"Is something wrong, Master?"

Ari looked up at you with concern. The shade of her eyes seemed to have permanently changed to a more amberish, golden hue... But with Dryad returning to sleep, they no longer shown so luminescently. Once she had a proper bath, and some fresh clothes, there shouldn't be any distinct outward signs of her affiliation with the sealed Mana... Which just left the matter of her contamination.

Despite constant questioning, you'd never gained a full understanding of what it was, or even how it was supposed to spread. Considering the subject of your interrogation, you had to wonder if there even were concrete answers to those questions at the time... And if not then, had there been any since? Somewhere, locked away in Ephlesia? Did the Luna Dominion of now have a better understanding of what was going on?

Even if they did, broaching the subject would be a swift way to attract unwanted curiosity. The last thing you needed was to try and wage a war against the Shrine right now, and you had little doubt in your mind about their tolerance of the contamination.

"No." You shake your head, clearing the thoughts away. "Just thinking about Carona."

You had remarkably less opportunity to do any time biding than initially forecasted. Returning to Carona had almost instantly become a less triumphant prospect for you, and... If you were being entirely honest, you almost felt like procrastinating on your arrival just to put off having to deal with all of that.

Luckily it was a several day walk back to Carona regardless, and you did have a house not far from here you could while away some time at. It wasn't as if anyone else knew you'd finished your business out here, after all.

Of course, there was also the option of expediting your arrival via Oakenrue. It remained somewhat active, despite Dryad's return to slumber... Though it certainly didn't seem anywhere near as lively as it once had, but having it carry you would no doubt get you back faster than walking. You probably needed to figure out what you were going to do with it, as well... Just keeping it around town as this hulking, flesh covered abomination was unlikely to engender comfort in the citizens.

Decisions. Should probably start with where you were heading to first, for now.

>Hurry to Carona!
>Stop by your house.
>Am I forgetting something...? - [Unlocks Optional Boss]

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

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

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

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

Misc notes:I told you, you'd instantly know when it was here.

Memo:
1. Get gifts for all our companions. Miniature Oakenrue for Ari, Tellenford Diary for Mim, Choker for Kara, mini-Vacation for Rinnier we can make Priat take her out on a social date. Maybe set up something where the people of Carona can thank her for her work and help remind her WHY she does it.
2. Invite Marchovic on adventures next time there's a chance.
3. Mim said "When are you going to tell her?" Tell what to whom?

>Hurry to Carona!

Is Irue still on the rag? You sidestepped this important question last thread.

And finally...

>'Hearts In Harmony' - Share our dreams. Share our nightmares. For just one day, can't we share each other?
I mentioned there were hints to this, but realized later there was no real reason to be vague about what it does.

Effect: Creates a synergistic link between Irue and one other person, which lasts for 24 hours. This link causes you to "count" as each other, as you share the very concept of yourself with each other for the duration.

You share senses, to an extent you can share thoughts and emotions. Perhaps more interesting to you, however, is that you share everything Irue is capable of with your partner. Yes, this includes access to every Atelier power you've unlocked.

The pre-req to using it? You need to have a certain level of mutual trust with your target, and sleep with them. Nothing lewd, I mean, literally, sleep alongside them. You'll know it works (the trust is there) if you share a dream/nightmare.

>>1942873
Is this the special forgetting? Like maybe the god-damned tree that took over our house?

>>1942904
Huh. So we're good with Ari and Kara.

>>1942873
Time for suffering Quest!
>>Am I forgetting something...?
So you're still angry at us for staying in the Altier then.

>you did have a house not far from here you could while away some time at
The one that got wrecked by plants? I don't think it's really livable at the moment.

>>1942904
>trust
>rue
pick one

Would we have gotten a different powerset if we'd chosen differently?

>>1943025
Honestly I'm rather concerned about Ari's reaction to the nymph wood.

And its possible growth.

>>1942872
Didn't Luna mind rape us once too?

>>1942873
Right, the vote:
>>Stop by your house.
We should see if Solving did anything to the plants there, at least.

Anyone else up for physically connecting Ari to us with rope or vines or something? We have a history of losing track of her in these woods.

>>1943040
We meditated to Luna, it found something it didn't like in our head, and we let them take it rather than fight them. A mistake, in hindsight.

>>1943045
No, I think that was the right choice at the time. But we can't meditate on Luna ever again. Shit let's make sure to warn Ari about the basics and in more depth later.

Also are we supposed to talk to the Far before leaving? We should at least say goodbye.

>>1943045
>Oakenrue
>"Something about as long as I am? That I can wrap my hands around. It needs to be sturdy."
It can move us around as it is, then return to its 'original' form when we don't want a giant, flesh-covered tree make in our likeness following us around.

>>1942872
Can we stimulate this Oakenrue with the bracelet?

Also fuck us the Shrine has had people see it.

>>1943061
>with the bracelet?
We've been over this, the /only/ thing we've been able to do with the bracelet is meditate while wearing it, creating Apparitions.
Though I wonder what would happen if we meditated to Dryad, now that we're outside?

>Shrine has had people see it.
It's been so long, I figure a few, high-ranked Luna adepts are the only ones that might recognize it was what it is.

>>1943089
You keep forgetting when we linked up with the oakenrue (that got eaten by the Fae) and lost some humanity.

Like you said. We have been over this.

>>1942878
>Am I forgetting something...?
Uhh
>knights nowhere to be found
>house got wrecked by dryad apparitions
>library getting wrecked by nymph's wood
Jesus Christ, is the place even alright? Priat punched a hole through a wall and the kitchen got destroyed for a second time. How is it still standing?

>>1943115
How the fuck did I quote the wrong post twice

>>1943089
It also switched with us when ShadowRue was with us.

And it's been heavily hinted that we are using it *wrong* as it is.

>>1943056
Can the Oakenrue still return to its staff form? We should check since a lot of things have changed with it and Dryad.

Like all the flesh it wears. The fuck is with that.

>>1943124
It was already fleshy before, but now it's extra fleshy. Don't you like having flesh on your face? I bet Oakenrue feels the same way

>>1942873
. . . . Asche is going to be pissed we were gone for so long too. And we really need to grill her about what she is. How she recognized Shadowrue.

We should get her a gift too. Damned if I know what she wants though.

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>>1943133
> MFW you try to trap me in your fleshy prisons

>>1943113
Right, I remember that now. But I'm remembering right, all we got out of the link was limited control over them, nothing else.
>>1943119
>Shadowrue
I think that was more her than the bracelet.
>"wrong"
yep, but I suspect that's the intended function is more than "use it to meditate on X"
>>1943124
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

>>1943137
We shouldn't do anything for her until we get some answers. I don't trust her at all. She keeps major secrets from us, without even a given reason. It's been implied she knows what the 'intended' function of the bracelet is, for one.


Unrelatedly, did we ever figure out what the deal with the Nightgaunts was? Oakenbears were connected to Dryad, but there's not a clear connection between Dryad and them.

>>1942873
>Where did the Nymph Wood shoots that we brought into the forest go? Priat carried away one, but what happened to the other? Is it taking over the forest already?

Also
>""After Priat and I come back though, I'll come find you. There's still more that I want to say." Where is Mim?

>And where are our knights?

>And isn't there still oakenbears around here?

>>1943161
I think Nightgaunts are the trapped souls of the Dryad adepts, lashing at everything in blind rage.

Or something like that.

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>wash Ari and ourselves off in the river
>tell the oakenrue to find and store some apples for Kara
>tell Ari the basics of Dryad and corruption, tell her that the corruption will be our secret

>>1942873
>Am I forgetting something...?
We left web at house
House was a changing maze
Golem going wild at sight of Mim
Where's Priat?

>>1943089

Did you forget? The true function of the bracelet is to command apparitions.

>>1943467
I think it's actually to command Mana

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I laid down because I felt like shit, and woke up 7 hours later.

I think I give you guys like 24 hours for a Forgetting now? So like 17 more hours to go. Make sure to break the tie on the vote in the meantime. If that's not the case though, give me a heads up so I can make a note of it somewhere. Just woke up, so I feel a bit scattered.

>>1943004
>Is this the special forgetting?
It is, anon! The correct answer [Unlocks Optional Boss].

>>1943025
>Would we have gotten a different powerset if we'd chosen differently?
No, powers are strictly tied to the Atelier. Though I suppose it might have been more sickening to you if your reward for killing/abandoning Ari was an ability revolving around connections, and one for saving.

>>1943124
It can go staff.
https://ask.fm/RizQM/answers/143185377302

>>1943584
Is Ari going to freak out at things now because Dryad is raging through her?

Also about the question of Rinnier coming off her rag?

But more importantly you gotta admit that as we play and you write Irulen that also has an affect on us, the players. Hating Carona is practically a meme now.

>>1942873
>Stop by your house.

Travel with the Oakenrue.

>>1943654
>Hating Carona is practically a meme now.
It's not a meme, anon. It's justified.

>Is Ari going to freak out
Something to keep an eye on.

>>1943702
See? When you say it that way I remember how big of a pain in the ads Carona has been and I forget that we also met people who weren't total dicks like Priat and Bartender lady and those people.

I think some of them even wanted to be our friends too.

>>1943723
If we're being explicit about it, Irue is well aware that most of the people in Carona are more or less blameless.

>"The Mayor is going to answer for everything he's done." You reply without missing a beat, "He's actively plotted against my family in the very land they look after, out of some misguided sense of patriotism." You crane your neck back to glare down at Carona, "The same sense of misbegotten good intentions that's going to doom every citizen down there to the royal's retribution the moment word of his actions get to the wind."

>"I guess you can't help but act on your family name..." Dullem groused, scratching at the back of his neck nervously, "But the entire town seems..."

>"Not the town, the Mayor specifically." you shook your head, "My aunt and uncle trusted this man to oversee this place, and he is the one that failed; Not the people living here. He'll be the one to pay the price." You raise your chin imperiously and snort dismissively, "That it works to the benefit of my family is simply a convenient perk, I'm doing this for my reasons."

>"Eh?"

>"His men attacked me, abducted Rinnier, tried to use Kara against me, and imprisoned Asche." You tick off the offenses on your fingers one by one, "I am no one's savior, if he thinks he can act however he wants then I'll relish the opportunity to be the first to show him the consequences."

But that said, the situation isn't so cut and dry. You have more enemies and opposition in Carona than just the Mayor, be it due to political reasons or just good old fashioned racism and resistance to your methods. While there are plenty of people in Carona who've not done you any wrong, there is an extremely small minority of them who have done you any good, and a far cry more that have actively plotted against you or are currently engaged in being obstructive. Even if you put all of that aside, Irue (and by extension the players, really) have no fond memories of Carona. Every time you went there, bad things happened.

Hating Carona is perfectly justified, even if you acknowledge that many of its citizens are innocent.

>>1943723
The best thing I can say about that place is that some of them aren't dicks.

>>1943769
>>1943744
Did we ever clear out the remaining mercenaries working as guards?

And I thought everyone working against us died? Goddammit.

