summons.

"So... If you demanded the house, she'd have to give it to you?" Ari mused.

"Probably." You nod, "The biggest problem with that at this point is getting the rest of the nation to acknowledge me. My own territory doesn't seem to know I exist, I have no idea how far that extends." Getting recognization of your status and position was arguably more important than the position itself. Clara could act as the head of house Valen even if she wasn't because of that recognization. She was acknowledged as the leader, and you... You weren't even acknowledged as existing, as far as your experiences thus far had shown you.

Well, outside of Carona, at least. You'd earned their recognition the hard way, but there was no mistake of their loyalty to you now. That thrice-cursed town was yours now... For better or worse. As Rinnier had put it, you had struggled to turn Carona into your own personal base of power, but you had succeeded in doing that.

...Another terrible move on your aunt's part, if her plan had been to keep you from regaining the authority of house Valen from her.

"...You hate Carona, don't you?" Ari tilted her head up vaguely, "Why are we bothering with it when you could just be the head instead?"

"Hmm." You'd be lying if you said the didn't want the town to burn down more often than not. Thinking about Carona in general just gave you an upset stomach, at this point.

"Do you want to be the head of the house, Master?"

...

Did you?
>>
It had been a pain when she assigned Carona to you, but you could have refused. You could have demanded more. You could have just said 'no'. You had sulked, denied dealing with it, and generally procrastinated on bothering with the unwanted responsibility, yes... But you'd done it. You had, ultimately, accepted it.

You'd had it driven into you, time and time again, what the weight of leadership meant. Did you want more of it? Did you want even more people relying on you than you already had? Than you already struggled to meet the expectations of?

...Had you ever actually wanted to be the head of house Valen?
I͟ ͘͘d̡̧̡ó̕ņ͜'̛͘t̛͘͝ ŗea̵l̕͝ly w̵͠a͠͡n͘t͘͝-̨͟

What if becoming the head tied you down to this territory, when you needed to take the fight to Artemis?
I̷͘͟'m̸̡̧ ̷n̵̨͞e̸ve̕͟r̵̕ ̶̵g̨o̴i̴͠nģ̛́ ͢͠t̴̸o̡ b̛é̢̛ ̨͢a̡͟rou̡͞͠n͜d́-
>>
"Master- Ow, ow, Ow!"

You pinch Ari's cheek, tugging on it absent mindedly. "I'm sure we've talked about this."

"Eewoo! Ahm sahry, Eewooooo...." You let the tormented Testament's cheek go with a sigh, letting her rub at it. "That was mean, Irue..."

"Maybe I should pinch you more if it keeps you from calling me that." A disgruntled harumph was issued as her response, and Ari stubbornly made herself at home on your lap. "...I don't know yet, about being the head of the house. Having house Valen's resources and influence would be a major boon in fighting Artemis, but if it ties me down too much..." You shake your head, petting Ari absentmindedly. "...I'll do what I have to. Putting a stop to Artemis has to come first."

"Hmm..." The stringy haired girl let your answer hang in the air, humming a vague acknowledgement and leaving it at that.

You traced one of the dual rings of your bracelet with the tip of your fingers, closing your eyes as the nightdew began to settle and faint chill crept along through the wind. One more day come and gone.

>Do something before bed? (what?)
>Make plans for tomorrow? (These will be explicit scenes)
>Think about the rest of your travel time. (Arrive at your Aunt's)
>Other? (write-in)
>>
>>4892630
>Make plans for tomorrow? (These will be explicit scenes)
Talk to Rinnier about what she should do while at the Estate getting concessions for Carona from Byrn, Seeing what he knows about goings on in the surrounding area especially Sylv and Resuri and other mundane topics like Training our "Knights" and the upcoming civil war[mention the Ice Queen's Atelier would be useful, and that Asche is doing something somewhere](so she is running interference while we do other stuff while we're there).

So we can focus on catching up Clara on the; Fae[Keep Lilly with us, so she can take a look at any injuries/ wounds], Artermis, potential Healing options (The Diary, and Dryad) and Caylen with minimal interruption while we're at the Estate.


See if Miska is doing any better

Ari should probably spend her time looking through the Archives to see what she thinks is interesting.
>>
>>4892630
>Think about the rest of your travel time. (Arrive at your Aunt's)
FUCKING ENOUGH OF THIS TRAVEL LIMBO WEVE BEEN STUCK HERE FOR GOD KNOWS HOW LONG IRL??? I WANT OFF THIS RIDE FUCKING FUCK!
>>
>>4892850
We decided to respond to the summons in #76 (mid Dec 2019, through Jan 1st 2020) so yes we've been doing this for a Year and a half.
>>
>>4892878
HOLY SHIT GET US OUT OF HERE NOW
>>
>>4892627
>"The biggest problem with that at this point is getting the rest of the nation to acknowledge me.
Yes, but also no. If we took our place as head, for most people the last name is the important one, not the first. And as nobility doesn't go around in person giving orders, it would only be the people we directly interfaced with that would notice a difference.

>Did you?
Yes. No question.

>You could have just said 'no'.
A meta note: you never gave us a chance to do that, Riz. Not without stopping whatever was going on to complain.

>>4892630
>Think about the rest of your travel time. (Arrive at your Aunt's)
It's been long enough, I think. Though I do hope we experiment with various learning stuff with Oakenrue on and off during the jump. Dancing is pretty much a bust, so maybe tinker with simple memory games, throwing/hitting accuracy tests, some sort of sparring (insomuch as Rue can spar), or anything else that comes to mind.
>>
>>4892878
>>4892930
To be fair, "a year and a half" sounds much more dramatic than "2 threads ago".
>>
>>4892850
I am pretty sure I've given you guys the option to skip to the end of this travel sequence multiple times. I'm surprised it took this long.
>>
>>4892933
>spoiler
This reflects more specifically on Irue than you. You also didn't choose to go on a month long bender after the fact - Irue did.
>>
CALL THE VOTE NOW I WANT OUT OF HER
>>
>>4892986
But this is downtime that can be used to get a better understanding of things, dig for more information for more pieces fit, and do some self improvement / work on our followers, and interact with Lilly while the stakes are "temporarily" low.
>>
>>4892992
FUCK YOU NIGGER CALL THE VOTE
>>
>>4892630
>Think about the rest of your travel time. (Arrive at your Aunt's)
I'd like to watch over Miska, train Lily and teach Ari off-screen.
>>
>>4892850
You made me laugh so I'll second this even though I'm enjoying the mundane travelshit.

>>4892630
>Think about the rest of your travel time. (Arrive at your Aunt's)
>Practice with Lily offscreen
>>
>>4892676
Skipping travel time!

>>4892850
>>4892933
>>4893010
>>4893906
plans for explicit scenes!

By popular demand, Irue's Comfy Travel Downtime will continue, I guess.
>>
>>4893989
Just checking to see that you did actually get the vote backwards on purpose, right?
>>
This dumb trick gets someone every time, I don't get it.
>>
>>4894174
Once or twice, a long ways back, Riz screwed up some vote count or misinterpreted some votes or something maybe a vote for using the bracelet at a bad time?. Ever since, I always go back and double check to make sure the votes couldn't be reasonably misconstrued when this sort of vote tally comes up.
And to be fair, it looks like a simple copy/paste error if you don't know better, all the way down to his apparent reluctance to continue something he initially thought would be glossed over (this entire travel sequence).
>>
The rest of your time on the road fell into a blur. The bulk of your day often spent playing with Lily in one way or another, never quite settling for one activity over another - Though the child didn't seem to mind. Anything you did with her was as engaging and wonderful to her as the last, to the point that you suspected she was just happy to have your attention in general. Even the smallest praise caused the little Dryad apparition to positively preen, and the more you talked with her, the more words she began committing to memory.

"Fuck you~!"

Unfortunately, the addition of new words had not seemed to improve her handle on their meaning to any degree, and thus she remained bound to silence for the foreseeable future. Masks shouldn't talk anyway.

You spent a bit of time each night quizzing Ari on the Mana. Mostly excuses to teach her more of the things you'd spent most of your own life learning, and she soaked it up gladly - Using it, in turn, as an excuse to sneak in more physical contact. A small price to pay to placate her dissatisfaction over having to sleep elsewhere all of a sudden. A sleeping arrangement you were extra resolute in enforcing now that you had confirmation those dreams weren't one-sided.

The day-to-day wandering continued when you weren't otherwise busy; You wanted your face to be more familiar with your knights before this trip was over, and the more at ease they got with your occasional appearance the better.

Before too long though, the gates to your aunt's estate were on the horizon. Seeing your journey over almost made you more tired than the journey itself, but now was hardly the time to rest - You had a lot of things you needed to take care of, and nowhere near the time you wished you had to do it all in. "Rinnier, can you handle seeing to the knights being settled?"

"I'll handle the arrangements." She affirmed. "You'll be meeting with your aunt immediately?"

"That's the plan. I want to find out what this is about and fill her in on what I've learned in the meantime." Last you saw your aunt, she'd been riding off to intercept Caylen. You'd be lying if you said you weren't similarly curious as to how that went... And wouldn't honestly be surprised if you ran into Caylen under house arrest while you were here. "If you run into my uncle, pry him for what information you can regarding the territory. He's always kept his ear to the ground, so anything we can learn from him would save us time trying to gather the information on our own later."

Mana bless, you were tired of working on an intel-deficit.

"Got it. You're not meeting him with your aunt?"

You roll your shoulder, staring up at the gates as they began to open. The courtyard stretched out before you, an empty space you'd last seen filled with a pack of demihumans trying to spar with Kara. "Whoever has the time first. I don't want to linger here any longer than necessary."
>>
"Hmm..." Rinnier took your answer at face value. "I'd like to spend some time looking through the archives here before we leave. If it seems like it'll take too long, I'll cut it short."

"...Looking for something?" Your brow arches, casting a side-long glance the flame haired Testament's way.

"I don't know yet." She shook her head, regarding you. "You ever feel like something's right in front of you, but you're missing the little pieces you need to see the larger picture?" A scowl tugged at your lips, and Rinnier snorted. "Right? I don't know what I'll find, if anything, but this is a good chance to look."

"What are you trying to figure out?"

"Hmm. I'll tell you later if I find anything. Too much to explain right now, but you reminded me of something I read a few months back."

"Few... Months?" You mouth the words, setting the curiosity aside for later.

A pair of the estate guards had broken off to greet the knights at the head of your escort, and in turn been deferred to you and your Testament - Proudly led back to you behind Ari's shoulder. "Ser Valen." As one they saluted you, "Welcome back. You've been expected."

"So I've heard. Tell my aunt I'm here, I imagine she'll want to see me immediately."

"We have standing instructions to lead you inside as soon you get here." One nods, standing aside with an arm extended in invitation.

Figures. When you said immediately, you meant it. Exchanging a wordless nod with Rinnier, you split off and leave your knights in her hands as you follow the estate guard into the manor itself. It was a large place as always, with a balcony you'd almost expected to see your aunt smugly staring down from for the second time in as many visits... But where your vision lingered, only empty space occupied.
>>
Portraits lined the walls as you walked, boots soundless as they sunk into the embroided carpetry along the center walkway further inside. The faces of your family, most too far beyond your generation to recognize, stared out at you as you passed - Casting gazes of varying degrees of levity on your back. A serious family, a confident family, whatever your bloodline passed down, the red eyes were a constant; Rows of vivid, crimson gazes.

You can't actually remember spending much time in this house. It had been yours, nominally, at one point very long ago. So long ago that your memories were splotchy at the best of times - Over a decade ago, when your parents were still around, and you were still a child. You remembered most the moments that you spent: The scheming giggles of Ariel as she pulled you by the wrist, or the way your mother had watched your sister and you play in the flower gardens.

A man with unruly blonde hair held a faint grin from his portrait, wine-red eyes glinting warmly from behind a pair of half-lensed spectacles hanging off the bridge of his nose. A momentary meeting of your eyes before your gaze slid down over the portrait title.

Prias Valen

...Your mother wouldn't have a portrait here. No doubt one had been made, but you wouldn't find it out in a public space - These were reserved for the bloodline. Those who married into it were reserved for family portraits, or personal requests. You'd be best off asking your aunt where to find one.

You linger on the portrait of your father a little longer, turning to find your escort some paces further down the hall. He'd come to a stop at attention, keeping a discrete eye on you as he distracted himself. "Sorry, I got lost in thought for a moment."

"No need to apologize, Ser Valen." The estate guard offered an understanding grin before leading on. You were beginning to recognize these halls, not from your childhood but from more recent visits: An unusually locutious trip to bring you to your aunt's personal study. A place you could have reached almost ten minutes earlier if you'd just come straight here. "Here you are."

"Why did we walk around the manor to come here?"

"The area around the personal chambers are off-limits currently." He apologized.

"...Why?" Last time you were here, your uncle had cordoned off a section of the family archives for book renewal, but if he had done the same for house renovations... You hated how likely that sounded.

"Healer's orders."

The answer, however, only raised more questions. You held your tongue for the moment, opening the door to the study to just ask your aunt directly.
>>
A room of moderate size, a single sword held sheathed and suspended along the wall. A heavily built wooden desk, stained a deep ox-blood red, with the family crest carved on its face with heavy and uncompromising strokes. The fireplace was cold and empty of its ashes, somewhat recently if the slight smear of dusty white was any indication. Books lined a single wall, providing you a glance of titles of books you hazarded pertained primarily to foreign policy, dueling treatises, and domestic affairs.

On the opposite wall, however, stood the map. A massive thing, longer than you were tall, with pin-held strings and notes stabbed onto the cork-like backboard that broke down much of La'Fiel into noble territories. A centerpiece which more than anything marked this place as your aunt's personal war room.

Between the two walls lay a largely open space. Left empty and unobstructed, so much so that you wouldn't be surprised to find out your aunt had taken to practicing her swordsmanship or footwork when she wanted a break from her other pursuits... And it was in that space that you met the sole occupant of said room, whose eyes had remained locked on the map since you arrived.

"Ah, Irue. Good to see you! Though I dare say you took your time getting here." A large man turned to you, stroking his neatly trimmed beard as he chuckled. "Promptness is a virtue, my child! Merchants will love you for it."

"...Uncle Byrn?" You blink, absentmindedly closing the study door behind you as you rescan the room and realize it was only the two of you here. "What's this about?"

"Straight to the point already, excellent. Excellent!" His grin widened, gesturing you further inside as he trundled across the room towards your aunt's desk. "Come, sit down. I'm sure you've got questions. You won't like the answers. They're very bad answers."

A foreboding statement, made by a man whose smile - ever present as it was - visibly strained to stay in place. you approached the proffered chair, resting your hand along the headrest's ridge rather than setting down. "I don't have a lot of time, uncle. Why was I summoned? Where's aunt Clara?"

"Recovering. Our son has entered his rebellious stage!"

"...Recovering? Caylen?" Your brows knit. "Did she get hurt bringing Caylen back?"

"Oh no. No, no, no.... no, if it were that simple we'd all be much better off for the situation we find ourselves in, I'm afraid." Byrn shook his head, "Caylen rebelling is not especially a problem, you see. The boy isn't a threat on his own. No, our problem is that Alouette has joined that rebellion. Or perhaps she is leading that rebellion. Whichever the case, she sent your aunt back to us in pieces."
>>
Vitriol dripped from your uncle's hissing tongue, but it was far and away from the first thing on your mind. It took you almost a solid six seconds of blankly staring at the man, rolling his words back through your mind, before it even began to sink in. "...What?"

"The best healers in our territory have done what they can for her, Irue." Byrn's barrel chest swole, a heavy-set breath expanding his portly belly before he sighed - And with that sigh, uncurled the fist that had slowly clenched over the desk's surface. "I will be blunt, Clara is on borrowed time now, and precious little of it. She drifts in and out of consciousness, it is the best that could be done to keep her sedated enough to dull the pain."

"Wait-" Blonde hair tremors violently as you shake your head. "That doesn't make sense, Was she decapitated?! What in Shade's name happened to her that our best healers can't fix it?!"

Severed limbs? Doable if you had the limb in good condition. Crippled, but still workable if you didn't. Massive internal injury? Dire, yes, but it could be handled eventually if you didn't die before the healing began. The only exceptions were when Wisp itself just couldn't be stimulated strongly enough in someone - Like your own lack of Wisp, or in the body of those favored strongly by Shade.

"It is best you don't see her." Byrn growled, "But your guess is as good as mine, kiddo. The healers said her body is rejecting their mana. She called for you not long after she arrived, during one of the few instances of lucidity she manages to steal back... If I had to guess, she wanted to see you one more time."

"...Ah?"

...This conversation felt very, very far away all of a sudden.

"I trust you'll make yourself at home for the time you're here." Byrn's voice crossed that distance, but only faintly. "There is constant surveillance on your aunt, so the moment she wakes again I'll be sure to alert you. Until then-"

Alouette rebelled...? For Caylen...?

...Aunt Clara?

Did... Did he have any idea what he'd done?

"-If you need anything, anything at all Irue, I'm here-"

>?
>>
>>4894839
first thought - artemis must be behind this
>We must assume leadership of House Valen
>>
>>4894839
>Hug uncle, he probably needs it. Because this is a fucked up situation if I've ever seen one.
>Think hard.

We now can be reasonably sure that Artemis or whoever is behind them can make people's bodies reject mana.
Alouette being on their side means we're fucking dead if it comes to a fight. No amount of apparitions will help us.
Fucking Maran is to blame for everything, obviously.
We know where Caylen was supposed to be not long ago - in Sylv. Who knows where he's now though.
We need to bring uncle as an ally into this. We need the resources of the whole house.

>Tell uncle about Artemis and their efforts to undermine Valen's hold on Carona for reasons unknown (but not about Dryad or all that)
>Tell him we happen to know Caylen had been in Sylv
>Tell him Maran is manipulating Caylen. Drill him on who the hell she is and where she came from

I also wonder whether some Dryad sap might help auntie's health. This is a long shot however.
>>
Stop fucking hugging people we need to start killing people
>>
>>4894881
We have Maran for killing.
>>
>>4894836
>"You ever feel like something's right in front of you, but you're missing the little pieces you need to see the larger picture?"
Valen Quest in a nutshell.

>>4894838
>"Come, sit down. I'm sure you've got questions. You won't like the answers. They're very bad answers."
I think I might like this guy.

I'm a touch surprised he (or the guards for that matter) didn't comment on us wearing a mask (of our own face? it's been a while) somewhere on our person.


>No, our problem is that Alouette has joined that rebellion. Or perhaps she is leading that rebellion. Whichever the case, she sent your aunt back to us in pieces."
This miserable fool managed to convince her to not only betray her house, but to butcher one of the family? What the hell is wrong with him?
Whatever the sequence of events, Alouette has clearly gone off the deep end; she will have to be killed.

>The healers said her body is rejecting their mana.
Have they managed to modify Fayka into having long term effects?
Wasn't Aunt's Testament a shadow horse or something similar? Could extended proximity to it be enough to cause Wisp issues?

>>4894839
this
>>4894868
and this
>>4894881
>>
>>4894873
>We now can be reasonably sure that Artemis or whoever is behind them can make people's bodies reject mana.
Eh. There's a slim case for it, but Artemis are Luna Adepts, and all of Dryad's adepts were killed because they were infection vectors. If the Infection caused Mana issues, that would be a crystal clear symptom. Plus it would have invalidated Artemis as a valid Luna organization a long time ago.

>Alouette being on their side means we're fucking dead if it comes to a fight. No amount of apparitions will help us.
Depends on how much lead time we have, and how much collateral damage will willing to accept. Bracelet Apparitions do grow incredibly fast.

>I also wonder whether some Dryad sap might help auntie's health. This is a long shot however.
Fadeka is derived from Dryad sap. That's where it's Mana flushing ability comes from.
>>
>>4894839
So she can't be healed and her body rejects mana, as far as I'm aware the only other time this has happened has been with us. We've always been ignored by other mana but even so we were able to get healed by a Wisp adept earlier on in the quest, it was only after we died and revived (necessitating direct contact with Dryad and thus contamination) that this changed. Maybe Clara is corrupted too, somehow?

In any case, if we can catch her while she's awake we can just have her undo her injuries with the Diary of Reflections. There was that single user revive power Dryad gave us, that's an option too, if the relic somehow fails.

>Swear Uncle Byrn to silence before showing him the Diary of Reflections
>Explain that we can use this to heal Clara, but she'll need to concentrate to use it. It is possible the sedatives may interfere with this and ask if we can lower her dose, or even take her off them without making her too wracked with pain to use the relic

>>4894913
I agree Allouette probably deserves to die at this point, but it'd be a lot easier to kill our cousin instead, Allouette doesn't give a fuck about Artemis, she's only doing any of this because it's the path Caylen has decided to walk. Without him she has no reason to work with them.

Also we're in a time of crisis, if we can bring back Clara with the relic we'd be much better off leaving her in charge. Irue doesn't know how to do any of this shit, and a civil war strikes me as a bad time to get in the drivers seat and start learning.
>>
Its the best time actually
ABSOLUTE VALEN AUTOCRACY BAYBEE
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>>4894925
I don't think Clara was infected though. More like it's the same thing that happened with Rinnier.

>Faedka is derived from Dryad sap
Yes, bu it doesn't have healing abilities.
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>>4894839
>Ask to see her at least once to get Lilly's opinion on if she thinks Dryad can help, and to judge if it's the same or a similar poison, as was used at the Ruined Shrine based on all our experience in the Forest Atelier.

Based on the answer that Lilly gives us Suggest either taking her to the Fae (Dryad), or using the Diary.

Also if the bracelet can do a bunch of Mana based stuff, we could try and use it to gauge Clara's state to see if her balance is "off".

If Lilly thinks Dryad can help, send her on ahead so we don't have to waste time waiting for a response, while we beeline it back into the forest with Clara.


Also since I don't see us changing much there is no point in taking over at this point unless Clara dies since we're already going to have our hands full dealing with Carona and Artermis, and being forced to also deal with the crown and the Civil war simultaneously things will get complicated.
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>>4895170
I mean, Dryad could bring her back to life if she dies, sure that's an option, but transporting her to the forest while she's in critical condition is going to kill her.
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>>4895181
The healers can't do anything more either, only numb the pain so leaving her her ends up with her dead anyway, and we would then need to transport a body which may be harder to get away from the estate and degrade while in transport, and questions would likely be raised if we somehow bring her back.

Also it's another thing that may bring Dryad closer to the surface; and slipping their bonds considering that Clara is also a "blood" Valen, which may help provide the resources we need to take the fight to Artermis even if the revival process is unsuccessful

Also should we inform the Crown of the existence of the "Ice Queens" Atelier and its implications on their rule and ask for support in their dealing with the Civil war since a successful defense may well give us aa platform to go after Artermis since our goals align in that space.

There is also the Jin Branch that could be used to actually talk to Caylen.
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>>4895181
Something I've been thinking about was that if Faedka comes from Dryad, where could the Anti Mana Poison they used come from, would the Sap from "Nymph Wood" have the same effect, since Dryad also seems to not like it, we could ask Lilly or Ari to explain it as well.

Also getting Ari to take a look at the body might also be something, since she can explain where the Dryad~Wisp difference in life/healing effects lies.
>>
>>4894839

I hate it when I'm right.

Priorities straight; Byrne gets a hug.

No, I'm serious. The man's wife is dying. He needs comfort as much as we might, and we will need his emotional support to do what is necessary.

Because the next thing we need to do is see Clara; awake or not. We need to see her state. Even with the best healers possible, we have context that they do not, and may be able to heal her, or at least soothe her pain to lucidity. If we cannot, we need to figure out how we are going to do without: With Alouette defected and Clara on her deathbed, we're the heavy hitter of House Valen; and we're only 3/5ths of her.

As for assuming the mantle... Are you people fucking insane?
Byrne Valen won't fight us for the title unless we have the gall to try to take it over Clara's grave. If she dies, we virtually assume it by default, assuming there's a House Valen worth heading by the time all of this is said and done.


For those of you who are discussing Alouette; This is the face of Wisp. Goal, meet obstacle. We cannot fight Alouette (because we will lose. Even if we win, she will bleed us dry); If we want to incapacitate her, we will need to break Caylen.

In order

>Console Uncle Byrne. He's family and we will need all that remains of it.
>See Clara; We have information and tools at our disposal that may save her or buy time.
>Bring Byrne into the fold. We do not have time to play our childish spat anymore. We will only have Clara for a short while, and we will need every moment.
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>>4895293
The only thing about Byrne is that he isn't a blood Valen which may interfere Dryad and we don't know how valid Artermis original concerns of an infection were true or just an excuse, so how far should we leave it at the Fae or explain Dryad to him.
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>>4895305

It's a priority to check with Clara. I sincerely doubt Byrn is uninitiated to at least some level, but it's possible they kept an understanding with each other.

Anything we can share with him and vice versa would be a load off of us. The absolute worst case scenario will be Clara dying and having to play "Who can read the whole Valen Archive?" as a single-player game.
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>>4895331
It's just that if the concerns were correct we don't want to cause problems we have to deal with down the line if we don't need to especially since we don't know what the symptoms are.

Also if we had to do the entire archive we have someone for that; (Ari) or failing that and we needed answers yesterday; Mim.
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>>4895293
I concur with this, but to expound on the subject of fighting Alouette, while it's a bit early for that, I think that Shade is definitely the answer for crossing that bridge when we come to it. Being a wisp adept on top of an experienced warrior means she's unstoppable in a straight up fight, but Shade preys off of emotional vulnerability, where no blades made from steel no matter how sharp or strong can cut.
I'd wonder how much she'd resist sitting down at a table and talking given that as an adept she probably knows this.
Also, on leadership, we want to find out who's in charge, and if it's *supposed* to be us and people have been waiting and sitting on their hands, we need to act. I don't doubt our uncle has experienced and knowledge in playing the role as administrator, but if there's a deadlock because the actual house matriarch is busy being a vegetable as well as ground meat (some potato on top and she'd be a cottage pie), then there absolutely can't be *nothing* being done. House Valen still has assets, after all, and they'll need to be doing anything besides being caught in red tape.
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>>4895224
You're fine with her dying in transit? What's wrong with using the Relic?

>>4895293
>>4894839
I like this, seconding.
>>
>>4895532
If she dies in transit; and we do manage to revive her, less people will know and will therefore we will be more able to hide the fact that the "Fae" can bring people back from the dead.

Also Lilly and Ari working together is probably capable of stabilizing Clara during transport, and we can probably borrow a carriage or horse and cart to expedite our return to our manor before making it on foot across the river and into the forest.

Using the Diary to revert the wounds may not be quite as free from consequence or work the way we think it might or may have odd interactions, and is still untested at the moment We could test it on our wrist, but that's probably not a good idea to do on a whim.
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>>4895554
Using the relic will have much fewer unintended consequences than being brought back to the dead or communing with a corrupted mana. In fact not once have we or Irue detected a single side effect of using the mirror. I know what option I'd choose if I was in Clara's position.

I'm not even overtly opposed to resurrection if it comes to that, I'm just kind of baffled that you're resorting to our ace in the hole immediately without even considering the potentially unlimited use full heal we're carrying around in our pocket.

