"What about Ari?"

"Fen saw her leaving earlier this morning." Rinnier shrugged.

"I should-"

"Leave her be." she interjected sternly, "She's walking on her own, and this town's crawling in your knights and the demihumans. She'll be fine. You spoil her too much as it is."

You frowned, quickly finding yourself set to be on your own today. An outcome you... Weren't sure of your feelings on, given recent events.

"I'll give you some time to wake up, but don't take too long. We have plans today."

"We do?" You blink, plucked back into the conversation before you could grow distracted. "Did something come up?"

"No, I just want your company today." The red tressed Testament crossed her arms, arching a brow before continuing. "Is that a problem?"

"...Did I do something?"

"..." She gently massaged the bridge of her nose.

>Acquiesce
>Track down someone instead (Who?)
>Start weaving
>Other? (write-in)

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

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

Assorted Supplemental:
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:seven months later. Someone kill me.


Memo:
1. Rinnier wants you to decide soon on how you'll make a public appearance to capture the hearts of the people. (11/4/2017)
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?

>Acquiesce
Eh sure. Don't really remember waht we're up to anyway.

>>2878444
>>Acquiesce

You came back!

seven months later. Someone kill me.
I thought for sure you were waiting for a round 1 year. Glad to see you, you've been sorely missed. I've got some reading to do though, it's hard enough to Remember things when they're fresh.

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>>2878444
>Acquiesce
Update: I have now finished reading the archives

>>2878464
>>2878467
I wouldn't expect a Forgetting this thread, tentatively. It's been an unfairly long period of time, so I'm aiming to be mindful of things which demand you pick up where you left off seamlessly.

Also I should update those memos, because #1 and 2 are already finished and moot...

Memo:
1.
2.
3. Mim said "When are you going to tell her?" Tell what to whom?

>>2878494
Congratulations! And welcome back!

We'll be waiting a little while since IF I RECALL, voting blocks were 1 hour windows.

If anyone has questions or the like, feel free to ask. I'm sure everyone's a bit rusty by now.

>>2878502
memos...... yeh memos. shit I dont remember anything

>>2878529
>http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/553737/
>561290
There's the relevant post for the only remaining memo. To save time, it's in reference to a question Mim asked before you snapped, which you didn't understand the subject of. It was vaguely threatening.

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>>2878545
oh mann Im in no state right now to use my brain
some other anon step up and figure this out

>>2878464
>>2878467
>>2878494
We're fine with it! Writing!

We probably won't do a whole lot tonight, since I've got a vet appointment in the morning.

>>2878600
Don't worry anon. None of us know what she's talking about. Its probably not important.

Probably.

>>2878608
Riz? Up while the sun is out?
Who are you, really?

>>2878626
Assorted tragedies have befallen my dog, I have little choice!

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>>2878440
It's happening!

Thinking it over, you didn't have anything else specifically planned for today. In fact you'd gotten most of your immediate concerns out of the way last night, which meant you had some genuine spare time for once! ...Keyword 'had', as Rinnier had apparently just requisitioned it for something. At the very least it didn't seem like it was going to lead to a lecture, which admittedly engendered some curiosity over what she wanted you for.

"I don't mind. What's going on?" you finally shed the blankets, finding your feet beneath you as the opportunity to sleep to your heart's content drained soundly away. "Is this about what we talked about...?"

"Not exactly, no." Rinnier shook her head, turning to leave you to your own devices as you prepared. "We've both been busy lately, so I'd like it if we took it easy today." She paused in the doorway, hand laid across the knob just before shutting it. "Think of it as a break?"

"You want to spend your break with me?" You pause briefly, unable to keep the confused suspicion from your voice; a fact which the former princess caught all too easily, if the rolling of her eyes were any indication.

"I want to make sure you take a break, instead of finding something else to get involved in."

"I'm not that bad." You defend yourself with a scowl. "It's just been one thing after another, lately."

"And there's still plenty to come." She acknowledged, briefly allowing a glimpse of the fatigue in her frame as she grinned from the hall. "But today, you rest. We rest. Understand?"

Part of you wanted to argue, if only on principle, that you didn't have the time for leisure. That even with everything you'd done, you still had a to-do list spanning from Carona to your ruined estate, and today was the perfect opportunity to scratch off just a few more of those things... And the longer you thought of it, the more intimidating it seemed to become. You'd been haphazardly adding things to that list for so long that you'd probably forgotten over half the items, and lost context for another quarter at least.

When you seriously started to consider adding 'remember everything you need to do' to your to-do list, you felt something small and fragile inside of you wither. Any further objections you to the former princess' conditions seemed to crumble away with it.

"Good." She responded wryly towards the overwhelmed sigh you'd let slip, "We can talk it over later if you want, but go ahead and get ready for now."

When you finally emerged ready to go, Rinnier seemed to be finishing her conversation with Fen. A knight who you'd had little direct contact with, but evidently someone who had stepped up to become your Testament's right hand man in your absence. As far as you knew his duties as secretary to your endeavours in Carona mainly consisted of handling paperwork, but you wouldn't be surprised if he also ran errands from time to time.

"I'll look over the lists when I get the chance." He assured her, tapping a set of semi-familiar papers on the desk he'd commandeered in the front room. "Does this have anything to do with the demihumans being reassigned?"

"I-" She opened her mouth to respond, catching sight of you moments later. "Oh Irue, good timing. Do you know anything about this?" She gestured towards the papers from earlier, and closer inspection revealed them to be the lists of missing people that Mim had spoken to you about last night. Several editions of them, with suspect names marked for ease of investigation.

You hadn't expected these for a little while longer yet, given you just finished the conversation about them last night. Buried in these lists were names of people who had been found already, but who mysteriously vanished not long after. A feat which would have been concerning enough on its own, had there not also been evidence to provide suspicion over whether other entries in this pool of citizens even existed in the first place.

"The Luna Representative and I talked about it last night." You acknowledged after a moment, "I told her we'd look into it; I'm suspicious it's related to the previous mayor's rebellion attempt."

Fen looked back down at the papers with a growing frown, nodding solemnly. "I'll see if I can cross reference it now."

>Ask Fen to do something (what?)
>Broach a topic to Rinnier (what?)

ALSO: You've tentatively agreed to a day of leisure. While Rinnier seems to have plans, they're not a strict schedule.

>Let Rinnier take the lead
>You'd like to see to something in Carona (what?)

>>2878908
>Ask Fen to determine any informal leaders that have cropped up amidst the population. They'll be our targets.

>Let Rinnier take the lead

>>2878440 >>2878450 >>2878908
I heard about this quest and it's "Forgetting" or memory mechanic. Are we forgetting something? When are we going to see it?

>>2878908
>Broach a topic to Rinnier (what?)
Hey Rinny, how do you make friends? Cause I don't get it.

Also is fen short for something?
>Let Rinnier take the lead
I mean, not much to see in Carona I think. Maybe we should walk aroun town though, so people know who we are for once.

>>2878925
Probably not today, as Riz said, to give anons time to get back into shape.

>>2878908
>>Let Rinnier take the lead
We slept a long time. So long, in fact, that I only remember a few points of interest, and none of them are worth visiting without a reason.

Though I do have a mild curiosity about how things are goings down below. Maybe we should visit the Web sometime?


>>2878925
No offense, but If you don't understand how Forgetting works, that means you haven't read the archives. and if you haven't read the archives, you aren't going to have any idea what's going on. We could give you a summary, but the devil is in the details in this quest.
You're in luck today though. Riiz has been away for a short while and is planning to go easy on us for now.
To answer your question, Forgettings are indicated in the voting prompts. Though they can, on very rare occasions, be unmarked.
>Are you Forgetting something?

>>2878934
>Though they can, on very rare occasions, be unmarked.
How so? How would one know it’s unmarked or to take that as an action?

>>2878939
It's not that they are unmarked per se, it's that we don't need a prompt to remember something relevant, and sometimes it even happened.

>>2878939
Mainly by understanding some connection without being prompted. We have a hard enough time getting Forgettings as is though, so I wouldn't worry about it too much.

>>2878946
>We have a hard enough time getting Forgettings as is though,
Why's that? It's something that requires looking tens of threads back to find?

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>>2878908
>>>Let Rinnier take the lead

>>2878948
Sometimes.
But mostly because we don't know what to look for.

>>2878952
Because >>2878934
->Are you Forgetting something?
is too vague?

>>2878954
Yes, and that's the point of it.

>>2878948
see 'A List of Forgotten Things' at the top of the thread if you're willing to spoil yourself for an explanation of Forgettings and most of our failed Forgettings.
Here's the spoiler-free blurb:
The purpose of "Forgetting" options:
>Through out the story, various details and inconsistencies will be highly relevant later. Not everyone you meet will be honest, and many of them have their own agendas. By remembering things at the appropriate time, you as players can 'shift' things into Irue's favor. Don't just be a pawn in someone else's game - Make it your own. Pursue your own agenda, and succeed where no one expected you to.

>A Forgetting option will never punish you for being wrong. However, getting it right may sometimes allow you to avoid planned events that would have been troublesome to you - And in some cases, even grasp a beneficial resolution from them. No matter how many wrong guesses are made regarding the Forgetting option, if a single one is correct then it is treated as if you got it correct.

>Some Forgetting options have greater rewards for getting them correct. These are optional, much like unlocking an additional 'side quest' or 'optional objective'. If you don't get the Forgetting right, you won't receive these additional perks/rewards, but it will never cause you to NOT receive perks/rewards you would have received anyway.

>There is no downside to participating in Forgetting options. Even if you're wrong, share your theories and thoughts! Radio silence makes things harder for everyone, so work together to get as many as you can!

>>2878954
This quest is hard. We can do just about anything, but there's no hand-holding. That makes defeat and despair good friends here, but when we finally do something right? It's one of the best feelings in the world.

>>2878957
>>2878450
-A List of Forgotten Things - http://pastebin.com/kPEscJ3h
Yeah, I already read it before asking. I wanted to see if I was missing anything.

>>2878965
>We can do just about anything,
How so? We're that powerful, he laws of the quest or universe is that open, or it's that much of an sandbox with no rails?

>>2878966
>Irue
>powerful
Not even slightly. We can't get anyone to recognize our legitimacy as a noble, never mind any force of arms.

No, I meant things are pretty open. The first arc things were more focused (namly a strong incentive to reach our goal in a timely manner), but all we've ever really had is a goal, and a few resources; "figure the rest out yourself".

>>2878908
YAAAAASSSS!

>Ask Fen to determine any informal leaders that have cropped up amidst the population. They'll be our targets.

> Broach a topic to Rinnier (what?)

Ideas for how to co-opt the leaders, or break them without looking bad to the population.

>Let Rinnier take the lead

>>2878949
>implying Rue is a girl

>>2878972
Goddamnit, Irue is plenty powerful. She has multiple artifacts that are one of a kind. She has magical abilities that nobody else has. She has a Nuclear Bracelet.

The problem is the Irulen is always trying to play "nice". Well, nice for her standards. Honestly I'm surprised we haven't just leveled a nearby landmark just to let people know we can.

>>2878976
>The problem is the Irulen is always trying to play "nice". Well, nice for her standards.
What's nice by her standards? Normal?

>>2878976
actual spoilers:
Rue has a book of disguise that she keeps lending out, and a bracelet Asche won't tell her how to use properly. The staff tree was ours at one point, but it's not anymore. If we sit in the same place and shut off all our senses for several hours we can sense things inside a radius, and after several more hours can stab things within that radius. If she sleeps(next) to someone, they can share emotions for a while.
She can't do anything like deliberately destroy a landmark.

Oh, and she can freely teleport to a place she hates. Several stories above the ground.


>>2878978
non-hostile. She grew up in a mansion with a silent maid. She is not well adjusted. Thanks Auntie.

>>2878987
>She grew up in a mansion with a silent maid
She grew up alone in a mansion a couple days travel from the nearest town with only a silent, stoic maid. Very not well adjusted.

>>2878987
-non-hostile. She grew up in a mansion with a silent maid. She is not well adjusted. Thanks Auntie.
>>2878993
y tho

>>2878997
>y tho
We're wondering as well. There's a lot of strange and suspicious things in Irue's past.