>>1943914
>Did we ever clear out the remaining mercenaries working as guards?
Nope! You had no idea which guards were mercenaries or not, and the destruction of the Banshee gave them all ample time to go to the ground. There are certainly plenty who have left, lacking a paycheck now that the Mayor is dead, but that does little to purge the standing guard and populace of people sympathetic to the Mayor's actions, or otherwise opposed to the noble's inactions and your presence.

Rinnier has been working on weeding out rebellious elements, but there's a lot going on in Carona. Reconstruction, reorganization, accounting for the injured and dispossessed, resource allotments... You may have chose differently had you put Carona before Ari, but Rinnier's priority is the people, and so her focus has been on helping them first, and cracking down on the splinter cells later. You'd need to ask her for a status report when you arrive.

>>1943934
Well we can always bring in our Oakenrue to help build stuff.

Oh yeah, we also had people bitching about the demi-humans. Hrm.

We really need to figure out how to make them feel better. We have to give them some sort of religion or other.

Maybe we should secretly test them for their response to Dryad. Or get them to hang out in the forest with the Fae. Or on the Ice Queen atelier. See if they pick up attributes of those places.

I bet they would make great not so secret police though with their ability to manipulate people and be sociopathic. Sociopaths can still have ideals after all.

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>>1943967
>give them some sort of religion or other.

>>1943975
It's the opiate of the masses.

Hrm.

Well so long as we're the only source of Faedeka it's okay.

>>1943975
But I was thinking that if we crushed them with an apparition of Shade, maybe we could pump them full of Dryad and make them Yandere for us. While also terrified of us.

We should probably get Marchovic to talk to them about Shade and why they felt like such cap afterwards and what can be done to work through it.

But I want my secret police terror squads.

>>1943584
>So like 17 more hours to go.
I assume that means we haven't Remembered the right thing yet. Back to the archives.

>>1943975
We . .
Uh.

We do still have the Faedeka right?

Did we b

>>1944075
We 'sold' it all to that trader, Remember? Who then likely sold it in that wretched city.

>>1944062
I provide the full window regardless of whether the right answer is gotten early, or not. There are a couple reasons for that, like the opportunity to remember unrelated things, but in this case I just couldn't remember if I typically gave 24 hours for a Forgetting since swapping to update blocks. No one has complained so far, so I'm assuming I do. In the meantime, I'm just binge reading all of Panzer Commander Quest. It's interesting to see how quickly it shifted from military silliness to eldritch mysticism. Also the waifus are amusing, I guess? I seem really bad at making characters that anons get attached to, so I'm trying to figure out how everyone else does it so easily.

Also if you get this Forgetting correct, you already know the 'reward'. So naturally if you don't understand how the answer would lead to the reward, there's little chance of it being correct. But it's pretty obvious, I'm sure you won't screw it up.

>>1944075
You sold all your Faedka to Yuri, anon. He is now traveling with everything you had left, and you've no idea where he is. There's a fair bit left over in Carona from the recent Oakenrue incursions, though.

>>1944099
Huh. I wonder if people with connections to Mana get withdrawal from it .. .

Or if it's a way to find our who is connected to Dryad preemptively.

> Getting the answer means a "reward"

Honestly I sometimes feel Irue is happiest when she has something she can just punch to solve.

>>1944099
>I seem really bad at making characters that anons get attached to
>Says the person who wrote Elly

Who is your favorite waifu in PCQ?

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>>1944099
. . . . Seriously?

Riz we come here FOR the characters. It's certainly not to live out a power fantasy. And we're *really bad* at puzzles. And diplomacy.

You write characters that feel almost painfully real. Fuck their waifus. Their waifus? Shit.

We're just pic related.

>>1944161
I feel like there's probably a taboo regarding talking about other quests in your own quest, but I've got nothing but time to burn until the Forgetting window closes, anyway.

I don't really have one, but Malachi is nice. Whether that one can be considered a waifu or not be damned.

As of the thread 11, Signy seems likable, but not the sort I'd consider a romantic, or even a platonic, option. Exceedingly little of her personality and background has been explained at this point other than her father having been a major player in the rebel movement that she's feeling a little outclassed in leading. Shields of Liberty in general apparently hold her in high regard, but she herself seems to doubt that she can fill those shoes, and is more or less just coasting along with the MC? I feel like the only attraction being forged there is a blatant result of the Suspension Bridge effect, and the suggestions being planted by the reoccurring gag that they're a pair when going under cover. It's a shame, because it seems clear that she has potential to be a competent and effective character in her own right, but got pigeonholed into being a follower very early on.

Maddy's got some fiery damsel stuff going on, but her characterization seems a bit too inconsistent so far. I appreciate the signs of general insecurity she has with her disabilities and general stunted growth, but the longer it goes on the more it seems she's more "damsel" than "fire". Her introduction was very commanding, and only seemed to reduce itself into something meeker and more docile as time goes on. She has a lot of confidence issues, and problems with approval - Both her father's, and the MC's, and I feel like it's obvious she's the designated waifu (arranged marriage and all), but as of now there really isn't anything there I'm comfortable with. She's a damaged character, but the damage feels forced, and if any romance comes from it being fixed, it wouldn't feel very touching.

They're both cute, but my problem with them stems primarily from something I'm still struggling to put into words. Maybe it's because the focus of the narrative is elsewhere, or maybe it gets better as the quest goes on (only on thread 11, but working through it rapidly), but they don't feel fleshed out. They're aesthetically and shallowly pleasing, and I enjoy their characters, but I don't feel like there's enough depth to either of them as it stands to constitute a meaningful relationship that could affect anything more satisfying than surface-level gratification.

It certainly doesn't help that thus far, it feels as if they'd all but lost their voice in favor of following the MC. I can't feel motivations in their actions beyond just arbitrarily entrusting their agendas to someone they just met.

That said, I'm enjoying PCQ and its characters. I'm hoping they get fleshed out more as I read further. 11 threads is hardly a fair scale to judge a quest on, so final thoughts are pending until completion.

>>1944099
We don't attach because we don't trust, because your characters are complex and we don't trust their motives. And we can't power through that distrust because we're a wimpy noble, so if w did trust someone and it didn't work, our only recourse involves words like "collateral damage".
>>1944190
Also this. All of it.

>>1944322
I trust Ari implicitly. Asche slightly less because I don't understand Asches motives or background very well. Rinnier is next down because she has a greater obligation to her people that could lead her to betray us. Kara I trust implicitly to mean well but less so to be able to live up to her promises.

I trust Irulen to fuck things up in an honest and straight forward manner and eventually fixing things more or less maybe by breaking some other things.

But Rue has been practically a hermit growing up who lost her family and was betrayed by the remainder who blamed her for not, apparently, raising herself better because that's totally the young orphan girls job.

Who spent a decade so wanting someone to love her that she turned to mana and was solidly denied.

And when she finally found that love it was from the Fae.

Oh and her first exposure to authority with Carona was a vast conspiracy. Which was actually pretty small time to the one we just discovered.

Oh and the first person to say they want to be our friend in a way clear enough for a dumbass like us to understand is on the part of the conspiracy we just denied. Although I wouldn't say we joined Dryad just yet either. In fact we seem to still be the only one on "Our" side.

I think she has pretty good reasons to not trust people.

>>1944233
Oh, thread 11 is an interesting one. I feel your input on the situation established in it could be very useful once you catch up.

>>1944190
In addition to this, remember when we yelled at Mim? This is still being brought up as our lowest point. Anons would not feel that way if they weren't fond of her.

Another thing many have already mentioned is that we can't really feel safe with any of the characters. They all think in ways we barely understand, and even when we understand, we often put our collective foot in the mouth. We just don't know how to deal with them.

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>>1944353
>>1944322

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>>1944233
Reminder that Holy Sword Quest is not dead but only sleeps.

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>>1944233
Fuck Waifus. By their very nature they're shallow and one dimensional. Acquire swords and save the day. Ain't got no time for bitches.

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>>1944233
DEEPEST Snek Pussy LORE for best girl.

>>1944368
>>1944371
>>1944375
I don't know what any of this is.

>By their very nature they're shallow and one dimensional.
I have my doubts about this. There are certainly plenty of them which do fit that criteria, but I find that a flaw of the writing, rather than the concept. Hiss in Snakecatcher was an interesting, flawed character with motives and some manner of depth to her which functioned effectively as a waifu, for example. Or I guess that would be the difference between a 'waifu' and an actual 'wife'.

It's something I'd pursue more vivaciously in a different quest. Though given that I'm not confident in running 2 quests in tandem, and that FoxFire's potential reboot is next in line after Valen, that "third" quest idea seems perilously far off.

>>1944402
Holy Sword Quest. If you have downtime then you should read it.

Also Hiss was supposed to be the BBEG.

> Or I guess that would be the difference between a 'waifu' and an actual 'wife'.

Exactly my point. Make them some hung other than just "potential love interest".

>>1944375
>By their very nature they're shallow and one dimensional.
Especially when they're written as love interests first, instead of, you know, actual characters.
I'm not a fan of romance in quests at all, personally. It almost always bogs things down, due to anons spending large chunks of time pursuing and maintaining relationships, instead of talking to other characters, or pursuing the quest's main goal.
It also has a nasty habit of causing waifu wars; no one wins those. Even if you 'win', the losers become guerilla saboteurs.

>>1944453
Chryssa a shit.

>>1944402
Is nymph wood like a replacement Mana? Artificial life that pushes Dryad out?

Gonna call the window here and try to get an update up, then get some rest.

>>1942899
Carona!

>>1943045
>>1943655
House!

>Special Forgetting
...Failed. Well, moving on with the arc, I suppose.

>>1946874
>I have absolute confidence that everyone will get that one when it shows up.
>You'll get it though, I have faith. It's impossible for you to not get it, you know? Missing that is probably the only thing you could do to disappoint me.
>I will be disappointed if you don't get the special Forgetting, though.
>Missing that one is 100% disappointment.
Ah, there's that familiar sense of failure.

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>>1946922
I have absolutely no idea what it could be

>>1946922
>It's impossible for you to not get it, you know?
>It's impossible for you to not get it
>It's impossible
>impossible

>>1946922
It's probably my fault, because I know for a fact several of you know the answer to it. I suppose I didn't provide enough context clues here for you to realize the answer applied here, though.

As a hint, the answer was tied to a destination. Specifically a place you could go which would have led to the aforementioned [Optional Boss Fight]. There was a purpose and meaning to going there, and as it's a designated "fight", obviously there was meaning behind the act of fighting it.

But, ultimately it was always optional. There's nothing to be lost from leaving things as they are; As they've been, and will likely continue to be. All things take their course.

>>1946922
Who would even be out here to fight, anyway? We only brought Mim and Priat out here, and we left Mim at the house. It wasn't the house, Dryad is dealt with, Ari is with us.

I haven't the foggiest idea what it could have been.

>>1946982
It was the Shrine, wasn't it?
I didn't even know you were talking about a location

>>1946982
I mean, I'd love to beat the snot out of our aunt, but I doubt that's it. We're on uncertain terms with Luna and Artemis, but that's not anything actionable right now. We don't have any other noteworthy enemies right now.

>>1946982
>meaning behind the act of fighting it.
>fighting it.
>it

The ruins of the Dryad shrine?