They aren't even mutually exclusive, we can try the diary first and consider other options if it fails.
>>
>>4895570
There is a slight chance that the Diary somehow preclude Dryad from succeeding, especially considering that it's not a Dryad based relic.

Also I see an awake Dryad as a big angry stick that we could use in the fight against Artermis, and direct to some degree, it
also awakening early may also reduce or even entirely prevent the civil war from occurring in the first place as everyone works together to defeat it.
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>>4895578
It would only interfere with Dryad if it was a Luna based relic, and it's not.

As far as using Dryad to kill Artemis goes, I had that thought too, and it would work! The only downside it that Dryad will kill everyone else in the world as well, and there may very well be no way to stop it.
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>>4895595
They made their bed and accepted the consequences of their actions when they lobotomized Dryad, also based on what Ari said it's not going to kill them; only make them understand what they put it through, it sucks that they failed or gave up.


Undine is closely linked to Luna and so may be due additional consideration.
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>>4895617
It says it right there, man. Dryad will continue killing people until it is forcefully stopped, and no one can do that except the other Mana.

>Ari said it's not going to kill them; only make them understand what they put it through

And what did they do to Dryad? They killed everyone it loved. Ergo, to make the Mana understand what they put Dryad through, Dryad will kill everyone. Maybe just the Adepts, but likely everyone but the Valens and anyone we specifically ask it to bring back.

>Undine is closely linked to Luna and so may be due additional consideration.

Okay, I don't know why you believe either of those things. Dryad brought us back to life while we were literally transformed into a different person. It is of no impediment to Dryad whatsoever.
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>>4895651
>Valens and anyone we specifically ask it to bring back.
That is more than we need, it just means that things are going to go through a big shake up and we're going to have to renegotiate lots of stuff, or bargain Dryad down to just Luna adepts or Artermis in the best case.

>Literally transformed into a different person
We also don't know exactly what has happened to Clara, so it may be more than Physical wounds that is effecting her and Dryad may not be able to to deal with.
even with Dryad's full support it couldn't save any of its adepts anyway.
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>>4895656
>We also don't know exactly what has happened to Clara,
Yes we do, she got obliterated by a wisp adept! The exact same thing that happened to us! Honestly you couldn't engineer a more similar set of circumstances if you tried, Irue even has the same unhealable quality. I feel like you've came to your conclusion first and are inventing reasons to stick with it.
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>>4895659
All we know is that Alouette "interceded" and hurt Clara severely, we don't know if anything else happened or anyone else was involved in the conflict itself.
>>
>>4895659
Something especially concerning is the "And doesn't explain what you did to her!" from the Merciless Compass pastebin.
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>>4895659

While I support examining Clara's condition thoroughly, there are too many moving parts to claim that the same solution for Clara will work.

We're... not exactly baseline. She isn't either, but in different ways. Not to mention the same symptoms do not mean the same results. As a simple example, you get the same outcome when it comes to Wisp healing if you purge someone of Mana, or if you suffuse them in another.

We need information, because we aren't working in charted territory. We can't be sure Clara can effectively use the Diary in her state... Or even will: We don't know her mental state right now.

We can be relatively certain we could revive her from the dead with Dryad... And then what? Have we considered the ramifications of a Dryad-touched Clara Valen? If we aren't on Artemis's short list yet, we'll get there in a minute if they catch wind that the acting head of House Valen was merc'd by Alouette, and then shows up whole and hearty with a glimmer in her eye.

It's not cut and dry, and it's not simple. We need to lay out our tools, gather information and act decisively once we've come to our best conclusions.
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>>4895680
Realistically we wouldn't be reviving her for altruistic reasons, she is far to valuable to the Crown's / our side of the war, becuse of her prowess as a leader and her current standing with other important people and factions.

I think the worst we could get back from a successful Dryad based heal is that she would have her connection to Wisp gone completely, and potentially in severe pain for the rest of her life.

Also I think that Irue would exhaust everything to prevent another set of familial deaths wherever possible, regardless of consequences.
>>
I aint read all this shit you guys writing but it sounds limp wristed
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>>4895720
Your not required to, it's mostly just finagling what is the "best" path to go forward with based on what we know and in which order to play our cards and what the consequences of doing so might be.
>>
As a side note, another anon implied it but it's good to reiterate that we're assuredly next on the hit list if Artemis decides to take advantage of this. They have Calen in their pocket, and I don't know if you're disinherited if you're somewhat complicit in killing your mom, but if we get wiped out next then he's got the Valen name. Unknown if he must complete the testament trial even if he's the last remaining one or if that's just Valen custom for normal situations.

Otherwise we'd need to seriously consider breeding an heir of our own and I really don't think Irue even can so it'd be in our interests if Clara didn't die yet.

Also because she's assuredly a MILF so if that doesn't motivate you then nothing would.
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>>4895784
If we were truly on the hit list, we would already be dead considering that they've had 10 years of us sitting in the same house doing nothing with only one other person within a days walking distance with only the occasional supply drop and unfettered access.

Even if we can't produce a Heir conventionally all we need is to find suitable person (whomever we were originally slated getting married to would probably be a good starting point) and drag them off into the forest and get Dryad to help.
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>>4895724
best path is to take the reigns and be the head honcho, its bout time
>mmuh hug uncle and do this do that
Fuck that pussy shit we gotta get REAL
>>
>>4895795
There's two things for that. One, is that Irue is a relative unknown even in our own lands, and the other is, I don't think Artemis had this planned, like, at all. They weren't planning this for ten years, they were trying for something bigger for more than ten years and getting foiled only for Caylen to shit the bed for everybody and run off with a pair of tits and a smile. This is more theoretically if they saw this as an unexpected opportunity, because it's not like Artemis plotted Clara's assassination or whatever, she got wrecked by her own attack dog, who is loyal to Caylen and not Artemis.
However, if I were somebody in Artemis, I'd see that all of a sudden things look really damn good despite not actually seeking this result so quickly, and think about how I could exploit it.
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>>4895807
Considering that they almost certainly had Irue's family killed, they would know about the sole survivor but wouldn't be able to follow up in a short span because it would look more suspicious.

and it is incredibly likely that all Alouette has actually done it move up her own death up a bit, since no one in their right mind will trust someone that betrayed someone else even if their reasoning is perfectly sound, since nothing is stopping it from happening again.

and Caylen without any form of Valen associated oversight is a bad idea.
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>>4894868
>>4894913
All your base are belong to us!

>>4894873
>>4895293
>>4895532
>>4894928
Support Byrn and tell him everything?

>>4895170
>>4895293
>>4895532
>>4894928
No, we want to see aunt Clara now.

I won't be updating tonight so there's no need to close the window, but I doubt there will be any additional votes.

That said, I would like some clarification: Would you prioritize telling Byrn everything over seeing Clara immediately, or vice-versa?
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>>4895883
Can we do both? Take Byrn to go see Clara and explain on the way.
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>>4895883
Seeing Clara.
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>>4895884
You can do both, but one needs to be done first.
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>>4895884
Clara can provide additional information that might influence our decision to tell stuff to Byrn, so I propose we see her first.
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>>4895887
Then triage for Clara, first seems like the safer play since we don't know how long anything we do will buy.
>>
Why do we need to lore dump on the uncle now. Shit I care about more important stuff
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>>4895903
It would get him up to speed so we can go do the important stuff, leaving him to manage the other stuff that needs doing; once we deal with Clara.
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>>4895903

That's exactly the reason. We don't have the bodies. We need to delegate.

Irue is probably realizing at this point that the attrition of House Valen has already become serious. If we consider MIA and KIA, we're at less than half strength before the fighting even starts.

No wonder Shade is fond of us.
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>>4895883
>Would you prioritize telling Byrn everything over seeing Clara immediately, or vice-versa?
See Clara I guess. No telling Byrn.
>>
alright! Closing the vote with a preference for seeing Clara first!
>>
"I need to see her."

Everything has could wait. Everything else would wait. You needed to see your aunt immediately. She was here, she was alive, that was all you needed! You could fix this! Even if she weren't alive, you might still be able to fix it. You could fix it. You pushed away from the chair, turning sharply on your heel without a second thought on a warpath towards the door-

"Hold, Irue, hold!" Your uncle's portly form jumped from the desk, scooting the heavy wooden frame forward in the process. "You can't just barge in, she is in critical condition!"

Your fingers clench around the door handle, stopping just short of throwing it open. "What does that matter?"

"Making a commotion will not help your aunt, Irue. The healers are already doing what can be done, interrupting them unnecessarily is only going to endanger her further." Byrn shuffled out from around the desk, moving with unusual spryness for a man of his size. He always seemed as if he were going to bounce from place to place, and it was queer - and a little relieving - to see that trait of his held even during a time like this. "I know you're upset kiddo, but you need to calm down."

"Calm down? You told me Alouette butchered my aunt because Caylen ran off on some dumbass whim and I'm supposed to stay calm?" You wrench the door open, "After I see her, I'm going after my cousin. I'm going to beat that brat until he's begging to come home!" And if Maran was a casualty in the process, all the better.

"Do not be rash right now! Those are likely the same thoughts Clara had, rushing off that night to bring him back. Do you want to end up like her?"

Yeah, these probably were the same kind of thoughts she'd had. She'd torn off on Ser Stomperson almost immediately after you'd told her your suspicions about Caylen, and neither she nor you would take no as an answer from him. Uncle Byrn was right: It would be better if you took a breath and thought this over slowly; If you calmed down, rather than storming off in an emotional whirlwind.

And as you slammed the door behind you, you resolved to do that later. It would take you a while to reach Caylen at this point, which gave you a large period of time in which to plan exactly how you were going to wring his Mana damned neck in a calm and collected fashion.
>>
This was Maran's fault. Her damned face sprung to mind almost immediately, and you knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that the insufferable harpy had instigated it somehow - That, at the root of all of this, you could lay the blame at her feet. You don't know what she'd said, what she'd done, but Caylen, the imbecile, was wrapped around her finger. You'd destroy her the first moment you got for what she'd done to your family...

And while you raced through the halls, bitterness built in the back of your throat; A loathesome bile squeezed from the pit of your stomach as it twisted in knots. As much as you disliked that scheming tart, you couldn't let it end there anymore. Not after this. Caylen wasn't a child - He was capable of making his own decisions, same as you! What he'd done this time went beyond any excuse you were willing to accept. What in the names of the Mana had been so damned important to him that he'd do this to aunt Clara? What made that stupid brat think killing his mother was worth it? Betraying his whole damned family to side with Artemis?!

Honor? Sense of justice? If anything happened to aunt Clara - If you couldn't save her - You were going to murder Caylen yourself. You will rip his moral compass out of his Shade damned heart and make him choke on its shattered glass shards after you've used it to break in his teeth in like a hammer.

A thin haze filled in your mind, buzzing - vibrating - with your flaring temper as you stopped to scan the surroundings. Someone, multiple someones, were blocking the hall ahead. They weren't wearing a uniform, or at least none you would recognize. Maybe that made them the healers. All it made them to you was a hindrance.

"Get out of my way." If you found them, then Clara wasn't far off. Behind these doors? "I'm want to see my aunt."

"We can't let you pass right now, she's-"

Something very tautly wound snapped in the back of your mind, and the man's words were interrupted when Lily's vines surged forward to slam him into the wall. She'd taken her own initiative, simmering fury bleeding across the bracelet's connection to her. From her? Emotional feedback from you? Something else? You can't be sure.

"My name is Irue Valen." You turned your wine-red eyes to the other healer, feeling Lily's vine-like ivy uncoiling from you to slither through the air. "I'm the heir of this house, and that was not a request."

"Even if you..." The wall cracked behind him, eliciting a choking groan from his peer as Lily's vines proved unsure whether their goal was to strangle him or crush him against a solid surface. He swallowed his words, eyeing the bloodlusting flora in rapidly rising alarm.

"Move." Your teeth grit. "Or you will be moved."

...He moved.
>>
You slammed the door open, leaving the sole remaining healer to try and extricate his peer from Lily's violent bindings - A task made easier with Lily's absence, but not one that made the apparition herself any happier. If anything, she seemed like she strongly would have preferred to stay there and continue the lashing... And had you not been so single-mindedly focused on Clara to jerk her away as you left, she would have done just that.

But inside was where everything came to a stop. The rush that fueled you here, the blood pulsing through your veins still pumping madly, all of it left you with a sudden and abrupt... Nothing. A tense silence you were reluctant to break, and once again the familiar feeling of things seeming so far away - All of it came to a head as you swallowed the dryness in your mouth and the sight of your aunt started to sink in.

Not decapitated, no, but... She remained as you remembered her: Indomitable, imposing, a steel thorn of a woman. She'd never once missed a step, her confidence not so much as flickered, even now, laying in bed and swathed in gauze, she seemed to rest more irritably than defeated. As if offended, even in her drug-induced sleep, that she had been left in this state. It brought a fragile, seed of a smile to your lips- A brief reprieve from your worry that let you take that first step towards her side.

In 'pieces' your uncle had said, and he meant it. She was laid out in her bed as normal, but the gauze which wrapped her body obscured the tell-tale gaps. The hands not quite connected to her forearms, which in turn lay just too far from her upperarms. Rigid casts kept the segmented limbs held in place, but seemingly too far from one-another to try and mend them back into a solid whole... And you didn't have the resolve to confirm whether or not her legs had been given the same treatment.

Still, Clara's breathing continued; Labored, even in rest. A shallow rasping that you held your breath to hear.

"...What in Shade's name did they do to you?" You murmured your disbelief, wary of disturbing her. This... This wasn't someone who lost a fight. Did they send aunt Clara back in a bag? How did she even survive the trip back? That she was even alive now had to be a miracle, or-

'Love~'

Lily's wrath flipped jarringly, turning an affectionate tone towards your aunt... Which, in turn, hesitated. As if the little apparition had realized mid-adoration she didn't recognize someone.

'...Love~?'
>>
Your attention split between Lily's indecisive feelings, the little apparition wrestling over what to think of Clara, and paying attention to your aunt herself - The latter of which taking precedence when her breathing hitched and for the smallest of movements, you caught sight of her eyelids shifting. She'd woken, or your commotion woke her, or the drugs wore off or... It didn't matter, you closed the distance between you swiftly, hand outstretched to... To what? Hold her hand? To touch her?

'No~!'
"-rue..."

Your hand froze, restraining vines coiled about the outstretched wrist.

Clara's eyes shifted, following the ceiling until she found you, and her lips drew a severe line upon finally finding your face. She struggled to form words across her dry lips, with even the latter half your name more a belabored exhale than a pronounciation.

"...Ru-"
"Irue!"

Your uncle's voice boomed from just beyond the open doors, shattering the silence and your concentration as you jerked your head around to see him, panting, but catching up. He looked much like he'd sprinted a marathon with the way he gasped for air.

The larger man gathered himself, looking first to his wife, and then to you, concern and indignity warring in his expression. All the same, in Clara's presence he reigned his voice down to an urgent whisper. "Control yourself, Irue Valen. The man you near killed getting in here is threatening to leave, and we cannot afford to have any of these healers walk out on Clara in the state she is in!"

He drew a heavy breath, face tinging red- either from exertion or restraining himself, you're unsure. "Wisp bless when did you learn to run like that? Nevermind... She's awake now. It must have been some time since her last dosage..." Byrn ran his hand back through his short cut hair, wracking his mind for what to do, or say, before turning his attention back to you. "Fine, you've seen her now. I'm going to try and talk them into returning to resedate her before the painkilling effects wear off any further. Please, look over her until I get back and then we'll talk this over properly. Alright?"

...You feel like it was less a question with the way his hand closed around your shoulder and squeezed.

You turned your attention back to Clara, her eyes already closed again- Not asleep, by the contortion of pain across her face- and found your mind swimming.

>?
>>
>>4898649
>Look out the window while waiting
>>
>>4898649
See if Lilly thinks Dryad can help, or if she can get Clara conscious / lucid and then begin the explanation from the start.

If Lilly can't manage that use the stolen Jin Branch to try and reach Caylen, and use the bracelet to "signal boost" if that doesn't work out unassisted.
>>
>>4898649
>?
Don't fucking touch her. Certainly don't let Lily touch her. We do not have any more than the most surface level of understandings as to what's wrong with her. Last thing we need to get some infection from her, or to give her one.

Instead, watch and wait. If she stays awake and tries to talk to us, listen. If she tries to strain herself, try to calm her (be removing ourselves from the area if needed).


Maran is almost certainly the cause of this, but Cayden and Alouette (especially Alouette), are full adults in their own right. They are either Infected, or have gone full crazy. Either way, all of them need to be executed for their crimes.
>>
I dunno this whole plan to kill both caylen and lette is kinda whack but u look like you know what you're doing so I gonn roll with it
>>
>>4898719
No idea how we would do it, we can't beat Alouette in a straight fight, and Caylen probably won't come back even if we explain that Dryad is waking up and our chance wasted because of Artermis to put it back to sleep, thinking it's a trap or tick to get him back.
>>
>>4898649
The plan was to try and use the Diary, right? Why did everyone forget about it?
>Explain to Clara how to use the Diary. Put the DIary in contact with her (her head or body, since the limbs seem to be disconnected)
>>
>>4898649
Btw, I think the cause of Lily's hesitation is that Clara's body is rejecting Dryad's mana as well.
>>
>>4898776
The diary doesn't solve non physical issues, so if she "reverts" herself she probably won't be able to use her removed limbs and bay still be in pain.

Also reverting from that state may be difficult.
>>
>>4898786
It wouldn't be worse than not trying at all.
>>
>>4898798
We can narrow what has probably occurred by looking for similarities with the "Forest" Atelier Starts Thread #55

And we do know that Dryad can at least fix the physical issues as long as we have all of the bits since our neck isn't still broken. and since we can't feel our wrist may fix the pain issues too.
>>
>>4898802
I don't understand what you're trying to say. What does Dryad of the Forest Atelier have to do with the Diary?
>>
>>4898814
It's that if her rejection of mana is "unnatural" it may align with what we have seen of other Artermis poisons; like the one we have experienced, and seen in action during our time in the Forest Atelier.

And if rejection of Mana when you approach death was natural or a normal consequence of Wisp adepts fighting, we would probably know thanks to our studies and the healers wouldn't keep trying.


My main concern with using the diary is that may only fix the surface problems and not deal with the non physical stuff, and may interfere with Dryad if we keep going.
>>
>>4898828
And I'm concerned that the mana rejection will interfere with Dryad, and think that fixing physical stuff is still better than not fixing anything.
>>
>>4898843

from thread #56 Elly the Dryad repesentitive in the Atelier says when asked.
>"Dryad is... Different from its siblings. It has more in common with L̵̸̛͟͢u͢͞n̛͢a̷̧̡͡ than anyone else." She spoke the name brightly, ignorant to the distortion it caused. "Though Dryad loves all of its siblings, it adores L̵̸̛͟͢u͢͞n̛͢a̷̧̡͡ most of all, and one trait they share is the... Difficulty in describing their Dominion." She bit her lip, "I... Can't hope to explain Luna, but Dryad is life." She stressed the word emphatically, as if doing so would just enlighten you to her meaning. "What you see is nature, but Dryad is the life within it. It is the body in which all else inhabits."
>"Like... Wisp?" As far as you knew, everything she was saying applied to Wisp... Not whatever tree Mana Dryad had proven itself to be.

>"Yes! ...No, not like Wisp. Wisp is... Something else." She seemed to shrink in on herself. "Wisp... Heals. It strengthens and protects. It recovers." She listed off the basic properties of Wisp you had long since internalized from studies, "Dryad... Gives life. Before something can heal, it needs to be alive. Before it can recover, it needs to live. Dryad is the beginning to all of that."

based on that I don't think that at least leading with Lilly, then getting the healers to look at Clara, stable then into the forest to Dryad is the wrong idea.
>>
>>4898855
Lely already doesn't want to touch her. But I assume asking Lily won't hurt.
>>
>>4898828
>My main concern with using the diary is that may only fix the surface problems and not deal with the non physical stuff
The diary will change you physically, but it doesn't affect anything to do with your mana. Notably, you could take on the physical form of the Wisp paladin to lead his men astray, but this did not make you a Wisp adept, or even remotely more attuned to Wisp itself.
>>
>>4898932
Lilly may have been reacting to Byrn's sudden appearance, or us being startled by him.

Also the Jin stick thing may help broadcast Clara's voice like she was on speakerphone or something.
>>
>>4898943
Since I'm going to assume that she isn't dying of bloodloss, or lack of oxygen etc. it's that her body is refusing mana for some reason, and I'm going to assume that the cause of that isn't "physical" in nature and therefor won't be addressed by the diary, unless Alouette got her blade replaced by some relic or infused with those null shards from the exclusion zone or something. the regeneration of limbs and reconnection of nerves and tissues would probably be possible through the use of the Diary but that doesn't address the core of the issue for me.
>>
>>4898965
Don't you want to at least test your assumption?
>>
Damn chill, we didnt even talk it over with Byrn yet and you mfers wanna do this do that, them diaries can wait
>>
>>4898987
Not really, no. Since Dryad managed to fix our broken neck we may also be able to get our wrist looked at while we're there too. by themselves so we know that that works, so we don't really need the Diary as long as we didn't lose any of the unattached bits of Clara somewhere and can get her or at very least her body to the Forest, though I will assume that it will have consequences ranging from Clara losing her Wisp attunement, to further rousing / properly waking Dryad but I feel that these risks to be well worth it since we can play them both to our advantage or mitigate them to some degree.

And Caylen and his crusade needs to be stopped before it truly starts up.


Also this raises the issue of what to do with the preserved bodies in the Catacombs if this works out ok, since we may be able to revive them to get additional insight into what to do in the future and potentially help placate Dryad if we can find the "right" bodies.
>>
>>4898649
>Try to get her to use the Diary
>Don't touch her

>>4899006
That isn't true, Dryad forced our broken body back to life but COULD NOT heal any of our wounds. Read this please.

>Your eyes snapped open, willing your ruptured lungs to heave the full contents of their blood flooded hollows to slosh nauseatingly in your chest. In the broken, miserable chest of the Paladin whose body you still wore even as the roots and vines of Dryad cradled you under the Mana's firefly gaze.

>'Dear child,'
>'You came back!'
>'You cling to life by threads.'
>'We cannot heal you.'
>'You worried us.'

>You heave helplessly for breath, unable to convince the ruined tatters of your lungs to do their job any longer. This body was far past its limits. Nothing should survive this. You needed... You needed to change. The Diary- Where?

>Panic was setting in. You were alive but you couldn't breathe. Your veins weren't pulsing. Your body was cold. For every given sign you were dead but life persisted unreasonably. Your body was dead, you were alive, you couldn't-

>The Ice Queen's Relic cracked open as you lay your face haggardly against its pages, unable to cry, unable to expel the bile and vomit from your pulverized stomache. You had to... You were... Irue Valen.
>>
>>4899030
Our neck still works, it's good enough.

I feel safer utilizing Mana than a relic
>>
>>4899036
Anon, our neck still works only because of the relic. Dryad just gave us the opportunity to use it.
>>
>>4899036
Yeah it still works, because we healed with the Diary. It's all right there in black and white, Dryad can force life back into a corpse but is incapable of healing the body the way Wisp can. The way the Diary can. Also he didn't break our neck, he shattered our ribcage and lungs into meat with a strike to our chest.

>The Ice Queen's Relic cracked open as you lay your face haggardly against its pages, unable to cry, unable to expel the bile and vomit from your pulverized stomache. You had to... You were... Irue Valen.

>And with that breath, everything was right in this world again. A veil of blonde hair cascaded from your side, intertwined with the possessively growing ivy as your sharp crimson eyes grew hot. Tears blurred your vision, too many to stop, too many to control, and you curled into yourself and screamed wordlessly as panic closed in around you with every desperately fired urge to breathe, for your heart to beat, for your veins to pulse.

>You cried. You screamed. Your hands dug at the ground, clutching desperately for something, anything, to hold onto as you rode through the emotions torrentially breaking your composure. Dryad's leafy embrace was only too happy to hold you, until even this uninjured body - Your own body, who you should have been - was too physically exhausted from the ordeal to do more than quiver with spine wracking sniffles and hiccups. Unable to contain the low and plaintive moan that hummed in your throat and bubbled past your trembling lips everytime your jaw drifted apart.

>You were alive. You were alive. You were...
>>
>>4899047
>>4899049

And so the best order of operations would be Lilly>Pain meds?>return to Lucidity>Diary>Go see Dryad>Back to the estate.

The other problem was that we weren't Irue when we got injured, Clara is the identity we need and that's the one that's injured and we're also probably still dead, we should also probably use this opportunity to check in on us and our wrist.
>>
>>4899051
It's been confirmed by Riz that you can transform into "uninjured you" just like Rinnier transformed into a younger and less chesty Rinnier.
>>
>>4899051
So long as we're not dragging Clara's broken body across the region and mostly likely killing her in the process when we have the possibility of healing her right here and now I suppose I am mildly placated. I do have some concerns with this too, though.

>Lilly
Lily was hesitant to touch Clara and didn't want us touching her either. I know you're worried about her strange mana bullshit too so we should heed Lily's warning, whatever we do.

>Pain meds>lucidity
The meds will knock her out for a while, and there's a non zero chance she'll die in the mean time. If the Diary is successful here and now then we won't need the pain meds, if however the Diary fails then we won't be any worse off than we were before. In that case we can wait for a moment of lucidity, try again and if it fails in those conditions then Dryad it is.

Also, if the diary succeeds I do kind of want to take Clara and maybe Rinnier to see Dryad and get some answers about this whole mana fuckery.

>we weren't Irue when we got injured

This is true, but it won't matter, Rinnier discovered you can use the diary to return to a younger version of yourself and the physical status you had at that time. That's the healing loophole.
>>
>>4899073
>>4899083

But what happens when you get to the same age as you were that you changed so the loop completes itself?
>>
>>4899084
Good question, unfortunately we just don't know that yet. It's possible that you revert to your injured form, it's also possible by that point you have built a new identity of being that age and not being injured. We could test it on our arm if you want, or we could roll Clara's age back a few years to be safe. Hell, putting Clara in her prime might be a significant boost to our faction.

The worst case scenario is still miles ahead of our current situation.
>>
>>4899090
And so how would we possibly pass of this "age regression" / Literally miraculous recovery off without suspicion.
>>
>>4899093
Who cares? Our aunt's life is more important than Irue accruing more rumours of being fae. By the way, you'd still have a lot of explaining to do in the event the Dryad plan works as you intend, in fact you'd have to do all of your explaining up front to convince our Uncle to let us walk out the door to god knows where with his dying wife.
>>
>>4899093
Much better than we could possbily pass off a resurrection by Dryad, considering first that Clara's healthy form is separated from her current state just by a couple of weeks, second that the Diary doesn't have to transform the user into an existing form, and third that everyone knows Relics exist and can do wondrous things.
>>
>>4899105
We would simply take him with us, and explain everything as we went, I'm sure that Lilly would help smooth things over greatly.

>>4899106
The point of moving Clara before she dies, is that if she were to die on the way to Dryad no one would know, it would be much harder to get a dead body out without notice.

Letting people know that we have access to more than one relic is a good way to blow the effectiveness of it, considering the one we have relies on subterfuge to work.
>>
>>4899115
He's already pissed off our behaviour thus far, he's not going to let us take Clara.