>>2878925
I'm not really sure how to answer this. As mentioned up in >>2878502, I don't plan for there to be any Forgettings in this thread since there's been such a long break. It'd be terribly unfair for everyone involved.

If you're asking when you'll see the mechanic, I'd advise looking through the archives a bit. It comes up semi-often. It's nothing special; the gist of it is that there is a prompt for an open-ended write-in which asks the players to supply a specific relevant detail from earlier in the quest - They can make as many attempts as they like during the window, and if even one of them is correct then it is taken as them having succeeded.

On paper it sounds fairly easy, but in practice... Well, there are a lot of details, and the connections aren't always immediately obvious. The narrative format of Valen is such that anons are encouraged to review what they learn, because new information can redefine what previously gained information may mean.

One particular example of this is Faedka.
>1. Originally Faedka was just an alcoholic beverage they got drunk on.

>2. Later they learned how Mana could be purged from someone's body by another Mana or Adept.

>3. Afterwards they learned that the side effects of a mana purge were comparable to that of a hangover.

>4. Sometime afterwards they realized that the "Fae" were connected to a Mana and were, in fact, apparitions.

>5. They deduced that Faedka was derived in some manner from the blood of those apparitions.

All of the previous facts were introduced separately, and no special attention was paid towards mentioning they were related. They were just interesting tidbits my cute anons picked up along the way. Each new piece allowed them to redefine what previous pieces of information may ultimately mean.

Knowing #1-3, they initially deduced Faedka to be a drug for purging Mana that they knew could be located in a nation to the east. After learning #4-5, they realized that rather than being a drug, it was a "natural" purge resulting from flooding their system with the Mana in question. Later on they were charged with what the implication of doing that meant when they discovered more about that Mana. There's actually still a secret or two related to Faedka they have yet to put together which they could, but it hasn't become immediately relevant to them yet.

Information builds on information, and with little exception it is up to them to make the relevant connections. They are provided with the tools and opportunity to make these realizations, but if they do not then they're allowed to miss the plot point entirely and - in some cases - suffer because of it. Either due to chasing shadows, lashing out at allies they mistook as enemies, or just not realizing they are being used.

That's basically the foundation of Forgetting. Like I said earlier, it isn't super amazing, and probably doesn't sound very impressive when laid out like this.

>>2879001
> We still don't know where Faedeka comes from

I mean it came from a Dryad apparition, but it protected Ari from Dryad in the Atelier?

Also I wonder about its effect on other apparitions.

>>2878987
> She can't do anything like deliberately destroy a landmark.

Carona begs to differ.

Seriously, people are slowly starting to follow her. We won the respect of our Aunt, and saved our cousins life from a conspiracy probably. We're trying to be all the things we think a Noble should be, and barely treating ourselves as fitting of our station. We're slowly making Carona a place we hate less.

Valen Quest is back! I missed you!

>>2878908
>Broach a topic to Rinnier (what?)
We think they all fucked off to shit in the woods with a wisp adept that has sworn vengeance against us. Marchovic has promised to wipe them all out but we're concerned he'll get himself killed and are thinking of going with him and subsequently recruiting him for our mining operation. I wonder if that's where Jill went? Between getting a general direction from a Jinn adept and taking Kara's brother along we should be able to find them pretty quick.

Maybe poke her on the web issue, she wanted to know more about that, right?

>>2879006
Well the apparition just pisses in a bottle and leaves it around for us to find, right? I wonder where the bottle comes from...

>let rinnier take the lead

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Also I must sleep now in order to make it to appointment on time. I'll give a ~30m warning before the window closes and pick up when I can after (or before, depending) said appointment!

>>2879010
It's great to see all of you again! It feels nice to be running again; All the anxiety about fucking up melts away once the scenes start rolling.

>>2878908
Oh, can we arrange for someone to cook up some snacks for us wherever we go so Rinnier can avoid any cooking flames?

>>2879015
-It's great to see all of you again! It feels nice to be running again; All the anxiety about fucking up melts away once the scenes start rolling.
>>2879010
-Well the apparition just pisses in a bottle and leaves it around for us to find, right? I wonder where the bottle comes from...
Brings back fond memories?

>>2879010
I asked this a lot of threads ago. Where the hell do they get the bottles? Who is printing the labels? This is a lead we should pay more attention to, imho.

>>2879023
What happened to all the empties, too.

Fuck. Bottles can't be cheap either in a pre-industrial society.

We should grab some street urchins or other poor people and have them come with us to the Manor to tell us what is valuable and can be resold. Those bottles would probably be worth something. There must be a ton of them.

>>2879006
>I mean it came from a Dryad apparition, but it protected Ari from Dryad in the Atelier?
Dryads are used to make it, but Dryads want others to drink their Faedka? Maybe it helps extend their influence, or maybe it’s a waste product by Dryads?
>>2879006
>Also I wonder about its effect on other apparitions.
If a mana purge causes a hangover, flooding it with another mana, then having an apparition drink it would most likely be venomous. So a spray from a water gun that gets ingested, or perhaps on contact depending on how mana interaction works, would be lethal.

>>2879049 >>2879039
Could be a Dryad-aligned Faedka cartel.

>>2879062
>I mean it came from a Dryad apparition, but it protected Ari from Dryad in the Atelier?
Wasn't this known already? The apparition flushed Ari's system to prevent accumulation of Luna's influence, which would've caused Dryad to go berserk.

>Could be a Dryad-aligned Faedka cartel.
Dryad is super-secret. No one knows about it except us and, IIRC, Rinnier. Even Ari doesn't know. And no one has ever heard of Faedka except us.

>>2879049
Which reminds me. We've paid that nomad spy Yuri by allowing him to take our Faedka stocks. I don't remember whether he did, but if yes, where did it end up? There's no sign of it in Carona at least.

>>2879049
We're not bringing a bunch destitute homeless people to ransack our home! On the subject of discarded valuables though, I was hoping to get Ari and the oakenrue to find any leftover cores. We could activate them then power them down, hide them on our person as an emergency weapon. Need to remember that for when we see Ari again.

>>2879070
Yuri was selling Dryad trees and when we saw him he assumed we were Raid's sister, his reaction to this was something to the effect of "I didn't think I'd see siblings out this far." Doesn't this imply that wherever he's from has a higher fertility rate than other places, and thus higher in ambient Dryad mana? What's up with that?

>>2879001
>Knowing #1-3, they initially deduced Faedka to be a drug for purging Mana that they knew could be located in a nation to the east. After learning #4-5, they realized that rather than being a drug, it was a "natural" purge resulting from flooding their system with the Mana in question. Later on they were charged with what the implication of doing that meant when they discovered more about that Mana. There's actually still a secret or two related to Faedka they have yet to put together which they could, but it hasn't become immediately relevant to them yet.
>>2879010
-Well the apparition just pisses in a bottle and leaves it around for us to find, right? I wonder where the bottle comes from...
>>2879070 >>2878957
>>2878934 >>2878944
Any direction we should be looking for the secret? If we throw up hypotheses and discuss about it enough, would it be that unmarked successful Forgetting or Remembrance? I'm not sure if there's a term for that.
>>2879015
How do we know when we Remember it, when Riz returns to tell us?

>>2879070
That secret Luna cult knows.

>>2879080
We're bringing a couple of select peasants to help apprise our items, which we can sell for reconstruction funds.

Of course we'll own a share in anything we help fund. But we gotta get some sort of production going to generate taxes.

Not like we give a shit about anything except books and headbands.

>>2879082
>Any direction we should be looking for the secret?
If only we knew...

>How do we know when we Remember it, when Riz returns to tell us?
Riz will acknowledge the new understanding from the in-character perspective, I think.

Also, anon, your posting style seems familiar. Are you Rookie?

>>2879092
-If only we knew...
Well we already have a number of questions and possible investigations.
>>2879001
Based on what was Known in this example, it seems investigating for a question would be ideal.
Ask a question > hypothesize answer > ask a number of questions relating to it > hypothesize > form into the investigation questions. Find contexts in which the investigative questions would be brought up > hypothesize > finding clues which might answer that question > deduce an answer > form into the investigative leads. Contexts for investigative leads > deduce involvement > lay them all out > form into the list of investigative suspects or possible conclusions. Repeat process until we have either a general idea on what might happen, or we brute force the answer.
Ideally quote for easier reference and dismantling of any additional info.

-Riz will acknowledge the new understanding from the in-character perspective, I think.
So we'll have to banter until then.

-Also, anon, your posting style seems familiar. Are you Rookie?
Interesting. I’m both curious on why you think that’s the case, and why you’re attempting to associate me as someone. Is that name significant to you?

>>2878998
>>2879092
>If only we knew...
I have a suspicion this was intended to cultivate a sort of paranoid, inquisitive mind capable of handling isolation and failure for investigating the secret world. Or it was intended to ward her away from it.

>headbands
The athletic or aesthetic kind?

>Not like we give a shit about anything except books and headbands.
So we're a collector? Does she have many interests, is that related to her upbringing, or are those plot items?

My man, what is your deal?

>>2879099
>Is that name significant to you?
No, I just thought your posting style is similar to that person's. It would be an amusing coincidence if you were them.

>The athletic or aesthetic kind?
Aesthetic. Irue is very particular about her hair

>Is that related to her upbringing, or are those plot items?
Yes.

>>2879118
Who?

>>2879119
>No, I just thought your posting style is similar to that person's. It would be an amusing coincidence if you were them.
Would be.

>>2879089
I'm going to vote against any attempt to show destitute and desperate peasants who we've never met before around our precious childhood home. Why did you think to go to homeless children first, our knights have a decently wide range of backgrounds, you know?

>>2879139
To be fair, they're pretty far down on the scale of money.

I just figure street urchins would know the most about what's valuable.

You think they're going to trek all the way out to the creepy overgrown Nobles mansion by the Fae woods, protected by said Fae, and loot amongst the burnt out husks of wood golems that look like their ruler?

Because I figure that's some serious Nope o' Fucking Clock for most people.

Like we ain't even dead, they wanna rob us? Let them try. See how pleasant the Fae are.

Besides the plan is to remove everything of value anyways.

>>2879171
Well when you put it like that we can't afford NOT to show starving homeless children around our mansion! If the sleeping feelers of a forgotten god become the subject become the subject of rumor then that's a price I'll gladly pay to tap into the untold wisdom of gutter trash.

I dunno man, the idea of selling the stuff in our house isn't necessarily a bad one but entrusting the task to some randos is a stupid move when we already have connections to work with. Either ask Dullam/Fen if we have a knight with a mercantile background or send a letter to our Uncle and have him take care of it. The real problem would be where to sell it, and what to buy with it. Maybe if we outsource the problem to our uncle he could get us the equipment necessary for our iron working venture?

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>>2878440
Valen, my favorite time of the YEAR.

>>2878908
Ask Rinnier how long she's going to keep our diary. That thing can be incredibly useful if we go after the bandits.

Check out Carona's market. How is the economy? Is trade being facilitated? Is... is this work? Am I working? (Don't tell her why we want to go to the market)

>>2879099
Well if you've got a proper head for this, head to the archives and read them /slowly/. Even if you want to help figure things out before doing that, every one of us is an unreliable source of information.

-Why do you sometimes quote like this?

>>2879082
>How do we know when we Remember it, when Riz returns to tell us?
Yes.
One time I had an epiphany about Yuri and his trees that unlocked a whole slew of information that was all completely, utterly irrelevant to the forgetting at hand. It put some annoying things into perspective and some information served us well in later puzzles. However it was nothing but a madman's ramblings until Riz raised an eyebrow and said "well shit you're right but you completely failed to remember!"

Hell I managed to solve a problem before it was even brought up and route-locked us without even allowing us to learn of the other options he had planned. It's a double edged sword. Searching for the missing and dead bodies in Carona with a Spider's Web as our first grand act as mayor. I'm sorry.

He could've ignored it since it wasn't relevant to the post in question. You can view all our banter and discussion as Irue's dumb little brain constantly working overtime and sometimes things just click, and then Rinnier looks at us funny and wonder how the fuck she got saddled with a high functioning autist with ADHD.