>>1946991
>It was the Shrine, wasn't it?
Yes! Though as for what you would fight there... There is something obscenely powerful lurking there, you know? It was far from defeated. The emotions that lingered here were too old, too powerful.

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>>1947028

>>1947028
Considering all the trouble we went to to finish that mess, I figured we were finally done with all that.

>>1947028
Well not like it's going anywhere.

We have to go back to track down the shadow creatures at some point any ways. Honestly I thought they were going to be trashing the town.

>>1947038
> Return to Namek

Echhhhhhhh

>>1947028
>There is something obscenely powerful lurking there, you know?
We've been there, had a vision, had that vision removed, sure. But there was nothing there last time, Us interacting with Dryad's dream shouldn't have changed anything there.

>>1947060
Yeah I honestly don't feel bad about not getting this one.

It's in the "deal with it later" column of shit we have to handle.

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>>1947050
wut?

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>>1947081
Were we going to rush off there right away to look into things? Or make sure the strange plant that are our house wasn't twisting into something that could maybe kill all life? The drunken sociosads that are being led by a room temperature IQ muscle ditz? The town we hate where the only really competent person is overwhelmed and a target for possible violence and protected by our "knights" who might be getting shanked themselves? Our eldritch childhood companion who has some serious explaining to do? Contacting our Aunt to let her know the secret society thing is much more serious than anyone thought? See if our cousin is okay? Tentatively deal with Mim and her whole "Luna Adept" deal?

Nah man let's run off to a cave to fight ghosts. Ghosts that we beat once already.

Fuck. That. Noise. It's been good for hundreds of years, I don't think it's really that urgent. I mean yeah now in a *Meta* sense I do. But Irulen has a lot going on. Quite frankly even if we got the forgetting I'm not sure we would have wanted to run off right away to fight that shit.

> MFW currently reading Yotsubato

>>1947144
To be fair, If we waited until we didn't have 'more important' stuff to do, we'd never make it out there.

If this was a closure thing, I'd be for going out there and finishing things. But we just finished things. Seems like all going there would do is reopen freshly bandaged wounds.

And honestly, Rue isn't a fighter. A boss being out there is more a deterrent than anything.

>>1947209
Like I said earlier, I figured we'd get around to it later when digging more into the whole Dryad muster and possible source of the Shadows since that's where we first saw them.

> Rue isn't a fighter

Literally can't hold a weapon. Destroyed a town and murdered a man with her (oaken)bear hands.

>>1947028
Riiiiiiiiz what happens if Irulens hands become lethal weapons?

>>1947315
You don't need hands to live.

>>1947317
But would they fall off?

File: oh my god I made irue loo(...).png (686 KB, 1800x2000)

686 KB PNG

Riz, the worst part about you not describing characters is that drawing fanart is a pain. I'm going to assume nobody went shopping and that Rinnier and Ari are still using Irue's wardrobe of identical shirts and dresses.
Also, I had no idea Rinnier was supposed to be older than Irue, especially since she acts like some teenaged anime character most of the time.

>>1947412
That is excellent, anon! You even included the best character!
I wish I had a lick of artistic talent.

>>1947412
>Upperleft
Hey, you included Dopplerue!

I have included some descriptions of them through the quest, but since I figure most people make their own mental images anyway, only of the really iconic features. Some minor corrections to the image posted being things like...

Irue:
>No chest at all
>Less hips.
If you can discern Irue's gender, from the torso, it's not androgynous enough.

Ari:
>Shorter hair
...That's about it. Her hair is closer to Kara's length, neck length at most. I don't know if it was on purpose, but you did nail that her hair is a bit stringier.

Rinnier:
>More hips
>Slightly more chest
It's been mentioned a couple times as one offs, but Rinnier is actually fairly bountiful. When she was borrowing clothes from Irue, they strained to stay together even if a button or two loose - To say nothing of how restrictive they felt in general. She's also got the second best muscle tone, behind Kara... but Kara's blatantly unfair.

This is still amazing, though. And really unexpected. I love the general facial expressions going on between them. Except Dopplerue has never had a reason to smile.

>>1947412
...Also I can't express how pleased I am you got the bracelet right. I imagine "dual ringed" doesn't express a proper picture most of the time, but it's exactly what I had in mind.

>>1947028
That thing? Hell no, we'll sic Marchovich on it.
Also what the hell, how were we supposed to get this one?

>>1947412
Goddammit anon, how am I supposed to draw my shitty reaction faces after this amazing thing? How?

I will draw them anyway.

>>1947418
Thanks. Never forgetti
>>1947430
Thanks for these! I'll fix them up when I color it
>Rinnier is even bustier
>Irue is flat as board
Genetics are cruel
>>1947438
You did always describe it as rings meeting at an angle, so I couldn't really imagine anything else. Also, is the gem on it right? I think you talked about it once and then never brought it up again
>>1947460
Good, I like your Irue reaction faces

>>1947464
Yeah, the gem is fine. It got mentioned really early on, but never really brought up again. I don't even remember what the gem was supposed to be now. I don't think I ever even specified. Make it whatever you want, it'll be retroactively canon.

>>1947473
The only things I remember about the gem is the copies the Oakenrues made:
They were amber, I think, until they tasted blood, at which point they turned blood red.
They are the weak point of the Oakenrues
All of them seem to have a copy of it.

>>1946982
> I didn't provide enough context clues
Yeah, no kidding. I kept rereading the opening trying to figure out what the fuck this was in relation to. Very frustrating.

>>1947664
The only primary clue here being that the choice was made in regards to your immediate destination, and went over things you could do in the forest before leaving. Specifically, each of your 2 default options were your potential destinations, where the Forgetting itself would have been a third destination. Beyond that, the tag about what it unlocked was meant to help hint towards what sort of location you would would be relevant to that clause.

All it took for anon to instantly get it was to specify that it was a destination, which was something I had initially thought could be intuited from the discussion of the OP and the choices presented, but when anons began to guess wildly and none of them were destinations, I realized I hadn't been straight forward enough with it.

However, I knew for a fact (due to it being brought up during the Atelier a couple times) that some anons knew the answer, so in this case it's more my fault for not framing it more concisely, than any of yours.

>>1947680
If you thought that you hadn't been straight forward enough about the only primary clue then why didn't you say anything? It's not like you haven't clarified forgettings before.

>>1947733
I did clarify it in >>1946982 , and I am counting it as having been remembered. Though given the general reaction to what it may have been, it's being filed away as something Irue is keeping in mind for later, as opposed to the traditional Forgetting habit of superseding all other votes.

Falling asleep trying to get this update up, though.

Rip

"We'll stop by the house before heading back." You nudge Ari forward after finally deciding on a course of action. The Dryad apparitions had all but taken over your house when you had left, but most of the rooms had remained more or less serviceable... And if you were going to be heading back to Carona, you may as well check on whether putting the forgotten Mana back to sleep had affected that any.

Beyond that, you could take a shot at seeing if the bathrooms were still somewhat intact. You'd spent two full weeks in the Atelier, and Ari had been trapped in there even longer... Which didn't exactly mean much, considering the timid Testament in question smelled more like a walking stack of pancakes than anything else. Even still, just looking at the amount of dried sap that held her hair in place made you feel uncomfortable by extension, and so she needed to be cleaned up before you made it back to Carona.

Even if you had to dip her head into the river, she was getting her hair washed.

There were more pressing reasons to make a stop before Carona, though. "I've got something to talk to you about while we're there, too. It's important, so I need you to listen closely."

"Yes, Master!" Ari beamed up at you instantly, not so much as hesitating to give you her full attention. Despite her investment however, you were momentarily clueless as to where to start, or how to explain what you were worried about to her. You didn't fully understand the contamination she was likely a carrier of, which made the task of impressing the dangers upon her... Difficult.

"I don't know what happened to you in the Atelier, but it's something we need to keep secret." If you were being completely sure, you had a decent mind to try and keep Ari herself secluded away as well, but the insistent grip she had on your arm hinted towards that being an unlikely outcome. "Especially from the Shrine. If at all possible, I want you to stay away from the attendants, and any Adept you come across."

"Even Rinny?" She blinked confusedly, and it took you a moment to remember that Rinnier was supposed to have been a Salamander Adept, as much of Teranford's royal family had been before her. Just because she didn't display the powers of an Adept didn't necessarily mean she was safe from the contamination... But as one of your Testament, it also wasn't as if you could hide Ari from her forever. Especially considering the somewhat friendly relationship they seemed to share.

"...She's still safe to be around." You hedge after some thought, "But keep it a secret from her, as well. It's just between us, understood?"

A warm smile spread contentedly across her face as she gripped onto your arm a little tighter. "Yes, Master."

"If you start to hear something... Anything, make sure to talk to me about it." You weren't sure just what the contamination was supposed to manifest as, but you had gathered it had been something similar to a song, themed around reunion. "It doesn't matter what I'm doing, I'll make time to listen." You doubted there would be anything more directly pressing to you than the resurgence of a potentially world ending contamination in your Testament, but- "...As soon as I can." You amend yourself after a moment, future proofing whatever inevitable knot of obligation you may find yourself tied up in during the future.

"Yes, Master!"

You paused after stepping out of the forest and into your backyard, glancing down with some mild suspicion at the sap-covered girl still clinging to your arm to help her walk. Despite the restrictions you had been placing on her, she only seemed to grow more pleased with every affirmation reported. "Are you sure you're listening?"

"I'm always listening, Master." The literally amber eyed girl replied, tilting her neck back to look up at you. "Stay away from the Shrine, tell you if I start to hear anything. No matter what, you'll make time for me, and it's something we'll never, ever tell anyone."

"You don't have a problem with any of that?" If someone had tried to enforce something like this on you, there was little doubt in your mind you'd have likely held a secret from them out of spite. Ari, on the other hand...

"I won't disappoint you, Master."

...Ari wasn't like you, at all. The honest smile she wore while promising to do her best didn't hold so much as a trace of the resistance, or resentment, that would have clouded your expression in a similar position. "Alright." You'd accept it for now, and hope she was true to her word. You didn't have any reason to doubt the timid Testament, and more to the point, you didn't have any other recourse than to try and trust her earnesty on the matter. "Then how about now?"

"?" Her head tilted quizzically.

"How do you feel? I don't know how conscious you were, but you were in there for at least a month before I came. Do you feel any different? Something that wasn't there before?"

She blinked slowly, a troubled curve twisting through her lips in thought. "I feel... A little stronger?" She stressed the qualifier uncertainly, grip fastening around your sleeve as she admitted it. "I can't feel my bruises anymore, so my body isn't as sore." You remember the mottled skin that had splotched across her body. Deeply inflicted wounds from her time as a slave, which had been reluctant to fully heal even after the months you spent with her. Given their longevity, you wouldn't have been surprised if there had been some sort of internal bleeding, but such a judgement wasn't something you had been qualified to make. "Everything seems a little brighter now, I think?"

"Too bright? Are your eyes more sensitive to light?" As far as you knew, she'd been holed up inside of the wooden golem for most of the month. If that were the case, it wouldn't be unusual for her eyes to have adjusted to the darkness until now.