>I'm sure that Lilly would help smooth things over greatly
How? She barely knows any words, we communicate with her via the bracelet. "Hey Uncle look at this plant, it can move around and say fuck you. Now give me your wife." The only way Lily could help is if we decided to force the situation.

>>4899106
I don't want anyone to know we have relics. Let the healers and guards speculate. What they think doesn't matter.
>>
>>4899122
>A plant, it can move around and say fuck you.
It's Literally all we will ever need.
but seriously the fact that we have a completely unexplored set of options to attempt when they are out of conventional ones, especially if there is a noticeable shift in her condition before we leave and we bring along both the healers, and Byrn (at least back to the manor) should at least go some way towards getting permission
>>
>>4899130
Convincing uncle will be hard enough if not impossible but the healers are ready to walk out as is. He didn't even want us in the room much less dragging his patient cross country in a cart. Seriously, how can you convince any of these people to go along with this? None of this is an impediment to the relic plan, in fact if she was healthy by the time they came back they might not be able to stop us from leaving.

Your main problem was some kind of interference with Dryad, right? And Riz said outright,
>>4898943
that the Diary will have absolutely zero affect on matters related to mana, and by extension Dryad. Sure it might not fix her soul but you have confirmation that it won't make it worse either so why not fix her body first? We can do both!
>>
>>4899137
Clara still needs to be lucid enough to be able to both understand and execute what we tell her to, there is a slight risk something goes wrong, she fails to understand something, or something unexpected happens since we're not exactly using it as intended.
>>
>>4898649

Lily's reaction makes me very concerned about this. Either she's acting out of revulsion (based on what is interfering with the healing) or out of fear/caution for us. Neither is good.

My vote is to prioritize making ourselves avaliable if Clara wakes, but to gather info otherwise. We need to pick Lily's mind on her reaction (with restraint: last thing we need is an agitated Dryad aspiration in here.) We need to observe as best as we can.

We need calm. We needed it coming in here, but better late than never.
We need to open up to Byrn, we can't afford our emotions running away from us here, and he can help us in as a completely mundane emotional base.

If we end up doing nothing but being present, that's still better than many possible outcomes.

To mention, since I didn't see it yet, we haven't considered Hearts In Harmony as an avenue for communication here. If her state counts and we aren't taking to much of a risk, it might be a last ditch option to open some form of communication if we can't find something more practical.
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>>4899150
The issue(s) with HiH is that it takes time, and that may be better spent planning or establishing how long we have until we decided on what to do, also her being pain or being on medication may interrupt / prevent it wasting our limited time.
>>
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you will work in the newly established todesarbeitbezirk caronen until your body gives in and you will be made into fertilizer
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>>4899148
Yeah okay, that's a good point. I'm willing to wait for a better moment.

>>4898649
>>4899030
I'll change my vote to the stop being mad post, except for the part where we sleep with Clara.
>>4899150

Also Riz, Lily handled that healer pretty handily.Iit seems a bit strange that she could cow wisp adepts so easily. Has Lily got stronger?
>>
>>4898649
>>4898707
I agree with this here. We can't be too hasty- now that we know how bad it is, we can at least be assured that Clara won't die right in front of us before we can help. I don't know how effective the diary would be, though- and we don't know if anybody around here might be spies, unlikely as that seems. We have a little time to measure our options.

I'd like to note, though, that we can't think of our aunt as a completely benevolent person, certainly not considering history with her. Just because we're on the same side doesn't mean she can be entirely trusted. If we overplay our hand and restore her with the Diary, it is very possible she'd take that capability away from us as soon as she was healthy again. She certainly is much more powerful.

I have a theory on the nature of the wounds, as well. Wisp is healing and strength, though not life- since Alouette is a Wisp adept, theoretically, nothing is off the table technique wise. So I think that something Aloutte might be capable of is chopping somebody apart, and fusing their pieces seperate from each other- hence the separation but still somewhat-attachment. She basically chopped up Clara then stuffed Wisp-stuff in the gaps to keep her from being treated, because theoretically, she's not even in a state that would classically be called wounded. She's been ripped apart and stuck back together again with silly putty and until that's gone we can't do anything.
This also might be part of the intent, but getting rid of the putty all at once, as it were, may easily kill her on the spot as nothing's holding her together-apart anymore.

How we fix this is something I'd have to think more about.

>>4899755
>except for the part where we sleep with Clara.
I'd sleep with Clara.
Not as Irue though.
>>
>>4899803
The Estate may have Faedka on hand which we know works as an Anti Mana poison (at least against Wisp), from the Better Strangers write up of the Paladin, Marchovic fight.
>>
>>4899803
Alouette can't use Wisp though. She's heavily favored, but can't command it.
>>
>>4899148
>>4899755
What better moment are you going to wait for? Byrn made it quite clear Clara is either in pain or sedated. This is the most lucid she's ever gonna get.
>>
>>4900308
What we would do is try and get a coherent response out of Clara, and explain our intentions to Byrn and the healer when they return in order to delay the application of further sedatives in the hope that either she eventually returns to lucidity by herself as the medication wears off, or with Lilly's help.

Then proceed with explanation and use of the Diary.
>>
>>4900321
Hasn't the medication wore off already if she's talking?
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>>4899755
>Iit seems a bit strange that she could cow wisp adepts so easily. Has Lily got stronger?

>They weren't wearing a uniform, or at least none you would recognize. Maybe that made them the healers.

If they are healers (as they likely are based on Uncle's comments), they may not be adepts. Conventional medicine must still exist in some fashion, as I doubt there are enough Wisp adepts to go around. Plus her not taking to Wisp healing suggests her care might have been handed off to normal doctors.
>>
>>4900308
I agree with you, I want her healed as soon as possible. I'm just tired of arguing about it. The majority sentiment seems to be that we'll do it when she's capable of stringing a sentence together, which is an improvement from earlier.

Anyway, calming down is also important. Irue wants to be a better person, so she needs to be able to catch herself when she starts losing control.
>>
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Alright, going to sift through all this and see what I can do! Lacking a bit of sleep though.
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>>4898682
Window watching!

>>4898688
Can Lily help?

>>4898688
Try screwing with the Jin branch to contact Caylen? If you insist, anon...

>>4898707
>>4899030
>>4899150
Watch! Wait! Don't interfere!

>>4898776
Aunt Clara, read my diary! wait-
---

>>4899755
Lily took her own initiative to try and murder one healer, but pretty much ignored the other. Neither of them showed any signs of supernatural strength you've come to associate with Wisp adepts.

As noted elsewhere, you've been told by your uncle that she is refusing mana, but you don't necessarily need to be a Wisp adept to be a healer - There's plenty of healing to be done with salves, drugs, surgery and the like. Most healing is done that way, because Wisp adepts are not wildly available to fix people all the time. Theoretically speaking, anyone with sufficient learning in medicine and healing techniques can be a perfectly competent healer.

>>4900301
Alouette is a poor healer, but an excellent command of Wisp within herself. She has difficulty applying Wisp to other people, in essence. She did some patchwork on you when Rinnier impaled you, and when you impaled yourself, but that is the extent of her capabilities in externalization so far as you know.
>>
I'm too drunk for this rn but I'm glad you're back Riz.
>>
Byrn left you alone, bustling out to find the healers you had stormed past to see to making amends... And leaving you with a sudden dearth of purpose for your fury. There was nothing to be angry at here, nothing to vent the frenetic energy squirming in your chest, nothing left for you to do but stand and... Wait. To watch over your aunt in the weakest you'd ever seen her - Ever imagined she could be.

Once the desire to strangle Caylen passed, you had nothing else to do but realize how little you could do. You had options, if she were awake you could at least heal the injuries by explaining the Diary of Reflections to her, but she barely seemed present. Whatever drugs they had her on kept her sedated, her pain dulled, but consequently you couldn't tell just how aware of her surroundings she actually was. What if she used it wrong? What if she couldn't use it at all?

Even if she were more awake though, Lily was reacting strangely. She'd stopped you from touching her moments ago, and kept oscilating between whether your aunt Clara was offlimits or not. "Lily," you start with a sigh, "What's the problem? Can you tell what's wrong with her?"

...The answer came in a flurry, and you once again found yourself wishing for Dryad's multi-voiced murmuring over this strange discerning you and the young apparition sifted through for each other. There were distinct... Feelings conveyed. Thoughts. Concepts, even - but they lacked context.

'Lost? Familiar? Strange?'

The clearest things you learned from her is that your aunt smelled bad. Some utterly, repulsively foul scent that Lily couldn't stand... It brought up bad memories, or maybe the memories were unrelated? Your aunt was a bad memory? In the time it took you to try and puzzle out what Lily was feeling, indignance flared from her childlike heart, coupled with full-hearted bafflement.

'Stolen? Stolen. Stolen!?'

...So on top of everything else, your aunt had been stolen somehow.

>Are you forgetting something...? (write-in)

None of which did anything to help you, or help her. You needed to calm down, but you desperately, desperately needed to vent still. This frustration wasn't going away, not now. Not right now, not after Kara leaving, not losing another family member, not-

Not... Not this again.

You'd come so far, so Mana damned far, you'd gained so much, fought for every inch of it and bled and cried, and she was going to be proud of it! You'd come to rub every damn thing you'd accomplished in her face, everything you'd done on your own, without any help! Just- Just look at where you are now! Look at what you did!

...Open your damn eyes again.

You could still fix this. You just needed a chance. Just one chance for her to be awake enough for you to fix things.
>>
But time passed, and that chance never came. Clara continued to murmur, almost too fain to make out, as she grit her teeth through the pain. 'Run'... or 'Rue'... You couldn't be sure, but the only one who'd ever called you 'Rue' had already left, and your aunt was never one for pet names.

You sat by the window, Lily's confused, indignant babbling bubbling over in the back of your mind while your mind lie elsewhere; Thinking over the last time you'd seen her. That you'd been the last one to talk to her before she left, that she wouldn't have left if you hadn't told her about Caylen, that in a way, was this your fault? Caylen ran away, Alouette did this to her, Maran instigated it all, but had you been the final push to involve her? If you'd just kept it to yourself would she still have been-

No.

Your eyes drift shut, and with a swift shake of your head you violently crushed that line of thought. You weren't going to indict yourself over straws. At that rate you may as well blame your aunt herself for running off so brashly; Blame wasn't going to help you now. Something black crawled just under your skin, leaving a trail of goosebumps in its wake... And you felt calmer. Your anxiety dulled, fading - almost as if dragged - from the forefront of your mind into the blacker recesses of your mind and silenced.

Information. You needed to know more.

What had Alouette done to her? A new technique? No- Alouette was an outstanding warrior, a titan that even Kara was horrified to confront. She could cut Mistral's Child in half, yes, but you knew Alouette: In terms of manipulating Wisp, she was almost incompetent. The favor Wisp showered on her had never seemingly been returned, and she struggled even to provide patchwork healing in others... There's no way whatever happened to Clara was Wisp's doing - Or, at least not by Alouette.

...It was a long shot, but you still had that Jinn branch - 'Echo' - tucked away in its sheath. Could you contact Caylen directly and ask? It couldn't contact him directly, unless he himself had a branch around, but if there were someone near him that could interpret Jinn you might be able to get connected by proxy. Though, if he were working with Artemis, you wouldn't be surprised if he did have one.

If you couldn't strangle your cousin, you might still be able to yell at him.

>Use the Echo (how?)
>She's... Awake. Sort of. Explain the Diary of Reflections to her?
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>>4901385
I hope you're drunk for celebratory reasons, anon! Please take care of yourself.
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>>4901558
>Are you forgetting something...? (write-in)
Lily's reaction brings to mind other apparitions' reaction to Nymph's Wood. Nymph's Wood was also referred to as "lost" by the Fae.
The words about bad smell and bad memories remind me of Dryad's reaction to Luna. Though I think Nymph's Wood also was said to have a "foul scent" by the Fae. As well as our knights they abducted.
"Stolen" may refer to the anti-mana effect, like Rinnier was "stolen" from Salamander, which is also connected to Nymph's Wood.

>>4901559
>She's... Awake. Sort of. Explain the Diary of Reflections to her?

>Or, at least not by Alouette.
Maran also can control Wisp. And _possibly_ also whatever Nymph's Wood is.
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>>4901558
>Are you forgetting something...? (write-in)
I have a feeling it has something to do with the poison Artermis used during the Flashback; Which is why Lilly knows instinctively what it is but can't "remember" it( Flashback Starts Thread #55, posion mentioned Thread #60 >>1662992 ; but it doesn't quite line up with the explained symptoms) Also it may be that she is tightly bound to Wisp / Luna (or the Nymph Wood is also a possibility), and not Dryad and therefor has been "stolen", if it's truly a Mana based block / imbalance we may be able to undo / adjust the balance with any Faedka that the estate may have on hand, or bleed Lilly a little to get her Sap. Alternately we could get Ari to attempt to assist Lilly in explaining or use the Bracelet to further our connection to Lilly.


>Use the Echo (how?)
Contact Caylen, we know he has his own "branch" due to the call he had with Maran that we overheard, if that doesn't work attempt to boost it with the bracelet, and if that doesn't work attempt to reach Maran.

If the call succeeds get the answerer to go get Caylen, Maran, Alouette and maybe someone from Teranford so Rinnier can speak to them once assembled we can go though some of the following topics
>Clara's wounds and how to fix them

>The Behemoth under Corona
>>The Overheard conversation (Prophecy) and the Tier sisters and the implication on the Main branches deaths at the hands of a Behemoth.
Artermis's activities around Carona
>Bandits we got the Branch off
> the Flare Projector, and the fire.
> Reasons for Crown restricting flow of information

Warn Alouette about betrayal (No one trusts her now, and Artermis are exceptionally likely to just kill her off)
>An Overview of the "Fae", and what happened in the forest (at the Ruined shrine)
>The upcoming Civil War and out stake in it (we don't have one where Clara does, and so would be more willing to use more drastic measures)
>>The Ice Queen's Atelier and its hidden implications for the Crown


Threats / destabilizing actions we can use:
> Petition for increased Crown involvement / let foreknowledge of the Link in the IQ's Atelier slip which will torpedo their chance at legitimacy if done properly. (All)
>Caylen can "see" his Mother a least one more time before shit goes down or she dies, which can get him to focus (Maran)
> Implicate Alouette's / Artermis's trustworthiness to get her to keep her guard up and less likely to have a convenient accident leaving Caylen by himself. (Alouette)
Threaten to Wake Dryad and let them sort everything out, unless Caylen returns to us.
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>>4901559
no, and no.
Using the branch is such a long shot it's not even worth bothering. Plus, there's a risk the people we got it from might have more, and thus could listen in to anything we send. If we want to try and use it in the future, we'll need to learn how to use it without it being a massive security risk.

Using the diary is a terrible idea. One, it is hideously powerful, and I don't trust her with the it's secret of existence and operation.
More importantly, as Rue outlines, trying to get someone completely unfamiliar with the artifact that requires specific mental states to use it for the first time to affect massive body changes is asking for her to fail and really screw herself up.
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>>4901684
Once we're done with it all we would need to do is turn it over to the Shrine for destruction and that would be the end of it.
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>>4901689
Assuming you're talking about the branch, how is that in any way related to trying to ring up Caylen with a phone he maybe, possibly has?
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>>4901691
Then how did he get the call from Maran that we overheard; while we were visiting his Manor?
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>>4901684
This guy is telling the truth. Let's consider a third option
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>>4901679
Could you clarify why you want to bring up these topics?
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>>4901696
We know that Maran won't tell Caylen the truth if anything unless it furthers her position, and we won't likely meet him again for a long time if ever.

It would be best to bring Caylen up to speed on what is actually going on so he can better inform "his" choice to stay with Artermis while Alouette is both still alive, and able to extract him if he decides to leave and if we die the last Valen is at least able to do something constructive instead of start from the beginning all over again.

Also there is a slight chance that we infect Maran or Caylen with something we say so Luna decides to burn their brains out the next time they commune with it.

It will also make clear if the relationship is salvageable or not, and we should just take the loss, and go wake Dryad up or not, since we should be able to pick up the pieces eventually and rebuild.
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>>4901702
You got a stupid amount of crazy ideas man
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>>4901703
The other part of it would to find answers that justify us staying our hand since apparently not once have become better off by doing anything at all that hasn't been immediately countered, and so if we don't do anything it's just a matter of time before we lose.
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>>4901705
Idk what to say your idea is to phone them and start telling everybody a million fucking things. To put it short you are nuts
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>>4901694
I'm of the general opinion that there is no good option for helping her at this time. She's simply too unstable for experimenting, Irue has no medical training whatsoever, and if we gamble and fail, Irue will have had a large hand in her death.That would cause strain in the family and weigh heavily on Rue herself.

Instead, I'd suggest either diving the library, sitting down and recollecting, or taking a break from the topic.
I seem to recall we brought this batch of knights out with us for a reason. iirc, training with Alouette?
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>>4901711
it was mostly to see to their proper (general) combat / security training, and if any potential adepts could be picked from among their ranks, the knights that remained at Carona aren't likely to be useful in combat.
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>>4901711
How about we start looking into the state of the house and how we could assume leadership, that would be pretty good I think
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>>4901714
hmm. With Alouette gone, so to is the combat teacher. Presumably the normals guards could teach plenty to our completely untrained knights, though, so maybe that'll be enough for now.
I suspect the adept thing isn't right, because why would we drag them all the way out here when the Shrine in town could have done potential testing?

>>4901725
That works with me.
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>Discuss the state of the house with Byrn
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>>4901725
Regardless of whether we're in charge or not, it won't change what we do; since we aren't even in contact with the people we would need to start ordering around, or suggesting things to. We would still need to go through Byrn and we don't have time to waste on gaining peoples confidence and proving that we know what we're doing; especially since we don't and our "test" case hasn't exactly being doing to well even after we took over. And even at this point without Clara Byrn will probably take our suggestions on board.
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>>4901732
It's time to finally do it, this is the perfect opportunity.
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>>4901735
And then what?
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>>4901738
Idk we'll just wing it, this will be a big game changer
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>>4901732
>Regardless of whether we're in charge or not, it won't change what we do;
Being in charge will open up our options dramatically. We'll finally have real, actual resources to work with to fight Artemis and the Infection.

>since we aren't even in contact with the people we would need to start ordering around,
We'd use the same channels she used to run the place from this house for all this time; presumably primarily letters. Many people receiving orders aren't going to care who's signature it is, so long as it has the right stamp of authority.

While there will be some people that'll be a little more bull-headed, we are the fully legitimate heir, and so they should be willing to do what we tell them to.
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>>4901739
Here's the way in which it will change the game:

>Have you heard? Lady Clara wanted to see her niece one last time before death, and that girl just barged in and demanded to be made the House head.
>Yeah, and she apparently drove off the healers.
>What an ungrateful bitch. And she's supposed to be the heir?
>Caylen would be a better head
>Let's follow him instead.
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>>4901741
>We'll finally have real, actual resources to work with to fight Artemis and the Infection
We'll also have all the problems Clara dealt with before. Like mediating between the nobles an the crown and trying to prevent civil war.
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>>4901742
Anon you dumb as balls. This scenario is plain silly and wrong
>>4901743
You gonna run from responsibility forever. Dont be a bitch
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>>4901742
There are so many things wrong with this it's not worth a proper response.

>>4901743
This is true, but that seems like a worthwhile tradeoff to me.


Plus, that role may finally shed some light on why the crown is acting so nutty, which is one of the older unanswered questions of the quest.
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>>4901745
>>4901747
To clarify, I think we should assume the leadership of the house. But not in the manner you want. Not as a higher priority than trying to help Clara. Otherwise it'll look like we're profiting off her condition, and any people who were personally loyal to her will look at us unfavourably. Likely including Byrn, who has much closer ties with the house's men than we do. It can split the house and cause a mini civil war.
Humans are not videogame units, anons. They won't obey you just because you put on a fancy crown.
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>>4901754
This whole argument makes no sense. Clara is in a fucked state, Byrn himself didn't want us seeing her and the best healers have done their best to help. Nobody will point at us and say "Irue you didn't help Clara! You are profiting off her condition by assuming your rightful place and we will start a civil war over it!" Holy shit dude what are you thinking
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>>4901747
We know why though, the Crown is currently attempting to prevent a regime change by Artermis and has been for a while, Their clamping down or writing is because of Dryad and increased oversight and licensing is looking for the Ice queen's lost brothers that escaped the purge descendants since Artermis is attempting to mount a civil war using the descendant to prove the current line illegitimate and to better cement their control, if we intend to have House Valen remain anyone of note we need to have the crown win upcoming Civil war.

It honestly feels like anything we attempt either fails or gets countered by Artermis anyway so there isn't really much we can offer except our hand in marriage at this point.
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>>4901756
It's not that we didn't help Clara it's that like she did originally (in Irue's opinion) did and use a crisis to take seize control before the truth came out in short order. The point is that if we actively attempt to take control now, it will look like we are simply attempting to take the leadership of house Valen for its prestige, not because it is our right, as heir; which will have flow on effects for anyone we need to actually interact with in the future.


If we do take control the first thing we should do is look at our finances and get into contact with the Crown and summon the leaders of the surrounding area to see what their issues are and attempt to realign priorities towards our goals and address problems.
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>>4901774
I can't comprehend how you manage to arrive at the conclusions that you do guy.
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>>4901776
Very few people even know about us Which is a whole other problem if "someone" starts claiming Caylen is the heir and true leader of House Valen we would be judged harshly for attempting to "Seize" control before Clara is even in the ground, or deemed unfit to lead, until that point jumping the gun early will have consequences especially since we will be depending on people we've never met to accept that we're now the leader even though most will never have heard of us after the death of the main branch, if at all.
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>>4901779
Stop my guy
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Do we have any other guesses for the Forgetting, other than it being Nymph wood, or a poison developed by Artermis?
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>>4901558
>Are you forgetting something...? (write-in)
Dunno if in any way related but

>"I... Can't hope to explain Luna, but Dryad is life." She stressed the word emphatically, as if doing so would just enlighten you to her meaning. "What you see is nature, but Dryad is the life within it. It is the body in which all else inhabits." "Like... Wisp?" As far as you knew, everything she was saying applied to Wisp... Not whatever tree Mana Dryad had proven itself to be.

>"Yes! ...No, not like Wisp. Wisp is... Something else." She seemed to shrink in on herself. "Wisp... Heals. It strengthens and protects. It recovers." She listed off the basic properties of Wisp you had long since internalized from studies, "Dryad... Gives life. Before something can heal, it needs to be alive. Before it can recover, it needs to live. Dryad is the beginning to all of that."
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>>4901559
>She's... Awake. Sort of. Explain the Diary of Reflections to her?

>Forgetting
It sounds like the dead zone stuff someone brought up earlier. Dryad affiliation would be enough to explain a lack of response from Wisp, but with Lily's reaction is confusing. The only thing I can think of that would repulse all mana including Dryad is the dead zones and the fragments that were found there. Dryad called the clipping we took from our house "lost" and I believe Elly claimed that there was some kind of "familiar" sentiment surrounding the dead zones, or those who came back from them.

It fits, kind of?
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>>4901676
I realise only now that you've posted almost exactly the same thing already. Ah well.
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>>4902072

What if Artemis created a tool or weapon like the branch to fight Adepts? Alouette can't command Wisp that way, but she wouldn't need to with a zombie Mana sword that rejected outside interference in healing the wounds it made.
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>>4901790


He's right. Politics are not intuitive.

The gesture of respecting Clara's twilight will not go unnoticed.

We are Valen heir. We will be Valen head. Our testament trial was successful. We have no need to declare it.

The only thing we can do with such a statement is alienate the side branch.

Let's not.
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>>4903504
If you don't want it to happen then I invite you to vote!
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>>4903529

Research is hard.

Why did Lily react so strongly to the healer and why would they set up a cordon?

If they were adepts, it would make sense if they were doing delicate channeling, but if she's being kept for hospice and dosed till she passes, it's only a matter of image, which makes little sense to stop the inner family.

How much do we want to trust the healers? Byrn said they were the best they could find, but from where? Even if they are loyal, Alouette must know that Clara is Shade favored, and would accordingly be handled by conventional healers. It would be simple to dupe them with "specialized" medicine to handle a rare case like this.

As an aside, that "blackness" probably was our Shade scar having a field day. We need to stay aware of it or it's going to eat our lunch one of these days.

My vote is to send Lily to bring in Ari to help, with all the precaution we can manage. We need more comprehensible insight than our toddling aspiration.

Coincidentally, if Ari goes off on a particular healer again, twice is no longer coincidence.

Frame it as a concession with Byrn and make clear that we are not throwing a tantrum. Carona had a full fledged insurgency, our suspicion is more than justified.

My reasoning to dodge the other choices: Calyen may not know, the catharsis of ripping him a Shade scar of his own is not worth it unless we can be sure he will help, and that's not clear through the lens of Maran and Alouette.

As for the relic, we still lack the information we need to be sure Clara is in a safe state for this. We were literally undying when we used it, and we had intimate knowledge of its operation.

As for the forgetting. I think it's the nymph wood. There's no reason Artemis couldn't purge/block mana the same way Faedka does using their sterilized faux-dryad mana. That would explain Lily's confused revulsion

We should be careful however, since it might be an elegant trap. If Clara is mortally wounded, but sustained by faux-dryad Mana, she may die while it is removed.

Worse, if Clara is warning us off, she herself may be bait. If Artemis knows anything about our contact with Dryad, why not present a person we could heal/repair using Dryad?


Anyway:

>Send Lily to get Ari. Get a second opinion
>Dryad hates Nymph Wood. Lily's reacting to sterilized Dryad mana.
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>>4903693
>>4901559

Forgot to link to prompt.
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>>4903504
We're not going to alienate anyone by taking control while the acting head is critically injured. The title is ours anyway, and this is a perfectly justified time to take on those duties.
Frankly, we don't need a justification at all. She needs a justification to stay in control. "Irue might not be ready" is not a valid reason in title succession anyway, not when the inheritor is a full adult anyway.
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>>4903693
>Calyen may not know.
We could use this to our advantage since his decisions are based on this lack of knowledge, and so may change if presented with the "truth" or we may be able to get concessions to keep things from him off the others.

>Frame it as a concession with Byrn.
It wouldn't be to hard to ask where he got these "healers" from And if the Answer is Sylv, or Resuri we can intuit something is up based on what we heard from the bandit call.

>She may die while it is removed.
Not a problem we can always take the body to the Forest to get it revived.

>If Artemis knows anything about our contact with Dryad.
This is expected, they know that the Valen's Main branch was entrusted to watch over Dryad while it slept, they even "returned" Mint's Bracelet to ensure that it could be put back to sleep if need be It's also why there was a single survivor of the attack IT is expected that someone from the Main branch knows about Dryad, since they would likely prefer that it is at least attended to, then left unmonitored.

>An elegant trap.
If this is true or at least proved to any degree, this has quite a few worrying implications on the current footing of the wider Valen dominion and their current priorities which indicates such a large mismatch vs Artermis, or a sustained campaign the only thing I can think of that could even touch them at this point would be to wake Dryad, and recover / rebuild after things cool down, where we can. otherwise we were always just a frog in a pot due to more than a decade of mismanagement.