>>2879284
>One time I had an epiphany about Yuri and his trees that unlocked a whole slew of information that was all completely, utterly irrelevant to the forgetting at hand.
Wait, I distinctlty remember me doing that.

>>2879296
Nah man, I printed out those (You)'s and hug them every night. Hell I even almost ruined it by objecting to it as a joke, cause I felt dumb for entirely missing the point, then left the thread for an hour and come back to Riz having taken it seriously.

Not one of my best moments.

>>2879315
I yelled at a little girl once, which allowed us a cathartic breakthrough into how paranoid and self deprecating we had gotten, and how *lonely* we were.

Then for some reason we doubled down on the self loathing and I've been trying to be positive about ourselves ever since.

>>2879015
> Thank Rinnier for asking us out on a date. Be completely oblivious to romantic implications.

>>2879070
>Dryad is super-secret. No one knows about it except us and, IIRC, Rinnier. Even Ari doesn't know.
You missed someone important. The one who locked Dryad up. Luna, plus an unknown number of it's Adepts.

>>2879099
>Interesting. I’m both curious on why you think that’s the case, and why you’re attempting to associate me as someone. Is that name significant to you?
I'm not the anon in question, but that framing looks familiar. Are you a QM?

>>2879415
>It's been over a year and we finally say thank you

I've been twisting and pulling to get Irue some friends and allies but shadowruns always seem to take precedence. At least I didn't tell Jill she can be a maid.

>>2879443
. . . . I'm not good at talking.

Also I feel like she doesn't understand just how much bullshit our life has. Or how we lost pretty much everyone close to us to an assassination, and have been nearly killed multiple times, and how being our maid is probably more dangerous than being a guard.

Like.

Look at our other maids. Staff wielding warrior princess, creepy to a scary degree quiet possibly human attendant, and sweet innocent little wallflower and her giant murder golem of wood and flesh.

Like.

Damn Jill. Calm down and learn to look at things. Like we met her while disguised by a magic artifact we got from a not-God so we could infiltrate a hostile town and stop a rebellion.

If we ever run into Jill again, we gotta apologize for asking her to be our maid because honestly it's WAY too dangerous.

>>2879433
>You missed someone important
I doubt it's Luna Adepts who are supplying the Fae with empty bottles.

>>2879465
You know Maran can teleport, and she's with Artemis. She's also the one who sought out Caylen and put it in his head that he's the chosen one. I wouldn't be surprised one bit if those fuckers teleport them right into our cellar and have a big fucking laugh at our drunken antics, eating popcorn while viewing us through a scrying ball

>>2879481
Remember that the Fae hate Luna with gusto. There's no way they could have any kind of business relationship.

>>2879500
What if Artemis are Canadians, except worse? They go grab Oakenrues and put them in a pot, then screw them full of taps to get their magical syrup?

>>2879481
Didn't we come to the conclusion that the Fae were jealous, and wanted our attention, thus them giving us generous amount of purge potion?

Also, for some reason Asche was reluctant to remove our stockpile of the stuff despite our insistence.

>>2879527
Oh, yes, but we're talking about who bottles and labels the damn stuff. I mean, dryad apparitions have yet to show that they're capable of commerce or glasswork. Unless Asche does it and that begs the question, why bother?

>>2879542
Do we know if it's actually glass? It could be made from some weird variant of the Sap, for instance.

File: Still getting worse!.jpg (93 KB, 575x399)

93 KB JPG

>>2878924
>>2878927
>>2878934
>>2878949
>>2878973
>>2879012
>>2879415
Rinnier take the wheel!

>>2879284
Checking out the market! That's not work, right? It's not.

>>2878924
>>2878973
Targeting leaders of the community...?

>>2878927
Friend advice from Rinnier!

>>2879010
Telling Rinnier about our plans with Marchovic and the bandits! (Also tentative roster selection of a Jinn Adept and Raid?)

>>2879284
Ask about the Diary of Reflections! That'd be pretty useful for the bandits coming up!

Going to settle in and make breakfast, then get writing. Window will close in ~30m from now!

---
>>2879017
>Cooking flames
You won't need to be too wary of this. Rinnier is aware of her stigma, and the atmosphere is rather lax. You can trust her to handle herself.

>>2879284
>Favorite time of the year

>>2879818
Can we poke her on what she's been doing with the diary too?

>>2879831
Rudely prying into the secret and intimately personal affairs of your Testament!
I needed an excuse to bring this up anyway, so we can definitely do that!

>>2879831
IIRC she wanted to borrow it and told us not to pry, so I think we shouldn't pry.

>>2879838
W-we're just asking, you make it sound like we're snooping through her sms history!

>>2879859
You gave him a reason to stir up drama with Rinnier again, so that's basically what you did ask for.

>>2879844
>>2879863
Where did she tell us not to ask any questions? I really don't think some curiosity on our part is misplaced in the least, all the more so since I don't think we brought it up the last two times we encountered her. It's dangerous and she has no experience with it.

>>2879899
You're right. I went back to check and I can't find it. I really don't know why I was so sure that was the case... I wonder what I got it mixed up with?

>>2879925
You may have been thinking of >2025987 in http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/2022730/

>>2879941
Don't forget to thank Rinnier for taking us out on a date!

>>2879844
I think you're right, but as long as we don't push, it hopeuflly shouldn't be an issue.

>>2879818
>>2880179
Instead of asking WHAT Rinnier did with the book, could we ask if she got what she wanted out of it and if she was happy with the results?

>>2880188
Irue with tact? You're a real joker.

I can see it now, Irue being very careful and deliberate with her words for once and Rinnier just staring at her like, "what the hell is she trying to pull?"

>>2880204
Gotta have character growth eventually.

This ain't your DBZ fanfic quest.

>>2880204
Also Irue has plenty of tact.

She just forgets that other people are, well, people.

>>2880204
>Irue with tact?
My exact thought. We've never really been good with people, though we've better than we used to be.

"Can you put together a list of important people in Carona's community as well?" The issue with the bandits wasn't something you were going to be able to just quash with violence alone. At least not without a better idea of what and who you were arrayed against. "People that the people are rallying around, anyone who would have notable influence on their opinions.

Fortunately, for once, you were actually in a position to flex your rightful authority and gather intelligence.

"Should I prioritize that over these lists?" He straightened, looking between you and Rinnier for an answer.

Rinnier's hand waved dismissively, instead turning quizzically towards you. "Something on your mind?"

"The Shade Representative reminded me that our saboteurs and rebels aren't gone yet." Your lips thinned as you reiterated to her the discovery of the Wisp Adept you had faced before having not only survived, but likely maintained connections and activity with the splinter faction of Carona's citizens who'd supported the Mayor's rebellion. "I get the feeling the missing people are related, and if they're still working to destablize Valen authority here..."

"Then they still need inside agents to sway public opinion." Rinnier concluded with a frown, "We've already got a roster of people you're probably looking for. Fen, start with the Crafter's Council and go from there."

"I'll take a closer look at everyone who's taken sizable role in the recovery effort." He assured the two of you, gathering his papers together. "I don't know how long this will take, but I'll keep you updated."

"Thanks, Fen. Tell your fiancee I'm sorry." You blinked as your Testament sighed apologetically, watching the familiar interchange between them.

"It's no problem, really. She'll be excited to know I'm working on something important." He chuckled bashfully, "Well, more important than usual, I guess."

"He has a fiancee?" You asked, stepping out of the makeshift headquarters and breathing in the earthen scents of a slowly recovering town. Daily sounds of toil filled your ears; a thrumming sign of Carona's heart beating healthily despite it's outward condition.

"Two years. Six if you count them being childhood friends. Supposedly she's the reason he got up the courage to volunteer for what he's doing." She answered lightly. "I imagine they would have been married already, if they hadn't been caught between the royalty and nobility's squabbles."

"...Huh." You tucked that new tidbit of knowledge regarding your secretary away, unsure how else to really respond to it. "Have I met her?"

Rinnier cut a strange look towards you, laughing softly when you met her stare with confusion. "I don't know. You've probably seen her at least; she's a member of your knights, after all. I think she works under Dullem in reclaimation."

"Hmm."

...Should you try to meet her? She was obviously important to Fen, and he was someone you were probably going to get used to seeing. Rinnier had obviously met her. It would probably be weird to summon her just because her fiance was working as a secretary. You didn't actually have any reason to get to know her, either.

"Irue?"

"Would it set a bad precedent if I met Fen's fiancee?" you muttered uncertainly, looking to the red haired Testament for advice... Only to find a small, exasperated smile. "What?" The stifled laughter only made your brows furrow further, heat rising through your cheeks. "I just thought, since he worked with us... Forget it."

You abandoned the line of thought, facing forward sulkingly. "She shows up from time to time if you were that curious, but you could just invite them to dinner if you wanted."

"..." The two of you walked in silence for a minute before you finally took the hanging bait. "Them and who else? What kind of occasion?"

"Whoever else you want, Irue." The fallen princess answered with a laugh. "You're the mayor of Carona, the heir to these lands, and more importantly, the one they owe fealty to. You can just tell them to come."

"I know." You stress, rolling your eyes frustratedly. "But I don't want it to be weird. I'll look stupid just calling a meeting and then asking questions. How did you get to know them? Like... Is 'Fen' short for somethin- Stop laughing!"

For all your best efforts not to be seen as weird, you felt the attention being drawn over the course of this conversation to have been a self-defeating effort. Even if the conversation itself was private, your incensed attempts to stop Rinnier's laughter was eliciting more than a couple stares.

"Haha... Hm." The desert princess collected herself, seemingly unconcerned with your glowering as she did so. "No, Fen isn't short for anything. If I recall it's a reference to marshlands... May have to do with where he's from?" She shrugged, expressing the end of her knowledge in that regard. "I got to know the two of them because we worked together while you were gone. She would come to eat lunch with him occasionally. She's... Very excitable."

Rinnier tapped her cheek, one arm crossed under her chest as she thought over something. "Or proud, I guess you might say. Of being a knight, I mean. When we first met she had a lot of questions about you, and Carona, and all sorts of things. Everything that's happened seems to have been an adventure to her."

"...What did she want to know about me?"

"I don't know." Rinnier shook her head softly. "I doubt she does, either. Dullem is the only one of your knights to regularly interact with you... And now Fen, I suppose. Barring that month you all spent drunk, none of them know a whole lot about you. They're curious." Her tone turned teasing, "Seems like the feeling's mutual."

"..." You snorted irritably, initially choosing not to rise to the bait... But it didn't take long before that one-sided defensiveness started to fade, and you found yourself drawn back to engage regardless. "It's not that I'm curious about them personally, but... I feel like it's something I'm failing at."

"Failing?"

Your hands moved, trying to illustrate some elusive point in the air before you while you spoke. "Alouette seemed to know the names and faces of every person she ever trained, and everyone respected her. She did it so naturally, I always just thought it would be easy... And it's not. I have no idea who any of my knights are, and apparently they don't know me, either."

"Is comparing yourself to someone like Miss Alouette something you would do lightly?" Rinnier interjected, "I've only met her twice, but she's a remarkable person."

"Aunt Clara can probably do it, too." You persisted, hands dropping to your sides dejectedly. Even more frustratingly, you remember your Doppleganger making the same connections you were struggling with almost by accident. The thought of that hurt you more the longer you dwelled on it, both due to the way you just couldn't seem to grasp something so simple... And the implication that they were some of the few things your shadow had cherished, and your failures were letting them slip away. "...I don't even know where to start, and everyone else makes it seem so simple."

The conversation casually died with your admissions. On some level you expected her to have an answer for this, too... But after an uncomfortable moment of silence, all you received was a hand on your shoulder. "Sorry, I shouldn't have laughed."

"Nn." You mutter a dissasstisfied grunt. "There are better places to talk about this."

"Yes." She acknowledged, squeezing your shoulder reassuringly before letting you go. "It's more complicated than it seems, too. I can help introduce you to Fen's fiancee sometime, if you want to start there?"

"..?" You looked up, blinking at the sudden offer... But shook your head after giving it some more thought. "I doubt I'll have time. Marchovic invited me to go hunt down the rogue Wisp Adept I mentioned, but we'll have to deal with a camp of bandits to even do that. No telling how many of them are part of Carona's rebellion, either."