"Nn." She shook her head, wine red hairband catching a sheen of sunlight from between her clumped lockes of hair. "I'm just happy you came. I knew you'd come, but..." Ari trailed off quietly, nuzzling against your arm affectionately. "You really did. Even for someone like me."

You decided not to mention how close you came to having ultimately abandoned her inside the Atelier. That was that, and this was the choice you had made in the end; What-Ifs would only hurt things here.

"If your time in the Atelier helped you recover, then at least some good came out of it." Fingers run across your scalp tiredly, momentarily hesitating when you couldn't find the customary texture of your headband. "Pretty soon you'll probably be able to walk on your own, as well."

Ari tripped forward almost on queue, just barely being prevented from a sudden faceplant by your grip.

"...Well, maybe not that soon." You correct yourself with a sigh. "At the very least, you can probably get around with that apparition aiding you."

"I'll... Do my best." She hesitated for a moment before answering, glancing behind the two of you, towards the lazily following figure of the towering, flesh covered abomination. What would have inspired fear in anyone else was something of a symbol of safety as far as Ari was concerned; It had been her faithful protector for months now. Her gaze lingered on it cryptically for a few moments, before she made an effort to stand a little more solidly on her own two feet. She mumbled something under her breath, tongue darting out to wet her lips uncertainly.

One step.
And then the next.

A determined glint shimmered through her eyes, smile setting firmly. Her hand hadn't left your sleeve, but each step was more certain than the last.

Your house was still inseperably intertwined with the roots and vines that the Dryad apparitions had ensnared it with, but they no longer held the sort of pulsing life which had filled the labyrinthine corridors. There was plenty of time for you to wander its once familiar halls to inspect what kind of damage had been done, and the outcome was... Discouraging. There wasn't any way that the original structure of your house could be extracted from beneath the invading plantlife.

You didn't know how long this place had been in your family, but you'd spent over half of your life here. It wasn't just a house to you, it had been home. Your home.

A frown burgeons as you shake your head silently, hand sliding down the roughly barkhewn walls. You could have it torn down and rebuilt, but you doubted there was enough time, or resources, to do it any time soon. Not with Carona's own reconstruction taking priority... And even if you did rebuild, it wouldn't be the same house you had lived in until now.

All things considered, if all you'd had to pay to get out of this whole endeavour were memories, then you should be thankful... But just because the price wasn't crippling, didn't make the loss any less bitter to swallow.

Fortunately, the baths still somewhat worked. You'd left Ari to get herself clean, promising to return with a fresh set of clothes before she was done... And a final parting warning that she'd have to do it again if her hair was still sticky when she got out. You doubt the bashful Testament was as peculiar about the state of her hair as you were, but if she found your insistence unreasonable, she didn't object.

Which left you a brief moment of time to wander around on your own. Time to think on your own.

For over a decade, this house had been your entire world. You had been content to while away every day of your life, secluded away reading and pursuing whatever hobby that caught your interests. If it hadn't been for the sudden arranged marriage, you'd have probably still been walking these halls, nose buried in a book somewhere.

It was hard to even recall the time before you had passed the Rite; Like a distant dream. Nondescript feelings of nostalgia, from a time when you hadn't felt chained to the family name, or its obligations. Things had changed. You had changed. So much so that it was difficult to remember what you used to be like. When your pride had driven you so readily, and every obstacle had been something annoying and beneath you. When the only thing you had cared about was passing the Rite, to seize your birthright and get back at your aunt and uncle.

You still remembered trying to grandstand in front of your assembled guests, and how petulant you had felt when your aunt and uncle had brushed it aside. The satisfaction you had felt in realizing an opportunity to empty their coffers out of spite, taking all three of the selected candidates as your Testament.

There hadn't been a single thought to what that course of action was going to mean for you. You'd practically crowed your decision to the assembly with pride, certain that you'd struck a blow to make them think twice before trying to push you around again.

Back then, if you had only chosen one of them, instead... If you had taken the Rite seriously, and not been so preoccupied trying to be spiteful... If you had only had a one Testament to focus all of your attention on...

How much of your troubles had you brought on yourself for the sake of pride?
How many times had that same pride been wounded when your lack of experience showed?
How often were you driven to desperation to crawl out of a pit you dug for yourself?

You'd done things you would have never dreamed of doing during those months. Amazing things. Despicable things. Things that still haunted you, and things that had changed more lives than just your own. By the end of it all... Passing the Rite had been the last thing on your mind. The fact it was over was something you didn't feel had truly sunk in until this exact moment. You distinctly remember having prepared yourself to give up the family name entirely if you had to, just to fulfill the obligations you had to your Testament, and the people who had found themselves following you along the way.

The entire process had ripped the floor out from beneath you; Supported by the one person you'd felt certain wanted you to fail, and betrayed by someone you were confident would have your back. All of that effort, all of that work, and when you'd finally resolved yourself to deal with the consequences... you'd passed.

That whirlwind of emotions had left a pile of issues to sort through which you hadn't even begun to address yet.

Your aunt and uncle had been manipulating you, but to what end? How much had they known, and just not told you? Why hadn't they told you? You had admired aunt Clara - Unabashedly looked up to the woman - But now you couldn't see her without a whisper of doubt in the back of your mind. The respect and trust you'd felt was as frayed as your heart, and it hurt.

Caylen had left you behind, keeping Luna only knew what sort of secrets from you. He'd let that harlot bitch into his ear, and turned on you... Maybe even turned on the entire family, if his departure to meet with Artemis was any indication. He must have known what such an action would do to the balance in La'Fiel, but he went anyway.

The only person you'd been able to rely on since your sister and parents had died... You had no idea what to think of Asche anymore. What she knew about this bracelet Relic that she'd never bothered to inform you, or since when she had known about the Fae beyond the river. Each time she had tried to warn you away, she knew, but why hadn't she told you before now? Why wait all this time?

You found yourself lingering before a shattered mirror; The broken debris of your personal dresser from before the hostile take over of the Dryad apparitions. Three headbands lay scattered across the root threaded floor: A muddy brown, pastel yellow, and ashen gray.

You'd no intention of taking back the one you had gifted to Ari. It was clear to see how deeply she had treasured even that casual gift... But you would be lying if you said that your hair felt too free without something in place.

Something to endure...
Or would a subtle touch be best?
And even if you didn't know where you stood, she was still so important to you.

Or, maybe...

Stupid, stupid child.

How will you wear your hair? Why?

>Brown
>Yellow
>Gray
>Braid

Additional:
>What do you want to pick up/do before returning to Ari?

>>1947851
>And even if you didn't know where you stood, she was still so important to you.
>>Gray

>>1947851
>Yellow
We demonstrated a serious lack of subtlety before. Let's try to change this.

>>1947851


I think one guy wanted to inspect the glowing tree, so let's do that.

Have we left anything valuable here? Rinnier bring her staff with her? What about the oakenrue cores, would they be inert now?

>>1947851
I think giving Ari the headband was more significant than we'd realized.
>>Brown
We'll need to be able to weather the storms ahead.

>>1947851
Take a look at the library; books are expensive, and we've spent a lot of time reading. Let's see how badly damaged our collection is, maybe vainly try to move the less damaged ones somewhere less likely to be further damaged?

Look at the old Oakenbear remains in the yard, make sure it's not looking like it's regrowing.

Snag any valuables or mementos.

A walking stick might be useful for the trip back. We should grab one before we head out.

>>1947851
Actually, we have a wooden abomination. Let's load up our books and wardrobe on her.

>>1948026
We don't have anywhere to store that much stuff in town. We have lodgings, but nothing substantial, I think.

>>1947851
> neither

Let's move forward. Not back. Hell let's cut our hair.

It'll freak out everyone who knows us. A new haircut. A new Irulen Valen. A short cut that works with out androgey.

>>1947851
>What do you want to pick up/do before returning to Ari?

Check on the original Nymph wood that was left here to see if it too is dead.

Get our books together.

> Remember to warn Ari about not meditating on Luna.

Grab one of those books as a gift for Mim. Some archives or diary of an ancestor or something. A consolation prize for not being able to tell her what happened in the woods.

>>1948026
And supporting this. Also are tubs common? Should we bring ours?

>>1948072
Let's not. we've always been meticulous with our hair. Just lobbing it off for no real reason doesn't make any sense.
Rue doesn't /want/ to look androgynous; her long hair is the only feminine thing about her.

>>1948080
Hey it'll grow back. It can be a reminder of how far we've come and how far we have to go. Also kind of a penance for our past failures so that we can stop carrying them with us. A fresh start. Our hairs the biggest point of pride for us, the same pride that's been our biggest self imposed obstacle.

Besides we can maybe learn how to dress not like a dude then as well.

Or can you not really give up anything. Greedy child, to think that change doesn't cost anything.

>>1948080
>>1947851
Either we cut our hair or wear a headband that matches Ari. Make her super happy. The whole "master" thing grates on me, I want to build up her self worth. Remind her that we want her to be strong enough to stand beside us, not to hold us up.

I wonder if Ari would know anything about how to contact the slavers to find Rinniers people too.

>>1948087
Yea, over several /years/.
We already bear our failures, we have no need for penance.
We can't just dump our failures mentally by cutting it, that trivializes them.
We got over one hump, yea, but only as a part of a larger problem; a fresh start is for beginnings, and ends, not middles.
Our hair is one of the few vanities we have left; you would take that from her?
We have already paid for change. Quit trying to collect interest.
We don't dress like a dude, we just don't have any figure.
>>1948089
Or we could
>braid
it. We don't have a matching red, or it would have been listed.
I don't like the 'master' thing either, but we've got more important things to do.

>I want to build up her self worth. Remind her that we want her to be strong enough to stand beside us, not to hold us up.
Stuff like this is why I'm starting to despise her. Riz only has so much attention, can we please spend it with /interesting/ characters?
Ari wouldn't even talk when we first got her, she's not going to know anything.

>>1948098
Ari IS interesting. We just have to pry it out of her. She's quiet, not boring.

Remember when she rode a GIANT FUCKING SURPRISE TREE GOLEM to our rescue?

And hair cutting is a traditional atonement and sign of transition and growth around the entire world.

Irulen is bound by her hair. You can't just change the packaging and claim it's totally new now.

>>1948098
Besides. For Ari who was literally beat down as a slave to the point the bruises never healed and she needed a staff to walk, we're the one who saved her from that for no reason since she was "useless". Then we gave her everything we could including teaching her to read. Then we gave a wayyyyyyy overpowered magical protection stick. Then we went and saved her again from a crazy eldritch atelier after she fell unconscious and was protected by said OP stick we gave her.

So her position of adoring us is understandable.

>>1947851
>How will you wear your hair? Why?
Stick bun. It usually symbolize an unconscious desire for the control you lack in your life.

>>1948072
This ain't anime son

>>1948079
>Diary
Let's not accidentally give Luna any family secrets. Maybe Irue pressed flowers or something as a child, that's a pretty standard past time for young kids. Something personal like that is worth much more as a token of friendship.

>>1948108
... Why did we never take her to a Wisp adept to get her bruises looked at?