And on that note something else we could do would be run the Nymph Wood Clipping past the healers claiming that Clara is allergic to it, in order to see if it has been used, and that they might not be in on it.
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>>4903940
When Dryad wakes up it'll go on a rampage and kill everything it sees except us, Clara and Caylen. It may end the quest.
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>>4903944
It doesn't want them dead, it wants the other Mana to understand it's pain, at least any Adepts it comes across will be kept alive to join the "Choir", it would also be a gradual process since it doesn't have access to the complete array of its power, since it has been knocked from Clarity, but that at least means it can act on the Macro level unlike the other Mana.

I don't see us managing to overcome Artermis conventionally, and leaving them alone only gives them more opportunities to do damage kill people or get further into Caylen's head.
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>>4903955
How is Dryad going to make anyone understand the pain of having all your loved ones murdered without killing anyone?
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>>4903961
Why would it let death stop it, when it doesn't need to?
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>>4903975
What does that even mean?
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>>4903976
Dryad could either just keep bringing them back, or not let them die due to it's Mana's effects.
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>>4903978
Why would it do that?
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>>4903986
Because it could?
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>>4903989
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Sorry, I slept for roughly fifteen hours and all of yesterday evaporated into some sort of dreamless void.

Reading what all I missed, I'll aim for an update tonight!
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>>4903999
I know that feel, hope everything's good on your end. Please let us know if we got the forgetting. I must know!
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>>4903995
And since there is a limited number of living things, what would it do once it runs out since its killed them all?
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>>4904007
You're asking this like it's obvious, I have no clue what an enraged fallen mana will do once it has achieved its stated goals and neither do you. For all you know it will blend all the corpses together and resurrect them all as an immortal ball of meat 5km wide and leave them there to suffer and rot for all eternity, no matter what Irue has to say about it.
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>>4904019

We probably have some influence over her, but I don't disagree with your thoughts. Relying on the mana as an entity to behave predictably is a crapshoot.

Dryad is aligned with us, not an ally. They are dangerous and should be handled with respectful care.

Fully rousing Dryad is a failure state, not a strategic weapon.
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>>4904081
We could always try to put it back to sleep, like they did originally obviously at great cost so it's not as if it would be impossible to deal with, just that it almost certainly won't work without additional work put in to set the scene, again.
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>>4901676
>>4902072
Explain the Diary of Reflections!

>>4901679
Use the Echo!

>>4901684
>>4903693
Steadfastly do nothing!

>>4903693
Lily, call for Ari!

>>4901676
>>4902072
>>4903693
Dryad has described Nymph's Wood as carrying a foul scent, of bearing or BEING bad memories, and shown that even Dryad's Simulacra refused to touch it - All of which reflected Lily's disposition towards Clara.

Final tally is not to use the Echo for various reasons and to send for Ari to try and parse Lily's reaction better. We're at a tie regarding using the Diary of Reflections or not using it though, so I need a tie breaking vote based on that, otherwise I'll just flip a coin.

...Is what I'd say, but you'll need to decide on that momentarily. This update shouldn't be very long and leads into the Challenge Round!
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>>4904155
>>4901559
I'd say to not use the diary of reflections. It might not even work, and it's valuable enough to keep a secret and search for a more certain solution. Who knows- maybe we shift Clara into another person, but that mana still forces her body apart, and we've really gone nowhere.
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No, now wasn't the time to yell at Caylen. You don't even know if you could connect to him, much less who else might pick up... So you left the Echo untouched for the moment, drawing your attention back to your current situation. Your aunt, and Lily's bizarre reactions. You needed a clearer line of communication with her to understand what she was flipping out over, and the only one who could provide you that was Ari. She was... Somewhere? Probably with Rinnier, or in the archives already. Without her here to translate, the only things you had to go on were the vague sentiments of a flustered and panicking apparition.

...Sentiments which felt familiar, somehow. Like you should have recognized them. If it was stolen then the closest thing you could associate it with was what you suspected had happened to the land in Teranford, but 'bad memories'? That had nothing to do with Teranford. It-

'You came back.'
'With unwanted company.'
'A foul scent.'
'This lost shell.'
'Memories tamed?'


-It was something you'd heard before! A flash of recollection snapped your eyes wide open, with the many-voiced whisperings of Dryad's reticence towards Nymph's Wood trickling back to mind. The same sapling which had kept it at bay, and had served to save Mim from a Dryad apparition's pursuit, whatever it was, it had an incredible aptitude towards warding Dryad away.

But why now? Nymph's Wood was the only explanation you could think to attribute Lily's overreaction to, but here? On your aunt? That didn't make any sen-

"Master?" The doors to your aunt's room were thrown open once more, this time admitting Ari hurried inside to grab you by the sleeve. "I don't like it here, I want to leave."

"...What?" Wine-red eyes blinked. "We just got here, what's wrong?"

"I feel like this place is trying to eat me." Ari's fingers curled tightly into your sleeves. "There's a bunch of weird flowers in the archives, so Rinny sent me to find you."

Weird... Flowers? Something else scratched at your memories, threatening to tug your attentions away again. Nymph's Wood. Nymph's Wood flowered if taken care of properly. You knew that. Why were your archives filled with Nymph's Wood? "Ari, can you make out what Lily's so upset over? She's reacting to my aunt."

Stringy brown haired shook for a bit as she looked between your mask, and then to your aunt, with a frown burgeoning across her lips. She'd only begun to open her lips when your aunt's shuddered gasp pulled your attention from the smaller Testament, watching the bandaged woman twist and writhe in bed. Her head surged forward, teeth gritting so tightly you thought they might chip from pressure, only to be wrenched apart in an agonized bark - Not even a cry of pain so much as a raw shout.
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Instinctively you made to step towards her, but Ari's hands gripped around your wrist tightly, holding you back even before Lily's vines could intercede once more - And so you watched as the bandages which encased your aunt crawled. What looked like veins rose beneath the gauze wrappings, bulging as they slithered through the tightly wrapped confines until an exit could be found: Gentle tendrils of floral roots peeking free into open air near the stumps of your aunt's dismembered torso... And your foot slid back instinctively, realizing that each section of her divided limbs were rustling on the sheets as those roots crawled free of their medical bindings to reach open air.

To reach you?

...No, it took you a second to make the distinction, but they were reaching for Ari.

Fortunately, for what little fortune you might call it, they lacked Dryad's fervor. The tendrils didn't extend beyond the surface of your aunt's body, though their activity seemed to only aggravate her wounds... And so Ari, half-hiding behind you now, was safe. Lily, conversely, seemed unsure whether to be furious or horrified- And for once, you shared her sentiments whole heartedly.

They had planted Nymph's Wood on your aunt? They were using her as... As a seed bed!

Why?!

The single word practically shrieked itself in your mind, and nothing you reached for granted you an appropriate answer. You needed answers before, and now you were near desperate for them. How had Nymph's Wood filled the estate like this? Where in Shade's name had it all come from?

You ushered Ari back, further from your aunt's still very much alive body as it... Bloomed, for lack of a better term. If Nymph's Wood had been instrumental in stealing Teranford from Salamander, then no wonder your aunt had been rejecting Wisp's mana.

>Are you forgetting something...? (write-in)
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>>4904364

The traders were selling it. I even think we might have encouraged it once. On mobile, so hard to check.

... I no longer give Alouette the benefit of the doubt. I want to see her limbless.
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It's not listed as an explicit option, but you can also still vote to do things besides figure out the Forgetting!
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>>4904364
I'm busy tonight, but I'd suggest looking somewhere around when we were examining our wrecked house, or roughly around that time frame.
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>>4904155
Use the Diary. Because the only alternative we know of is Dryad resurrecting her, and it's an even more valuable and even more secret asset than the Diary.
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>>4904441
With the infection of Nymph Wood that isn't possible, without it's removal first since Dryad won't touch it, and it seems to syphon Mana anyway. We may have to use the Bracelet is probably the only thing we have left to remove the infection "safely".


The four instances I can think of that may be useful are the talk with the; Trader, Priat, Dryad and Elly.
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>>4904364
>Forgetting
I don't know if this is it, but in our mansion Nymph's Wood has also overtaken the book storage.

Also, Nymph's Wood is Dryad's lobotomized body and it's life-giving, meaning it's probably actually Alouette's attempt to keep Clara alive. We shouldn't just try to remove it without a plan.
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>>4904364
Additional vote:
>Remove Ari and Lily from the room so that Nymph's Wood's reaction doesn't cause Clara extra pain.
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>>4904364
Going to vote for attempting to contact Caylen again using the Jin Branch, and asking for instructions on how to remove the Nymph Wood.

Hey Riz Can we add to the memo's Figure out how to deal with Nymph Wood properly (Talk to Dryad about it).
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>>4904364
>Are you forgetting something...? (write-in)

We gave two clippings to Priatt after we agreed to let him work with us. It's possible that he dropped them off here before leaving proper. I feel like this isn't it though...
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>>4904696
It's far more likely that the original merchant was an Artermis agent and went past the Valen Estate and Carona on the way to deliberately leave something at our Manor.
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>>4904364

As I believe I have misunderstood the thrust of the question: The Nymph wood is a perfect tool to disable her in these circumstances.

It eats your mana and sustains life. Otherwise Clara Valen wouldn't have survived being dragged halfway across the kingdom in chunks.

Removing it could kill her, it blocks more effective forms of restoration, and even if she achieves some form of recovery, she will be starting from null-mana, possibly permanently if the Nymph wood is left to its own devices.

I believe it's related to the deployment of Nymph wood in the Valen studies. Any useful relics or cores left in the area would be suppressed or consumed.
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>>4904923
I believe there were wisp cores in the archives? For lighting purposes? I'm back from work so I'll check after I settle in. Feeling a bit aimless on this one. I like it better when the forgetting is right next to the context you need to search for.
>>
>>4904364
>Forgetting

Nymph wood is a fragment infused with Dryad mana. Infused fragments will return to their normal (smaller?) state when damaged.

>"Succinctly speaking, it's almost as if they're empty." Elly's brother answered after a moment's thought. "Or perhaps... Malleable, would be a better term? Their nature will shift to accommodate whatever Mana is put into concentrated contact with their surface. Otherwise, it showed a remarkable tendency to return to its original, fragmented state whenever damaged."

Also, try explaining the Diary, I guess. It probably won't fix the Nymph wood problem but it'll buy us a lot of time and breathing room to address that problem if Clara is compos mentis enough to use it.

>>4904923

Yeah.
>"What you're lookin' for is in here somewhere?" She muttered reluctantly, staring up at the shelves that loomed over her and blocked out the faint streams of light which tried to stream in via hanging chandelier. There were many entrances to the open isles, many of them lit only by the occasional glowing stone that you recognized to be discarded Wisp apparition cores; They bathed the uninviting book-laden corridors in a pale light, faintly illuminating the spines of the texts stored within.
>>
>>4904362
>Forgetting

The archives are flowering because they were built by the founder, who Dryad loves. If left alone they'll consume it like with the incident in Irue's manor.

Or

The archives have an abundance of wisp cores to shine light for reading and maintain a set of illusions created in service of a kind of Atelier larp/training exercise involving the Founders sentiments for Mint.
>>
>>4905346
The wisp cores powered illusions of flowers in the mini atelier. I don't know if that's relevant though.

I don't know what I'm looking for. Halp.
>>
>>4905346
To rephrase this, we asked Elly why a nymph's wood would grow to a massive size (in our house) and she replied that it would mean that person was beloved of Dryad. The reason the nymph's wood is flowering in the archives is because they (or at least the oldest section and its illusionary atelier larp) were the pet project of the Valen house founder, who is beloved of Dryad. This means if the plant was put there it would grow handily no matter how neglected it was, and so it will eat the Valen archives if it is not destroyed. This doesn't explain how they got there though, the only person that's been down there recently was our Uncle, when he was conducting "repairs". Unless someone snuck in to plant them, Byrn should know why those are down there.

Maybe Rinnier saw the illusionary flowers and was too stupid to understand they're not real. I hope that's it.
>>
>>4905403

As a general rule, I don't subscribe to any theory invoking "Rinnier is stupid."

Also, Illusions of Nymph Wood would not get a visceral response from Ari.
>>
>>4905851
I meant the illusionary mint and lavender that's down there. Is joke.
>>
Alright! Going to get some breakfast and see what I've missed then get writing!
>>
>>4904374
>>4904459
>>4904700
>>4905403
Two in a row! And one of you even managed to broach an important detail!
The trader's name was Yuri, and you met him coming out of your aunt and uncle's estate with an entire wagon full of Nymph's Wood.

>>4904468
Ari and Lily need to get out immediately.
---

>>4904441
>>4905191
using diary

>>4904687
Contact Caylen
---

There is some contention that is ongoing over whether to try and explain the diary to Clara in her current state or not, so I am going to keep putting that off and forge along with the Forgetting sequence of events. The sentiment is not lost however, but I don't want to put new information into a scene directly after proposing a vote for it.

Speaking of new information, who is ready for the third consecutive Forgetting?
>>
>>4906846
>so I am going to keep putting that off and forge along with the Forgetting sequence of events.
Thank you. The previous vote just dealt with us not doing either of those, so the matter is settled.
>>
You hesitated only a moment before pushing Ari towards the door. "Ari, take Lily and go. Get out of the house. Find the knights and send one to find Rinnier, tell her what's happening." You slipped the apparition from your head, entrusting her to your Testament.

"...Alright."

You felt her nod, her clutched fingers lingering around your sleeve, before she turned to hurry away. You watched the tiny blooms across your aunt's body follow her exit, all but ignoring your continued presence in the room in the process... And left alone again, you were once more left alarmed at what had been done to your aunt. Nymph's Wood was probably responsible for rejecting Wisp's mana and keeping her from being healed, but the fact it Dryad's lobotomized body, far away and removed from its tortured mind still sealed in the Atelier, meant it wouldn't let your aunt die. As long as the Nymph's Wood was intertwined with her like this, she couldn't die.

More distressingly, your understanding of what "life" and "death" implied to Dryad at all suggested aunt Clara might actually be dead already. If you removed the Nymph's Wood with those injuries, would she still be alive at all?

...If you couldn't heal her without removing the Nymph's Wood, and removing it would kill her due to the injuries anyway... The only other option you could think of, once again, was trying to leverage the Diary of Reflections in the hopes it would circumvent Nymph's Wood's rejection altogether. Trying to use the bracelet was an option, but you had no idea how Nymph's Wood would react to it, much less what you could achieve in doing so.

While thoughts of how to deal with Dryad's corpse swirled vainly through your head, the greater problem coming into focus was its presence at all. You refused to believe Caylen would do this to his mother, but would Alouette? Even if you assumed she was sent back to be a trap waiting to be sprung like this, that didn't explain why the archives were suddenly filled with it! Where had-

Your blurring vision snapped all at once into crystal clarity, the echo of whirling thoughts shushing themselves as a single memory floated to the surface. You knew exactly how they got here. You were almost bitterly suspicious you had arrived the same day they had.
>>
"Back home we called it Nymph's Wood. It's actually something of a fickle pet."

The voice came before the name. The face of a man you hadn't given much of a second thought towards slowly swimming back to mind before you could finally place it: Yuri. The trader you had met in route to your aunt and uncle's while traveling with Kara's pack.

You'd met him barely a stone's throw from the estate itself with a wagon full of saplings. What if the Nymph's Wood wasn't snuck in here? What if it had just been bought and deliberately brought inside? Even if it hadn't been that trip specifically, you refused to believe that much Nymph's Wood could have gotten inside the estate without an active transport bringing it in, and if not Yuri then you'd bet Carona it was an associate of his working under Artemis.

But having a transport explained how it would have gotten to this estate, but not in it, much less gotten into the archives themselves. The only people even allowed in those archives were your family... Which meant that either your aunt or uncle had to have been the one to authorize it.

Your aunt left the estate before you did and came back in this state, so it had to have been your uncle. Byrn was the one who handled all of the mercantile affairs of House Valen anyway, so he'd have been the first person you'd have asked. He'd been a merchant before he married your aunt- Any purchase of something in such great quantities, much less to be installed in such an important place, would have had to have gone through him.

...And the last you'd seen him before now, he had been renovating the archives. Restoring and repairing old books from the Founder's time.

"Stu...pid... Child."

Your aunt's rasping voice shred itself through your thoughts, drawing your attention back to her- More aware now, her consciousness sharpened through the pain- as she struggled to look at you. She struggled to breathe, gasping in air as small plume of blood spread from a single point just under her ribs. The gauze which wrapped her torso spoiled a palm sized stain of deep red, some wound beneath the bandages re-opening from the struggles.

Yet all the same, her attention remained focused on you with a vivid intensity. "R-"
>>
"What in Wisp's Grace is going on?!" Your uncle's roar drowned out her pained rasp and heralded the portly man's rearrival. "What did you do!?"

"What- I didn't-" You gestured towards your aunt, jaw half-open to defend yourself as fury kindled in the back of your throat. "What did I do? Why is the archive full of Nymph's Wood!?" Already a group of who you assumed to be healers were rushing into the room and past you to get to your aunt. You didn't recognize any of them. "Why didn't any of the healers notice she was covered in it before they bandaged her!?"

"Please. The patient is in an agitated state, it would be best if everyone who is not a healer to leave the room." One of the men standing at your aunt's bedside turned to interject in your burgeoning confrontation. "Give us room to work and try to resedate her, we'll try and figure out what's happened in the meantime."

"-And where did these healers come from?" Accordingly, you ignored the man to continue yelling at your uncle. "Do we know them? Do we trust them?!"

Whatever your uncle was going to say ended at the hands of a reiterated plea from the healers at your aunt's bed to leave the room, leaving his mouth to snap shut with a frustrated growl. You hardly expected him to reach out and seize you by the upper arm, physically dragging you through stumbled footsteps and indignant struggles out the door, but that's how your exits were ultimately made.
>>
"Listen kiddo, I know you're upset." Once the doors had shut behind the two of you, your uncle wheeled you around to face him, gripping your arm painfully to hold you in place. "I am too, believe me, and I want to know what, exactly, you did while I was gone to have my wife covered in flowers and screaming."

"I didn't do anything!" You hiss back, trying and failing to jerk your arm free from your uncle's grasp. "It's Nymph's Wood, it's why she's rejecting Wisp's mana in the first place. It was under her bandages already, how did no one notice it? Why is so much of it in the estate now?!"

It strained your neck to look up at him this close, but your outburst had at least earned you slack in the grip of your arm as he frowned. "...Alright, slow down. Start from this 'Nymph Wood', what is it? What's got you so riled up over it? I want you to tell me everything you know about it."

Your arm was still held in his grip, so you snorted irritably and wiggling it once more - prompting your uncle to, belatedly, release you. It was enough to reign your temper in, at least, for the moment. You were agitated with being accused, but not in a panic - More offended than anything else.

But you would swallow that. Your uncle was requesting cooperation here, and there were a lot of ways you could go about this. If he understood where you stood more, what your options were, maybe you could do something.

>Tell him everything, you need to be on the same page to save your aunt. About the diary, Dryad, everything.
>Tell him an abridged version. He doesn't need to know about... (what?)
>Tell him nothing, you need to regroup with Rinnier and Ari.
>Other? (write-in)
>Am I forgetting something...? (write-in)
>>
>>4907087
>Tell him everything, you need to be on the same page to save your aunt. About the diary, Dryad, everything.

Since he is and will be responsible for coordinating the entire Valen response for the moment; there is no point holding back, or having to go over this a second time when we need something done.

>Am I forgetting something...? (write-in)
Bryn should be able to tell us where the Healers are from, and we know that Artermis is operating from Sylv and Resuri based on the "call" that we took while in the Bandit camp.

There was also that early talk with the Tier / Carona Apothecary that might have mentioned something.
>>
>>4907087
>Tell him an abridged version. He doesn't need to know about... (what?)
Avoid Dryad for now. Explaining Nymph's Wood doesn't need Dryad. Just tell him it's the same thing that grew in Teranford.
>>
>>4907087
>Forgetting
How does Byrn know Clara's covered in flowers when all we've seen was roots?
Nymph's Wood is supposed to have to be spoiled and pampered to bloom. It requires daily and constant care.
Yuri said "didn't think it would be that hard to sell these" coming out of the estate.
Valens supply their estate by direct contracts and usually turn away wandering merchants.
I'm just being desperate here

Probably unrelated, but when we arrived to the estate, a royal messenger was also arriving, and Clara hid us from them.
Also likely unrelated, Clara left after Caylen the very same night.
>>
Considering that Clara has been telling us to "run" the entire time she may be trying to tell us they Byrn is in on "it", and this entire maneuver has been an Artermis sting and that Byrn is either a "plant", or was co-opted somehow.

The fact that the Healers also know how to Deal with the Nymph Wood and aren't bothered by it somehow is also Weird and may be worth interrogating if we can keep them alive.
>>
>>4907087
>Tell him an abridged version. He doesn't need to know about... (what?) He doesn't need to know about the diary or Dryad.

What happened to the purple anons? Didn't you want the diary to be secret?
>>
>>4907731
>>4907087
Also,
>Quiz him on why there's nymph's wood in the house and what's up with these suspicious healers.
Something's fishy here and we want some fucking answers before we show all our cards.

It's worth noting that the defining feature of other fragments infused with mana is that they can be commanded by anyone, this is something we managed pretty easily with the telephone abortion. We could practice manipulating the nymph wood in the archives before we get our knights to uproot and destroy them.

As for the forgetting, I can't even begin to guess where the hook is this time. I don't know. It could literally be anything. Maybe I should make a giant copypasta with every topic I can think of and post it in forgettings.

I hope the purple schizos don't miss the vote. Honestly, the one time you could use an endless list of bizarre ideas.
>>
>>4907087
>>Tell him the absolute basics
I'm not sure what 'everything' entails in this context. So, avoid anything about Dryad, Artemis, the dairy, and any of the myriad other secrets we keep.

Instead, tell him Nymph's Wood is effectively a Mana-repeller, and that sustained contact with it risks causing mental problems.


I'm not terribly suspicious of the healers or Uncle; the healers are doing the "I'm a professional, let me do my job" thing, and we messed with Nymph's Wood plenty before figuring out what it was, so there's nothing in him buying the stuff that points to him being Infected.
>>
>>4907731
>>4904700 is me, my ID changed
>>
>>4907945
We also have some experience ordering Dryad based Apparitions around using the Bracelet, so ordering it to leave Clara shouldn't be to hard, though may risk leaving an imprint on us that "Dryad" doesn't "like".

I personally think >>4907131 is probably the most consistent and implicates at least one, if not all of the Healers at very least.
>>
>>4908026

Does it have anything to listen? Nymph wood is sterilized as far as I know, not much different than trying to strike up a conversation with the Jinn branch. I'm sure we can talk to it, but can it listen?

I don't like Byrn's tone. We haven't conversed with him enough to know his tics well enough, but he seems very focused on determining the boundaries of our knowledge.

I want to keep the conversation close to our chest; We describe the practical outcomes of Nymph Wood without drifting into Dryad. In the meantime, we probe Byrn's responses, because it's absurd he would have that shit thriving in the Valen archives and suddenly need a primer on it. He had to have purchased or taken it, and there's no way it would have grown so well or propagated extensively if he just bought one on a lark.

Something's wrong here, and I don't frigging know what.
>>
>>4908063
We don't need the Nymph wood to Listen we only need it to obey our instructions to leave Clara alone, if we could just get it out of Clara we could fix the rest with the diary / Healing and if normal Healing procedures won't work we could take her body to Dryad for a proper solution.

>>4907151 or worse is always a possibility
>>
>>4908063
>there's no way it would have grown so well or propagated extensively if he just bought one on a lark.
There actually is. The one Rinnier bought overtook our manor without any care or oversight..
>>
>>4908225
That may be an edge case more dependent on the sheer proximity of of its location to the "Throne" than anything else.
>>
>>4908247
The closeness to a Mana's throne is on a regional scale, not foot travel scale. Look at that Salamander's Throne region looked like. We've never been very far from the forests for the entire quest.
>>
>>4908264
Even taking into account the scale, it's almost directly across the river from where Dryad lies asleep, and that may very well account for something, otherwise the Trader (Yuri) would probably have been selling bushes and hedges not saplings.
>>
>>4908063
>I don't like Byrn's tone. We haven't conversed with him enough to know his tics well enough, but he seems very focused on determining the boundaries of our knowledge.

>I want to keep the conversation close to our chest; We describe the practical outcomes of Nymph Wood without drifting into Dryad. In the meantime, we probe Byrn's responses, because it's absurd he would have that shit thriving in the Valen archives and suddenly need a primer on it. He had to have purchased or taken it, and there's no way it would have grown so well or propagated extensively if he just bought one on a lark.

Seconding this
>>
>>4907087

>>4908063 here. Making it a vote.

As a note, I don't really believe Byrn is compromised. I don't hold the same thoughts on the estate. The Crown and Artemis should both know that Clara is indisposed. Byrn has soft power, but with the state of the House, he can't do much to secure it physically against covert threats.

As a guess for the forgetting... didn't Yuri say it was hard to sell the Nymph Wood? It didn't sound like Byrn drove a hard bargain, it sounds more like he didn't want it or buy it.

And yet here it is. The estate lousy with it.
>>
>>4908471
Even then, the complete silence from the Crown this entire time after the completion of our Rite feels weird, I would expect that we're going to get contacted soon by someone to deal us in / bring us up to speed
>>
Closing window shortly! Making breakfast and I'll get to writing.
>>
>>4907102
Everything! Man we've got a lot to tell you, uncle.

>>4907111
>>4907731
Everything but Dryad! Play dumb about connections to Dryad.

>>4907731
He doesn't need to know about the diary!

>>4907945
>>4908471
Uncle doesn't need to know anything, just explain the effects of the Nymph's Wood.

>>4907819
Demand answers about the nymph's wood and the suspicious healers!
---

Looks like there's a general sentiment to be cagey about your explanations while trying to find answers. Unfortunately no one got this last Forgetting, so the future refused to change.

Writing!
>>
>>4909195
Honestly the question wasn't even that obvious, it also seems like horseshit to get nothing out of getting two interlinked forgetting's in a row, and then require a third to do anything.

Were we at least on the right track?
>>
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>>4909203
>seems like horseshit to get nothing out of getting two interlinked forgetting's in a row, and then require a third to do anything.
The first Forgetting: Served to reveal the Nymph's Wood and identify it. Otherwise it would have remained dormant, with only Lily's reactions to guide you. It's reveal also served to offer a second hint which is less directly obvious.

The second Forgetting: Was only available because you managed the first. Its effect is more on Irue than you as a player, because it overcomes a hurdle that would have strictly resisted player votes otherwise.

Without outright stating that though, it's easy to see why you'd think it did nothing. This is probably a sign of a weak Forgetting on my end, although... Conversely, because I have outright told you, it's similarly easy to assume this has screamed something important to you.