"And you still have the expedition to the northern mountains to arrange after that." Rinnier muttered understandingly, "...We'll figure something out. I'm surprised the Shade Representative invited you though, you didn't strike me as very... Combat inclined."

"I'm not sure why he wanted me to come either." You admitted blithely, "He said I could bring a few people, but only after I argued him into it. I'm still not sure what I'll end up doing, or how I'll be of any use subduing bandits in a fight." Your left hand flexed idly; fingers curling into your palm, a weak fist forming and unforming as the dual rings of your bracelet glimmered under the midday sun. "The few things I can do, I worry about using freely."

"It may be a good opportunity to take some of the demihumans." Rinnier advised thoughtfully, "No one in your knights that I know of have any outwardly remarkable skill in combat, so raw power is probably a better choice."

"I was considering Raid."

"Who?" Rinnier blinked, "One of the demihumans, I assume?"

"Yeah, Kara's little brother. He's not as physically strong as the others, but..." You shrug emotively, adequately conveying the vague whirlpool of thoughts which led to spitting him out as a candidate. "There may be more than one way to tackle the problem, and he has experience being a decoy."

"I'm surprised you're not taking the demihuman Testament." She noted plainly, "Wouldn't she be enough to handle them on her own? If an Oakenbear didn't phase her, humans won't."

"It's an option, but I want Kara elsewhere. I don't think I can justify pulling her off what I've assigned her to just to deal with some bandits."

"Some bandits and a Wisp Adept." Rinnier corrected warily, "You're going outnumbered as it is, don't underestimate an Adept on top of it."

"No... No, you're right." You breathed in heavily, fleeting memories of your doppleganger's encounter with the man mixing with your own searing recollection of being literally burned away. "...I'll think about it. I can't afford to come this far and hand myself over to some bandits."

"If you need the Relic back..." Rinnier started suggestively, "I think I'm finished with it for now. There's still some things I'm curious about, but I'd prefer you be armed than leave it with me to study."

"What did you want it for?" You perked up at that, not expecting to hear it offered back so soon... And having never seen her use it, either. "Did you even use it?"

"I'm using it now. Did you not notice?"

She stopped, taking a step back as you looked her over bewilderedly; creeping suspicion towards the validity of her statement increasing as you failed to... To... "Did you get shorter?" The look on her face spoke of your answer not quite hitting the mark. "What did you do?"

"Revisited the past." she explained vaguely, looking from one ankle to the other before crossing her arms with a proud, and quite satisfied, smile. "I lost some muscle, but I don't have so much weight on my shoulders now either." She stepped back to your side, eyeing the top of your head briefly as she did so. "...Guess I did lose a couple inches, too."

"Wait, what?" You shake your head quickly, "That's not how the Diary works."

"Obviously it can, or I couldn't have done this." She pointed out, "I envisioned myself as... Well, myself, several years ago. It did the rest."

>Ask for the Diary of Reflections back
>Continue another topic (which?)
>Proceed to the market
>Other? (write-in)

>>2880608
I want to ask for the diary back, but she's apparently still got a use for it (wanting to feel more feminine?), and it would be useful in tracking or fighting. We did reminder her to be careful to not lose herself in it though, right?

I'm enjoying chatting with Rinner, but no other conversation topics come to mind.
>Proceed to the market


>Rue: "How do I people"?
You'll get there, someday. Eventually.

>>2880608
The Diary allows you disguise yourself as anyone right?
>Continue another topic (which?)
hey if you're using the diary anyway Rinny, what about you help out with my little PR problem while I'm away and disguise yourself as me. In fact I'm beginning to like that idea. I wonder wahat else we can do with the diary actually.

>Proceed to the market

>>2880737
>my little PR problem while I'm away and disguise yourself as me
I can see the tremendous grin on her face if we tell her that. No thank you. And anyone she interacted with would expect us to remember them.
I admit it would be amusing to see her pretending to be us though.

>>2880639
>and it would be useful
*wouldn't

>>2880639
>>2880737
Market!

>>2880737
Pretend to be me and fix our PR problems!

Writing!

>>2880752
>And anyone she interacted with would expect us to remember them.

That would be pretty bad, but she doesn't need to interact with anyone anyway. One of our problems is that we aren't seen in public enough. Just being seen should be enough.

More importantly, I was thinking it was a good way of fucking with our enemies. One moment Irue can fight with pole arms, the next she can't even hold a sword.

Then we get Kara to disguise herself as us... Oh boy.

Would you look at that, Irue Valen can kill okenbears with her bear hands. Who knew?

Fuck, I fell asleep again.

>>2880737
With the diary of reflections, you can finally answer the question of what it'd be like to have sex with yourself.

>>2879284
-Why do you sometimes quote like this?
I've played on some games on /qst/, and I received feedback and requests from some players and game hosts to avoiding greentexting non-game relevant questions. I’ve tried it, and reviews of it is that it has made it easier to read and track, particularly for the game host. This is primarily when I make longer posts, or have a set of posts that don’t mesh with each other: actions on top of questions, or discussions or shitposts intermingled with the votes.
I don't think this'll be necessary here, but if it helps I'm willing to spend some time and effort on it.
>>2879433
-I'm not the anon in question, but that framing looks familiar. Are you a QM?
Not a QM, no. As above, I picked up some stuff over my time on /qst/, so it could be reminiscent of them.

>>2879284
-He could've ignored it since it wasn't relevant to the post in question. You can view all our banter and discussion as Irue's dumb little brain constantly working overtime and sometimes things just click, and then Rinnier looks at us funny and wonder how the fuck she got saddled with a high functioning autist with ADHD.
Would be a great story and mechanical integration.

-head to the archives and read them /slowly/.
I checked the archives, and it dates back to /tg/. I thought it was one of the newer ones since the idea was tossed up in /qtg/.
It’ll take me some time to access the /tg/ archives and read through all of it in this case.

-Even if you want to help figure things out before doing that, every one of us is an unreliable source of information.
I don’t see how that could be the case. It’s not like we’re trying to deceive each other. Certainly you are all more experienced, well-versed, and most likely skilled at this than I.
-Well if you've got a proper head for this,
Any recommendations on that front?

-One time I had an epiphany about Yuri and his trees that unlocked a whole slew of information that was all completely, utterly irrelevant to the forgetting at hand. It put some annoying things into perspective and some information served us well in later puzzles. However it was nothing but a madman's ramblings until Riz raised an eyebrow and said "well shit you're right but you completely failed to remember!"
>>2879099
-Based on what was Known in this example, it seems investigating for a question would be ideal.
Come to think of it, one of the most effective, if least efficient, methods would be to brute-force and list all QM references to a key word > apply investigative techniques > repeat.

Ah. She's using a relic in a way it's not intended to be used for. That's bad news in our experience.

>>2880608
> Ask her why she wanted to look younger.

> Warn her about the artifact and its dangers

Later

> Ask Asche to shadow us when we go out with Marchovic

>>2880911
We're an hour late I'm afraid

>>2879443
-At least I didn't tell Jill she can be a maid.
What's wrong with that? >>2879450
-If we ever run into Jill again, we gotta apologize for asking her to be our maid because honestly it's WAY too dangerous.
Just the dangers associated with the position?

>>2879415
-I yelled at a little girl once, which allowed us a cathartic breakthrough into how paranoid and self deprecating we had gotten, and how *lonely* we were.
How did that happen? >>2879443
-but shadowruns always seem to take precedence.
>>2879450
-. . . . I'm not good at talking.
Shadowrunning too hard?

>>2879560
We could test the composition. Say destructive testing or some magical metal-like testing.

>>2880891
>>2880608
-"Obviously it can, or I couldn't have done this." She pointed out, "I envisioned myself as... Well, myself, several years ago. It did the rest."
It can't be that bad. Could be creative, or educational. We could have someone chaperon her while she experiments.
Are the changes superficial or is actual physical strength and age changed?

>tell her that using the diary so irresponsibly is bad and needs to stop
Durrr addictions and stuff
Why would she want to look a few years younger anyway? Is she still wearing the same ill fitting clothes we gave her

>>2880918
We got an infodump on the relic when we solved the Ateliar, the fact that Irue didn't know that it could be used that way means that this lies outside the intended use of the mirror. We've unintentionally tore our soul to shreds by using our bracelet in an unintended fashion, I don't imagine that this'll be quite so dramatic but I have a bad feeling about it all the same, whatever Rinnier's getting out of this isn't worth it.

>>2880922
I don't think it'll manifest as an addiction but I'm curious why she's going it too. She's lost a lot, maybe this dulls those feelings somehow? She seems brighter and more cheerful.

>>2880918
Is this actual autism?

>>2880918
Honestly you would have to just read the archives, because all the questions you're asking are answered there and I would have to post whole walls of text to explain it.

Like.

We didn't even discuss ShadowRue. Not a misspelling.

I know it can be hard for people to join in this late randomly, but lets keep the DEEPEST LORE questions until the end, and I highly recommend reading the archives.

>>2880948
Which part?

>>2880950
-Honestly you would have to just read the archives, because all the questions you're asking are answered there and I would have to post whole walls of text to explain it.
I wasn't looking for a comprehensive answer so much as a pointer or simple description to work off of, and understand where the conversation is coming from. >>2880936
>We got an infodump on the relic when we solved the Ateliar,
Like this part. >>2880936
>whatever Rinnier's getting out of this isn't worth it.
Or this.

>>2880950
-but lets keep the DEEPEST LORE questions until the end, a
End of what?

>>2880956
-simple description
The logic behind it, more so.

>>2880956
End of the thread. That way it can be dealt with at once.

Also a lot of your questions don't have simple summaries.

>>2880974
-End of the thread. That way it can be dealt with at once.
Fair enough. I figured they would be relevant now with the way Forgetting seemed to work, so I brought it up.
-Also a lot of your questions don't have simple summaries.
A shame. I'll have to can them unless they might be related to a Forgetting, or after I finish catching up with the archives then.

>>2880978
Are you new to 4chins or somrthing

>>2880882
>-Why do you sometimes quote like this?
Interesting, I've never heard anyone complain about greentexting like that, though I could see it in very high postcount threads. It's not an issue here, at least.
Actually, I suggest you just use > unless requested otherwise; - is very distinctive.

>>2880950
What he said. It's great to have some new blood, but even us regulars have to comb old threads for info, especially given the annual nature of this quest. You're going to have to do your due diligence to properly participate.

"Well, keep it for now." You decline the Relic's return. It wouldn't be any use tracking when your Web would serve far better. "What else did you want to learn from it, anyway?"

"Some experimentation, and something that I'm not sure will pan out." Rinnier shrugged at your refusal, picking up where she left off in the conversation. "I mentioned that I lost some muscle, and it's made me wonder just how complete this change is. If I become someone stronger, do I gain that strength? Does muscle memory carry over? What constitutes an 'identity' in the first place?"

Her explanation carried on freely as the two of you moved through Carona, though pauses and deliberately vague terminology made it more difficult to follow than it necessarily had to have been. A small price to pay for obfuscation you suppose, and several of the questions Rinnier posed were some you had briefly wondered yourself. In a way it was fortunate she held such an interest in testing the limits of the Diary of Reflections - an enthusiasm fueled in part due to her excitement over having access to a Relic at all - but at the same time...

You couldn't help but worry as the thought of how much use she must have put into the Diary of Reflections to test these things, or even what pursuing some of those answers might entail. What did someone have to do in order to determine the criteria which defined identity?

You'd barely used the Diary yourself, but over indulgence in any source of power had rarely come without a cost. You made a point to remind the flame haired Testament to be careful with how she handled the Relic, and though she assured you that she understood... Personal experience left you uneasy.

"You said there was something else you weren't sure about?" You tried to put that vague discomfort behind you, trusting instead in Rinnier's self control and grounded personality.

"You said it was called the Diary of Reflections, right?" She began with rhetoric, "I can't help but feel that means there's something hidden inside."

"Hidden?"