If you look at the ask.fm, it's really meta but whatever, Ari is not a boring character. Won't be. Reading the things she's actually said over the course of the quest beginning with when Irue was bedridden after getting Rinniers staff- and then promptly getting killed again by her- she's freaking me out. I thought maybe it wouldn't be so bad since she's on our side but now she's a walking, talking kill switch for humanity...

>>1944099
>>1944233
I marathoned that quest a couple of weeks ago, caught up by thread 28. Without any spoilers I can say that based on what you just said you will be in for a couple of nice surprises.
If you like Malachi, the scenes with him and Jorgen together are rare but golden.

>>1948106
There are plenty of already interesting characters, we don't need to work a developing them.
I suspect that was more due to the tree than the girl, but it was cool.
In some places, sure, but not everywhere. Also, this isn't earth.
She isn't bound by it, it is a part of her. It's a sign of her heritage, her noble standing, and that yes, she is a girl.
>All change must be accompanied by a physical representation.
What? We've constantly changing in little ways, do we need to be constantly changing our appearance to match?

I wasn't arguing her adoration of us; I was arguing that if we have to pry the interesting parts out of her, it isn't worth it. There are plenty of interesting characters already, and Riz has a finite amount of time.

>>1947851
>>Brown

>>1948079
>Remember to warn Ari about not meditating on Luna.
Seconding, but tell her not to try to get close to any of the mana. She's going to need to find a new hobby.

>>1947851
>Braid

We should meditate with Ari on Dryad later, see if it does anything now that Dryad is asleep. I mean, if we can teach Ari how to fight with Adept powers then it'd be prudent to do so.

>>1947851
>How will you wear your hair? Why?
Is this an aesthetic only choice or is there some bigger meaning to it?

>>1948143
In thread 1, our choice of a headband was part of the chargen.
We still don't know exactly what it meant.

>>1948140
Who says all the Mana agreed with Luna?

>>1948119
It's not because Irulens hair is a physical example. It's because of what her hair has meant to her. A source of pride, but also a hair trigger for her to lash out violently. Remember that part? A lever for others to control her. A vanity that keeps getting in the way.

We weren't able to give up Ari. But could we give up our hair?

Can we recognize the difference between loving another person, versus loving a thing? Or just ourselves?

Are you really so different after all?

In a meta sense I could accept >>1948116 stick bun as well. Cutting ones hair is often the same thing. Imposing your will to make a visible change as a sign of feeling in control. "I can't change that, but I CAN change this".

>>1948153
Read through again and look at how angry we get throughout the quest. Our hair being touched setting us off is even in the pastebin.

>>1948176
And seriously I have to ask. Why, WHY do you keep writing Irulen? Is it the Valen equivalent of turrent? Did you accidentally it into your spellchecker? Are you just waiting for someone to ask?

>>1948176
>Who says all the Mana agreed with Luna?
While Luna is the only mana likely to react violently, Ari is still capable of infecting any mana she becomes favoured by.

>>1948186
I don't think things work quite like that.
As far as I remember, infecting Mana occurs through its link with its Adepts. The Adepts think like their Mana, but if a sufficient number of them changes their thinking, the Mana will change as well. So what we have to be wary of is putting Ari in contact with any Adepts.

>>1948191
>"We've ascertained it to be unnecessary."
We should do it anyway. Why teach her about other mana when the risk exists and when she's already beloved by a mana that she can't possibly infect any more.

>>1948218
I think she's beloved only by a specific Oakenrue, not the whole Mana.

Rolled 4 (1d20)

>>1948218
Because forewarned is forearmed? She can learn about them. She just can't meditate on them.

>>1948178
Irulen is the name of the House of Corrino wife to Maud'dib, a tragic figurehead who never replaced the real love of his life who bore him two children. She found refuge in her books and compiled a thorough history of the realm and chronicled the rise of Paul Atriedes to the throne.

Honestly Irue shares a lot of qualities with her and indeed if we had ended up marrying Prince McRoyalFace we could have ended up with a very similar story.

But yeah I just honestly thought Irue was short for Irulen and nobody ever brought it up before. Well. That's rather embarrassing. Wish I could say I has some plan or secret reference or even autocorrect issue but nope.

My phone actually autocorrects to Irue. I just liked the sound of Irulen better.

>>1948239
I always thought you were shortening Irue Valen to one word. Iru-len

>>1947851
>brown
Not everything has to have some been meaning, guys. It's just a hairstyle.

>>1948409
> In Valen Quest

>>1947851
I like the haircut idea. But maybe a Bob or something definitely Feminine.

>>1948448
I am violently opposed to cutting our hair.

>>1948176
>It's because of what her hair has meant to her.
She considers it a part of her. I'd be mad is someone messed up my arm.
>
We weren't able to give up Ari. But could we give up our hair?
No. In fact, our inability to give Ari up is further evidence of an inability to give up our hair.

>>1948452
In case it wasn't obvious, I am as well.

>>1948452
Yea, I'm not a fan either. Rue is strongly attached to her hair, there's no reason to give it up.

>>1947851
Also, congrats Riz. You've cultivated a playerbase that is seriously considering the complex ramifications of how to wear the PC's hair.

>>1947851
>>Braid
Because it's CUTE

>>1948490
Yeah this is seriously unhealthy. And he whines that he believes that we don't care about the characters

>>1948498
>>1948490

I see people never played on /tg/. Final boss battle with long term ramifications? 4 players.

Dress up for something minor? 3 threads, 40 players, 60 unique ID's, 800 posts.

Whatever. Everyone gets the same number of votes.

>>1947851
Happy Thanksgiving! Hopefully the vote goes well.

File: 20171009_195743.png (182 KB, 1440x798)

182 KB PNG

>>1948233
No, check the last thread near the end, it was confirmed that Dryad has found someone to share their love with.

>>1947851
Gray. If the theme recently has been looking to the past for answers, and this loss of trust in the people around us is starting to wear, maybe this kind of grounding is what we need.

And I'll be damned if we pick brown and side with Gnome.

>>1948608
I'm reasonably certain our hairband isn't going to give us a Mana affinity. Our red one didn't do us any favors with salamander.

>>1947851
I want to pick braid, because big braids are cute, but I'm pretty sure the consequences of looking like Irue's mom will be terrifying.
>Gray

>>1948608
Fertile soil is black. Brown is a meme

>>1948616
>>1948634
>Something to endure.
We probably wouldn't gain affinity but this sounds like Gnome's personality to me.

I don't know if the others were related to mana at all but just enduring alone isn't going to solve our problems for us.

>>1948623
>>1947851
You've sold me. Forget the terror of shears and scissors.

> Grey it is.

>>1948680
Brown and red look like shit together though.

>>1947851
>tell Ari that we have a name and we'd like her to start using it.

>>1947851
> Grey

And supporting

>>1947995
>>1948017
>>1948026

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>>1948409
>>1948138
>>1948008
Brown!

>>1948623
>>1948608
>>1947883
>>1948681
>>1948794
Gray!

>>1947897
Yellow!

>>1948140
>>1948496
Braid!

>>1948116
Stick...Bun? This could have been interesting.

>Voting to cut Irue's hair
Irue will cut you.

---

>>1947995
>>1948079
>>1948794
Nymph Wood!
Rinnier has her staff, Oakenrue cores are inert.

>>1948017
>>1948794
Check on library! And Oakenbear arse! We don't really have any mementos we aren't already wearing.

>>1948079
A book for mim!
Tubs are the most common thing. Showers are rare. Also you don't really have a place to put a bunch of stuff back in Carona. There is an alternative, but... We'll get to that.

>>1948079
>>1948140
No more meditating to Luna!

>>1948751
Coax Ari into using our name!

---
>>1948178
Irulen never bothered me, any. I am admittedly curious why there seems to be a running gag that no one can ever spell Reiner Rinyer Rinner Renna Rinnier correctly. It happens with Cirna Carna Carona sometimes, too.

>>1948545
...Today I learned about Canadian thanksgiving! I am now slightly more worldly.

>>1948808

You've missed a vote to use the Oakenrue as a lowly beast of burden here: >>1948026

>>1948821
see
> Also you don't really have a place to put a bunch of stuff back in Carona.

>>1948826
We'll put it in Rinnier's room, she doesn't sleep there anyway.

We've endured too much to not have at least our clothes on hand.

>>1948808
See. I never had a problem with Rinnier. It's close to my aunt Rennie's name which is an alternate spelling or Renee.

So much like I identify mentally Irue with Princess Irulen, I identify Rinnier with my Aunt.

Because the redhead princess from the desert where they ruled with thwir gods blessing, whose people are driven out of their homeland and enslaved into bondage while being ignored by their God, and who is good at numbers and handles the finances - Just wondering of Roz gave her a very Jewish name by accident or ?

Anyways Happy New Year (Yom Kippur) as well!

>>1948808
>Rinnier
huh. that looks like a bad misspelling to me.
>Reiner
seems like the correct one.

>>1948808
>This could have been interesting.
See what you guys did? You picked something that isn't interesting! Now we'll never know what could've been.

>Rinnier
I always make sure I get it right, to date I don't think I've gotten it wrong once. I've spelled it correctly far, far more times than I've remembered something correctly...

>>1948846
Reiner is a common German/Dutch last name.

Personally I've always pronounced it in my head rhyming with Perrier

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>>1948863
I was going to support you originally.

But I'd rather have a grey headband than a brown one. What could have been.

>>1948808
I'll support stickbun again if the two Braids want to with that instead.

>>1948808
What would have happened if "Haircut" won?

>>1948883
But let's be real, a headband isn't mutually exclusive with a stick bun.

By your powers combined!

>>1948892
All haircut votes are ignored.

>>1948896
...Do... Do you want to combine them?

>>1948901
Damn straight I do

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I mean, we chose 3 Testaments, what is 2 hairstyles compared to that? 1 less!

>>1948901
No

>>1948910
Braided bun with both headbands intersecting at an angle.

>>1948901
Nope.
You closed the vote already, anyway.

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>>1948901
. . . A braided stickbun with a grey headband sounds doable actually.

>>1948926
This is some 4 dimensional shit you've got going there my man.

I'll just vote for it the next time we have blown our way through a wardrobe-altering, world-shattering event

>>1948930
Let's put it in our notes.

I mean we could also braid in a grey ribbon to our hair before putting it up in a bun and have it hang down a bit.

> Never get Pixie Cut Irue though

VQ is suffering.

>>1948901
Pass. That seems overly complicated for irue, anyway.

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>>1948930
WE CAN GO FANCIER

>>1948945
You're going to keep going further until I suggest we use the Oakenrue as the hairpin, aren't you?

>>1948938
Votes over I'm just having fun now.

I just despise the color brown since we have red eyes it'll look like crap, and didn't want stick bun / braid to split the vote.

>>1948937
>Pixie Cut Irue
I don't have a reaction image for the disgust I have right now

>>1948949
I'm not against that idea.

>>1948930
We can also keep that hairstyle for when we have an "official" event to attend. Headband can be for daily activities.

It's not like we can't switch back and forth.

>>1948951
Because you don't have an image for what isn't there?