The third Forgetting isn't required for something to happen, but was an opportunity to preempt something happening. Due to the prior two being gotten in sequence I figured I'd go for broke and see if anyone seized the opportunity to completely scrap the planned events and force-skip the next chain of events completely.
>>
>>4909233
Was it the fact that she wasn't like this when she arrived, and that the healers have done something, since we didn't do it?

but that ties into>>4907131
>How does Byrn know Clara's covered in flowers when all we've seen was roots?
and
>Nymph's Wood is supposed to have to be spoiled and pampered to bloom. It requires daily and constant care.

Last spoiler Here we go, to lie in a bed of our own creating, we sent her to go get Caylen anyway.
>>
>>4909243
>How does Byrn know Clara's covered in flowers when all we've seen was roots?
The last update mentioned her having small blooms across her. They were flowering in reaction to Ari.
>Nymph's Wood is supposed to have to be spoiled and pampered to bloom. It requires daily and constant care.
Another anon pointed out this is theoretically untrue! It flourished in your own study, and by Elly's logic for it doing so there, it would feasibly do so in the archives as well.

So neither of those points are relevant but you made this complicated by pursuing ostensibly the completely wrong direction and coming to the correct answer regardless. After the vote closed.

Now what to do...
>>
>>4909257
Even a broken clock Is right twice a day I guess, but it might be too late. We really are just like Prias, aren't we.

If I had to guess what the other ting was is that it was time sensitive, since the healers are probably finishing up.

And this still doesn't mean Clara won't die, or even live; it just means we probably won't have to use the bracelet to summon Salamander to burn the Estate down once things get out of hand.
>>
>>4909203
>it also seems like horseshit to get nothing out of getting two interlinked forgetting's in a row, and then require a third to do anything.
Welcome to Valen Quest. We don't get many Forgettings, and so we take our lumps and move on.
>>
>>4909257
Another thing on that second point is we know that Mana don't share, so Clara being favored by Wisp basically precludes Dryad completely, Otherwise we probably would have heard something during Irue's ten years of trying, so it couldn't be that Clara is also favored by Dryad, causing the Nymph Wood to bloom.
>>
>>4909304
I wonder if Carona is still standing, having the Behemoth run wild for the past few days will surely be an exciting thing to return to.
>>
>>4909243
I wonder which of the anon's statements got it, because I thought one of them wasn't forgotten, and the other untrue.
>>
>>4909339
It'll probably be made clear with the update, If I had to guess it's linking the Healers to Clara's condition , but it may be being used in conjunction with other things that were mentioned.
>>
...On the other hand, something felt wrong. You couldn't put your finger on it, but this sense of unease permeated the air between you, keeping information you would have previously felt vital from being spilled from your lips. If your uncle understood the Diary of Reflections then maybe he'd be amenable to using it on his wife. If he knew more about Nymph's Wood then no doubt he'd be able to make better decisions regarding her treatment, and... And that irritated you. That it felt like your uncle was playing dumb over Nymph's Wood, trying to probe the extent of your knowledge; Your uncle wasn't a man partial to flowers, neither he nor your aunt had ever been so, so if he knew so little about it as to turn to you... Why had he authorized so much of it in the archives?

It had to have been him. No matter how you turned this around in your mind, uncle Byrn was the one who would have been the one to arrange the large scale purchase of such a thing and the one to authorize the renovation of the archives to hold it all. Why the sudden interest in a plant? That plant? Now?

Your foot slid back; First a single pace, and then another, the gap between you widening in the hall as your brows knit together. "Where is aunt Clara's Testament?"

"Dead, Alouette injured it gravely. No doubt trying to defend her." Byrn blinked, seeming somewhat beside himself with the question. "Why do you ask, kiddo? You never got along with that old horse."

You don't know. A shake of your head follows the question, "How did they send aunt Clara back like... That?" You gesture towards the closed doors, skipping the unnecessity of what you meant. It was impossible not to understand.

"Strapped to her nightmare, I'm afraid." Byrn's back straightened, a moment taken by the larger man to adjust his shirt with a sturdy frown. "If you're quite through with questions, why don't you start answering mine?"

"She made it all the way back like that?" It didn't matter how they bandaged her, blood loss alone should have killed her before she returned. The only options then were that the seeds had been planted in her before she was sent back, or... "Ser Stomperson came back here? On its own? Injured?"

"Yes, it lives here, Irue. When in danger it would obviously return to somewhere it felt safe."

It was noble to think the ornery Nightmare had sacrificed itself protecting its master, and then run out the rest of its life bringing her back. You had never liked the steed, and that feeling was very mutual, but its dedication was assuredly unquestionable.

Noble, but it left a rancid taste on your tongue to even give the thing a compliment like that.
>>
"That thing wouldn't let anyone but aunt Clara near it." You murmur, feeling as if you held two pieces of a puzzle that should fit but were eluding you as to how. "Alouette injured it, but not enough to kill it before her limbs could be strapped to it and have it find its own way back to us?"

"This isn't the time for games, kiddo. What are you getting at right now? Clara's life is on the line right now and you're-"

"It's not on the line." You interject flatly. Nymph's Wood wouldn't let her die. She wasn't in any danger for the moment. "Where did those healers come from? You said they were the best in our territory."

"They came from all over, kiddo..." Your uncle struggled to keep his patience as he answered. "As far as Resuri, and you attacked one just for being here."

"And aunt Clara hung on that entire time?" A muscle in your cheek spasmed, teeth gritting together to try and wrest control back while acid boiled at the root of your throat. You could feel your nails start to dig into your palm as your fingers clenched. "Torn to pieces and rejecting Wisp mana?"

Resuri. You knew that name, it was already on your list as a hotspot for Artemis' activity. It would have taken at least a week to get from Resuri to here, not counting the time it must have taken to get the message there in the first place... Two weeks? Minimum? Less if a Jinn adept were involved. You have no idea how long it took your aunt to find Caylen, much less find her way back.

The time didn't add up. Too many things felt wrong.

"You said aunt Clara had been unconscious since she returned?"

You were being lied to.

"And you saw what state she's in, are you going to question that, too? Mana's sake, kiddo, I'm not your enemy here-"

"You never told me whether she was unconscious when she returned or not." A clipped tone precipitated the bile coating your tongue as you held your uncle under your steadily more venomous ire. "...I'm here because she sent for me. She couldn't have been."

Your aunt had never summoned you. She had never once before thrown her weight as acting head around in regards to you, never made... Demands of your presence. She had needed you to come immediately, and ever since you arrived she'd only told you to run.

"Kiddo, I've tried to be patient with you. I know you're upset, but I'm not going to put up with you acting like this to me in my own house."

"My house."

"...Excuse you?"
>>
You square your shoulders, glaring up at Byrn as he faced you down. He dwarfed you, utterly, and every step he took to close the gap between you only made that more and more obvious... Yet your neck craned ever higher, hissing at his approach. "My. House. I-" The fingers of your uninjured hand splay against your chest, "-am the blood heir to House Valen, uncle Byrn. Aunt Clara was acting steward, and I let her keep that role after my Rite concluded, but make no mistake: I am an adult now." He loomed over you, the pudge of his face turning pink with fluster. "Until she's recovered, control of this house falls to me, not you."

"You have no idea what you're doing kiddo." Byrn warned, "Why don't we calm down before this gets out of hand."

"Things are already out of hand. This house is compromised, and I'm going to find out why."

"Compromised...?" Disbelief stained the much larger man's voice. "You think the Crown is behind this?"

The Crown was the least of your worries, but something you'd either learn from your aunt soon or find out about yourself at this rate. "Not a single one of you are leaving this estate until I'm satisfied. For that matter, tell the healers to get out of aunt Clara's room - None of you are allowed near her until I've sorted this out."

Everytime it felt like your emotions would spike, something squirmed just beneath your skin; A seething morass, swallowing the rising tide of your panic, indignity and anger until only a cool simmer remained. Something that scalded just along the surface, driving you mercilessly to stand tall.

"That's it, I'm not having you jeopradize my wife's recovery with your childish tantrums, this ends now!" Byrn seized your mangled wrist in his hand, fingers curling closed around the bandage left by the healer as he dragged you from your feet to him incensed - And shortly there after, warm blood soiled the wrappings. An injury you couldn't feel, mercifully.

Foundation Solidified.

Or, as he jerked his hand away in shock and that same blood splashed across your skin, you revise that maybe it wasn't your injury in the first place.

Formulation of Aeonic Nature resuming.

Tattered, bloodstained gauze slipped from your right arm, revealing the traces of barbed coils twisted serpentine along your skin. A bitter, black thing which sprouted from your crushed wrist in ebon-mockery of your dual ringed bracelet - They dripped with blood that wasn't your own, and every drop stained away a coat of shaded miasma seeping from the surface of your skin.

>G̡̢ơ̶̵̶͡ḑ̵d́͜e̷̸̢͘s̨̀͘ş́͢͟͠ ̷͠À͡u̸̷̴̵̕t̸̸̛h̢̛͡o̢̕͜͡ŗ̸̕͘i͢ţ̀͝ỳ̷̡̢̀ ̶̷̸̡͠Ó͘v̡̡͜͞e̸̡̨͠r̵̵͞ŕ̷̢͘͢i̷̸̧d̷̢͘è̷̡͘͟

>Ś̸̀̕ ̶͡H̶͝͞ ̛A̧̧̛͠͡ ̸̨D̴̕ ̸̡͠È͠͝ ̀͟R̴̡ ́͡͝E̸͢͠ ̵̀͝͡J̸̀ ̡͞E̶͡ ̸̢̡̀C̷̨͘͢͠ ̴̀͟͝T̨͝ ̵̧͜Ȩ͜͢͜ ̡̢̀͞D̷͞
>>
Relic Catalyst Confirmed.
Mana... ... ... Rejected.
Aeonic Nature recalculating.
Reference: Origin.
Origin... Corrupted. Fragmented.
>>
Repair Sequence: Initiated.
Origin Reconstruction: In Progress.

Synthesizing Damaged Fragments... ... ... Similar Experiences Located.
Resynthesizing...
Assess Reconstruction for Cognitive Dissonance...
Cognitive Dissonance Degree: Acceptable Deviance.

Reassessing Parameters...
Mana Recognized: Shade.
Reintegration: In Progress.
Synchronicity: ...Mutual.
Designation: ...

Designation: ...

Designation: ...
>>
'Manifest Insecurity.'
Designation: 'Doppleganger'
>>
A single, experimental clenching of your fingers told you the hand worked fine, but you couldn't feel the nails pierce the flesh of your palm - Or the way the blood which drew forth slithered across your fingertips in phantom semblance of a familiar set of distended, serrated and chitinous claws.

Uncle Byrn's hand was carved through no strict malice of your own, but you weren't about to apologize for it. Your Shade tipped fingers flexed at your side, and with that movement you felt them pull at new strings buried beneath your skin. You felt... Confident.

What you were doing was right. Your suspicions weren't misplaced. You weren't going to be lied to and mislead. Those distended, black claws rose and cut lithely through the air to single out your uncle. "No one leaves this house. No one gets near aunt Clara. Not until I have answers."

This wasn't a question; They were instructions.

You suspected at least one of those healers to be affiliated with Artemis, if not because of the presence of Nymph's Wood, then because of Lily's own reaction. Maybe not all of them, hopefully not all of them, but if even one had gotten this close then you would weed them out here and now. And as for your uncle... "Where did you get all of the Nymph's Wood?"

His mouth sealed shut, something between betrayal and anger sparking in your uncle's eyes.

"Why did you install it in the archives?"

"What in Shade's name do you think you're doing, Irue?" The words came through clenched teeth and steadily-turning-scarlet cheeks. "Have you gone Shadetouched? Are you even still in your right mind?"

"I know what Nymph's Wood is, uncle Byrn." Wine-red eyes narrowed towards him. Scanning him. Watching, analyzing, dissecting in a way you hadn't felt capable of in months. "I know what it does. I know where it's from. I know who sells it. I know who you bought it from. There's no way the best healers in our territory completely missed it being seeded in her limbs while tending to her, so I'm even willing to bet one of them put it there." The corner of your lips twitched... And a frown pulled across your face; The thin line of your lips dragging downward as your brow furrowed. It was slight, suppressed with decades of experience, but you found what you were looking for. "You knew."

He flinched.

"Guards!" Byrn stepped away from you, bellowing a summons down the hall rather than continue talking to you. He didn't retreat, but stood in front of you as you both turned to follow the sound of armored boots jogging through the halls of House Valen. "Hold Irue Valen in isolation until I say otherwise," He sputtered, finally turning to leave your confrontation once they'd arrived. "And send word to arrest the rest of their escort too."
>>
You shared a look with the attending guards, hearing more of them coming to investigate Byrn's sudden commotion after having been previously, explicitly, denied entry to the area.

"Uh... Ser Valen, please-"

"You know who I am?" you confirm blithely, receiving a moment of hesitation before they nod. "my aunt is incapacitated, and I passed my Rite this year. As of now, I am the head of this house. You answer to me."

Byrn stopped, turning back with an exasperated groan on his lips. "You can't honestly expect-"

"Arrest Byrn Valen and every healer on the estate." You cut him off, staring the guard down. "No one leaves or enters without my permission. Understood?"

"...Yes, Ser Valen." A salute - A real one - which was quickly followed by the other guards in attendance before they turned to take your uncle by the arms, bewilderment and all.

You turned to the new arrivals, greeting their uncertain confusion with crossed arms, watching as their eyes slid uncomfortably between the already present guards and Byrn's sputtering arrest. "You'll follow my orders until my aunt is well. Do you understand?"

Silence. You arched your brow questioningly. "Do you have any objections?"

"Uh... No, No Ser Valen."

"Good. Make this official."

You didn't bother to wait for the salute this time, you had things to do. You'd just spent several months routing Artemis from Carona, you weren't about to let them sink their talons into your own home and family. Not anymore than they already had.

>Interrogate the healers first. (How?)
>You needed to have a long talk with Byrn. (About?)
>Distribute instructions first, you need to delegate. (What?)
>Other? (write-in)
>>
I decided to give it to you.

A bit awkward since strictly speaking the results of the Forgetting run counter to the proposed voting sentiment, but Forgettings are strictly beneficial and have always taken precedence over other outcomes.
>>
>>4909447
>Distribute instructions first, you need to delegate. (What?)
Get Rinnier to get the knights to assist the guards in securing the grounds and rounding up the Healers, and going through their things and search any remaining Nymph Wood.

Have Ari assist Lilly in further determining what we can do to help Clara and what we can do to remove the Nymph Wood.

We need to send for Mim to get her to help us with the interrogation of the Healers, Byrn and piecing things together.

And Contact the Crown somehow to see where they're at with things, and to inform them of the new, if temporary management.
>>
>>4909474
Another thing to get Mim to bring with her would be some outside healers / Wisp adepts that could also provide a 4th opinion on Clara's condition, separate to the healers already here.
>>
>>4909447
>Distribute instructions first, you need to delegate. (What?)
Have two of our knights at every strategic position to monitor the household personnel. This includes guarding the prisoners and the gates.
Question the staff about Clara's arrival, her condition at the time, our summons and Byrn's an the healer's actions.

Also voting against bringing Mim into it. The less she comes into contact with anything Dryad-related, the better. Supporting summoning more Wisp healers though, just need to vet them.
>>
>>4909346
Congratulations anon, you pulled victory from the jaws of confusion!

>>4909448
>run counter to the proposed voting sentiment
who cares, this is based. Can you explain more about the transformation though? I'm having a hard time visualising it. Are we still Irue, or are we a doppelganger again? Something in between?

>Distribute instructions first, you need to delegate. (What?)
I want Lily back. Have the guards scower the archives for nymphs wood. Bring us a sample or two (to see if it can be commanded) and destroy the rest as best you can, we'll inspect the results later.
Also send someone to fetch Rinnier and Ari, we should appraise them of the situation and listen to any input they have. Ari could help us with interrogations!


>Interrogate the healers first. (How?)
The healers seem like softer targets but it's still worth doing our due diligence first. Have them isolated from one another, don't give them time to agree on a story beforehand. Also strip them of all possessions so that we may inspect them. They have rooms here, right? We should see what kind of stuff they're keeping there too.

>>4909474
Unfortunately Mim and the rest of the Shrine is duty bound not to interfere in politics, besides this mystery dips too far into the many secrets we begged her not to look at too closely. It might be worth sending a letter to appraise them of the situation however.
>>
>>4909517
>>4909520

The reason to bring the Shrine into it is because it potentially impinges on the Valens ability to look after Dryad and so does involve a Mana and so is in their jurisdiction, also it is potentially clear evidence that Artermis is up to bad things, or at least is interfering in political things and so is something that they should know about and assist us in getting to the bottom of.

Another source of info is Bryn's room and Clara's desk.
>>
>>4909524
I really don't think we want the Shrine looking at or even thinking about Dryad. You're right that they're a potential ally against Artemis though, they seemed to be having some difficulty figuring out what the fragments were, filling in some of the gaps for them might be a worthwhile approach. Still, I think it would be best to keep this Valen schism to ourselves for now. At the very least until we've figured out what's going on and made a proper effort to unfuck Clara.

>Another source of info is Bryn's room and Clara's desk.

Right, good idea. Seconding this.
>>4909447
Also have the guards strip our uncle's possessions too, it's a little mean but he did try to crush our cripple arm so fuck him.
>>
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>>4909520
>I'm having a hard time visualising it.
The only thing to note is a black, barbed-wire esque copy of your bracelet made presumably from your own blood coiling around your broken wrist and a somewhat slender, serrated set of talons attached to the broken wrist's fingertips.

...At the moment you are unsure how to make this cease to be a thing and it has proven scarily apt to slice flesh. Your own included. it is less of a transformation as a rather pointy hand accessory.

>Are we still Irue, or are we a doppelganger again?
You are Irue Valen. You always have been, theoretically always will be. Your Shade Scar is born of tirst apparition you ever tore from yourself - A doppleganger. It represents a lot to you, and probably a lot more to each of you anons than I have a handle on as the QM. You have been making steady progress working through that Scar's baggage - Slowly, but aptly. Carefully. Genuinely.

Dopplerue is gone, but the Scar remains, and as Marchovic has warned you, it is a great deal of ambient Shade mana waiting to be tapped, and attuned directly to you. Your thoughts, your worries, your feelings.

Shade believes in you. It wants you to succeed. Your relationship with Dopplerue was complicated, so complicated you're still somewhat unraveling it, but there's an understanding being formed. One for yourself, one of the doppleganger, and one between yourself and the memories it left you.

Dopplegangers are insecurity made manifest. Reaching an understanding with it is to find strength in your weakness, and draw support - to be supported - by knowing you have struggled with uncertainty and become stronger for it. A confidence Irue has sorely lacked, which had one of its more grievous wound dealt by the Doppleganger's 'death'.

At the end of the day, who else could Dopplerue believe in but you? Who else could they support, who other would they have shared their dreams with but you?
>>
>>4909535
>It wants you to succeed
What does it want us to succeed at doing?
>>
>>4909539
That's a question Marchovic could answer better. Irue's academic study would imply the answer to be "Yes", but your personal experience implies something more personal.

Is it difficult to imagine someone that wants you to be happy? A presence that enjoys your success, because it's proof you've overcome?
>>
>>4909529
>Valen schism
It doesn't exist, Bryn was never really in the chain of command in the first place, and only ever humored because he was backed by Clara in our forced "absence".

and the reason for having a Luna adept on hand is because it would be a bad idea to have either ourselves or Ari attempt to attune ourselves again, and they would be very useful in making logical leaps and deducing things during any interrogation we do so having one on hand will likely be needed to get anything actually useful out of our captives.

Once this bit is over, the best they can probably hope for is to be gently fed to the forest
>>
>>4909545
>Is it difficult to imagine someone that wants you to be happy.
Irue knows that because of "her" position in life anyone trying to make friends with her is only in it for personal gain, and wants something from her.

The fact that a Mana themselves is on that list is frankly a little frightening.
>>
>>4909548
Another reason for having a Luna adept on hand is for countering any deception or healers that are themselves able to channel Luna, since we know that they may very well be planted among their number.
>>
>>4909545
I am confuse. So what was the third forgetting exactly?
>>
>>4909567
Your aunt was not in this state when she arrived, is the conclusion to be drawn there. The implication being that she was put into that state after she arrived back home.

The logic to reach this could have referenced that she had summoned you to the estate, not Byrn or anyone else, so she must have been lucid and aware instead of heavily drugged.

Or pointing out she couldn't have been returned in pieces without Nymph's Wood keeping her alive, in which case the healers couldn't have missed the Nymph's Wood when bandaging and looking her over.

The bottomline to the Forgetting's goal was to remember details which would solidify that you were being lied to regarding your aunt. Incriminating either the healers, or Byrn, when both seemed intent on pushing you out of the picture and largely preventing you from seeing your aunt properly ever since you arrived
>>
>>4909579
So it wasn't a forgetting, more like an insight.
>>
>>4909619
I guess that's not inaccurate. I have explained this before, but when handling Forgettings I tend to have one specific answer in mind that is relevant to the given circumstance (and may be the last time to meaningfully apply that detail), but am typically open to accepting other details if they prove relevant and meaningful to the circumstance.

In that sense, all Forgettings are arguably insights. The end goal is to produce details you have been made aware of which will make a marked difference in the current circumstance - Doing so grants you various things depending on context. Usually, at the very least, the opportunity to gain an advantage.

There are some special exceptions to this, memorably the one time I called for a Forgetting and my anons managed to completely miss the relevant Forgetting but chain together a whole litany of other things into a chain-cascade of revelations, none of which were actually helpful at the time.

...I gave them that one because besides providing advantages, Forgettings also serve as a way to allow my anons to apply their theory about a detail in the story to a circumstance and get confirmation over whether they're on the right track or not.

At any rate, if it feels disappointing to you then it feels disappointing to me, so I will keep your sentiment in mind and try harder next time.
>>
>>4909579
Dammit, I even wanted to ask Byrn all these questions. But I forgot.
>>
>>4909632
Riz, where's our bracelet now?
What is the Relic Catalyst that's been confirmed?
>>
>>4909640
We can still ask him, it's just that his answers may very well take on a new light in response to what has happened.
>>
>>4909442
>"My. House. I-" The fingers of your uninjured hand splay against your chest, "-am the blood heir to House Valen, uncle Byrn. Aunt Clara was acting steward, and I let her keep that role after my Rite concluded, but make no mistake: I am an adult now."
Hey, we finally stood up for ourselves!

>Foundation Solidified.
Been a long time since we saw that. I wonder what tripped it?

>revealing the traces of barbed coils twisted serpentine along your skin.
uh. that's... not good. not good at all.

>G̡̢ơ̶̵̶͡ḑ̵d́͜e̷̸̢͘s̨̀͘ş́͢͟͠ ̷͠À͡u̸̷̴̵̕t̸̸̛h̢̛͡o̢̕͜͡ŗ̸̕͘i͢ţ̀͝ỳ̷̡̢̀ ̶̷̸̡͠Ó͘v̡̡͜͞e̸̡̨͠r̵̵͞ŕ̷̢͘͢i̷̸̧d̷̢͘è̷̡͘͟
Something that can override a Mana, Goddess Authority? Maybe there is something to the heresy to that group that worships some goddess instead of the Mana.

I can't really make sense of this debug info, what goi...
>'Manifest Insecurity.'
>Designation: 'Doppleganger'
oh. oh no.

>Those distended, black claws rose and cut lithely through the air to single out your uncle.
That's better that what I initially feared, but I'm still rather alarmed.

> As of now, I am the head of this house. You answer to me."
Woo! Took long enough. Has the Shade gauntlet-thing de-manifested? I would have expected the guards to comment on it otherwise.

>Distribute instructions first, you need to delegate. (What?)
Get Rinnier? we're going to need to coordinate.
Get Lily back. The first time we had opportunity to use her defensively and we'd passed her off.
Get someone (Rinnier?) to organize scouting of the house and grounds for all instances of Nymph's Wood; don't have them touch it or try to uproot it yet, but it will be good to know the extent and location of its spread.
I'll think on this some more in a bit, see what I can think of.
>>4909474
Absolutely no Mim, that's a terrible idea. We've kept her in the dark about everything connected to Dryad, because it would alert Luna to our knowledge and get Mim mind wiped by Luna. Plus the Shrine makes it a point to stay out of politics.
>>
>>4909524
Back when we first learned of Dryad, we learned why we hadn't known about it previously: the entire Shrine came together to quarantine it and kill anyone that had a connection to it. They took extreme measures to contain the Infection (and by extension all knowledge of it, as the Infection possibly spreads through ideas); if they get wind of our knowledge of it, we will be hunted down by the entire Shrine.

>>4909535
>You are Irue Valen. You always have been, theoretically always will be.
>You are not Irue Valen. Not exactly.
I find this less than reassuring.
>Your Shade Scar is born of tirst apparition you ever tore from yourself - A doppleganger.
Wasn't our first the Salamander one that burned down large parts of the kitchen when we tried to cook?
>It represents a lot to you,
DoppleRue was successful during a period when we weren't. But importantly, after all that success she was murdered by our maid. I doubt I'll ever forgive her for that.

>>4909545
>>4909551
This puts it pretty well, I think. Rue is major nobility; being connected to her comes with a 'foot in the door', so to speak. Add the conspiracy layers being created by the crown acting screwy and the Infection, and how could we trust anyone? Hell, while I like Rinnier, we got her on side on the first place by promising to help her get her kingdom back, and she believed we could do that because of our standing.

>>4909646
>Riz, where's our bracelet now?
This is a good question.
>>
Voting against Mim idiocy!
>>
>>4909837
She may not give us a choice, since it's not as if she's coming with us and we do need the Shrine's support for this regardless of what we do, and we probably don't know the Wisp rep well enough for them to just drop everything and come and help us, off the cuff like this, were going to need to let Mim know to actually get any help sent in the first place.


>>4909865
This wouldn't work out well for them the main branch of the Valens form an integral part of the Seal that keeps Dryad asleep, and hunting them all down would be completely counter productive to putting the seal in place and keeping it functioning.

To some limited degree, knowledge of Dryad is absolutely integral to keeping the seal properly maintained so would have to be accepted, and Mint's Bracelet is best left in Valen hands it reduce the people in the know as best they can, so keeping the main branch of the Valens afloat isn't a "political" thing it's ascended into a "Mana" thing that is well inside the Shrine remit, and that doesn't even include the actions undertaken by Artermis.
>>
>>4909878
>and we do need the Shrine's support for this regardless of what we do,
What? No we don't.

>This wouldn't work out well for them the main branch of the Valens form an integral part of the Seal that keeps Dryad asleep,
Is this known by the Shrine or the Mana? Our ancestor struck the deal while alone with Dryad itself, and iirc only told the Shrine that they finished job, not how they did it.

>Mint's Bracelet is best left in Valen hands it reduce the people in the know as best they can,
The Bracelet is not related to keeping Dryad sealed, and is horribly powerful (in intended and unintended use) besides. It is also pretty directly related to Shrine functions (priests communicating with their god). I'm sure they'd love to get their hands on it.

>so keeping the main branch of the Valens afloat
A Valen is needed, not the primary branch. Anyone descended from the ancestor that struck the deal would suffice. There are lots of other minor Valens in various pockets that could replace us, should the need arise.