The diary was a book bound in frosted ice, whose pages consisted of little more than sheets of shimmering water. You remember staring into those pages to find the reflection of who you would become, but memories of the Ice Queen's Atelier left you wary at the notion of something being hidden within its pages. The last thing you found hidden from there was its Guardian.

"It's in the name, isn't it? Diary of Reflections. I'm curious if there are any records of its Aeon left within somehow." She subtly tapped the cover of the frigid book hidden on her person. "There's a lot we don't understand about Relics, but one thing that's generally agreed on is that they're created by the Aeons somehow. If this Aeon created a diary, it stands to reason they left something inside it, don't you think?"

As the two of you talked over her effort to unravel the Diary of Reflection's secrets, the presence of a throng of people caught your roaming eyes.A crowd could be found nestled in a cleared and cleaned space of town, opening up to an array of stalls bearing an assortment of non-perishable goods. Clothes and blankets were chief among them, but tools of varying purpose could be spotted even from this distance.

"Oh, you've not seen the market yet?" Rinnier stopped a few feet ahead of you, glancing back to see what had held you. "It's pretty busy today."

"How are they paying?" It wasn't impossible for a few of Carona's residents to have salvaged their savings through the disaster, but with this many people it boggled the mind. "I thought we were managing the reconstruction effort... Are these merchants?"

"Part of the crafter's council." She corrected, walking back after realizing that your attention wasn't apt to sway soon. "We're handling distribution and handling of most necessities. Food, water, medical treatment... In cooperation with the Shrine, we've been able to shoulder that much on our own." She gestured towards the market, "Carona's a strong community, though. They weren't satisfied relying on us, so the council worked with them to set up this center in order to help distribute other things the people need to help themselves."

"So it's all internal?" You frowned, looking over the lively display of commerce. "There's not been any external trade?"

"...It's complicated." She paused in her explanation, "Carona would have starved months ago without imports, so in that regard we've been able to trade what little funds we've been afforded for the food and medicine we're distributing. The knights have been helping as well, putting their experience with hunting and foraging to good use to make supplies stretch further. A blessing, since Carona as it stands doesn't have any exports to speak of."

"So what's the complication?"

"In the broadest sense, what we're doing is little more than remote purchase. We're trading a finite currency for consumable goods, and the things we purchase are things we've had to take initiative to secure." Your flame-tressed Testament crossed her arms, looking out over the market with difficult expression. "Carona is reaching out, but no one is reaching back."

"Is that something I can fix?" While your own use of the name had held ambivalent results, the Valen name was undeniably effective when wielded appropriately.

"It should have been."

"Emergencies weren't uncommon in Teranford, and one thing that's always held true is that influence can reliably by converted to currency to some degree. Merchants and businesses are willing to make investments if it means currying favour with someone important. The royal family made certain to remain conscious of this fact, and maintained a healthy relationship with them in order to extend aid where it was needed, as swiftly as possible. I thought the Valen name would have been enough to do the same."

"It should be enough to do the same." You agreed, finding a scowl surfacing through your lips. "What's happening instead?"

"Nothing." Rinnier answered flatly, a hint of deeply seated frustration slipping through her words. "They won't hesitate to take our coin, but none of the surrounding towns and merchants have seemed interested in involving themselves further, favor or no."

"So with nothing to sell, and no one investing..." You surmise unsavorably, "We're clawing at the edge of a pit."

"It's thanks to the knights and the money you found that we've stalled our backslide this long, and even made some progress in getting back up." She forged along, turning away from the market with a shake of her head. "Regardless, the Crafter's council as you may recall is made up of tradesmen from Carona. People with the experience to help Dullem organize the recovery and rebuilding efforts directly, and as luck would have it, they have a degree of savings in the form of credit and favours. They've been cashing those savings in to acquire what you see in the market. Each person armed with a bow, hatchet, or hammer is one more person capable of helping support the town."

You glanced aside, finding Rinnier gesturing for you to follow along. "Where are we going?"

"For a walk, Irue. We're not working today, and that-" She strode back to you, grabbing your hand to pull you along from the market threshold. "-is very obviously work, now move."

>But the market... (Visit market)
>Talk about something else (what?)
>Drag Rinnier somewhere else (where?)
>Other? (write-in)

>>2881027
Does she have anywhere in mind? If she was just planning on wandering aimlessly then suggest checking to see if the Oakenrue is getting into trouble. I want to hug our monster!

>Talk about something else (what?)
Can we revisit her use of the relic briefly? I'd like to raise the points I brought up in
>>2880936
and ask her to undo her transformation. Be gentle, she's obviously getting something out of this but I want to cut off this avenue of self destructive behavior before she gets hurt, seeing as how she just committed herself to using herself as a test subject to unravel the mysteries of relics. The more likely scenario is that the relic will unravel her, especially if she's playing outside of the rules laid out as a consequence of solving the ateliar.
Honestly I'd prefer to change our mind entirely and just take the relic back like she offered, it would be extremely useful in solving this bandit issue without drenching ourselves in blood, but I know you have a thing about changing our mind.

>Talk about something else (what?)
If she's interested in the relic then there's no harm in sharing what else we know, I guess. We could tell her about the lore we used to solve the ice ateliar, the scary guardian that we found and the rest of the powers in the ice ateliar package. Also, our experience using the relic, when we transformed ourselves into our mother despite not remembering what she looked like. That was weird.

>>2880882
>I've played on some games on /qst/, and I received feedback and requests from some players and game hosts to avoiding greentexting non-game relevant questions.
So you are Rookie, you lying bastard. Nice to see you.

>Certainly you are all more experienced, well-versed, and most likely skilled at this than I.
You have a fresh eye. It's valuable.

>>2880918
>What's wrong with that?
She wanted to be an adventuring partner, and the proposition insulted her

>How did that happen?
A girl wanted to be friends with us, we saw it only as a probable political trap.

You really should read the archives though, it's a fascinating read.

>>2881027
>Talk about something else (what?)
About a landing tower for our teleport
About the Ice Queen Atelier in general
About Maran and her suspicious plans
About the Prophet

>>2881066
I don't know who Rookie is but he never actually denied being that guy.

>>2881027
>Other? (write-in)

Lets go somewhere to eat, then. Also bring up who would be best suited to go check over our manor for fungible items. Just to keep in mind for later.

>>2881027
Seconding getting her to undo her transformation. For our date at least.

>>2881077
Yurifags in bodybags.

>>2881027
>Go for a walk

>>2881065
>>2881073
Do we have a destination? If not there's... Food. And checking on an abominable tree monster.

>>2881065
>>2881068
Talking more about the Diary of Reflections and the Ice Queen's Atelier!

>>2881065
>>2881077
Please undo transformation.

>>2881068
Landing tower! Maran's a bitch! Suspicious Prophet!

>>2881097
A walk is fine.

Writing!

"Do you have a destination for this walk?" You acquiesce without much effort, picking up speed to catch pace with Rinnier once more. "Because I still haven't had breakfast."

"It's not my fault you slept past noon. The rest of Carona is thinking of lunch soon, you know?" Half-joking as your complaint was, Rinnier found no fault in shooting it down while your seemingly aimless walk resumed.

"It's entirely your fault, you even admitted to letting me sleep that late." Never the less, you defended yourself with a faux sort of indignation. One rewarded by the soft groan of your morning companion. "Besides, breakfast is the first meal of the day. Lunch is the second, and dinner the third; No matter what time you eat, the first one is breakfast."

"Those are the words of a habitually lazy person." She offered a dry riposte, raising her shoulders in resignation. "But I'll accept responsibility this time, and think twice before being considerate next time."

"..." You weren't sure if this was a win or loss for you, and quickly lengthened your stride to catch up to Rinnier after your pause. "Fine, we'll compromise with lunch. I'll give up one whole meal."

"Magnanimous." she deadpanned, "I did have a route in mind, but food isn't unreasonable. Today's not meant for strict schedules in the first place."

You tried to pry out further details of the bizarre outing you found yourself on this morning. Mandated days off were not something you found yourself growing comfortable with, as even now you found the list of things you could - probably should - be doing looming in the back of your mind. Unfortunately, such discomforts were a moot point in the face of Rinnier's vigilant enforcement of leisure. Even still, you ultimately found yourself talking about work, and all the things you were going to do. There was so much to do; so much you wanted to do. The longer you found yourself talking about it, the more your mind began to wander - Flitting from topic to topic, and dredging up older memories.

Carona's ruined streets held fragments of familiarity which sparked those errant thoughts from the neatly packed away box of remnants left by your Doppleganger; stories which spilled from your lips almost absent mindedly while you peered through the wreckage to find another shard of the time you'd spent walking these streets.

"Over there is roughly where it takes me." You gestured for Rinnier's attention, directing her here and there as you went. "There were houses here the first two times. I'd get dropped from somewhere further up, hit a roof, then another roof, before I'd finally find the ground."

"And you did this... How many times?"

"Twice. The third time I did it I ended up in the Banshee, and I'm... Not really sure what happened after that." You shrugged off the black out gap in your memories. "Four times if you count when I came back recently."

"...Oh."

Rinnier's single syllable response summed up an implicit understanding as the two of you looked over the flattened reclamation zone, currently litered with the jagged wreckage of the houses which once stood there. "One of us should talk to Dullem and see to cleaning this place up before you do that a fifth time."

"I kind of want a tower." You took the opportunity to admit, neck craned back to the skies. Your initial wish had been for a large statue of yourself to be erected here, making a rude gesture towards the rest of Carona. To some degree that was still what you'd prefer, but a tower seemed like it had more utility. "...A big one."

"You want to build an entire tower just to catch yourself?" She asked skeptically.

"Well I don't want to keep crash landing every time I come back." You explained plaintively. "I'm going to end up breaking something one day."

"It still seems like a waste." Your redhaired Testament mused heartlessly, "What are we going to do with it after you die?"

"What if I die because I don't have a tower to catch me?" You shot back flatly, "Still, I was thinking it could be used for messenger birds. Or maybe as a barracks? We're going to be rebuilding Carona from the ground up, may as well build it with our presence in mind."

"We're not always going to be housing our knights in the shell of a pub." Rinnier hummed her agreement softly. "A tower though... I don't like them." The unexpected architectural belligerence elicited a curious look, prompting her reluctant explanation. "The ground in Teranford wasn't very cooperative with high centers of gravity, so I've seen a lot of them fall over. They weren't too good at weathering Behemoth attention either, and if a sandlion moved in nearby..."

She trailed off frowning, leaving you to imagine the myriad ways Teranford seemed to hate tall buildings. You'd heard their buildings were made sturdy and squat, often choosing to sprawl across the otherwise expansive desert plains instead of trying to build upward.

"...Are you afraid of heights?"

"I am understandably apprehensive of unsteady platforms." She retorted coolly, ending the conversation with a swish of scarlet as she turned away.

"...I ran into Maran not long after." One topic chained to another; not necessarily in order. "If I had known what she was up to at the time, I'd have dealt with her when I had the chance."

"You think she was trying to prepare for Artemis' arrival?"

"She said as much. She was in Carona on business for some associates, and considering where she and Caylen disappeared too later..." You found the embers of spite easily on the tip of your tongue while venting about the woman that had somehow captured your cousin's ear. Luna only knew what tripe she had filled it with... And if your suspicions over her allegiances were correct, then that bitter oath could be taken literally. "I heard from the Shrine later that she'd tried to sell them the same Atelier knowledge I had, but I can't figure out where she learned it."

"You found the Diary of Reflections in that Atelier." She mused around your continued fuming. "What was it like?"

"Terrible."

You spat the answer almost reflexively, feeling the acrid disgust for the place welling up in hot pursuit of the memories themselves... And it took you a couple seconds to disassociate your own thoughts of the place from the thick well of ire your doppleganger had felt. What remained were... Sadder memories. More pitiable, to be sure, but tinged unmistakably with disappointment. With disgust. A cold, hollow resignation.

feelings which echoed the sentiments left to you by the Atelier itself.

"It was... Terrible."

"Well... Tell me about it. What did you find inside? Why was it so terrible? What's it like in an Atelier?"

You didn't want to talk about this. Even as you hauled the memories from the blackened box in the back of your mind, the slightest details of your venture within crested to the surface like wayward ghosts haunting a derelict vessel. These memories were private, and the emotions you had been swept up within weren't just yours to share as you pleased.