You shifted to the side critically, trying to see how the newly donned ashen band looked from different angles. The familiar pressure of the accessory pressing against your scalp was a little comforting, but you'd been wearing your red one for so long that even this replacement still didn't feel quite right.

It just needed some time to be broken in, though. There was a time when you'd swap bands more often, but even then you had kept this one around for rare and... Deliberate uses. This one in particular wasn't something you had ever worn for style, but it had a sentimental value which drew you to it even now. Especially now.

A delicate frown thinned out across lips, thoughts straying to the tenuous doubts you had started having regarding your maid. There were plenty of things you needed to take care of, but that was something that clawed at you in a different way. For so long, she had been your only constant companion; The only one who had felt comfortable enough around to not bother putting up a front, or trying to watch your step. You wanted answers. An explanation. Some kind of reassurance, to put this niggling distrust to rest.

...Had your eyes always been this empty?

Whatever, you got what you came for. Besides the new accessory, you'd snagged a change of clothes for yourself and Ari, but there was still a bit of time left before you had to finish the circuit. In the meantime, you may as well take a look at how much damage had been done to your library. It was one of the few places in this house that held any possessions you'd actually miss, and last you could remember, it had been all but taken over by the Nymph's Wood sapling.

That little tree was another problem you weren't sure how to handle. Elly had said Nymph's Wood was a tree blessed by Dryad, but the apparitions hadn't reacted well to it at all. You're pretty sure its presence was all that had kept the apparition in your house from having slaughtered Mim, and the fact it held a strong enough deterrent to prevent even something like that was baffling. Even the Fae seemed to have been averse to it somehow; It hadn't been until you gave your clipping to Priat that you had been able to enter the Imprisoned Child's Atelier.

So what was the deal, there? If it was related to Dryad, why did Dryad treat it like some sort of anathema?

It wasn't as if you'd find any answers from the plant itself, but as you approached the overgrown remnants of your library, it was clear that the sapling hadn't been absent. It had already grown trecherously fast when you were here the last time, its tendril like roots having pierced and strangled the much thicker encroachment of Dryad's apparitions and established a small sanctuary, but... In the time between then and now, that space had seemingly become more akin to a blight.

The pale tendrils of the Nymph's Wood had continued to travel along the more natural wooden roots which ensnared your halls, twisting and clinging to them in a relentless advance that served to drain the life from their straddled hosts; Once strong lengths of wooden growth being reduced to hollowed, fragile scrap which broke apart beneath your cautious steps.

The entirety of the Library had been protectively overtaken by the Nymph's Wood expansion, with entire shelves of books being hidden behind a creeping veil of pale tendrils. The books themselves didn't seem to be damaged any, but getting to them would require no small amount of effort in tearing open a hole in the growth.

...You weren't sure if Dryad going to sleep had affected it one way or another. At the very least, it wasn't glowing anymore, but the way it looked to feed off of Dryad's growths was more than a little concerning. The apparition had refused to so much as touch it back then, and you can't help but wonder if maybe it had sensed some sort of danger within the deceptively benign little sapling.

Was it really safe to leave this alone, so close to the Fae Forest? It was something you'd have to look into later, when you had more resources to deal with it; You doubted just taking an axe to the little sapling would be enough to get rid of it, and it wasn't as if you were exactly suited to be a lumberjack in the first place.

Unfortunately, with your library all but overtaken by the Nymph's Wood, it didn't look like you'd have much success in trying to load your own Dryad apparition down with your life-long collection of books and tomes. Even getting it to come in here probably wouldn't result in anything good, which meant you'd have to leave them behind for now. It was only a temporary measure, because it wasn't as if you simply planned to abandon your estate, but... There were more important things to handle first. At least you didn't need to worry about your books getting damaged in the meantime.

...What did cause you to hesitate while leaving, however, were the discarded pile of books stacked neatly on one of the library tables. They were some of the tomes Mim had picked out... And it looks like she hadn't bothered to put them back before eventually leaving.

You had promised you'd tell her what happened when you returned, but after what you had learned... Her affiliation with Luna made confessions like that difficult. You didn't want to just reject her again, though. Not after last time.

It felt dirty, but maybe you could compromise by giving her a book like she had wanted initially? It wasn't as if the books themselves were what she had been after, but... It was something, at least. A peace offering until you could make it up to her properly.

...The silence while you wrestled over the idea felt a little pitiful. You sighed as you left, not feeling like dwelling overlong on how awkwardly you were trying to fix this.

"Ari, are you done yet?" You'd eventually made your way back to the bathroom you'd left Ari in, book tucked under your arm. "I left your clothes inside-" The door clicked open as Ari stepped out, wet hair hanging heavily down around her face, but none the less sap free. Your wine colored hairband soaked a slightly darker shade of red from the dampness, as it flattened her hair down messily. "-The door... Do you know how to use a hair band?"

"I've never had one until now." She admitted, one hand protectively raising towards the accessory in question, "Did I do something wrong?"

"They're meant to help hold your hair in place." You slide it off of her, ignoring slightly panicked widening of her eyes as you set about brushing the little Testament's hair around. "I use them to keep mine back, but yours isn't long enough for that."

"I'll grow it out!" She insisted firmly, eyes struggling to follow the now missing hairband.

"That'd take too long, and it's not necessary besides." You mutter distractedly, finishing your rearrangement of her hair as you slipped the damp headband back on. "Did you forget to take it off before you got in the bath?"

She mumbled something evasively, craning her head back as she investigated her newly acquired hairstyle with her hands. "Is it fine now...?"

"Yes, it's fine." You hadn't changed much in the first place, just evened out the strands so her hair didn't dry into knots later. "Before I forget, I don't want you to keep trying to meditate to Luna. After the Atelier..." You trailed off, unsure as to whether this was really necessary. "...Your affinity has probably changed, and you might get hurt."

"Yes, Master." She agreed easily, not seeming to mind the sudden order to abandon everything she had been studying until now. "Is there something else I should try instead?"

"...Dryad, probably." You murmured thoughtfully. If Ari really had garnered Dryad's love, there was a strong possibility that she could qualify as one of the slumbering Mana's Adepts. Although, with said Mana currently sleeping, you had no way of knowing just how that would affect her. "I'll go over it with you later."

"Yes, Master!"

You paused as you stepped past Ari and into the bathroom yourself, turning back to the little Testament. You hadn't given it much thought, but she'd called you nothing but master ever since you'd met. Considering that she used to be a slave, you suppose it made sense, but...

"Ari?"

"Yes, Master?"

"...I have a name, you know."

"Yes, Master."

You scratch your temple, awkwardly meeting the beaming adoration of your submissive Testament. Aside from Rinnier, you don't recall if you ever actually explained the concept of what a Testament was to... Any of them. Kara certainly hadn't cared about any of the finer details, and Ari... Honestly hadn't caused enough trouble for it to occur to you. "Do you remember how we met?"

"Yes, Master!" Her expressioned brightened considerably. "I was terrified, but you were patient with me, even when I kept crying."

...Ah, you remembered that. You had absolutely no idea how to handle people when they broke down, and ended up almost crying in the middle of the kitchen yourself. Come to think of it, you still weren't any good dealing with crying people. It was so much easier if they were just angry with you, like Rinnier usually was.

"I didn't take the three of you in as slaves, or servants." You forged along regardless, "You three were... Are my Testament. Legally speaking, that means that your words and actions reflect my own. You're my partners. Peers." You hesitated for a second, eventually letting your shoulders sag gently. "Friends, I guess."

"Yes, Master!"

"..." Your lips purse, "So call me by my name from now on, alright?"

"Yes, Master Irue!"

"...Is the 'Master' part nonnegotiable?" You query in a deadpan, watching her brilliant smile flinch at the first signs of your disappointment.

"I'm... I'm not ready to let it go." She confessed nervously, fingers curling around the hem of her shirt. "Rinny and Kara told me too, that I'm not... A slave, anymore. I understand that! B-But..." So it wasn't a misunderstanding? Come to think of it, she and Kara seemed to have a good relationship as well. How much time did she spend around her fellow Testament, anyway? "I'm happy with this much." She murmured, voice dropping until you weren't sure whether her words were meant for you, or herself. "Just this much is fine."

>Let her do as she wants.
>Insist on something else. (what?)

>>1949758
>Insist on something else. (what?)

Miss or Sir. She can call us Mistress Valen since that's our formal title in public, but when it's in private we want her to be a little more informal.

She might be happy with just that much, but we want her to have so much more. Because she deserves it.

She went into the woods alone for us.

>>1949758
Do we have a title as Head of House that's useful for conversation? "Head of House" is kinda a mouthful.

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>>1949781
Not really, no. You could shorten it generically to "Head", but that's not very attractive. Of course you could also be called Master of the House, which shortens to "Master". I'm helpful.

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>>1949842
Is that her tit she's holding?

>Nymph's wood ate our library
I wonder if Ari can even enter our library anymore after being injected with Dryad's love juices. Or if this affected/will affect her progress in learning to read at all. What would have happened if we named her Luna in the beginning instead?

>>1949758
Can't even make the obvious joke and ask her to call us big bro/sis.

I'd suggest coming up with, or letting her come up with a personal nickname for us if there were even anything to work with for "Irue" and if telling someone to give you a nickname wasn't shitty.

Master is fine. As far as anyone's concerned she's like Asche - a retainer/attendant/maid.

>>1950083
>What would have happened if we named her Luna in the beginning instead?
https://ask.fm/RizQM/answers/139675003926

>>1950105
> Ari is uninteresting he said

Jesus fucking Christ.

>>1949774
1. Insisting on something else! We're not your Master!

>>1950083
2. Master's fine! You can call Irue whatever.

We're tied. Should I flip?

>>1950199
Sure.

Or like I said, compromise. Master in public, but less formal when it's just us.

>>1950366
Writing a compromise, then.

If it wasn't a misunderstanding, then there wasn't much point in trying to correct her. Whatever hang up she seemed to have on the phrase was enough that she had clung to it this long. If you were being honest, it was rare that Ari resisted anything you asked of her. Letting her have something like this wouldn't be too much of an issue.

Still, while you were used to most people showing some degree of respect or formality when dealing with you, 'Master' was a little...

"If it's something you insist on, then doing it in public is fine. If we're alone though, I'd prefer you come up with something a little less formal." It felt strange trying to negotiate less respect, particularly in private, but this was something of a unique case. It wasn't like you could have tried to argue it in reverse either, and convinced her to only call you 'Master' in private... That could end disastrously.

"I don't mind what you settle on, but think of something besides 'Master' for times like this, alright?"

"...Yes, Master."

...You couldn't expect her to come up with something immediately, huh. "Think about it, at least. One day I'd like to be able to rely on you like I do with Kara and Rinnier. You're one of my Testament after all, same as they are." It didn't take someone well versed in Shade's studies to realize that Ari had issues she needed to work through. She'd been all but broken when you met, and it was only recently that you could venture to say that she was even beginning to properly recover - Even if it was just in a physical sense.

Mentally, maybe she was still just as battered and bruised as she was back then. Since she had been so quick to give you her loyalty in the first place, you had spent most of your time trying to handle Kara's obtuse issues, and make a breakthrough with Rinnier. You should probably make a point of trying to bolster her confidence every now and then.