>and that doesn't even include the actions undertaken by Artermis.
Artemis is not recognized as an Infected organization, otherwise the Shrine would have eradicated them. They are perfectly willing to play hardball to enforce the quarantine.
>>
>>4909878
I'm pretty sure the Shrine doesn't know Dryad even exists. The Luna death squad even suicided to make it so. Why are you supposing otherwise?
>>
>>4909900
>we do need the Shrine's support
We do if we want to have more options for keeps Clara alive and cross referencing claims the "Healers" may make so we don't have to blindly trust them, in potentially leading us to finishing their job.

>This wouldn't work out well
They would at least know that there is a "Reason" for Artermis being separate from the rest of the Luna dominion, and there were likely fail states built into whatever agreement they have, that allows them to take action so someone somewhere would likely know more detail, Artermis doesn't have a blank slate to do whatever they want with and needs at least two blood Valens alive.

>Mint's Bracelet
It is absolutely related to keeping Dryad asleep should it wake, and returning it to a deeper sleep.

>Main branch
Unless they want to start from square -1, again they need someone attuned to Dryad and that knows what to do with the Bracelet, both of which will be extremely hard to do if you don't even remember it exists especially if you need them "now" and there isn't one available.

>Perfectly willing to play hardball to enforce the quarantine.
If that were true how did they obtain the samples they would have needed to cultivate Nymph Wood, or even explain why they are helping terraform Teranford, also I'm pretty sure hand them immunity from harnessing Mana for purely political reasons, otherwise how do they explain the attempted regime change in progress; both of the crown and the now delayed attempt on the Valens.
>>
>>4909904
I don't think that the entire Shrine is going to somehow agree to commit Deicide, especially without some form of assurances that it won't happen again after all they all know what they need to do.
>>
>>4909955
I don't understand how your post is connected to mine
>>
>>4909632
I whined a bit in the second forgetting but I eventually found the hook even if I couldn't quite nail it. With the third forgetting I still can't find the question even though I have the answer at hand, you know what I mean? Forgettings are fun when we're all desperately searching for that one loose thread you can tug on to unravel the whole jumper, but when it's just a normal post with the forgetting prompt attached and everyone is confused and mildly resigned then it's just frustrating and leaves a bad aftertaste. The special forgetting comes to mind. Apologies if I'm beating a dead horse here.
>>
Wait, did Lily attack that guy because he was a Luna adept? We need to ask her about that as soon as possible. Might need to oversee the arrests personally.
>>
>>4909646
>where's our bracelet now?
on your wrist where it always is, unless and until you deign to specifically remove it and not wear it anymore.

>>4909837
>Has the Shade gauntlet-thing de-manifested?
No.

>>4909865
>Wasn't our first the Salamander one that burned down large parts of the kitchen when we tried to cook?
Technically you are correct! Poor Salamander apparition, barely important.

>>4910199
No, you're right. There seems to be general discontent with this last Forgetting so I definitely formed it poorly. Ideally speaking once you have the answer, the question should seem obvious - And as you note, that's not the case here, even still.

I'm going to keep going along with how things panned out, since trying to walk that back would be disastrous in its own right, but keeping in mind that I need to be stricter with it.
>>
>>4910225
>unless and until you deign to specifically remove it and not wear it anymore.

...Should I take this to mean it cannot be forcibly taken from Irue, or that you won't put us in that position?
>>
>>4910225
Also yes, please don't walk this back. Scenes where Irue is being based make up the majority of my favourite moments.
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>>4910261
i didn't mean it please i'm sorry
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>>4909992
It's a lot of trust to put in another sect(s) that's constructs will openly fight one another and their Heads will squabble over resources, let alone get their assistance, based on what Elly's brother told us we know that the effort against Dryad was Shrine wide and getting them all to work in concert let alone at such a large scale, means that either the evidence was either irrefutable and demanded action as soon as possible to avert a 2nd Crisis, or concessions were made to get everyone onboard, one of which was likely some level of oversight or reduced autonomy, so things don't get completely out of hand.
>>
>>4910428
The Shrine knew about Dryad then. It doesn't mean it knows now. It seems all info on it was purged as thoroughly as possible. Keep in mind that the Salamander Representative knew jack shit.
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>>4910566
Just becuse the Shrine in Carona is the closest to the physical location of the Seal itself, doesn't mean that it would be where whomever actually knows about it would reside, I would assume that they would elect to stay close to wherever each dominion's internal decisions are made so they could weigh in if need be, and would be safe if a situation develops and lay the ground work for a coordinated response instead of getting overwhelmed in the opening move Dryad makes.

Also we should definitely come up with something for Mim to do if she does turn up, even if we tell her not to come, considering she has seen Nymph Wood and nothng bad has happened letting her loose in the Archives may be the safe option for ensuring that at least some of it is recoverable if we need to destroy the estate to remove the Nymph Wood, we can always rebuild if we need to.
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>>4910587
>she has seen Nymph Wood and nothng bad has happened
Actually, Nymph's Wood attempted to kill her IIRC
>>
>>4910603
I meant it more that Luna hasn't burnt out her brain, so it can't have been to bad.
>>
Does anyone have any suggestions for Carrots and Sticks to get info out of Byrn and or the Healers, so we can start coming up with ideas.

For Byrn;
We need to establish what Artermis was / is using to get his help and to turn a blind eye, especially against Clara and when this all started (since it may well have been going on for quite a while, potentially before they even met).

Our options tentatively include (Thematically the ultimate choice should probably have Clara's input, if not be solely up to her, probably before any attempt to "fix" her is made);
>House Arrest.
Likely at Caylen's old Manor, assuming we can get Clara to watch over him and she still wants him around.
>Arrange for him to be Sent to Caylen.
We know Caylen needs more oversight (that probably has his best interests in mind) and they probably won't immediately refuse him.
>Turned over to the Crown for them to work over.
It may allow us to achieve closer ties with them if that ends up being what we want, and will probably help us clean up Artermis operations in the surrounding towns and elsewhere, though acting on this may well start the civil war in earnest.
>Conventional Execution.
Don't rock the boat, but potentially offside Caylen if the news reaches him.
>Execution by Forest.
Lead him into the Fae Forrest and force him to go deeper.
>Feed him to Lilly/Aegis or the Old Shrine if we ever restore it.
Waste not want not; Refurbish, Reuse, Recycle.

>The bad idea.
Use the Dryad Fragment to infect Byrn with a similar Apparition and leave him in its care.

>the Bad Idea.
Tell Dryad what he arranged to happen to Clara and leave him in their care.



Depending on how far gone each of the "Healers" are gone, Since Artermis sure loves Suicidal pawns most of the Sticks should also be useful but won't quite have the impact that they otherwise would.
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>>4910827
>Use the Dryad Fragment to infect Byrn with a similar Apparition and leave him in its care.
lmao I like this one
>>
>>4910831
We could also return him to Clara if that makes it any better.
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>>4910261
Hey Riz, if we use the atelier power to link our life to someone and then lock them inside Dryad's tomb to be kept alive for all eternity, would it make us immortal?
>>
>>4910947

Obviously not Riz, but I don't think you understand the consequences of that scenario.

If we link ourselves with someone, they will be brought back to health. Our lives would thereafter be intertwined. If we guide/throw them into Dryad's Forest and convince it, it could ensure that the individual would never, ever, die. This is pretty much expected as long as we're charitable about the definition of "Living"

The problem occurs when we go out and get ourselves killed. We're dead. As disco. Our death snaps across the link and kills the person we're tied to. They don't die, because Dryad.

My guess is that the outcome is not an Immortal Irue Valen, but a very dead one, with a companion back in the Dryad Forest that now both immortal and unliving, that continues its existence as some kind of Dryad anathema that can only exist in an undead state directly tied to the forest, Mana, or perhaps a sufficiently developed Aspiration.

In a few decades or centuries, he or she may develop into an acetic Dryad Aeon, reflecting on its abandonment and undead nature. More likely however, they will go frigging mad, and their last conscious thought will be to curse the Valen line for eternity. Conveniently, they will be able to do it themselves.
>>
>>4911727
The best person to use it on at this point would be Caylen if we absolutely had to.
>>
>>4911786

The best use for it is not to use it at all. Being life-linked with literally anyone is a liability considering we've already frigging died once.

It's something to keep in our back pocket to escape total calamity.

Remember that as far as it's been described, it only heals once: The life link is a downside (Assuming we don't do something aggressively degenerate like life-link ourselves and suicide as a spite play.)
>>
>>4911792
If we absolutely needed someone dead, or we though becoming a Dryad Lich wouldn't be the worst outcome its definitely an option.
>>
>>4909474
>>4909517
>>4909837
Distributing instructions!

>>4909520
Interrogate healers first!

>>4909529
Strip uncle Byrn!

>>4909474
Send for Mim...?

>>4909517
>>4909837
Definitely no Mim...!

Not sure if I'll write tonight, but votes are noted!
---

>>4910947
If Dryad so chose to force them to remain alive, then the lifelink would consequently force you to remain alive, yes. Vice-versa as well, you could hide there and whoever you linked to would be effectively incapable of dying because of that link.

>>4911727
I like this idea.

>>4911792
>Assuming we don't do something aggressively degenerate like life-link ourselves and suicide as a spite play.
This is how you earn your mother's fullhearted approval.
>>
>>4911853

Eh, My fault for trying to be a prophet.

In any case, I'm against the idea simply because drinking from the firehose of Dryad mana can't be good for our long term prospects.
>>
>>4912154
What do you mean? If we can live forever we can fix absolutely everything even if things go wrong since; no matter how many times we need to start over, or people die we can always try again, and even bringing them back if we need to too.

Considering that we're even attempting to contemplate fighting an entire organization that has had a multiple decade headstart and has cut off most of our options well before we even had an idea that someone was responsible, we're a long way away from even being more than a transitory concern for them, and even them we have only fended off their 3nd(4th) attempt and still have the rest of the surrounding area to go, we're still going to need to find some big guns to even start to undo this, and Dryad is definitely something we want in our back pocket as a final "fuck you" if we need it.
>>
>>4912177

I may have mentioned this before, but Dryad is not a tool. Releasing Dryad permits a simple binary option: If Artemis is able to contain Dryad, then we've just laid waste to a bunch of the world for no benefit. If Artemis is unable to contain Dryad, we've ushered in a brave new world of spending your entire life being terrorized by an traumatized life-god as she wages war against her siblings.

In both cases, the corruption goes rampant.

As for Immortality, it's a technically useful tool only assuming there will be another opportunity to turn the tide. If, for example, Artemis is poised to decapitate, infect or replace all or most of the remaining Mana in this generation, having all the time in the world may not matter.

I'm not saying it's not a useful tool, especially since we've established that becoming a Dryad lich is 100% viable, but that it isn't something we should just shrug and do for power leveling. It means being corrupted and it may mean giving up other opportunities, especially since we'd be connecting ourselves at the hip with the most covetous of the Mana, who specifically, and directly, has a focus on Irue.
>>
>>4913024
But is it a better option than any possible world that has been shaped (further) by Artermis?

In my view letting them install a more sympathetic ruling class is where I would draw the line of no return, since it gives them far to powerful a Springboard to do whatever they want. And that things could be "rebuilt" after the Fighting had moved on should Dryad be woken / released.


To a point Teranford and La'fiel are just stepping stones into East Haven, and after that there really won't be much more for them to do.
>>
>>4913024
thank you for speaking sense.
>>
>>4913162

No.

Operating under the assumption that Artemis isn't a suicide cult, they ostensibly have an idea for how humanity continues after they've succeeded.

If we lose initiative and fail to stop Artemis, we will need to take a long, hard look at the world they have crafted. I don't think it will be a better one, but I don't think it needs to be utterly destroyed.

We will need to think long and hard about how we react if we lose, because no matter how fitting of an "end" to the Valen line it would be to be the girl that foreclosed on La'fiel, there are much more productive ways to spend eternity.
>>
You leave an order for your uncle to be stripped of his belongings as he's led away, and after a moment of consideration decide to extend that order to the healers as well. Everything they'd brought to the estate needed to be seized and compiled where you could look through it later. It would have to be later though, because you had an entire list of things you needed done right now and not much time to see them done so. Speaking of which...

Rinnier would have probably been alerted to something going on before any of the estate guards got to her, but you sent someone to find and update her further - The sooner she knew you'd taken control of the estate, the sooner you could start coordinating management here to handle everything else. You'd leave the security to her first and foremost, because she was demonstrably far more apt to determine what measures would be appropriate than you.

You also needed Ari and Lily back on hand for interrogations and... Consultation, to an extent. Dealing with the Nymph's Wood in your aunt was one of your highest priorities now, and the only options you had expertise in that would be a Dryad adept or a Luna adept - Mim? No, you couldn't involve her in something like this. Even setting aside getting the Shrine involved by proxy, you couldn't ask her to keep her nose out of your secrets and then turn around and expose her to circumstances like this.

After seeing the healers led from your aunt's room, you were left lingering in the hallway just beyond her chambers.

Suspecting your own family was a line you hadn't expected to be crossing, much less like this. Caylen was stupid and easily led along, you could blame him for those things and hold him accountable for it all, but... What were you looking at here? Your instinct had screamed that something was wrong, that pieces weren't lining up, and the discrepancies all traced back to your uncle somehow. To act on your suspicion, you had to accuse him - And where did that leave you now?

If you were wrong, this was a line you couldn't uncross.

...But you doubted you were wrong, and the alternative was trying to swallow that your uncle had been compromised.

You turned on your heel with a swirl of blonde hair trailing in the air, stalking away with a growing frown.
>>
Arriving back in the study, you were struck by the realization that there was so much to the Valen estate's affairs that you didn't even know where to begin looking. You had a general idea of who your family traded with, but names? Details of the deals and contracts made? The economic state of your family was a mystery, albeit one you could realiably puzzle out on your own given some time with the ledgers, but the political state of your family was something you had even less of a feeling for. Under normal circumstances that wouldn't have been ideal, but given the tightrope your aunt and uncle had been walking for sometime now with La'Fiel's simmering tensions, it was almost a nightmare to consider.

Largely this was made worse because, even as you sifted listlessly through documents left scattered on your aunt's desk, eyes glazing across names and references to prior meetings and conversations that went unexplained, you were depressingly certain that if your uncle had been compromised then there would be strings to Artemis buried somewhere in all of this nonsense that would need to be followed, cut, or burned. In that order.

"We've been here for less than an hour and you've arrested your uncle and all the healers in the estate." The door clicked open with Rinnier's greeting, the red haired Testament taking point ahead of Ari's quieter entrance just behind her. "The guard told me you had assumed control of the house, but not much else. What are we doing here, Irue?"

"I think my uncle was compromised. Aunt Clara's covered in Nymph's Wood and the healers might be connected to Artemis." You turn an eye towards Ari at that, "Ari, can I trust you to interrogate the healers and not kill them?"

Rinnier followed your gaze, turning both of your attentions onto the smaller girl who, upon realizing she was suddenly the center of said attention, pointed at herself weakly. "...? Me?"

Rinnier squinted. "Why would she kill them?" She looked at Ari, then back at you, "Wait, why is Ari your first choice for interrogations?"

"Because if one of the healers is connected to Artemis, then Dryad might react. Lily assaulted one of the healers when I was running to my aunt's room originally, and I don't know if it was because of me, if they were a Luna adept, or if it's Artemis related."

"I guess she does have the most experience with... Dryad apparitions." The words formed awkwardly along Rinnier's lips, "But interrogation? I don't-"

"I can do it." Ari piped up, cutting Rinnier off as she locked eyes with you. "Should I take Lily?"

"No, leave Lily with me. The last thing I need is her flying off the handle and going berserk without me there." Your index finger taps along the desk idly, "Can you handle it on your own? I'll make sure the guards cooperate as best they can."

"Mm!" The brunette's hair bobbed energetically, "Leave it to me!"
>>
"Hold on, are you sure about this? Ari?" Rinnier interjected critically. "I could see you not handling it yourself, but giving interrogations to someone like Ari is..."

"I can do it, Rinny." Ari's reiterated protest largely went ignored by the person in question.

"We don't have a lot of time to spare on this, Rinnier. I need you to help handle security and managing the personnel, so I can't ask you to handle interrogations too." The sound of your finger tapping against the table continued. "I know she doesn't have experience with it exactly, but we're short handed. If she's confident in doing it, I think she'll learn."

"Let's say she does learn, is this the kind of thing you really want her to be learning?" Rinnier frowned.

"I said I would do it."

"Ideally... No, not really." You grimaced. "But given the fight we're going into, better she gets practice now, right?"

Rinnier's arms crossed, a small shift in the angle of her heel telling you she was digging in on this point. How long had she done that? It felt familiar, but you couldn't remember when you started noticing it. "I don't think it would take that long to get the guards organized. I could spare time to-"

"I said I'd do it!" The smaller Testament's sudden shout cut her off, slender fingers curling together into small fists at her side. "This is my job, Rinny! Do your own!"

You blinked, both Rinnier and you startled into a brief silence as you looked towards Ari. It seemed like Rinnier was going to say something further, and you had first-hand experience with how arguing with the spitfire usually went... But a frustrated roll of her eyes precluded any further debate. "Alright, fine. But she needs a list of questions to ask, at least."

"You're fine with it now?" You didn't know Rinnier to back down over much of anything, so the question slipped from your tongue even as Ari glared up at the former princess defensively - A one-sided affair, as Rinnier herself had turned back to face you.

"No, but you're right. There's a lot we need to do and the longer we spend arguing, the less we're acting." Rinnier slipped a finger past her cheek, tucking a strand of crimson hair behind her ear before approaching the desk. "You wanted me on security, right? Organizing the guards won't take long. Unlike the knights, the ones in the estate seem well trained and disciplined. What kind of details am I working with?"

Ari's eyes shifted between Rinnier's back and you, carefully placing Lily's mask on a shelf near the door while you were caught up discussing the things you wanted Rinnier aware of. It was an action caught out of the corner of your eye, just before Ari excused herself wordlessly from the room.
>>
"What was that about?" You break from explaining your instructions on Nymph's Wood scouring, "I thought you wanted her doing more?"

"I do." Rinnier agreed, "But she needs guidance, and to start small. Interrogation isn't just a big responsibility, it's complicated... And not something you ask just anyone to do." Here, Rinnier favors you with a disparaging glance. "You need to stop spoiling her, Irue. It's going to get her hurt."

"Spoiling her? I delegated a job she thought she could handle. It's better than just letting her sit on the sidelines, isn't it?"

"A job she thought she can handle." Rinnier stressed, "She was... What, before becoming a Testament? A slave? Does she have any skills?"

She was... You felt like you had an answer to this, but nothing immediately came to mind. "...I've never asked."

"Don't get me wrong, I think it's a good thing you're including her more now. She'll be more useful to us than that demihuman you kept around, at any rate." Rinnier shook her head, "But since becoming a Testament, all she's done is be spoiled, and you're enabling that. You can't just let her do things she thinks she can handle. Not without help."

"Why?"

You lean back in your aunt's chair, wincing slightly as the Shade-clawed finger slices a thin furrow through the wood's surface... Belatedly leading you to realize you'd been tapping a hole into it with said finger for a few minutes now. A weak grimace and a shared glance at the ruined carpentry with Rinnier was all you afforded it. Rinnier sighed.

"You're the last person who needs to be asking that."

"..." You glance away.

"So... What have you done now?" Rinnier gestured to your hand, now being held more attentively with the Shade-formed claws away from expensive wooden surfaces.

"...Not sure. I think it has to do with the Shade scar Marchovic talked to me about a while back though, so I'm not going to worry too much about it."

"Most people would be very worried about the Mana manifesting around them without consent."

"I knew something like this was coming eventually." You counter, "And as far as Mana go, this is very small scale. Refreshingly small scale, even. The manor is still standing!"
>>
Rinnier touched her palm to her forehead tiredly. "Half an hour, Irue. Out of my sight for half-"

"Sorry, Rinny-" You duck down in the chair to avoid being swat at.

"Don't call me that." Rinnier brandished her hand threateningly a moment longer, glaring down at you heatlessly - And letting her shoulders sag exasperatedly when the only response she got was for you to flip her off with a serrated talon. "I understand the security detail though, I'll get it done. If there's nothing you need from me afterwards, I'll be in the archives. Or, do you need me to help you sort through documents?"

These documents were a mountain, and without knowing what you were looking for in the first place, you could be staring right at something vital and not realize it. There might be a few things you could look into specifically, though? While finding a way to save your aunt, if there was a way, was your highest priority at the moment... It would take time before interrogations produced anything.

"Were you able to arrange things with the knights getting trained?"

"Of course." Rinnier straightened her posture, "It's already handled, though it might be delayed a little due to scrambling for a security sweep, but there's nothing there that will need your attention."

>Leave Rinnier to pursue her personal projects
>Ask her help in doing something else (this will prevent focusing on personal projects)
>Experiment with Nymph's Wood yourself
>Look for something specific in the documents (what?)
>Go sort through personal belongings immediately.
>Other? (write-in)
>>
>>4914837
>Look for something specific in the documents (what?)
Compare the Dates and Signatures, to see if anything has been "forged" (Signed in Clara's name after she left to follow Caylen) and note their contents.

>Other? (write-in)
Find someone that can point us to the Guard's leader to organize interviews; with anyone on duty to corroborate evidence to use in future interrogations; when Clara returned, what state she was in, how long it took for the Healers to turn up, and how fragmented the groups were as they turned up.

Also find the person responsible for sending and receiving mail to approximate where it was sent and came from during the period since Clara leaving the Manor after Caylen (Clara leaving was a spur of the moment decision, so if Byrn is an unwilling part of a wider conspiracy, he will likely send for / receive instructions, before acting).
>>
>>4914837
>Ask Rinnier's help: lock down the manor, don't let anyone leave it to prevent any attempts to get a message out to Artemis.

If Clara could help us, our tasks would be simplified immensely, so we need to prioritize her health.
>First things first, we need to get a real Wisp healer for when we get Nymph's Wood out of Clara. They'll take time to arrive, so we need to write to them right now.
>Second, experiment with Nymph's Wood yourself
The one in the archives, not in Clara. I doubt Nymph's Wood can even be killed, so we need to either find a way to remove it or to let Clara live a normal life with it inside.
If Nymph's Wood was attracted to Lily, maybe we could bait it outside of Clara's body?
>>
>>4914898
We could probably order it around with the Bracelet though that might infect us, or turn Lily against us.
>>
>>4914900
The bracelet allows talking with Mana, but Nymph's Wood is lobotomized, so is there anything to talk to? But it's worth a test, that's why we're experimenting.
>>
>>4914977
The other obvious option would be ask Lilly to physically remove it from Clara, though that might "kill" her so if we were going to do something like that we should allow her to "consume" the healers and maybe Byrn too like Aegis did / is doing to those Bandits, to increase her chances.
>>
>>4914898
>Ask Rinnier's help: lock down the manor,
She's already gonna do that.
> "I understand the security detail though, I'll get it done. If there's nothing you need from me afterwards, I'll be in the archives. Or, do you need me to help you sort through documents?"

>>4914837
>Experiment with Nymph's Wood yourself
Try interfacing with it the same way we did with the Jinn telephone, if that doesn't work then try using the bracelet.

I want to take Lily with us to the archives while we do this, but we should make her wait outside while we're experimenting so she doesn't become upset. Maybe it's time for Lily to manifest her humanoid form?
>>
>>4915028
The thing is that it may be a very good idea since Lilly responds to things instinctually so is quite a good yardstick to use so we don't make things much worse. And is basically the only thing we have that could go toe to toy with Nymph wood unless we get Rinnier to summon Salamander again.

It makes me wonder if the Estate has a garner that we can borrow any pesticides and lawncare essentials off
>>
>>4915121
Why would we need to go toe to toe with Nymph wood? It's inanimate, we have literally never seen it move, act, or display any kind of will whatsoever. Besides, Lily refuses to touch it or let us touch it which will get in the way with experimentation. As for making it worse, that's why we experiment with the stuff in the Archive before touching Aunt Clara.
>>
>>4915139
We literally saw it move five minutes ago.
>>
>>4915146
Okay, you got me there I suppose but my point stands. This thing has no will of its own and operates on simple principles, it wriggled towards Ari because she's attuned to Dryad and it reached for her in a futile way, unable extend its grasp enough to reach or even move itself towards her much less take hostile action. Seeing it wriggle a bit isn't a reason to make Lily watch something that'll stress her out, Irue isn't in any danger.
>>
>>4915172
We still don't know how it spreads so introducing itself to new bodies could be part of its replication cycle.
depending on how it works we could potentially force it to migrate hosts to one of the Healers and immolate it, once safely away from Clara

Also Valen Blood isn't enough to override the repelling nature of the Nymph wood.

This may complicate things since we don't want to have to start over with Lilly "again".
>>
>>4914837
Gotta admit, I fully agree with Rineir: asking Ari of all people to do the interrogations is a terrible idea, and I have no idea where it came from. A random guard would be a better choice than her.
But what's done is done.

>Leave Rinnier to pursue her personal projects
I'd like to give Rinnier the chance to work on her personal project, as we've been unable to make much headway on that old promise to help her reclaim her country. It's not much, but it's something.

We have handled Nymph's Wood directly in the past; I don't think it will be dangerous to us unless we start eating it or something.

The NW is keeping aunt alive, while being in the way of fixing her; that's not going to change anytime soon. We've got more immediate concerns.

>Go sort through personal belongings immediately.
Uncle's and the healers' in particular. while I doubt we'll find a smoking gun, maybe we'll get luck and find a hint or lead. If nothing turns up, take a look at Aunt's stuff, especially anything she brought back with her.
Also, check if the shadow horse is actually dead. As Aunt wasn't in this state when she arrived, it stands to reason the horse wasn't mortally wounded either.


>>4914881
Alouette was the head guard before she defected. Maybe they've chosen a new one between now and then, maybe not.
>>
>>4915294
>Ari of all people to do the interrogations is a terrible idea, and I have no idea where it came from
I think that was my fault, I voted to have her help us with interrogations. I meant her to assist us while we do most of the heavy lifting but I could have been clearer.
>>
>>4915294
>>4915655

I honestly don't think it's the worst idea. She's the most mana-tuned in our entourage, so she's going to catch any shenanagans. And I don't doubt she isn't going to wring them for all the information she can.

The second part where things can get dicy. Ari can probably get them to fold like paper simply because she's so out there, but if she gets excited or frustrated, she's going to break them

My personal suggestion is to take Rinnier's concerns to heart and push her in the right direction before we move on. We're giving her questions, so we should ask her how she intends to go about it and guide her. She can at the very least follow instructions pretty well.

>>4914837

>Set Ari on the right track for interrogating (Scare at the worst, don't hurt, ask about Resuri, association with Byrn, any comrades)
>Look through personal belongings (Especially for correspondence, equipment or fail-deadly contingencies)
>>
>>4915721
>I honestly don't think it's the worst idea
Yeah, I'm happy to roll with it too.
>>
>>4914881
Check recent dates and signatures!

>>4914881
Gather interviews from the guards to find out what's been happening here! Especially about your aunt.

>>4914881
where mail?

>>4914898
>>4915028 (take lily with you?)
Nymph Wood experiments!

>>4915294
>>4915721
Sort personal belongings. What can we find here?

>>4915294
Where has Ser Stomperson gotten to? Verify the death of the awful creature.