"I remember every moment she lost a piece of herself. Every hollow lie. Every damn time she told him not to get comfortable..." You inhaled harshly, feeling your chest tremble as the cool air of the Diary of Reflections seemed to burn your lungs in reminder. For all that you had learned in the Atelier, it had left you with more questions, and the only question you had desperately wanted an answer to in the end held a single, depressing implication simply by virtue of the Ice Queen's existence.

How long had she waited for her little brother before becoming what she had?
How many years did she wait in vain?

You gave up, and revelled in your inability to move on! You stopped trying! We believed in you, but you couldn't even believe in yourself! You ran away from it all!

Those exhausted screams still echoed in your thoughts. It would be so easy to say they were your own... But they were one of the few exceptions you couldn't lay claim to.

"Rinnier, about the diary..." You turned back to her with the dispersed Shade apparition's words still prominent in your thoughts. "Please don't push its boundaries. I don't know what you're getting out of your transformation, but the instructions I gave you were the way it was meant to be used. The further you deviate from that, I-"

You paused, finding the familiar contours of your late sister's bracelet under your fingertips all but instinctively.

"-I don't-"

"Alright." She interrupted you calmly, "Admittedly, I'm still curious about what the extent of its powers are, but if you're worried then... I'll trust you know more about the dangers of the Diary than I do."

"...That's it?" You had braced yourself to try and talk her down, extol the cautions of power with a cost, and ultimately put your foot down.

"That's it." She affirmed simply. "I don't know if what I'm doing now counts as being outside of that boundary, though. Is it wrong to be a younger version of myself? Does it have to be someone else?" Rinnier tapped the frigid cover of the book through her clothes, "Where is the line drawn differentiating identity?"

You offered a wholly unhelpful, and mildly awkward, shrug. You didn't know where the boundaries of the diary lay, precisely. You probably wouldn't know until the cost for misusing it came calling.

"I'll give it back to you later tonight." Rinnier continued with mild reluctance, rubbing at her shoulder wistfully. "I'm not interested in being anyone else, so I can't think of a use for it offhand."

"Why be younger, though?" You finally asked, trying to puzzle out why she'd wanted the Diary of Reflections, only to be disinterested in discarding herself in its pages.

"I told you, less weight on my shoulders." She crossed her arms under her chest, hefting it pointedly. "They're smaller."

You were leaving.

"Be me for a week and see if you don't do it!"

You wanted your concern back.

Pausing here, as the skyfire rises and the update was getting long enough as it was. I'll finish it up later today.

Sorry!

Looks like my vote inadvertently soured Irue's mood, sorry guys! Although desu Rinnier shares a lot of that blame, can't believe she was using the byproduct of mortal transcendence to the divine because she was tired of carrying around her fat fucking tits.

Is our date with Rinnier really over though? We're not actually leaving, right?

>>2881280
>Soured mood

Aside from faedka, bitter lemons is another part of our diet that we never realize we eat.

>Is our date with Rinnier really over though?
She's light as a feather, she will catch up to us with ease.

>>2881247
>"I told you, less weight on my shoulders." She crossed her arms under her chest, hefting it pointedly. "They're smaller."
>You were leaving.
She used an artifact to make her boobs smaller for a little while? I thought you were better than that, Rinnier.

>>2881247
. . . Did she just call us flat?

We should immediately use it to appear as Rinnier.

Later we should see if Asche can use it. If so, I wonder how she would do at infiltrating the rebels with it.

Fuck me, we should do that with someone who we kill with Markovic.

>>2881381
It wasn't intentional, doesn't come up often but none of the characters seem to know if Irue is male or female. I've been meaning to correct this and shatter Riz's bizarre androgyny fueled magical realm but I slept through the last time it came up in a way it could be addressed.

>>2881370
I know, right? I could understand if she was using it to get laid on the sly or see what having a cock feels like or a combination thereof but I didn't expect her to be so petty.

>>2881414
NEPHEW.

> Implying Rinnier doesn't have a big futa cock

>>2881431
Futafags deserve to be gassed

>>2881414
But anon, Irue is obviously a golem

>>2882034
I do not like this.

>>2882034
This is the first time I've reported a post in years.

>>2882042
I felt bad as soon as I posted it. But you know, "gassed".

So I thought a Braap post would be appropriate.

>>2882047
I dunno. I have been awake for WAY too long.

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>>2882034

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>>2882078
Go to sleep anon, and delete deviantart from your favourites.

>>2882109
Oh you silly Billy.

It's from /tv/. Although this one I got from a post someone made in Necromancer Detective Quest.

>>2882132
That sounds like an ...interesting premise.

>>2882181
Mostly it's the MC being shit and having to save people he hates for surprisingly some thanks, although they'll still kill him at the drop of a hat for being a necromancer.

>>2882181
Necromancer is actually really damn good. Definitely up there among the better stuff on the board. It just has such an unfortunate title, I think most people just ignore it because of that alone.

When you read necromancer you think of people being stupid evil and randumb, not... what we got. He's a poor sap getting himself in trouble and spending half the time trying to solve it, and the other half hiding that he's a necromancer because even one-legged orphans would kill his ass if they found out.

>>2882255
Reminds me a little of Dungeon Life Quest. MC was a necromancer in a world where they fit a sort of shaman-type role in local communities. Necromancers weren't bad, just another part of daily life.

>>2882255
I've heard a lot of praise for Necromancer Detective, and have admittedly not gotten around to reading it for similar reasons. I wasn't currently feeling "undead" as a theme, so I put it in my backlog. I'm glad the QMs found some success with it though, it's got... about 20 threads out now? Probably a good time to read through it.

Anyway, I've eaten and settled down. Going to get writing and resume shortly.

>>2882282
It's better than DLQ. More tightly run, for one.

My only problem is that I often miss the threads because life.

>>2882282
I liked DLQ a lot, until the end where he completely dropped the ball with Jack.

One thing with DLQ was that all the players had a mission to subvert the evil necromancer type, and it was like an essay of "we're actually the good guy" tropes. Most decisions were just p&p gamers trying to diplomance and "win" at everything.

In ND we're a paranoid outlaw with PTSD doing bad shit to survive and act as the good guy in public because it's the only way to avoid the gallows. It's very nice.

>>2882349
And thank god for that.

I never even finished DLQ because I just got sick of the moral righteousness and excessive time spent on being a complete and total Mary Sue.

Honestly once I samefagged the boaralisk into being awesome I no longer gave a fuck about progressing. The Ice level was the best level.

I guess my final complaint is that although so much of the quest was focused on character development and exploration, the MC was never objectively wrong or failed in that sense. The villains were comical, if not cartoonish, cliches in terms of morals and goals.

The most interesting character was the ship that had to eat souls.

>>2882361
I haven't read his new quest at all, because I'm worried it's all the same players doing the same shit all over again, except this time in a setting with ONLY snowflakes. It's probably full of trannies and casual polygamy too, because if he could put that in a medieval setting he sure can in changeling.

>>2882393
His Changeling: The Lost quest is much better than DLQ.

The setting is much tighter, the power levels are more balanced, there's an actual system for Diplomancing so it's not as broken as in DLQ, NPcs have much more development apart from the MC, and he's learned to integrate failing forward into the narrative.

> except this time in a setting with ONLY snowflakes.

I mean, that IS Changeling. To be fair at least this time they're damaged and broken snowflakes that actually have difficulty reconciling that with integrating into society.

I mean, I'm a bisexual dude who's been in Poly relationships (and honestly? Waaaaay too much effort. It's doable, but fuck me that's a lot of work.) and still does the occasional munch. I'm not really turned off by that.

But I do find it hilarious that the MC is the most cliche bull dyke, after DLQ's unicorn lipstick lesbians.

Anyways, if we're going to go off on another dudes quest we should take it to the general.

>>2882422
>we should take it to the general.
You're fine! It's interesting seeing what other quests people who play Valen enjoy. It's not like the general has ever been a fertile ground for productive conversations, anyway.

>>2882431
I only picked up your quest because I thought it was a Hive Queen Quest spinoff.

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>>2882444
Oh...

>>2882448
He didn't say he regretted it.

I've been here since you were sad about not having players. AKA the beginning.

This is easily, far and away the most emotionally satisfying and draining quest I've played.

>>2882431
I think I just picked it off the catalog one day, but it's been a long time now.

>>2882444
...

How the hell did that happen? Are you on the Olympic team for mental gymnastics?

>>2882422
It doesn't bother me per se, but once you add sexuality and romance, shippers flood in from everywhere and build mountains out of molehills. Give them an inch and all that.

Even if it's never acknowledged by the QM it's fucking grating to see the bickering, or heaven forbid, when they all agree with each other.

>>2881018
To this quest I am. I got the impression this was a detective or puzzle quest from how it was portrayed.

>>2881066
-So you are Rookie, you lying bastard. Nice to see you.
That’s a bit of a conclusion to draw.

>>2881020
-Interesting, I've never heard anyone complain about greentexting like that, though I could see it in very high postcount threads. It's not an issue here, at least.
It’s mostly for non-quest games on /qst/, like civs or skirmishes, because of how there’s a specific format to those actions or votes. I could see it being the case here during Forgettings, depending on how the QM filters through stuff to determine what’s relevant.
-Actually, I suggest you just use > unless requested otherwise; - is very distinctive.
Distinctive in a bad way? I thought it'd make it easier.

>>2881280
-Looks like my vote inadvertently soured Irue's mood, sorry guys!
>>2881247
-You wanted your concern back.
We got an amusing scene out of it at least.
>>2881285
-Aside from faedka, bitter lemons is another part of our diet that we never realize we eat.
heh

>>2881020
>What he said. It's great to have some new blood, but even us regulars have to comb old threads for info, especially given the annual nature of this quest. You're going to have to do your due diligence to properly participate.
>>2881066
>You really should read the archives though, it's a fascinating read.
Right. I’ll duck out until I catch up, since I can’t seem to do much.
Before I leave, anything I should be looking for? Faedka secrets? If so, should I paste any relevant information onto the thread or wait for the thread’s end? It sounds like the QM called the Faedka secrets an unmarked Forgetting.

>>>2882034(Dead)#
What happened here?

>>2882431
>It's not like the general has ever been a fertile ground for productive conversations, anyway.
I came here from it being discussed on /qtg/.

>>2882512
Why are you the way that you are

>>2882515
What?

>>2882459
HQQ already had a spin-off at the time and the Valen race were pretty popular among players so when I saw the word Valen that's where my mind went, since it's a completely made up word that I'd never seen before HQQ. Added to that,the (still inexplicable) OP image looked like the sort of weird clan insignias they were described as having. I came expecting scifi economic shadowruns featuring jewish caricatures but I found only suffering.

>>2882448
I hate to break it to you Riz but advertising isn't your strong suit. I'm still here though, if that counts for anything!

>>2882519
I think he means that you talk like a chatbot.

>>2882459
I'm just happy that we ended up with Erin in CSQ

>>2882512
- Distinctive in a bad way? I thought it'd make it easier.


Why don't you just namefag already. I recommend using Salamandra.

>>2882524
>I came expecting scifi economic shadowruns featuring jewish caricatures but I found only suffering.

So you found exactly what you expected?

>>2882524
>I think he means that you talk like a chatbot.
How so?

>>2882525
>Why don't you just namefag already.
I don't see a reason to.
>I recommend using Salamandra.
>Salamandra
Good one.

>>2882534
Oh come on you're doing it on purpose now

>>2882537
Which part gives you that impression? It’s just a writing style.

>>2882544
>It’s just a writing style.
To me at least.

>>2882534
>>I recommend using Salamandra.
>>Salamandra
>Good one.

EVERYONE IS SALAMANDRA.

It really shows how slow this board is with how easily this thread got transformed into a dumpster.

>>2882552
Why can't you just write like normal people?

>>2882567
Like what?

>>2882571
NORMAL. PEOPLE.

>>2882566
It happens on any thread, really.

>>2882576
In what sense?