These thoughts swirled around while you bathed, before you finally gave in to the long awaited opportunity to actually wash your hair. No more twigs, no more dirt, no more bugs. No more strands stuck together in horrible mini-knots due to tree sap. No more dried sweat matting it against your neck. No more disgusting river scum film soaked in.

If only this bathwater had been hot. You'd have been more than willing to just spend an entire day lounging in it after the wreck you had been through... But as it was, even this room-temperature pool was starting to give you a chill.

...It would still be nearly an hour until you managed to pull yourself out, though.

It was getting closer to the end of the day by the time you had dried yourself and redressed. Some minor foraging in your twice ruined kitchen produced enough edible food to tide both Ari and you over through the coming night, and it was thanks to that you were currently gnawing on a piece of jerky while making a final round of inspection of your house and yard.

The towering ass of an oakenbear which had become the most iconic and permanent fixture in your frontyard still hadn't done anything particularly concerning. You feel like having the front half of the torso planted imposingly at the head of your estate would have been more dignified, but there really wasn't much you could do about that. In part because you don't remember where the front half of this thing had been left in the forest, but also because the only one of your employ currently capable of removing the gargantuan wooden statue of an arse wasn't here.

...Vague memories of the month you spent drunk seemed to imply that your knights may have tried at one point, but discovered Kara had planted it too deeply into the soil.

Aside from that, there wasn't much to note of the outside. There were some scorch marks in the grass where you'd had Priat set that legion of Dryad apparitions on fire, but even that had was partially recovered already. The worst part of your house really was just that - The house itself.

You'd need to think about how to deal with that. Even if you were Mayor of Carona, you didn't have any ambitions towards living there any longer than necessary.

As for the interior, the structure of the house itself was basically a lost cause. Priat's own rampage had destroyed several halls, and while you probably could keep it standing after removing the wooden overgrowth, the sheer amount of holes and compromised...

You weren't an architect, but... It looked fucked.

Luckily most of the furniture inside was still in decent shape, and your Library had been spared any serious damage by the presence of the Nymph's Wood... So the only things you would have had problems replacing were still salvageable, with some effort. All you really lost here were the memories.

"We'll stay here for the night and get moving in the morning." You decide, watching the shadows grow as dusk approached. "Ready, Ari?"

"?" She blinked up at you, a piece of half-chewed jerky still stubbornly refusing to break off from the strip in her hands.

It was better you get this out of the way now, when you were alone and had some spare time, than wait and try to find an opportunity once you returned to Carona. "I want you to help me try some things, so I'll be teaching you a different way to meditate."

"Yes, Mas-" Her reflexive answer hiccuped, leaving the little Testament fidgeting uncomfortably. "Yes!"

So you spent that night trying to teach Ari how Dryad's meditation worked. Considering your own lack of talent in that regard, you were primarily just doing your best to recite the instructions Elly had given you, and hoping Ari could make use of her natural affinity to procure some results... And from there, maybe start making progress on her own.

"So first, try to imagine someone you love."

"..."

"If it helps, just think of Kara, or Rinnier... And then try to imagine everyone is Kara. Or Rinnier."

At least with Ari, she seemed to make friends easily enough. As far as you knew no one she loved had ever betrayed, or tried to use her. On the other hand, the fact she had been in such a beaten down state, and a slave, at her age really didn't speak positively about her past. It was another aspect of her life you really knew nothing about, but it also wasn't something she had ever expressed any interest in speaking about.

Still, her amber eyes remained rapt on you as the lesson went on, attentively drinking in every instruction and tip you could think to give. "The end goal as far as I can tell is to facilitate... Openness, I guess? Unconditional love, or acceptance." With any luck, Dryad's natural predilection would make it easier for her. "So, try to think of everything as a world full of things you might like. New friends, you haven't gotten to know yet. Try to get a feel for that kind of excitement."

"...Is this how you did it, Master?"

"...No." You admit flatly, "I am uniquely unsuited for this Mana, but these were the only instructions I was given."

"Oh." Ari mouthed a soft acknowledgement, devoid of inflection. For a few minutes the only other sound in the room were the creaking of the root-snared house, and the occasional owl from outside the open window. "Will I feel different if it works?"

"Fundamentally, the results of meditation shouldn't change from any other Mana, so if you had success with Luna before this, I don't think it will be much different." You explained thoughtfully, trying to dig out what you knew of the process from your studies. "Dryad is a bit of an odd case though, and is actually sleeping right now... So I'm not sure if it's even possible anymore."

"This is part of our secret, isn't it?" She closed her eyes, shuffling across the gap between you to lean her head tiredly against your shoulder. "I shouldn't tell anyone else about this."

"Right. When we get back to Carona, you probably won't have many opportunities to try this... So do your best now, while you can."

"Mm." She yawned a sleepy acknowledgement, "Can you tell me the instructions again?"

"Which ones?" Your lessons with Elly had gone on for several hours, but hadn't exactly born you any fruit. It wasn't until you had abused your late sister's Relic that you'd gotten a peep out of Dryad. While that wasn't too surprising to you, if Ari really was beloved by the forgotten Mana, then polishing that affinity could yield some amazing results.

"Maybe... All of them." She answered hesitantly, "In case I missed something."

"...So first-" You began with a sigh, wearily reorganizing your thoughts to start from the top.

You hadn't even gotten through half of them again, before realizing that your erstwhile potential Adept had fallen asleep on you, instead of meditating. She'd never been very good at staying up late, now that you thought about it. Even back when you had been studying with Rinnier in Caylen's library, she'd end up curled into a ball on a nearby bench long before either you, or Rinnier, called it a night.

Guess you would try again in the morning, before you left.

You were hesitant to use the bracelet and try to contact Dryad yourself, if only because every other time you had meditated with it, disaster had followed shortly afterwards. That, and you could still remember the searing pain that had wracked your body when you'd used it on an apparition the last time you were here.

Asche had warned you that you still needed time to recover, but you'd probably be well situated inside Carona before that time came. Was it worth the risk of trying again, now that you were no longer within the Divine Mana's Atelier?

>Get some sleep
>Meditate (Dryad!)
>'A Spider's Web'
>Other? (write-in)

>>1951066
>Meditate (Dryad!)
>Don't use the bracelet
>Imagine everyone is Ariel

Even if we fail, maybe we'll become a little bit less paranoid.

>>1951066
>Meditate on Dryad without the bracelet

Next time we're teaching Ari about Dryad I think it would help if we held her hand. It maybe it could help now?
>hold her hand

>>1951107
Or maybe *

>>1951066
>Meditate (Dryad!)
>Don't use the bracelet

>>1951094
>>1951107
>>1951125
Meditation! Without a bracelet.

>>1951107
Holding hands is lewd, anon.

Writing!

>>1951127
>Holding hands is lewd, anon.
Do it anyway!

I'm actually going to try and update tomorrow. I've rewritten this a couple times, and realized I've reached the point of exhaustion where I'm trading atmosphere for verbose, black humor.

Time to sleep before I accidentally canonize Irue's irreverence.

>>1950159
I told you!

>>1950083
She'll start calling her Irulen

>>1951164
Why is this a bad thing?

>>1951066

>Get some sleep

I want to try out the connected hearts thing we just got.

>>1951383
Maybe don't try it with an infected person. Kara might benefit from our social stats, she's a good pick.

>>1951692
Point.

>>1951692
True, Kara is unlikely to yell at any little girls without our help.

>>1951692
Why turn the one demihuman who isn't a sociopath into one?

I bet the only thing she'd get out of it is our paranoia.

>>1942904
>Yes, this includes access to every Atelier power you've unlocked.
Including Don't Leave Me? Would they get their own use, or would it use up ours?

>>1951998
Adding to this, would they have an instinctive understanding of the powers or would we need to explain it to them?

>>1951692
Then again, is there even an "infection"? If their goal was to genocide the adepts to traumatized Dryad, it makes it jseem more like a sketchy cover story.

"There's an infection that we can't tell you about that means we have to kill them all together, but don't worry about future adepts or the ones we miss / don't know about".

I'm skeptical about it being present in a contagious form if at all.

>>1951736
Look I said I was sorry about that write in okay?

Besides it turns out she was working for the enemy anyways.

>>1952280
Seeing as how an offshoot of Luna is actively working for the Goddess, the same mysterious entity we're reasonably sure regularly cull or purge humanity... Last thread some discussed that the old quotes from the first ruins visit were between Luna and Dryad but I think they flipped the lines.

It's more likely that Dryad with all their love decided to work against the culling and Luna orchestrated this to stop them from interfering. Honestly I think it's all bullshit, all we know we've learned from unreliable sources. The one 'expert' we talked to could only answer demands of explanations with "ehhh we don't know but Luna kinda said so" and "I don't know and I won't tell you where you can learn more."

>>1952323
It sounds like they were making their own Mana/Life and fucked up creating the dead spots. What with the honhonculus, the dead spots, human nature, and the nymph wood all coming out from the East.

>>1952323
Also are we sure it was Dryad doing the culling? Maybe it was Luna and Dryad loved her too much to stop her before. Maybe this was Lunas compromise, genocide everyone who had access to the source of life and seal it from the world instead of treating the "symptoms".

Wild speculation here. Just pointing out how little we truly now about the reasons behind what happened.

>>1952355
Rather than fucking it up, if the Goddess really is a being above the mana and created them, couldn't they just have nixed whatever they were trying to do?

Slapping an unruly child on the fingers.

>>1952367
We'll find out in another, oh, 2 years real time.

>>1952371
Maybe she isn't conscious in the same way the rest are. Maybe she gave up too much of herself to do so if they unite against her like how feudal kings had the biggest army, but not bigger than the majority of the Nobles together. Maybe Lunas genocide took her by surprise before she could do so.

Maybe it was Luna doing the genocide and Dryad/Goddess loved her too much to stop her like that, and could only create a new instead and the constant cycle is Dryad passively resisting to make her mortal children crippled so that they don't have the ability to oppose Luna and call down her genocidal wrath.

I'm just saying, we know that genocides have happened in the past, but we only know which Mana was definitely responsible for one of them, and we know that the trauma of that genocide was enough to put Dryad into a catatonic state despite being only a relatively small portion of humanity.

It doesn't make sense that Dryad would have had the capability for the previous genocides, maybe at best releasing new competing life into the ecosystem that had the potential to push the old life out but that isn't what it sounds like the previous genocides were.

>>1952410
I'm gonna tie Maran to a chair with A Spider's Web and strangle the life out of her if she doesn't give satisfactory answers. This I swear

>>1952371
Or it's the Goddess that did the genocide and Dryad would have told her the honest truth whereas the other Mana are hiding it from her realization. The infection might be some sort of taboo knowledge that has to be kept from drawing the Goddesses attention and Dryad was unable of concealing it.

>>1952421
> Not drugging her up with Faedeka and Oakenrue sap and dragging her the Fae and letting them tear it out of her soul using the braclet+Web combo.
Side note: Should we blackmail the Shrine into publicly giving us credit for reducing/removing the Oakenbear/Rue threat?