>>4914898
Get a real Wisp healer on board for later?

>>4915294
Rinnier deserves her own projects!

>>4915721
Gently prod Ari with interrogation restrictions and guidelines.

Alright, let's see what I can make of all this! Writing!
>>
>>4917598
Irue could inspect the belongings and have some NW delivered to her?
>>
>>4917606
This can be arranged, yes!
>>
"If you could organize interviews with the guards while you're at it, that would be useful." aunt Clara's chair scooted across the floor as you got back to your feet. "I'm going to be sorting through the seized possessions to see if there's anything unusual mixed in."

"Even if they're being cooperative, trusting them blindly is probably a bad idea." Rinnier mused.

"...I was more interested in gathering testimonies as to what state my aunt arrived in. There should also be someone responsible for handling missives, so finding out who has been in contact with the estate recently was on my mind."

"Your aunt's state?" She echoed back, "Why?"

How do you describe this? "Suspicious feelings. Meeting with my uncle, and seeing my aunt later, it felt like details weren't adding up. I'm not sure what i'll find, but it's important that I check."

"Hmm." Rinnier's chin dipped thoughtfully, then she nodded. "Easy enough. I take it you just want general reports rather than a detailed sort of interrogation, then?"

"If something peculiar crops up we can look into it then." You affirm, setting a hand on your hip. "I also want samples of the Nymph's Wood brought to me."

"I'll keep that in mind." Rinnier turned to follow you out of the study, pausing alongside you when you stopped to retrieve Lily and set her back in place. A vague shimmer of discomfort crossed her body watching the Dryad apparition, but given her history with the things... "What about Ari?"

"I'll talk to her." It was better for you to let Ari handle it on her own, but probably not better for her. "Compromise, right? I still plan to leave it to her, but I'll give her some guidelines and restrictions to keep in mind."

"Compromise." Rinnier agreed, stepping past you to leave first. "As much as I dislike it, we're too shorthanded at the moment to be more involved with her development... Although." She stopped in the doorway, turning back to you. "It's good to have a skillset that can be relied on Irue, but what are you hoping hers will be?"

"...What do you mean?"
>>
"I mean," Rinnier set her shoulder against the doorframe, crossing her arms under her chest as she spoke. "You defer to me when it comes to navigating bureaucracy and managing the knights and security."

"I trust you."

Rinnier flashed a small smile. "And you have become the defacto expert on this 'Dryad', and most other matters of Mana we've encountered. Dealing with adepts, plunging ill-advisedly through Ateliers, handling Relics..." Her hand rolled at the wrist, gesturing a vague summary. "Though I dislike the frequency with which you've thrown yourself at things like that, I am inclined to defer to your expertise when something of that nature comes up."

"Because you trust me?"

"Because you have experience navigating such things." She corrected wryly, offering an exasperated grin as the gesturing hand motions shifted into a pointed emphasis of your now Shade-clawed hand. "My point is that we have defined skillsets that we rely on often. Ari, as far as I know, does not. Certainly none that would be relevant to our circumstances. If we're to begin relying on her to help delegate goals, what kind of role, exactly, are you expecting her to begin filling?"

A silent beat ensued, but nothing specific came to mind. You considered just letting her handle whatever seemed easiest at the time, but eventually all of your tasks would be complicated.

Before you could get too engrossed in the thought, Rinnier had pushed off from the doorframe. "We don't need an answer right away, but keep it in mind. I'll see about getting that Nymph's Wood delivered to you shortly - Anywhere in particular you want me sending it?"

"Oh, uh... This study, I guess." You'd just commandeer it for your own purposes while you were here.

Rinnier nodded. "Alright. You know where to find me."

The two of you went your separate ways after that, and you swiftly hailed down one of the estate guards to help you get to work.
>>
Your first intent to sort through the seized belongings would need to wait a little longer, giving the guards time to actually acquire and transport it all back to the study. By similar reasons, interrogation was also slightly delayed - Which meant you had time to catch up to Ari before her eagerness led to early activities.

When you found the smaller Testament, she was sitting on the floor next to a perfectly good chair.

"Ari." You came to a stop over her, looking down at the stringy haired brunette. "Why?"

"Hello, maste-aaaaaaAuuu...!" She craned her neck back, peering up at you - just in time for your hand to close around the crown of her head and rustle her hair around. "Iruuueee....."

"Better." You didn't even have to correct her this time. "About the interrogation-"

"I can do it, Irue."

A staunch interjection. It was a little offputting seeing Ari of all people riled up. Just looking at her, she'd object strongly if you tried to walk back her responsibility now.

"You can, yes." You allowed peaceably, "But there's specific restrictions and points I wanted you to be aware of. Additional details that are important to how you go about it."

"Oh... Alright." She didn't blink at the mention of new requirements, so this wouldn't be too difficult. "What do I need to know?"

"Find out any connections they have to Resuri, and if possible, what strings connect them to my uncle Byrn. If they have related associates, I want to know about them as well - location, names, and occupations." If they were related to Artemis, this was a good opportunity to get a headstart on how far those roots had spread.

"Resuri... Location, name, occupation..." Ari murmured back, nodding slowly.

"And I would prefer you scare them at the worst. Do anything you can to avoid directly harming them."

Here, she blinked. Curious eyes upturned to you questioningly. "Why?"

"Because we don't know if any of them are actually related to Artemis yet. The last thing I need is completely unrelated, legitimate healers being tortured for having shown up to heal my aunt." Your uncle had claimed them to be among the best healers in your territory, and you suspected a grain of truth to be present even if it was a lie. They were people you desperately didn't want to be spiting you when blood was shed.

Her mouth formed a small 'o', understanding sparkling in her otherwise dull, brown eyes. "So if they are part of Artemis, it's fine?"

"If they are related to Artemis then we'll be interrogating them further, and that interrogation will probably have a different set of rules. Thinks of this as a preliminary round."

"Alrighty." Ari nodded along easily.
>>
You tilt your head to one side, feeling the impromptu-ponytail Lily seemed to favor tying your hair into shift heavily across your back. "Still think you can do it? It's fine to ask for help if you need it."

Ari's gaze met yours calmly, and you prepared yourself to answer whatever had come to mind. You weren't an expert at interrogations either, but you could come up with something if she needed a place to-

"You never asked for help."

-Your wine-red eyes fluttered briefly. "What?"

"You never asked for help." She repeated matter-of-factly. "Ever since we met, Master has never asked anyone for help."

A weak smile tugged at your lips. "That's not true, Ari. I've had a lot of support getting here. There's no shame in asking for help if you need it."

She shook her head resolutely, stringy brown hair flicking back and forth. "Ari was watching. You made deals, you convinced people, you recruited and ordered them to do things. You never asked anyone to help you, you made use of them."

That... That was...

You scratched at your cheek, wondering how to respond to that kind of observation. She continued peering up at you, watchful eyes rapt on you as you turned it over in your mind. What had she seen to think like this? What kind of person were you in Ari's eyes? Was she using you as a rolemodel?

"...I tried to do a lot on my own." you ceded that much. "And I did make a lot of deals to get what I wanted." Nearly all of your relationships started from brokered deals. Even your Testament - Especially your Testament.

You struggled to think of relationships that hadn't started from some kind of mutually beneficial deal of some sort. There was... Asche. Asche wasn't... Here, though. There was... Was...

Mim? Mim! You were friends with Mim and it didn't involve any of that. It was a delicate and carefully navigated thing that you were doing your best to keep intact and untouched by that sort of thing, and-

and-

...And it had started with her trying to make a deal with you, because that's how she thought all of your relationships worked. You'd snapped and screamed at her for trying to act like a friend, so far removed was the concept of no-strings-attached companionship for you that the idea she just earnestly wanted to get to know you had seemed completely unthinkable.

You ran a hand back through your hair. Shade bless, maybe Ari was right.
>>
Still, she waited patiently for an answer. Quietly set at your feet with her knees curled up to her chest as she watched you piece the words together in your mind. "...I did try to do a lot on my own. I didn't trust the people around me, and I thought I could handle... A lot more than I probably should have."

Was the moral of the story to trust people? The fact you'd come back to have your uncle arrested after your aunt's closest confidant betrayed her made that idea distinctly uncomfortable... But, you needed to someone to trust. You weren't an island, and eventually you would meet your limit and break. Eventually you did meet your limit.

Eventually, you broke.

"But I have asked Rinnier for help." Memories of feeling something inside of you fracturing when your bottled up emotions and stress were overflowing after Dryad's Atelier still washed up vestiges of how utterly raw you felt back then. "It's fine to be confident, Ari, but don't try to take on too much by yourself. You can always ask Rinnier or myself for help if you need it. We're both here to help you."

"Hrmm..." Something skeptical rumbled in the back of Ari's throat, but she nodded slowly.

"So, do you want help?"

"No."

You sighed.
>>
Leaving Ari to her own devices after your talk, you decided to fill the time left before the healer's possessions had been gathered to verify something unexpectedly close to your heart. Namely, the death of your aunt's Testament: An incredibly foul tempered Nightmare inappropriately named Ser Stomperson. You had wished death on the thing for most of your life, or at least grievous injury, and apparently gotten your wish fulfilled on both behalfs! At the worst possible time, in the worst possible way.

If it really was dead, your instinctive reflex was to consider this a win for you. For all of humanity. For the world at large, and all the forces of good inherent in it! This instinct was tempered by the sullen realization that even if it had died, it had done so doing everything in its power possible to save your aunt's life. An action you were forced to respect, and even reluctantly admit maybe redeemed it for its history of biting people. And stepping on them. Knocking them over. Dumping its water trough on them. Knocking them into its water trough before dumping said trough. Or that time you watched it back up to a newly hired gardener and defecate on his back as he was tending to a flowerbed.

It was, almost single handedly, why you hated horses.

For all the orneriness and misery it had inflicted on just about every person it ever interacted with though, your aunt's Nightmare had been her Testament through and through... Loyal to its last breath, after decades of being by her side. As a beast of Shade, you could only imagine the degree of respect it had to have held for her to stay true that long: They may not have been apparitions, but Shade-blessed beasts were notoriously testy.

So when you pulled open the doors to the personal stable he had called home and saw nothing, you weren't sure what to do with the mixed bag of feelings that brought you. It was dark inside, and even knowing he was absent, you still hesitated to actually step inside. The threshold of cracked wood and near broken metalwork testament to the beast's history of uncooperation and tantrum-happy nature.

Still you went, shaking away the silly feeling of being frightened by a literal spectre at this point. If Ser Stomperson had carried your aunt back and lived, it should have been here - and its presence was near impossible to miss. What you found inside was emptiness. A more damning indication of its fate than you had expected.

...No, you realized. It wasn't just emptiness. It smelled in here. If it were manure you would have expected it from the Nightmare's stable, but this was different. Familiar. It was a thicker, muskier scent than you had become accustomed to, but it still held that tell-tale twinge.

There was blood here.
>>
You followed the scent further, stepping well past the shaft of light allowed in by the open front doors and shuffled your feet carefully along the smooth stone floors as you groped blindly towards a wall, searching first and foremost for windows to open further inside. You needed sunlight streaming in to better investigate, because your nose was only going to get you so far. It was just a little further, you imagined, because the stable wasn't that large comparatively. Luxurious for a single steed, yes, but it wasn't an entire barn. It had nothing on the Tier's family stables.

Your hands did eventually find the wall, a discovery made partially when your Shade-formed claws shred through a thin wooden section by accident, casting small gashes of light in from the outside. A short curse uttered under your breath mixed with the relief of having found what you were looking for as you - much more carefully - worked to find your way towards the latch of the window proper and heave it open. A smile tugged at your lips, this small step of success looming ever closer... When the clop of a hoof from behind you drained all forms of joy from your body.

A single, deep breath slowly filled your lungs... And then you exhaled. You slipped the latch on the window slowly, near frozen in your grip against the windowseal as a second clop, closer, echoed behind you. The ill-tempered snort of a steed that should have been dead. They told you it was dead, why wasn't it dead? You wanted it dead!

"Lily, is something in here?"

Yes~

You swallowed. "...Is it behind me."

Yes~
>>
Nothing left to lose, you threw the window open and let light stream in. Whirling around to press your back to the wall, your head craned back to stare Ser Stomperson face-to-malicious nostril and confront the damn thing until you could find a way to escape its stable. Right... Right, Nightmares could hide in the dark. You knew that, your aunt had mentioned it when you were younger. They could literally disappear when it was dark enough as part of their unique Shadeborn nature. It was why they preferred darker, denser forests as their living grounds.

"Easy boy, you know... Me?"

There was nothing. Even in the shaft of light streaming in behind you, no sign of the bastard of a steed your aunt kept... Just large stains of blood dried into the floor, scraped and trampled into the stoney surface and dried.

You let out a sight, relieved despite yourself, and inched from the wall to inspect the bloodstains before the rest of your mind caught up with you.

"Wait, but Lily-"

A rapid series of clops snapped your eyes forward, into the darkness the shaft of sunlight hadn't chased off from further inside the stable, and melting from that darkness came a Nightmare much smaller than you were used to. It would have maybe reached Ser Stomperson's belly, and was just a little shorter than you were.

You had barely mouthed your confusion before its lowered head caught you at the waist and it flung you clean threw the opened window.

You hit the ground hard, bouncing off the grass and rolling feet-over-face in one spine-bendingly uncomfortable moment before coming to a stop and laying there in hopes the world would stop spinning. It was only a moment later that the triumphant whinnying from inside the stable forcefully rebooted your survival instinct and sent you scrambling to your feet before the smaller Nightmare could find its way outside for round two.

No, no you weren't having any of that - And Lily quite cheerily acquiesced to your desire to not see it happen by helping you slam the stable doors shut and bind them at the handles in her ivy.

Whether that would actually keep it in the stable or not, you had no idea. If it wanted to leave the stable, you weren't sure it couldn't just kick down the door, or even jump through the open window it had flung you through... But whatever the answer, you weren't going to deal with this on your own.

Nope.

Fuck horses.

You brushed the grass from your clothes as you stumbled back towards the estate.
>>
"...Ser Valen, are you alright?"

A guard at the door stopped you in concern, looking you over as you picked an errant leaf from your hair. Your hair had a very specific subset of leaves allowed in it lately, and this one was not part of that selection. "No. I ran into something in Ser Stomperson's stable. I thought my aunt's Testament was dead?"

"It is dead, Ser Valen. We held a funeral for it not long ago in fact, it's buried behind the stable." The guard kept a straight face reporting this to you, even as it made you want to punch something. Anything. "It has a tombstone, even. Master Byrn made sure of it."

"Great. Fantastic. Then what, exactly, is in its stable now?"

"Ser Stomperson Jr."

You pause, dropping another leaf from your hand and look the guard dead in the eye. "Excuse you? That bastard had a kid?"

"Well, no Ser Valen, that would be a goat. This is a foal." You eyes drifted shut, "Foal is the name for baby horses of both sexes before they're a year old, so Ser Stomperson Jr. is still a foal, but it'll be a colt soon enough. That's-"

"I don't... Care about the life cycle of a horse." You stopped the guard slowly. "Why is it still there? Why does it exist at all?"

"We haven't been able to remove it yet, as for why it exists-" You hadn't meant to ask that part out loud, but here you are. "I'm afraid only Master Clara would be able to answer that. It was her idea, after all."

"..." You looked to your feet, then craned your neck skyward, and finally back at the guard. "Have the healer's possessions been gathered yet?"

"Yes, Ser Valen! I was actually on my way out to find you to tell you that. They've been delivered to Master Clara's study as you requested, along with several samples of the new flower decorating the archives."

"Thank you." You uttered, massaging your non-clawed fingers into your forehead as you walked past the man.
>>
At a glance, the healer's possessions were what you would assume to be typical. Packed herbs, salves, a couple of them had even brought reference texts - A rare enough commodity for commoner healers to have available to them these days, what with the Crown's stance on reading. It was easy to forget that the documents and books you had surrounded yourself in since you were a child were largely a noble's privilege now.

Assorted clothes, a sparse collection of jewelry, at least one mortar and pestle per healer accounted for. At least one. Several of them even had an alembic, which was a tool you hadn't seen in person since you were a child.

you had hoped Lily would be able to point you towards something, but she seemed utterly uninterested in their belongings. If any of them had carried Nymph's Wood, or were, themselves, a Luna adept, it evidently didn't leave a 'scent' on their belongings...

You could cross-reference these piles of belongings with the record Rinnier had hastily gathered from the guards of the healer's arrival to help narrow things down, and it was interesting. It seems at least three of them had already been on site when your aunt returned. A pre-existing meeting with Byrn, but the guards weren't aware of what it regarded. More were summoned afterwards, with two arriving at once, and three others trickling in either before or after that pair.

Eight healers in total. Three were already here, two arrived together, and three arrived separately.

Wisp cores... A handful of them in four of the piles. These you had expected, especially from "some of the best" healers in your territory. It would be stranger if they hadn't brought Wisp cores to an emergency summons like this. Notably, those four piles didn't include the three who were already present. The one summoned healer who lacked cores had a glut of herbs and an alembic, leading you to guess they were a more medicinal sort.

The other two alembics were in piles that contained Wisp cores, and one such tool had the company of a well worn herbal reference text. It had seen better days, and potentially more use than some of your own shoes, given the degree of dog-earing and bookmarking applied to it.

You flipped through the pages idly, nose wrinkling at the lingering scent of lavender clinging to its pages from the little purple flowers pressed as bookmarks.

The three who had been here for a meeting had packed quite a bit of clothes. It seems they had expected to be here a while... While of the five summoned, all had packed lightly. A rush to arrive. One of them had, perplexingly, come with an exceedingly heavy coat, thickly wound in furs. It was the sort of adornment you'd expect from someone in the mountains, or perhaps braving the Northern Wastes, but not the banally temperate regions of La'Fiel.
>>
Six notebooks were arrayed out in the possessions, one to a pile for each of the summoned healers, and one brought even by a healer who had been here for a meeting - You made a note to try and find out what this meeting was about later, it seemed suspiciously timed.

...None of the notebooks seemed to disagree with one another, and all referenced your aunt's state as you saw it.

The three summoned healers had almost three full days with your aunt before the next one arrived, then two days before the arrival of the pair, and the final two trickled in almost a week and a half after the initial summons.

You held the guard's arrival referencve sheet loosely in one hand, looking over the piles organized in front of you.

>1. Meeting. No Wisp Cores. Heavy packing. Surgical reference text.
>2. Meeting. No Wisp Cores. Heavy packing. Notebook.
>3. Meeting. No Wisp Cores. Heavy packing. Alembic.
>4. Arrived in three days. Wisp cores. Notebook.
>5. Arrived in five days. No Wisp cores. Alembic and a glut of herbs. Notebook.
>6. Arrived in five days. Wisp cores. Medicinal reference text. Notebook.
>7. Arrived in nine days. Wisp cores. Light packing. Notebook.
>8. Arrived in twelve days. Wisp cores. Light packing, but heavy coat. Alembic. Herbal reference book. Notebook.

...What were you even looking for, here?

>Explain your reasoning!
OR
>Play with Nymph's Wood, Ari will just interrogate an answer out of someone eventually.
>>
>>4918209
>>1. Meeting. No Wisp Cores. Heavy packing. Surgical reference text.
>Seems like they did / lead the implantation / operation / dismemberment?
Once a 4th party arrives we need to take the bindings off Clara and search her for hopefully obvious signs of incisions (Finding out why / what did would be useful since they may have added or removed something that could be key) or other things mentioned in the reference text, otherwise we can safely assume that they were responsible for further dismemberment or cleaning up of any wounds she returned with. It's also a bit odd that no surgical tools where found, it may be worth exhuming Ser Stomperson to see if they hid them inside the body to het rid of them.

>>2. Meeting. No Wisp Cores. Heavy packing. Notebook.
>The lack of (recovered?) Wisp cores from the preexisting three healers may be explained by them having been being expended during surgery / getting Clara stable. Cross referencing the "Lavender sent" with a 4th party could be useful since it may indicate of compound it was referenced to create (it may also serve as a location reference if, Lavender is rare).
>>3. Meeting. No Wisp Cores. Heavy packing. Alembic.
>Looks like this is the compounding "chemist / anaesthetist" of the original group and so pressing them for what substances where used during the course of Clara's treatment seems like a good focusing point.

>>4. Arrived in three days. Wisp cores. Notebook.
>We should be able to Cross reference with the "Mail" guy for where the letters to call them all in where headed, and if that lines up with where they are from. The Wisp cores may have been fore the recovery from whatever operation(s) they performed.

>>5. Arrived in five days. No Wisp cores. Alembic and a glut of herbs. Notebook.
>Likely called in to restock used up supplies / and for additional ones that they may not have brought with them originally, what is left over may be useful alongside any residue left over in the various Alembics in determining what they were compounding.

>>6. Arrived in five days. Wisp cores. Medicinal reference text. Notebook.
>Further supplies of Wisp cores indicate that they have settled into a pattern or had some reason to keep trying to "feed" Clara even though it obviously wasn't "working"

>>7. Arrived in nine days. Wisp cores. Light packing. Notebook.
The Notebook(s) likely indicate that their can at least read but then again Artermis knows this and so their "Operatives may not bring them" but they didn't bring anything the others hadn't or anything other than the Wisp cores which is a bit odd.

>>8. Arrived in twelve days. Wisp cores. Light packing, but heavy coat. Alembic. Herbal reference book. Notebook.
>The coat indicates that they may have either come from somewhere colder (North? but there isn't a way further North that would be obvious, so the coat doesn't "make sense") or a long way away depending on when their Mail got to them.

1/2?
>>
>>4918257

2/2


At this point it should be obvious that we're out of our depth and so to figure out what has actually happened we need a medically trained opinion, or a Luna Adept of our own.
>>
>>4918196
>If we're to begin relying on her to help delegate goals, what kind of role, exactly, are you expecting her to begin filling?"
Oh hey, I've been saying this for a long time.

>You had barely mouthed your confusion before its lowered head caught you at the waist and it flung you clean threw the opened window.
This was incredibly amusing, but shouldn't Lily have stopped that from happening? Or do her bodyguard skills need working on?

>"Ser Stomperson Jr."
Huh. I had even odds on it having been wounded, making it somehow lesser.

>"Well, no Ser Valen, that would be a goat. This is a foal." You eyes drifted shut,
I like this guy. Can we keep him?

>massaging your non-clawed fingers into your forehead
...We're going to have to be very careful about the claws going forward; that could have been very unfortunate. At least the claws are on our already damaged arm.

>One of them had, perplexingly, come with an exceedingly heavy coat, thickly wound in furs.
This sticks out very much. As it doesn't fit the destination (here), it instead suggests the source (somewhere cold) or that part of the journey was cold.

I'll put more thought into this when I have time.
>>
>>4918332
A map of the local area was posted
>>4904700
>>
>>4918342
Depending on travel method, 12 days might be off that map. Maybe somewhere NW of Firl? That's the most straightforward answer, but foot travel from our house to Carona is about a month, so I dunno how much faster a, say, wagon would go.

Or I suppose coat could have been used to conceal something on their person or in their luggage (depending if they wore it or merely packed it)

water + wind = ice/cold, but mana mixing seems to be rather rare, so I don't think it is tied to something mana related.
Could be an Artifact I suppose, but those are wicked rare and expensive, so I rather doubt it.
>>
>>4918332
Something else to put your mind too would be coming up with a list of Yes No Questions for Clara, once she wakes up.
>>
>>4918209
We should consider the possibility that Dryad infusion was performed in the Mansion.
>>
>>4918444
The twelve days starts from when Clara Returned (We still don't have a timeframe from her leaving to returning), not the message being sent, and we're also assuming that it was sent directly to them so asking how they heard about the request could be useful since they might be "friends of friends" and we can use that against Byrn.

And on the topic of Byrn we need to figure out why he is working with Artermis (Caylen?, the Goddess [and on that note if he's one of those suicidal believers or not]?, the "hanging" Valen leadership, or some other threat or compensation.) so we know in hwat way to proceed with him
>>
>>4918209
What we're looking for is signs that some of the healers were the ones who implanted Nymph's Wood into Clara, or at least know what it is. What do their notebooks say about Nymph's Wood?
The first three healers are strange. The one with the surgical text has no tools, the one with the alembic has no herbs, the one with the notebook has nothing. His notebook though is the most interesting, since it shoud contain a description of Clara's condition when she arrived and any initial care provided. Does it mention trying to heal her with Wisp cores, I wonder?
Number 4, arriving in three days, is also interesting. Where could he have arrived from on such a short notice? Was he already heading here?
Why were additional healers summoned at all? Including apparently one from the Northern Wastes? It isn't consistent with the assumption that Byrn ordered the implantation.
I have a feeling that this is just a huge red herring
>>
>>4918490
The only reason we're even interrogating them is to see if we can find a way to avoid having to "deal" with the Nymph wood and treat her properly.


Byrn was likely offered a choice, the Healers either finish the job, or put her into stasis and make her into a non issue, we really should try to get out of him what Artermis is holding over him
>>
>>4918209
>8. Arrived in twelve days. Wisp cores. Light packing, but heavy coat. Alembic. Herbal reference book. Notebook.
This guy has visited or is planning to visit the Ice Queen Atelier. Maren knew about this Atelier and we narrowly beat her to selling its location to the shrine.
>>
>>4918970
That's a good thought. We did sell that info to the Shrine itself though (who has in turn been doing research on it), so knowledge of the Ice Queen isn't necessarily incriminating.
>>
>>4918209
I don't really understand the prompt, can we figure it out from this? Why does speculating preclude experimenting with the Nymph's wood? Is Irue going to cross reference our speculation with Ari?

>1, 2 and 3
These guys seem the most suspicious I guess. It's very convenient the first 3 were on hand with the book (but where are the tools...?) to implant NW into Clara when she arrived.

>8
Number 8 is dressed for an Atelier within walking distance that only Artemis and the shrine are aware of. This is pretty suspicious in its own right. Or maybe...

>The other two alembics were in piles that contained Wisp cores, and one such tool had the company of a well worn herbal reference text. It had seen better days, and potentially more use than some of your own shoes, given the degree of dog-earing and bookmarking applied to it.

>You flipped through the pages idly, nose wrinkling at the lingering scent of lavender clinging to its pages from the little purple flowers pressed as bookmarks.

Is number 8 from East Heaven? Mint is a huge figure there and they associate her heavily with lavender. It's possible he traversed the northern wastes in order to bypass the closed border with whatever our country's called. It's also clear from the sincere wear on his belongings that he's not just masquerading as a healer.

>The others

Not a whole lot was said about these, I dunno. Someone else mentioned it was strange that number 4 showed up as soon as he did. That's kinda weird, I guess. What do the notebooks say?

I really want to poke at the lavender but lets see where this goes.
>>
>>4919204
>I really want to poke at the lavender
Nymph's wood, I mean.
>>
>>4918207
Something of a tangent, but it's interesting that Mana affinity looks to be overtly inheritable in horses (and presumably in other animals). Mana affinity inheritance seems to be much less transparent in people.