>>2882512
>Distinctive in a bad way? I thought it'd make it easier.
As you can see with the Salamandra thing (and the "talk normally" thing), being overtly distinctive without a real reason is considered... impolite on 4chins. It extends out of the whole anonymous thing. Riz uses a name and tripcode because he's got a valid reason as the QM, for instance. If he posts elsewhere, I assume he takes the name off. I've seen quests where drawfags take names for similar reasons. Somethings they only use the names while posting art.
TL;DR anything distinctive on 4chan can be considered bad as a general rule, yes.

>>2882580
You've got a formal style to your writing, I think. Maybe try for a more casual style?

>>2882524
>Valen race

It's been so long since HQQ stopped that I forgot about them. When I think HQQ it's bugs and Lyle. Now that you mention it, I think it was similar for me. I had picked up HQQ and always glossed over Valen because... To be honest, I just don't understand what the deal is with the op picture. I saw it countless times on tg too but that damn picture... Ithink seeing valen in HQQ is what eventually made me open a thread.

>>2882566
Well yeah that guy really found a way to rile others up

>>2882544
I'm not gonna dissect your posts man, but the most amusing example to me is that every time that poor fuck asks if you're Rookie you give a non definitive statement that answers nothing and sounds like it was spat out of an algorithm.

>anything I should be looking for?
As far as archive binging goes? Don't approach this quest as a series of Questions that require Answers, everything is filtered through Irue's (extremely limited and naive) perspective.
Riz likes to remind us that new information will re contextualize previously acquired information, sometimes Irue will pick up on this but most of the time it's up to us to put the pieces together, so it's important that you take a holistic view of things as opposed to viewing things too systematically.
As far as playing goes? This 20 questions shit'll get real old real quick. Try to reign it in a bit.
>In what sense?
>Like what?
>Which part gives you that impression?
>Distinctive in a bad way?
>End of what?
>y tho

>>2882580
> https://www.autismspeaks.org/

Seriously, I'm about to go back to Braap posting.

>>2882646
reconsider, i beg you

>>2882604 >>2882613
Thanks for giving a clear, comprehensive answer. I’ll take it into consideration.
Were my questions not complete enough? I’m not sure why some others were being so obtuse about it. Like >>2882646.
>>2882612
>I'm not gonna dissect your posts man,
That’s fine, I don’t expect you to. I was hoping for a sentence on any patterns that you found irritating, which you went into more than enough detail for.

>>2882604
>As you can see with the Salamandra thing (and the "talk normally" thing), being overtly distinctive without a real reason is considered... impolite on 4chins.
>TL;DR anything distinctive on 4chan can be considered bad as a general rule, yes.
Huh. I thought it was anything that's considered attention-seeking. I didn’t consider what I was doing as attention-seeking.
>It extends out of the whole anonymous thing. Riz uses a name and tripcode because he's got a valid reason as the QM, for instance. If he posts elsewhere, I assume he takes the name off. I've seen quests where drawfags take names for similar reasons. Somethings they only use the names while posting art.
The name and tripcode part I already understood, since that means taking on an identity.

>You've got a formal style to your writing, I think.
I don't see how a formal style is bad. I picked it because I thought it'd be easier to understand, and what you see is what I understood to be feedback on it over time. Nor does it seem that much different from everyone else’s writing style. Same with going out of my way to edit out the greentext to replace it with stuff like “-” for quotes.
However, what you said puts that into perspective, and is the first time I was requested to switch out of it. So I’ll take that into consideration.
>Maybe try for a more casual style?
Normally I only use that when jesting, but I can do it more often if everyone's so bothered by it.
For a casual style, what would you prefer? Something with more grammatical and spelling errors?

>>2882613
>As far as archive binging goes? Don't approach this quest as a series of Questions that require Answers, everything is filtered through Irue's (extremely limited and naive) perspective.
>Riz likes to remind us that new information will re contextualize previously acquired information, sometimes Irue will pick up on this but most of the time it's up to us to put the pieces together, so it's important that you take a holistic view of things as opposed to viewing things too systematically.
That’ll be difficult for me, since that goes against my typical playstyle and preferences. I’ll try to, given how this quest operates differently from others.
>As far as playing goes? This 20 questions shit'll get real old real quick. Try to reign it in a bit.
That’s fair. Most of the questions I asked are to understand the mechanics, and the more recent ones were personal questions directed at me. I avoid asking questions otherwise, unless it’s for a conversation or plan.

>>2882612
>Well yeah that guy really found a way to rile others up
I did? I thought the others were joking.

>>2882613
>but the most amusing example to me is that every time that poor fuck asks if you're Rookie you give a non definitive statement that answers nothing and sounds like it was spat out of an algorithm.
I took as something we were playing around about, since he wasn’t stating on who he meant by “Rookie.” I figured it could’ve been another character or player from this quest that I hadn’t heard of, or a nickname.

>>2882646
Have fun.

>>2882671
>Huh. I thought it was anything that's considered attention-seeking. I didn’t consider what I was doing as attention-seeking.
Being distinctive can be considered attention-seeking, intended or not. I think it assumes by not blending in, you're trying to draw attention. We're wandering into more murky territory here though, so take that with a grain of salt.

>I don't see how a formal style is bad.
It's not bad in an of itself, but it feeds back into the distinctive thing. I think part of it is that you've drawn attention to yourself at the moment; you're style is unusual, but not that unusual. Give it time, maybe cut down on the amount of posts for a while, and you won't stick out as much.
>For a casual style,
I personally tend to write like I talk, with plenty of contractions and a slight stream of consciousness. Only bother correcting grammar that makes it difficult to understand what you're saying. Writing tone is a difficult thing to pin down though, and I'm not an english major, so this is best attempt, not word of God.
Let's see if I can casualize an example:
>Normally I only use that when jesting, but I can do it more often if everyone's so bothered by it.
>I usually only use it when joking, but I can use it more often if it bugs people.
Someone else will have to say if I actually succeeded.


Lastly, don't forget you're on 4chan, home of anon. Many people are dicks just because they can. Though /qst/ tends to have a lower proportion than other boards.

>>2882727
Please stop replying to autism-kun.

>>2882740
It's hard, because on hand I want more people to share in and enjoy the quest.

But his autism triggers my autism.

What was Carona before all of this?

In most directions you looked there were people working together to clear rubble, a task which would have been completed already if they weren't doubly obligated to search through it for salvage. Some streets had been completely buried beneath blown over buildings, but it wasn't as if you'd spent long enough in this town to have any nostalgia over what used to be there. This place wasn't your home, and if pressed you couldn't even claim it was somewhere you cared for. What few memories you had of these streets were less than inspiring, after all.

But the people who worked under the midday sun weren't like you. Many of them had lived here their entire lives, and those same meaningless ruins were the ruins of their lives. Ruins which they laughed over while you passed, trading jokes about the way things used to be. There was grit to be found in their faces as they worked, hoisting support beams hand in hand from the earth to be piled elsewhere.

It left a strange feeling coiling in your gut as you watched on from the cleared streets. That empathy and communion were something you couldn't connect with, soured by your experiences here as you were... But they dashed the ever present cloud of gloom that always reared its stormy head when you considered this place. There was an open sky, and people willing to get their own hands dirty to pull it up once more - People who wouldn't accept just sitting back and complaining as someone else fixed their problems.

You didn't hate these people. All of the time spent working to rip out the rebellious saboteurs in the shadows of this place made it easy to feel nothing but contempt for any and everything affilitated with Carona... But how many of the people living here were really part of that? How many of them cared about that ongoing struggle of loyalties and authority?

"So are you going to explain why you were upset?"

Rinnier nudged you out of the aimless reverie over Carona's people, prodding you for answers to the soured mood not long ago. One that you'd found receding quicker than you'd expected after the moment passed. You would admit, if only to yourself, that at least part of it had been a jerk reaction to having your concerns misplaced.

"Relics are dangerous." You answered tiredly, thinking over how to properly explain this. "They have specific uses. Things they're meant to be used for. They can do more, but doing so..."

You paused, feet dragging to a stop on the cracked cobblestone streets as a decision finally settled in your mind.

"You asked what defined 'identity'... And I don't know. I don't know if what you're doing is dangerous or not. I do know is that the Diary of Reflections doesn't care who you are; it doesn't care what identity you have, or what you were when you started using it. What I'm afraid of... Is that when you dig too far, and lose sight of who you were - Who you are - that it won't turn you back. I refuse to believe that the changes are only skin deep."

"If that's the case, wouldn't what I'm doing be safer than the alternative?" Rinnier posed her hypothesis neutrally, "I like who I am. I don't see the appeal in becoming someone else. Does becoming myself change who I am?"

"I don't know." You repeated plainly, "But by the time we find out, the damage will already be done."

You learned that the hard way, and were still dealing with the scars left behind. Would the Diary of Reflections be just as dangerous?

"I may have overreacted. The more enthusiastic you got, the more it reminded me of something else, and I was worried you might drown in it. The idea that you're risking that just to..." You gestured towards her chest exasperatedly. "I didn't think you'd do something so petty with a Relic."

"I thought it was more pragmatic than anything else." She defended herself idly, "It seemed like a pretty harmless thing to do, compared to becoming someone else entirely... But if you're worried misusing like that might have repercussions, then I understand why you were so serious about it."

"Pragmatic how?"

"...Look, these aren't a fun time." She groused irritably. "It's not like I'm trying to run away from who I am, or indulge in some kind of escapism with the Relic. They get in the way when I fight, it's a pain to breathe when I bind them, and I haven't managed to go through a day handling diplomatic affairs and correspondence behind a desk without getting a splitting headache for months. I hardly call trying to fix that 'petty'."

"I... Guess?" You're not entirely sure how to engage in this conversation. "Sorry?"

She shook her head, motioning for you to follow when the two of you resumed walking. "It's not worth getting hung up on... Though it'd be funny to see how you deal with it."

"I don't want to."

"Where were you planning on us going today, anyway?"

You glanced over to Rinnier as the man you'd been speaking to returned to work. He was one of many who introduced himself today, with no other purpose to his greeting than to thank you. Getting through the interaction had been bizarre at first, and while it got easier as the day went on, it was no less strange to you to receive gratitude from people you'd never met.

"Here and there." She answered vaguely, "We can drop in on Dullem, if you want?"

"And do what?"

"Talk to him, see what he's doing." She suggested, standing just ahead of you.

The last time you spoke to the man, he'd explained how your knights were struggling to find a purpose. Even if they keenly felt the debt and obligation to be loyal to you, many of them simply... Couldn't understand you. When they looked to you as a leader, what they saw was, instead, an enigma. It was fortunate that their talents could be put to use aiding Carona, as it adequately gave them something tangible to pour their efforts into - Something to justify their employ under your wing - But the closer this town came to recovery, and the more its citizens stood on their own feet, the more apt your knights were to resume questioning what they were here for.

It was a problem you hadn't started towards solving, and much like your fumbling over Fen's fiancee earlier, it was something you weren't even sure where to begin with.

"Well if you don't want to do that, what else do you have in mind?" Rinnier set a hand on her hip, "What did you used to do in your spare time?"

"I studied Mana." And it had unexpectedly served you rather well, all things considered. You can't imagine having come out of two Atelier in one piece if you hadn't had a decent understanding of what they were going in. "...And napped."

"...You're really bad at this." your red haired Testament deadpanned.

"Well what did you do?" you crossed your arms a little more defensively than necessary. She smirked, a response already forming on her lips- Only to catch there, leaving her brows to knit together contemplatively. "Well?"

"I... Trained with my lance." She admitted slowly, "...Maybe we're both bad at this."

"You didn't have any friends to go see? Games to play?" You stood across from her, now thinking back to your own time spent before the Rite. True to form you had spent much of it studying in some fashion, but Asche had been there as well. She'd always been there, and had silently indulged in whatever whim drove you from day to day. Even if those whims mostly consisted of futile attempts to meditate in some new fashion.

"Ah... Most of my friends were palace guards, or soldiers." Rinnier admitted after a time. "Sometimes tutors. My brothers were very protective when I was younger."

>Pry into her family life
>Talk about someone specific (who?)
>Suggest an activity
>Visit Dullem
>Other? (write-in)

>>2882842
>Pry into her family life

With our typical tact, hopefully bolstered by our "social" mood.