>>1952429
No. Just say there should be less oakenbears around. Don't elaborate.

>>1952547
It's not like they won't know what happened. It's been done before after all. And a Luna Adept saw us go into the forest.

They sure do like the Valens to do the dirty jobs.

>>1952603
No reason to tip our hand, someone /might/ know that Dryad is in there but no one knows what went on in there but us and whoever we choose to tell. Added to this, neither the compact nor the memories contained in the atelier is known about outside the family. All anyone can do is speculate so let's keep it that way, for the shrine at least.

>>1951998
Every power, so yes. It would tie the fading life to the person who uses it, rather than you. However, it has 1 overall use; Making use of it in this way wouldn't create more uses.

Time to write.

>>1952686
I thought Luna knew.

>>1952810
Luna knows, but not every adept does.

>>1951127
Did Riz ded?

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>>1953933
<--- this kills the Riz

Using the bracelet was probably too dangerous for now. Whether or not you doubted Asche for having kept things from you, she had never lied to you. At least, as far as you knew. Everytime she had stepped in, it had been to try and warn you... So if she said you needed time to heal, then you'd trust her.

That still left the old fashioned option open to you, though. As you'd admitted to Ari, you considered yourself to be honestly unsuited to Dryad. On one hand, it was the only Mana you had ever succeeded in communing with, but the circumstances behind that were... Extensive. Trapped deep within an Atelier which was not only saturated in Dryad, but had also been built specifically to contain the Mana itself, trying to listen to a Mana that had specifically been trying to speak to you. If there were more fortunate circumstances to appeal to a Mana under, you'd certainly never heard of them.

But even then, you had only barely succeeded, and doing so had required you to dredge up memories you'd much rather have left undisturbed. Remembering your sister purely to abuse the feelings elicited as a tool didn't sit well with you. There were limits as to how far you would go, and this was stretching it; Whether it was ten years, twenty, or even two hundred, if trotting out the memory of your family was what was required to commune with Dryad, then you were perfectly content to go on failing to find affinity in your meditations.

...In the end, though, even that was a waste of your time. Hours of silence, forcing yourself to try and find it a part of you to be open with the world again, and all it had left you with were the sour dredges of your past. Whether you'd have a better result returning to the Fae Forest to contact Dryad, or if your actions in the Atelier to soothe its slumber had made it that much harder to speak to, your efforts tonight had yielded nothing.

You didn't know if it was possible to commune with a fully sleeping Mana in the first place. Dryad surely hadn't woken when it spoke to you, but its restlessness had likely brought it closer to the surface of waking than was safe. Now that it was peacefully resting again, it was possible that your voice simply couldn't reach it. If anyone could still reach it, it would probably be Ari... But without experience in how to guide her, you had no way of helping her.

The potential Adept in question was still softly snoozing away, curled as tightly into a ball as she could manage while still leaning into you. You knew of two factors which led to favoring that particular sleeping position... and as temperate as it was tonight, you doubted it was because she was cold. She'd always been like this, though; Prone to sleeping under desk, in corners, and even when she had found her way onto your bed, she'd scrunched herself into taking up as little space as possible.

You'd woken up in much the same position too many times to count since coming to this house, but it was an occurence which had gotten rarer over the years... In no small part thanks to Asche. The taciturn maid had been the rock in your life ever since, and you'd woken up to her presence nearly every day of the past ten years. Shade bless, you'd fallen asleep next to her in just the same way until you had finally recovered enough to start pulling yourself together.

But Ari didn't have that. Her life hadn't been bad since you'd taken her as a Testament, but you weren't going to delude yourself into believing that you'd given her a safe one. A better one, certainly, but safe? Hardly. Your own life was too tumultuous, and she'd barely even lived under your care for a week before you'd set out across the forest. She'd been kidnapped by brigands, rescued, survived a cave-in, kidnapped again... To say nothing of how little security she'd had before meeting you.

Still, you hesitated. You didn't have the time, or luxury, to dote on her as Asche had with you. You... You didn't know where to start, even if you did. It wasn't that you didn't want to help, but...

"Do your best."

...You were scared.

Of her. Of screwing up. Of putting yourself out there and making it worse, or not being enough. It wasn't hard to see that she needed help, but the tremble in your hand screamed that you couldn't do it. That you couldn't even help yourself, much less anyone else. The more vulnerable she looked, the harder it was for you to approach; When she was smiling, when both of your guards were up, it was different. But just like when she had broken into tears on the day you met, you had no idea how to handle this. Getting close to try was like approaching the edge of your own abyss, and your heartbeat grew weak when it seemed like you might slip back in.

That indecision was almost a shield between Ari and yourself, and one you were admittedly nervous to put aside... So those words were meant as much for your sleeping charge as they were yourself. It was the only thing you could really say, as your fingers tentatively laced around her own and your eyes drifted shut for the night.

"Not my first choice for an order like this, but I suppose the man has his reasons."

Oily, unwashed brown hair, and a body covered in bruises. If you didn't know any better, the girl would have passed as a corpse sprawled across the floor. Chains clamped around her limbs, but there was little chance of someone this weak moving, even without them. The manacale around her neck was meant for someone much larger, but it served its purpose just fine when she was forced to her feet at the hand of her cell's visitor.

"Chin up now," Sewn leather gloves caught her jaw, roughly twisting her lifeless face skyward. "you won't have to come back after this."

She had no name, but that was hardly unusual. Slaves didn't need names, and their masters wouldn't care what they were called anyway. It was something she had learned during training. Or retraining.

"How many times have we had to reeducate you, I wonder..." Her captor mused neutrally over the chained wastrel. "Bad luck, or just a faulty product?"

Obey your master.
Stay silent.
Be docile.

There was no telling who would buy a slave, and unless you were important, there wasn't any reason to expect you'd find mercy. The trainers had drilled that into their heads, each and every time. The Crown had outlawed the practice, but that just meant the customers had changed.

Not that it mattered to her. This gritty floor and stale air had been her home for the past ten years. It was the place she kept coming back to. Kept being returned to.

"I've never met someone who screwed up so many times, and somehow kept out of the gutter. If you're a lucky girl, it must be something else that's screwed you over, hm?"

A slave's price was indicative of their expected worth. In a twisted sense, information like that was what formed the pecking order in these cells... Because when it came time for punishments, the overseers had an obligation to protect their profits.

"How long has it been since your last owner abandoned you? A year? Two? There's not much price left to slash."

Ironically, her price had been highest when she was a child. Rebellious, weak, and unmannered... Children made for terrible slaves. There were still uses for them though, or so she had been told. It must have been true, because she had seen others go.

They were bought for potential. For what they could become, given time. To be trained from a young age, and molded for a given purpose. Maybe she never had potential.

Sold and returned. The story of her life.

Too clumsy for a servant.
Too weak for the fields.
Too skittish for a craft.

Self-esteem was something that died a long, long time ago. Too many failures had driven that out of her.

"Too pitiful to be a whore?" Her captor snorted in surprise, scanning the contents of some paper. "Wondered why they sold you back. Never had a complaint like that, though."

Her body had failed her in every other way. The fact she was still alive at all was probably the only thing it had done right, so of course it wouldn't have grown like the others. The time for her to have developed was long past, and this frail form was the only thing she'd to show for it.

It matched her mind, piece for piece.

Whoever had been waiting for her to bloom into something worth selling must have been sorely disappointed.

"Up against a princess and a demihuman, though." They chuckled pitiously, "Can't say I envy your odds. Maybe your luck will hold out, and the customer'll be sick enough to take you."

It wasn't difficult to outclass her. Time and time again, she'd had an opportunity to prove her worth... And she had. As many times as it had repeated, there really could be no mistake.

This girl was worthless. Unfit even as a warm body, be it to sate lust or do chores. One look at the slaves she would be competing against was all her dull brown eyes needed to know that this 'last chance' was a bad joke.

She shouldn't be here. It was a bold trick by whatever auctioneer had decided to include her, and it was plain to see; Even to the young noble they were to be judged by.

"So what is the despondent one even doing in their company?"

Despondent.

That was a good word for her.

Point by point, they'd laid out the highlights of the other two slaves... And when their crimson eyes turned to you, their only question had been 'why'.

Why was she even here?

"I'll take the demihuman." That's not what happened. "I can't be bothered with a slave that talks back."

A reason for forsaking the princess, but as for that brown haired girl... There was nothing.

She was never even an option.

You jerked awake with a start, cold sweat chilling your body in the morning light as you gasped for breath. Twin heartbeats pounded in your chest, their paces slowly finding a common rhythm.

"Master?" Ari tugged at your sleeve anxiously. "Are you okay? What's wrong? Master!"

You swallowed tightly, becoming acutely aware of how dry your throat was as you brought your breathing under control. One hand cupped your throat gingerly, tracing the phantom pain of the manacle's metal edge digging into your skin. There was a persistent sense of anxiety bundled somewhere in the back of your mind, but it wasn't yours. It didn't seem like it was going away, either...

>Hearts Harmonized

"...Calm down, Ari."
"Yes, Master."

You glanced down at her, finding the timid Testament to have grown obediently still... But if anything, that anxiety only seemed to be increasing. Unlike 'A Spider's Web', you didn't think it was possible to tune this connection out. It was just always going to be passively 'On'.

>Set out for Carona (Ride Oakenrue? Walk?)
>Ask something (what?)
>Have Ari meditate while you take care of something (what?)
>Other? (write-in)

>>1954019
Dammit.
I don't regret us having taken all three Testaments. Leaving Ari to that would've been too horrible.

>Try and summon as much inner confidence as possible to project it into Ari
>Have Ari meditate while we take care of breakfast

>>1954019
>>Other? (write-in)
Tell Ari that she has come a long way and that we're proud of her.
Hold her fucking hand.

>>Set out for Carona.
Walk while Ari rides the oakenrue. Try to keep up a good pace, jog if possible.

>>Ask something (what?)
Ask Ari if she had a dream or nightmare.
Ask her about her friendship with Rinnier and Kara.

>>1954110
I don't think Irue can jog for days on end.
We really need just a normal fricking horse cart.

>>1954110
Re reading I see now that we did hold her hand, but do it again anyway!

>>1954112
Yeah, I'm not expecting to do a marathon, just break out for a short jog once in a while if the terrain is suitable. Get our endurance up.

>>1954110
>>1954019
These are all good. Ask her about going into the forest.

Thank her and tell her she did a good job while we and everyone else were sadly fucking up.

>>1954169
>Thank her and tell her she did a good job while we and everyone else were sadly fucking up.
Are you talking about back before our right ended when she earned Clara's respect by threatening to kill her with the oakenrue?

>>1954019
>>Set out for Carona (Walk)

>>1954019
>>Set out for Carona (Ride Oakenrue? Walk?)
Ride until we get close, then walk.

Great job guys, you gave Irue anxiety, now there's nothing left to stop her from developing clinical depression.

>>1954019
Seconding >>1954110

I just hope that saying we're proud of her doesn't mean she'll understand it as approval to keep killing people with the Oakenrue

>>1954386
Sometimes you just gotta murder people with an oakenrue anon it was a good call.