>>4918209
Ok, so thoughts:

1,2,3 were previously here. None of them look to have brought tools of the trade, only reference material and notes. That suggests they were here on consultation or minor checkup work. Uncle would have had to be the one that called them; why? If he had an injury or fear of medial issue, the healers should have brought operational tools along with any books or journals. Why else would he have had healers intending to stay for a while at the house?

Intermediary thoughts: Aside from the Wisp cores and various medicinal herbs, why would uncle feel the need to summon more healers when he already had 3 at the house?
How were the healers communicated to so quickly? It took us at least 3 days to get from Carona to the estate on foot. You'd have to at least double that to allow for word to go out and people to come back in, and that's before the word can be given to the right people (as I doubt the healers were written to by name). Further, if word had come via conventional message, our position should have let us hear that the Valens were seeking healers for emergency work.


4 was likely in Carona. Despite the map scale, it only took us a couple of days to walk from the town to the estate. Cores and notebook make sense for an emergency summons.

5,6 were also likely from Carona, or possibly Murla, for similar distance reasons. 5 lacking cores makes sense if they traveled together. An Alembic sounds rather fragile to be rapidly transported, but a case can be made for it.

7 possibly from Firl or Sylv. Nothing sticks out.

8 possibly from Resuri, Verdan, or west of Firl. The coat sticks out badly; he either came from somewhere cold, passed through somewhere cold, or was planning to go somewhere cold. Or it was used as padding for something he traveled with (possibly his Alembic). My current best guess is that he was planning to visit the Ice Queen, but there's still a lot of holes in that theory.
8 brought the most by far; it's possible this slowed his travel down, meaning he started somewhere closer. He should be the most heavily interrogated.

I'm tempted to read their journals, but I'm also a little worried they might contain the Infection.
>>
>>4919319
>looks to be overtly inheritable in horses
Not precisely. Manaborne or Manatouched (they are interchangeable, largely) beasts are not variants of normal beasts granted favor by Mana.

Theoretically speaking, Mana could indeed favor a horse, making it a catastrophic stallion as horses will never be able to attune to a Mana to request the Mana cease manifesting around it. A Salamander favored horse, for instance, would be the cause of innumerable barnfires - It's for this reason that, largely speaking, Mana favored animals are put to death. Some are adopted by relevantly attuned Adepts, but that is a rarer circumstances as the favor they represent is uncontrolled and sporadic. It is a roll of the dice at every moment of every day.

Manaborn beasts are creatures born inherently with a strong attunement to a given Mana. So strongly that it is, as you noted, written into their very genetics - And changes them on a physical and mental level.

A Nightmare is one such beast, attuned with Shade. They are naturally very testy, violent, and proud creatures. They can disappear in the dark as a reflexive instinct, and it's also how they hunt - Nightmares are actually carnivorous by preference, but it's not an uncommon observation that they may sustain a portion of their body's requirements off of the emotions of fear and anxiety generated during their hunting. This in turn leads to a higher reputation for them being deliberately cruel and/or otherwise malicious. The more emotion you generate during their hunting of you, the more fulfilled they are. Torture, stalking, playing with their food, all of it is essential to savoring the meal.

Another such beast is the Behemoth you're well acquainted with. It is a beast born of Wisp, with the vitality, raw brute force, and healing capacity to match.

Manaborn beasts are, ironically, more of a disaster to humans than apparitions themselves. Apparitions ultimately can be talked to by an adept, can be reasoned with in most cases, or at least understood. The Mana, at the end of the day, love humanity - So teaches the Shrine.

Manaborn beasts are, conversely, beasts who have no such inherent love for humanity or anything but their own instincts and whims, but granted with power that far outstrips the average person. Usually they are avoided, driven off, or killed, and it is very rare for one to be "tamed" to any degree. The Tier family could manage it reportedly, and your aunt self-demonstratedly chose a Nightmare as her Testament and did so, so it isn't impossible... But you get the idea.

There hasn't been a meaningful inclusion of them beyond the Behemoth and seldom-mentioned Nightmare Ser Stomperson just because we have stayed primarily in a controlled environment. You would have encountered one expeditioning north into the mountains for resources.
>>
>I don't really understand the prompt, can we figure it out from this? Why does speculating preclude experimenting with the Nymph's wood?
Doing one doesn't mean not doing the other, but you need to focus on something first. There was an equal interest in experimenting and looking at belongings, so I presented the belongings and then gave you the option to look into them more closely and make conjecture based on what you were looking at, or to move on to the other thing you wanted to do.

You cannot pursue both simultaneously. They lead to separate things.
>>
>>4919329
>Manaborne or Manatouched (they are interchangeable, largely) beasts are not variants of normal beasts granted favor by Mana.
>Theoretically speaking, Mana could indeed favor a horse,

Interesting. The follow-on question, then, is that if animals can be Favored or Mana Touched, is the same true for humans?
>>
>>4919344
As far as you know, humans are incapable of being Manaborne. Favored, yes, that is what makes up adepts, but born so completely affected by Mana as to change their very genetic structure and give them special powers? No.

Reiterating, Manaborne creatures aren't variants of normal creatures, but an entire race on their own. A Manaborne "human", so it follows, wouldn't be human at all but something else entirely. It wouldn't be born of a human, but of its own race.

If it's only a matter of being born favored though, yes. You can build favor by meditating deliberately, or you can be born a loved savant, and the latter is mentioned a couple times - Most notably by Elly - to be one of the major functions of the Shrine! To be a safe haven for those born heavily favored to learn to interact with the Mana and protect both themselves and their surroundings from unsolicited manifestation.
>>
>>4919344
>>4919351
Small addendum to this because it's not strictly what you meant when you asked, but is tangentially related: When someone is called "shadetouched", it's often a reference to them being mentally ill in some manner. Something about them is intrinsically broken. Depressed, bi-polar, schizophrenia, suicidal, etc.

This does not necessarily mean that Shade has anything to do with them being this way, though interaction with Shade mana can cause it, and can alternatively help resolve it, but as you may remember, Shade bears a fairly negative view by most people and thus it gets blamed for a lot of things. Ergo to be shadetouched is equally a term for being mentally unhealthy/ill in some way, or to be favored by Shade, with the layman often not really caring about what the difference is, and sometimes not even knowing in the first place.
>>
>>4919351

While I understand they're a different thing, Doesn't the existence of Demihumans suggest that Manaborne humans are viable? It seems likely the absence of Manaborne humans is a general case that there is no pressure or plan to breed affinity to a specific mana into humanity, and the nature of humans makes it a dismal task, since they'd be potentially favored by different Mana arbitrarily.

I think the closest you'll get is favored bloodlines, and I feel that's unlikely to be genetic as much as familial: Certainly if the Mana can be capricious enough to flee a family entirely would have as much or little care to lavish their affection to an adopted child.
>>
>>4919366
>While I understand they're a different thing...
Are they?
What ARE demihumans, anyway...
>>
>>4919370


Children affected by null Mana from the days of the Valen Founder ostensibly, not that it's an answer as much as it's another question.

I have unironically been mulling over the "Dryad question". Why would we ever need to stop at 8 mana?

I just don't want to start with the tinfoil and yarn board while we're busy with a far more immediate mystery.
>>
>>4919366
>>4919370
Demihumans were, as far as I can tell, human offshoots created from a severe lack of Mana. This technically implies that humans can be species-modded by Mana in some fashion, but some link is missing, because I'd wager there are more people in more diverse environments and circumstances than there are horses, and yet there are horse Manaborne and no human ones.

The closest I can think of that fit the potential are Aeons. Do any Aeons have descendants, particularly post transformation?

>>4919380
It's a reaction to the 'worldview shift'. Happens a lot in fiction: If werewolves exist, why not vampires or magic or aliens etc.
I doubt it's that obvious but there is that heretical group that worships some Goddess instead of the Mana.
>>
>>4919386

I already mentioned what I believe is the confounding variable: The Mana may love something, but only humans have the necessary intrinsic complication to be loved by a "wrong" or "different" mana.

The Proto-nightmares were probably a population of scrappy horses in a hostile environment. It is unlikely one of them would crack open a book and get Luna's attention over Shade's.
>>
>>4919386
>Do any Aeons have descendants, particularly post transformation?
This is impossible as taught by the Shrine. That said, the Shrine also fundamentally misrepresents what an Atelier is, so...

If you want to put it to the test, find someone willing to have sex with Dryad.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the mystery behind Demihumans was largely connected to Kara's story. While you can still pursue and look into it, with her out of the picture it is less likely to come back into focus very often.
>>
>>4919400
>spoiler?
We do need to insure that the Valen line continues, and I don't trust Maran to be a good mother.
>>
>>4919391
>but only humans have the necessary intrinsic complication to be loved by a "wrong" or "different" mana.
I think I understand what you're suggesting, but I don't think that's it. While I could understand humans Manaborns being rarer than animal ones because they can have mindset misalignments, that should only lower the odds, not negate any chance. There are almost certainly more humans than horses, and written records go a long ways back.

>>4919400
>This is impossible as taught by the Shrine.
Interesting that they particularly call it out as impossible. That implies there have been previous attempts.
I suspect it'd be more a matter of complete disinterest on the Aeon's part (considering the mental state required to become one), more than anything.
>>
>>4919400
Is this loss? It is
>>
>>4919334
Okay, thank you.
>>
So glad we finally got rid of the demihumans. Now we can focus on what matters, leadership and Rinnier
t. No. 1 Rinnier fan
>>
>>4920856
>>4918209
I have an additional vote to add in retaliation to this post
>Tell Lily to stop anything from attacking us in the future
Lily is going to grab Rinnier's stupid face and fling her across the room next time she tries to slap us. What do you think of that, anon?
>>
I am getting intermittently busy again, so I will probably try to wrap this thread up soon. I always underestimate just how long they last on /qst/ now.

I hope no one's been bothered overmuch by the random gaps in updates.
>>
>>4922048
Any idea of when the next thread will be, or should be be paying attention to twitter for news on that front, when it arrives?
>>
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>>4922048
The idea of being bothered by a few days between updates when there's like six months between threads is very funny to me.
>>
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>>4922077
Twitter's always going to be the most accurate - to within a month's standard deviance, evidently.

I'm going to try for next month though! I am currently in a not-so-stressful spot, but whether this remains true next month or not is debatable, as my current life circumstances basically boil down to "roll the dice every month to see if things have gone to shit".

>>4922082
I hope this thread was enjoyable, at least. I want to try and pick up the pace more, in so much as I have finally thrown my hands up and given up on figuring out what downtime is. No more downtime ever. Ever!
>>
>>4922109
>I hope this thread was enjoyable
It was!
>>
Im almost enjoying my anger
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>>4922109
>No more downtime ever. Ever!

Wait what
>>
Did riz died
>>
>>4927611
No, last update for the thread will be coming a bit later tonight! Though this is a prime example of me being too busy to update properly.
>>
The first three were suspicious. You had no idea what that meeting was about, but the timing was too queer to be let slide, and it rubbed you the wrong way that two of them seemed to lack the tools of their supposed trade; A surgical reference text, but no tools for the job? An alembic, but no herbs, salves or otherwise to use in it?

Even if you assumed the meeting was unrelated, why bring tools you weren't planning to use? Or a reference text you didn't need?

Five and six... Arrived with each other. A traveling pair? You'd wager they came from the same place, even. From Murla, maybe? Given the arrival time it was either there or Carona, and you knew the only healer in Carona. Firl to the east was also an option if they ignored the roads. Although, it took you a handful of days to get here by foot. If the healers had rushed here on a mount, you imagine the range could have expanded further... Sylv, for instance.

The fourth healer was technically the first to "arrive", so you'd imagine they came from the shortest possible distance. The seventh... Nothing particularly stuck out about them.

The eighth. You flipped the handled reference book over in your hand, feeling the well worn spine of the book creak against your fingertips. No herbs, but a reference book whose use you couldn't deny. An alembic, wisp cores... This was definitely a healer, arguably the most well rounded of any of those that arrived. Two things drew you back to them, though: One of which being their coat.

A coat this heavy was meant for somewhere cold, and the only "cold" places nearby were the Ice Queen's Atelier and the Northern Wastes. The former they shouldn't know about unless they were affiliated with the Shrine in some manner, while the latter was very strange to even consider. Why would a healer have been in the Northern Wastes at all? And how would they have gotten word about your aunt in the first place?

Were it just that you would merely be suspicious, but the flowers pressed in their reference text tickled some detail you felt you should recognize. Lavender... Lavender- Lamiaceae? Mint?

...East Heaven?

It was bizarre to even entertain the idea, but... Had they traveled from East Heaven through the Northern Wastes?

How had they wound up here? Had your uncle somehow roped them into looking over your aunt?

They were someone you wanted to talk to personally. If they had come from the Northern Wastes, or, Jinn bless, East Heaven, you wanted to know why. You made a note for the guard outside to pass along to Ari.
>>
You set the lavender scented text aside, cycling back to the notebook of the first three healers. A single notebook between the three of them... And it largely said what the others said. Patient rejected Wisp mana, patient was dismembered, sedatives administered to keep the patient out of pain. Every notebook at a glance just repeated these details, along with assorted personal thoughts of the authors in question as they tried to figure out what to do.

One of them mused rather wryly over how a patient that rejected Wisp mana at least saved them the use of their cores. A dark humoured healer. Or perhaps a stingy one?

Although, your eyes narrowed. If aunt Clara rejected Wisp mana, then the healers couldn't have used up any of their cores trying to treat her. By that logic, all of the healers who had cores still were the ones who had cores initially... Which is all but four of them. Of those four, one was both a dedicated herbalist by the looks of it, and potentially traveled with someone who did use them.

The other three were, once again, the suspicious ones who had just already been on site. Who lacked the cores to practice healing, lacked the herbs to use an alembic, and lacked the tools to perform a surgery.

...At least one of them had to be a Wisp adept, you realized. Without cores, there's no way to have ascertained that your aunt was rejecting Wisp mana, and you had to assume that the observation written in this notebook was made before any of the others arrived.

Assuming these were all of their belongings, the only one here who could have medicated your aunt hadn't arrived until five days later. Even if the third healer had used their supply of herbs, you found it difficult to imagine they had only brought herbs for killing pain or sedatives.

Or... What if they had? A healer who's only contribution to the meeting was painkillers and sedatives?

In a backwards way of considering things, if this healer had a tool then they had to have brought it to be used. The fact they lacked the components to use it meant, consequently, that it had been used... So what was stranger? A healer who came prepared purely to mix sedatives, or a healer who brought a tool they lacked the components to use?

Then following that logic, the fact there was a surgical text here but no tools was a similar dilemma, wasn't it? Either they weren't brought, or they were brought and used already... And not here.

You'd issue a search order for surgical tools, and pass along that information to Ari in the meantime. The more discrepancies she had to work with, the better she could do her job.
>>
Maybe this was all red herrings. It felt like anytime you had to rip Artemis' roots out of something it was a painful and recursively tedious procedure, and you dreaded the idea this would be the same.

...Still, you felt like you'd pulled something out of these belongings. It was almost too much to hope for, but had you actually acted before they were prepared for once?

You couldn't bring yourself to earnestly hope for that, much less believe it, but... But if you had, then you couldn't afford to let them regroup before your next move.

Your attention turned towards the deliver Nymph's Wood, passing your findings on to Ari to handle the rest.
>>
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http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive.html?tags=Valen+Quest

And we are archived.

I'll lurk the thread for a bit to try and answer some questions if I can.

Apologies to all anons who participated in Valen Quest but died at their keyboards wondering when QM would finally make a new thread.

To those who did not make it to the end, we will never forget your sacrifice.
---

Updated the Memo/Itinerary to account for things handled.

Memo:
1. Work through dying before it causes issues with the Shade scar.
2. Return and investigate the Dryad Shrine
3.

Itinerary:
1. Discern knights with an affinity for Mana worth polishing.
2.
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.

Current Goal:
What's On Your Mind:
>>
>>4928001
Thanks for running!
How badly did we fuck up this time?
>>
>>4928011
You were rather on point, actually. Two Forgettings in a row - Three, if you count the poorly formed one - allowed you to by pass Irue's inherent reluctant to distrust their family. Had you failed that, it would have been an uphill battle to act on suspicions of sabotage.

One of you even caught on to the fact that one of the healers is both from East Heaven and has been in the Northern Wastes until recently.

So there's a number of neat things learned, and you seized the rare opportunity of acting against Artemis before they had a chance to properly cover their tracks.

Probably the first thing you'll learn next thread from the gathered reports is something some of you are already suspicious of: Clara did not arrive at the estate dismembered.

Anyway the most important thing is that Ari will make you proud!
>>
>>4928021
I am giddy with anticipation of the next thread!
>>
Are we already in stage 3 of the quest?
>>
>>4928096
What do you mean "already", anon? it's been years.

Also this is the start of stage 2.
>>
Here is a question. What are the expected duties of the Valen head honcho? Or is Irue an unrestrained autocrat now
>>
>>4928110
Manage security of your territory, administrate and handle taxation and distribution of public service type things (roads, particularly). Largely however, the head is in charge of managing the other cities/towns in their territory.

Do they need things? That is your problem. Are they being harassed? That is your problem. Is there a drought, a famine, a manaborne beast, a rogue apparition, etc? All of those are your problem.

Ex: Carona was in dire straits after Mistral's Child tore through it. Your aunt executed her responsibility as acting head of House Valen by assigning you to oversee its reconstruction and management.

You also serve as a regional representative of your territory's interests abroad. Meeting with other nobility, dealing with the Crown, what have you.

In essence, everything Irue has learned about being responsible for one's knights and followers, now expanded territory wide. Everyone relies on you, in one way or another, to see things done.
>>
>>4928122
Does that mean we can replace the Mayor's of the various towns wholesale if we feel like it (and we find someone that isn't a n Artermis plant to do so), since we're probably about to catch a wave of shit for "deposing" Byrn from them all.
>>
>>4928129
You can, in so much as there is nothing legally stopping you.
>>
>>4928131
Can I get Contact the Crown put in the Itinerary section please, At this point we really need to know what the current situation is, and get them up to speed on what we know, before Ashe gets back, with either the descendant, or the Sisters.
>>
>>4928133

Itinerary:
1. Discern knights with an affinity for Mana worth polishing.
2. Contact the Crown
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.

Done!
>>
>>4928133
>get them up to speed on what we know
I don't think the Crown is our friend, anon.
>>
>>4928137
Pretty sure that the current power structure that is in place will be far, far better for us than one that Artermis gets to hand pick when they win.

What we need to do is to cut off their ability to challenge the Crown of hereditary grounds, since it serves as a reasonable excuse for nobles to throw in behind Artermis in the upcoming Civil war.
>>
We should send the crown a letter mentioning that we are in charge now, that is a good idea
>>
Here is a question - how is Riz doing, anything U wanna tell us maybe
>>
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>>4928021
>One of you even caught on to the fact that one of the healers is both from East Heaven and has been in the Northern Wastes until recently.

Ahh yes, praise me more!
>>
>>4928217
I can't think of anything more soulcrushing than the repetition of sending out a sheet of paper condensed to be your academic and work experience as the only thing of meaningful value about you to faceless corporations that largely don't care about you only to be told you aren't qualified to do jobs that you could have done as preteen. Day in, day out, weeks into months, months into years, and the sum total of of your self worth becomes a slip of paper that is rejected often on an algorithmic whim that you will never even be made aware of because the rejections you receive are somehow a little more tolerable than the emptiness of the void you had otherwise been screaming into.

You do all of this because at the end of it you will be underpayed for your work and overworked for, likely, the rest of your life, as your well being never mattered. You were struggling to be allowed the privilege to become a replaceable cog in a larger machine, so that they would deign to share with you their tablescraps so you can continue living and pursuing your own meager interests. All of it, in pursuit of guarding the smallest remnants of a smile that has been crumbling and chipping since childhood started to fade.

I don't know what you expected out of this, but if I wanted to tell you anything then it is that the hardest and most rewarding thing is protecting the little things in your life that give you joy. The things which can so insidiously be poisoned even when not directly touched, such that in your stress you find they can't give you the smile you so desperately need. Life grinds such things down. Holding onto joy and drawing lines between what you will and will not tolerate is something many people either don't learn, or mistakenly believe they can compromise on - But there is no compromise to be had with a party whose only goal is ever their self interest, and in bargaining with life at large your opposing party has never and will never care about the things that make you a whole individual.

Give of yourself what fulfills you, but do not allow it to be taken. Do not bargain it away, thinking you may reclaim it easily later, or that the price won is worth it. It is not. It never will be. There is no greater serenity than to be content with yourself. To sleep soundly and wake easily. To spend a day with the wind in your hair and the moonlight on your skin. To laugh freely, and to collaborate with those you value.

I want to tell you that I hope you are all happy, anon. That I wish for all of you to not lose sight of the small pleasures which set you at ease.

Protect and nurture yourselves, anon. You are worth the care and concern, even and especially when you have become so chipped it is difficult to find value inside of yourself.

Also I feel like I'm worse at writing now than when I started and it's weird.

>>4928829
Good job, anon. You seem often confused about prompts but you do your best anyway!
>>
>>4928829
You did well, anon.
In fact, thanks to everyone's efforts, this could be the most competent that Irue has ever been.
>>
>>4928904
Not true, I think your writing has always remained great
>>4928993
>chomp down on artemis
>put uncle in his place and take up leadership without complications
Yeah we doin good
>>
>>4928133
That's not a good idea. The Crown has been trying to take over noble territories since the early parts of the quest, for reasons we still don't understand. We don't need to be give them anything to work with in removing us.

>>4928904
>spoiler
I've been an avid reader for my entire life. Valen Quest is one of the best works I've ever read, and that hasn't changed over the quest's lifetime. You write good, Riz. Always have.
>>
I'm actually sad this thread is over. The wait for the next one begins
>>
>>4928904
I disagree, I find it hard to read early Valen Quest compared to now. Something about your early writing feels distant and impersonal, I can't quite put my finger on it but it's there. There was that one time in the Dryad atelier too, nothing will ever be worse than that time Irue planted her fist seed in some guys fertile face field, never in my life have I read a lamer description of violence. Like Ned Flanders narrating a cage fight. Anyway, my opinion is that your writing is more captivating than ever, for what it's worth.
>>
>>4931042
I am fairly sure I wrote that metaphor with the intent of it being comedic rather than a satisfying moment of action. Irue has very few, and far between, moments of combat where they aren't getting their ass kicked.
>>
>>4931177
Was it ever in the cards to even have Irue be combat capable by "her" self?

Apart form just channeling Shade or Dryad and going to town.
>>
>>4931187
Yes, actually! There's a sort of work around to your problem hinted at early on, and off and on since.

No one seemed interested in pursuing it as an option, so it was left to the wayside.
>>
>>4931214
Is the weapon thing even a hindrance now that we have a cool claw hand?
>>
>>4931235
Yes and no.

Having a cool claw hand doesn't make you any better at fighting. And you can still be disarmed.
>>
>>4931259
That makes sense. I'd like for Irue to be able to defend herself properly but I have no idea how to pursue that as an option. Can we have a hint?
>>
>>4931214
It took us a long time to realize the bracelet was causing our weaponry issues, and that it wasn't just Rue being especially inept martially.

I assume the workaround is just putting the bracelet in our pocket. I wouldn't mind Rue spending some time getting above 'pathetic' tier in combat, but time is something we're perpetually short on.
>>
We got other people to do the fighting for Irue better keep them hands soft
>>
>>4931259
So Riz, we're nursing another Doppleganger apparition right now, right?
>>
>>4933975
No! What gives you this impression?
>>
>>4933975
Nah, I'm assuming the recent shade shenanigans are tied to the scarring we have about dying that we still haven't dealt with.
I suspect sorting that mess out will take lots of space away from people and lots of time; and we never have enough time.

>>4934555
The shade claws, presumably. shade=shade?
>>
>>4934670
It would be nice to keep the claws, but also be able to 'stow' them so we stop damaging stuff. At the very least I imagine this will take Shade mediation (bracelet off). Maybe we can find time this evening before bed; mediation doesn't usually take a very long iirc, especially compared to A Spider's Web.
>>
>>4934555
>>4934676
I hate multiposting like this, but one more thing; We've got a free itenary slot; go ahead and something to the effect of "Meditate to Shade today with bracelet removed to try and deal with the claws".
>>
>>4934677
Itinerary:
1. Discern knights with an affinity for Mana worth polishing.
2. Contact the Crown
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. Meditate to Shade today with bracelet removed to try and deal with the claws

Done!

Also the claw has to do with your scar, not a new apparition. Marchovic mentioned that scars leave their effects in different ways on different people. You... Haven't really figured out what yours is capable of. Shade scars do not come with manuals.
>>
>>4934555
A few different things, Ashe said that the whole apparition thing could happen again, and Irue has had someone whispering in their ear for a while, like when we killed all those rebels in the forest. "I don't know what right or wrong is anymore" or something. I dunno, the timing of the claws seem very convenient, they appeared exactly when they needed to, our Uncle was trying to abuse our wound to force compliance and could have done a number on Irue had the claw not appeared at that exact moment. Just seems like the result of intelligence to me.
>>
>>4934832
It can happen again, simply because there is nothing preventing it from doing so. Marchovic also warned you that not tending to your scar would eventually birth a new, stronger apparition - Because the scar is, in essence, a Shade core that is attached to you. How you handle it determines whether that attachment becomes parasitic or symbiotic.

What is was a core of helps shape what kind of effects it might have. For instance, yours is from dopplerue, obviously a doppleganger - Manifest Insecurity. Coming to terms with dopplerue's memories and your relationship with it, your own actions and the like, lends you to having overcome that insecurity. Or, more accurately, to have grown because of it! So one symbiotic effect may be that the core itself will feed off instances of insecurity in you, suppressing those feelings and allowing you to act more confidently when you otherwise wouldn't.

A physical manifestation takes its queues from the apparition once more. Dopplerue was a doppleganger. Its primary ability was emulation and in its lifetime it grew to heavily associate the form of a Revenant with strength, so in times of need, it emulated that Revenant to pretend it had the strength it needed. Your claw is familiarly shaped because it is that same emulation - Which is to say, that isn't its actual form. It may not have an actual form.

But to say it was a result of intelligence isn't strictly incorrect: You needed strength, and dopplerue's reflexive image of strength was the Revenant, and so the scar emulated that experience.

There is another aspect influencing it which you, the players, specifically voted on. It takes a more subtle touch to influencing the Shade scar's results.

In summary, you're seeing a tangible result of progress made slowly tending to your own traumas. It is progress, but as your utter lack of control over it attests, far from finished.

That said, it is worth noting that while you are correct that dealing with your shade scar exclusively would take you a lot of time, you may not necessarily make any progress on it even if you focused solely on doing so. Much like any trauma, while focusing on overcoming your problems can provide progress, time and personal growth is often the largest sway in overcoming such things.

To provide an example: you can think of it like the difference between bracing yourself to not be afraid of bees for the duration of a picnic VS internalizing the realization that bees aren't out to ruin your bare-footed life.
>>
>>4934866
Bees are nothing compared to wasps. Those fuckers are definitely out for me.
>>
>>4934893
I wish I could say you were wrong anon, but in the past two days i have been attacked by two hornets and three wasps that found their way inside my room. Two of which just flew out of nowhere and launched preemptive sting/bite assaults.

They are the embodiment of hatred and scorn.



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