>>2882842
I want to suggest going and doing something fun, but there's not going to be much of anything with the town stuff torn up, and it might be bad form to be seen playing while the townspeople are rebuilding.
Rinnier may be a firebrand, but she's good people, and just having someone to talk to that we don't have to worry about shadowruns with seems to be helping Rue considerably.
>Suggest an activity
I dunno, talk a walk outside the walls? Did we ever recover OakenRue?

On the way to wherever we end up going,
>>Pry into her family life
But don't be too nosy; I seem to recall her clamming up on us in the past when we pushed too hard.

>>2882727
>I personally tend to write like I talk, with plenty of contractions and a slight stream of consciousness. Only bother correcting grammar that makes it difficult to understand what you're saying. Writing tone is a difficult thing to pin down though, and I'm not an english major, so this is best attempt, not word of God.
I'm already trying to keep a consistent style and write in such a manner. I can see the complications stemming from treating game discussion as something warranting a formal or serious style, instead of a casual one for humor as before.
I suppose I’ll attempt to stick to my more casual one, in the manner I would poorly inject humor.
>Let's see if I can casualize an example:
The only difference I can see is using simpler vocabulary, which I wasn’t because I was attempting to vary my speech to keep it from being tedious.

>Lastly, don't forget you're on 4chan, home of anon.
I’m well aware of that.
>Many people are dicks just because they can.
In most cases, from my knowledge and experience, people are being dicks because they’re frustrated. In fewer cases it’s because it somehow gets results, and said behavior gets reinforced. It’s rare for me to find someone who does it simply to be dicks, which from what I’ve been told, is because it’s “fun,” or they delight in schadenfreude. In said cases it’s most often blatant.
>Though /qst/ tends to have a lower proportion than other boards.
True, which is a part of why I don’t think being a dick for the sake of it is the case here.

>>2882745
>It's hard, because on hand I want more people to share in and enjoy the quest.
Not answering would help you enjoy the quest more?
>But his autism triggers my autism.
I wasn’t aware of how much I was detracting from others’ enjoyment of this quest. My apologies if that’s the case.
I don’t have much else to say or ask, and everything else has already been covered.

>>2882842
>Suggest an activity
Is there a local orphanage? Maybe we should go visit. I mean that could be fun right? We should help out to, if we can.

>>2882842
>Pry into her family life
Family life has been happening pretty far out of arms reach for a long time now in Irue's world, it makes sense for her to be curious about this now that Rinnier brought it up.

>Talk about someone specific (who?)
She seems to have made friends with Ari, at least Ari seems to think so.

>Suggest an activity
Suggest a short nap together to trigger hearts in harmony, warn her that it's a bit invasive though. I'm confident Irue trusts Rinnier enough, so it'd be up to her more or less, if she finds the power appealing enough to try.

>>2882842
>>2882906
Just adding to the family thing, be ready to share what we remember of our family life if she asks

>>2882906
>hearts in harmony
I don't think there's a benefit to doing that. I'd rather we talk about the past. I'd also not rather lose our connection with Ari.

What dose Hearths in Harmony do again? It's not on the ability list.

>>2882924
It forms a connection with a person that we sleep with. allowing us to feel each other's emotions and allows them to use our powers, it lats 24 hours and Ari didn't renew it with us this time so we're no longer connected to her.

As for why, it's sharing for the sake of sharing I guess, pretty much like the rest of this thread so far. It would also be a pretty big gesture for the notoriously guarded Irue. We haven't used it willingly yet.

>>2882932
>We haven't used it willingly yet.
Haven't we? On Ari? I'm pretty sure that was deliberate.

I'm not against it per see, but I think it's a bit unnecessary. We're going to be sharing things about our pasts in a moment. You know, talking like normal people. Not using magical powers that could have devastating side effects for using them to much.

>>2882943
No, we've collapsed next to Ari out of exhaustion twice in a row. Ari sleeps next to us by default. I wonder why it didn't trigger this time?

>>2882953
Relic interference? too tired to dream?

>>2882962
Wait, how do we know we didn't trigger it?

>>2882968
You can feel it. It's not in the forefront of your mind, but it's a thread you're aware of. Irue, specifically, is adept at feeling it since it's similar to A Spider's Web.

And the other anon is correct, it is not currently in effect.

>>2882973
Uh. Why do I feel like we should go lookfor Ari? She's safe right? Behind walls? Surrounded by knights and demihumans?

Wait, that didn't work out last time. But there are no walking trees here to kidnap her right? Right?

It's fine. We probably just didn't sleep next to each other. Calm down. CALM DOWN GUYS.

>>2882982

It's fine, she definitely didn't have anything bad happen last time she ran off.

Seriously though, she's actually probs fine.

>>2882860
>>2882874
>>2882906
Prying into family!

>>2882874
A walk beyond the walls! Also no, but Oakenrue is liable to be arriving any time.

>>2882886
>Is there an orphanage
If there wasn't before your Rite ended, there is now!

>>2882906
Nap time! Also magical bindings may occur. Given you just woke up not terribly long ago, a nap isn't in the immediate cards.

Here we go!

You guys ever wonder what Irue looks like when she's sleeping? I bet she makes cute noises when she’s dreaming about mana or whatever bookworms think about. She looks like the type of girl who would cheer you up in the darkest of days and fail completely as she trips over her words. Imagine falling asleep beside her listening to her soft breathing and synchronizing with her with Hearts in Harmony. I bet you can make her blush furiously just by thinking about going out on a romantic date with her or kissing her. She’d definitely hit you out of embarrassment if you ever have any salacious thoughts.

And then she’d get mad at you because you’re thinking about these things and you won’t stop even though she’s pleading you to because the face she makes when you tease her is just too cute. Of course after a few hours of merciless teasing you’d relent, but you made her too angry. Irue’s telling you that she won’t synchronize with you again no matter what and says she’s unhappy with you. You don’t want to hurt her any more so you apologize and agree. She’ll probably shyly give you a goodbye kiss.

Imagine sneaking into her room at night to sleep by her side anyways because you can’t fall asleep without listening to her soft murmurs anymore. You’d accidentally activate Hearts in Harmony, of course, but she won’t notice because you wake up first because you want to watch her sleep some more. I bet her sleeping face is beautiful with the morning sun. You’d definitely watch it for hours as she finally wakes up, surprising you since you forgot to sneak back out. She’ll definitely be surprised to find you pinning her arms to the bed before she realizes what’s happening, and she’d definitely try to say something but you’d easily quiet her by covering her lips with yours.

Surely the maid won’t know anything, since you’d be pushing her face into the sheets and making her bite down while you undress her. Imagine enacting out those thoughts from the day before, quieting her screams by clamping your hands on her throat. You’d definitely get too carried away and realize you overdid it when you’re done, so you’d get her dog to dig you a hole and tell her to distract the maid by telling her the maid has treats hidden away somewhere. It might be hard cutting the body up so you can move it to the hole, but she’s small so it won’t be that much of a problem. You’ll miss her, but there’s much you can do.

But guys, do you ever wonder what Ari looks like when she’s sleeping? I bet she makes cute noises when she’s dreaming about trees or whatever little girls think about.

>>2883077
Is this a copypasta or fan fiction?

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>>2883077

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>>2883077
What the hell is going on in this thread I dont remember valen archives being this autistic

>>2883097

Just relax. It's exciting to fans and troll alike. It'll calm down, especially if you go about your normal buisness and keep the (you)'s for Riz and her merry band of amnesiacs.

>>2883104
>It's exciting to fans and troll alike.
The return of Valen Quest, or the (You)s from agitation?

>>2883107

Probably both, but I meant the first one.

>>2883077
Are you on crack? That's not how Hearts in Harmony works, and we avoided the Yandere Ari ending.

Instead we're getting something "interesting".

>>2883077
Also Irue is surprisingly good at unarmed combat and would probably wreck Ari.

She 1v1 an Oakenbear.

Holy fuck guys. What is even happening here now. What's with these fartposters and sex-obsessed maniacs. What's with ganging up on a guy for his writing style. What the fuuuuuck.

>>2883125
That wasn't Irue. That was some kind of crazy, third person thing where her near indestructible body went on autopilot while she had no idea what happened.

Red meat is one hell of a drug

>>2883125

It's been a while, but "1v1"ing an apparition using an artifact that has power over it while completely out of her gourd does not make you a martial artist.

She's never won a physical engagement. She's either turned the tables so that martial prowess is no longer the deciding factor, retreated or called for backup.

>>2883125
>Also Irue is surprisingly good at unarmed combat
Rue is a squishy, unathletic noble.

>She 1v1 an Oakenbear.
And she lost. Badly. If Rinneir hadn't shown up at the right time, we'd be playing as her now.

>>2883135
Murdered the fuck out of the Mayor.

That was actually rather traumatic for her.

>>2883138
Rue has been living a pretty harsh and athletic life lately. I don't know how accurate that is anymore.

We should probably start exercising with Rinnier though.

Or immediately be hypocritical and cheat by using the Diary to turn into SwoleRue

>>2883139

We're remembering that encounter differently. It's a wonder Irue didn't loose teeth. In the end, he was simply left to die.

>>2883141

As useful as that sounds, the last thing in the world I want Irue Valen to do is erode her identity any more than she already has.

Growth, i can appreciate; she's learning and growing up as best as she can in a rather unforgiving environment.

But she needs to stay Valen, and more importantly, she needs to stay Irue.

Also, remember that Irue is allergic to weapons, and the act of using anything as one. Something's seriously up with that, but for now, we need to keep that in mind.

>>2883132
>What is even happening here now.
>>2883027
>Here we go!
We're on Irue Valen's Wild Ride.

>>2883149
>Also, remember that Irue is allergic to weapons, and the act of using anything as one. Something's seriously up with that, but for now, we need to keep that in mind.
This sounds like something a Fae would be allergic to. Unusual rules, or something like cold iron. Maybe a Fae weakness or contract.

>>2883149
>Also, remember that Irue is allergic to weapons, and the act of using anything as one.
>>2883153
>This sounds like something a Fae would be allergic to
It's due to the bracelet, I believe. Someday we're finally get Asche to tell us how to use it properly.

>>2883156
Actually, could we add "Make Asche explain everything about the bracelet" to the notes?

>>2883166
Yes

>>2883166
That's not a bad idea. Apparently it's been delayed for a while, and opportunities have been declined.
>>2878502
>Memo:
>1.
>2.
>3. Mim said "When are you going to tell her?" Tell what to whom?
There's still space in the Memo. I'll back it if it requires a vote.

>>2883166

It's not that I doubt Asche, but she's a bit biased towards keeping Irue alive: Let's try, but I don't expect this is simply a shelved exposition scene.

>>2883166
>>2883173
>>2883175
Memo:
1. Make Asche explain everything about the bracelet
2.
3. Mim said "When are you going to tell her?" Tell what to whom?
Updated!

In other news, apparently I will be experiencing ~40mph+ winds and heavy rains over the next few days. It appears I have angered the curse.

>>2883166
We've got the spare slots, why not.
We have pushed her a little in the past though, and been stonewalled. I'm not sure how to pry it out of her, short of childishly holding ourselves hostage one way or another.

>>2883180
>Updated!
That was much faster than I expected. I figured we’d have to wait until the next prompt to get the chance to.

>In other news, apparently I will be experiencing ~40mph+ winds and heavy rains over the next few days. It appears I have angered the curse.
You fool! You should’ve gone back into hiding! Is this about that hurricane?

>>2883183
The memo is a meta thing to help anons remember things, so they have full control over it basically whenever.

And yes, hurricanes inbound. Back to my embarrassingly long attempts to write.

>>2883186
>And yes, hurricanes inbound. Back to my embarrassingly long attempts to write.
It seems you'll suffer the same fate as the Fallout New Vegas: Empire of One QM. I’ll take this chance to pay my respects.

Another thing I want on the memo, which can be dealt with quickly, is send a letter to request monetary aid from our uncle and ask him what the fucking deal with the fae was and why no one told us. He's maintaining the library he should be able to tell us /something/. Either way, we need cash and we are the family head.

We did become head right, when we finished the testament?