It would make me sad if this world ended so soon, it's been really interesting so far and we've barely gotten started. I suppose it would be our own fault though.
"Look, you picked up a weapon for the first time this morning, Mathew told you that your best reaction to a confrontation is running away, you even had a fallout shelter to wait out the night. But noooo, you had to make a 12-year-old girl try and be a hero!"
However, I still have faith that we'll survive this dreadful night, and I believe that success here will pave the way for more opportunities for the future than if we had just hunkered down. Captain Martin may give us a commendation so that we're safe from the Lore Warden (or at least let us be left alone for 7 months). Evie may be able to use complete sentences, and give us a clue about what the hell is going on. We may get our hands on a game-breaking Foundational Ethos that will make the wolves and the later threats look like jokes once it's leveled. We've reached an insight with our First Tree that leaves us a step or so away from our full understanding of our first power.
And maybe...just maybe...Lilly will finally get the chance to learn how to read.
Do not fear guys, end of school year is just giving me lots to do at work at the moment.
I've only really had time to plot out some interlude snippets and bits of world map filling.
1.11 has been rolled and outlined, (the ending is actually already done). But since "Lilly does this. Then this. Then this happens. Then this is done. Oh, that happens. The End" is insanely boring, your gonna have to wait until I have time to awesome-ify it. Probably next weekend or maybe even the week-nights this week if fortune shines upon me.
*ahem* Since the rolls are already done, the QM knows how everything goes, and "all" that's left is to write it up.
The writing process is such that you write the best scenes that write themselves, and then think long and hard about how to connect everything together into a coherent whole.
The ending of the update is likely among those parts that are already written.
If and when this story is about to conclude in the following update; the one thing I would not do is foreshadow that in a random comment prior to actually posting the chapter.
You'll know we've hit a failure state when you see a Threadmark labeled 'Epilogue - bla bla bla'
Nailed it in one. 2K written and 1500 of that is the End.
I have definitely enjoyed the reaction though
Edit: Just added like 2K words as comments to the cells within the Spreadsheet (For 1.11). So won't show up in the threadmark word-count, but they are there now.
03/12/20: Another 600 or so words.
04/12/20: Good News; Wrote another 2K. Bad News; It was notes on the previous Eons of creation prior to the current one, not 1.11.
So, as we look to the bright hopeful future of our battle druid and her jellyfish sidekick, there is one potential tactic we may want to keep in mind for the future: intentionally inducing Ethos Picks.
Ethos selection is heavily molded by Lilly's momentum in life. These 3-4 days have had quite a variety of exciting things happen to Lilly, which has translated into a spread of useful Ethos to choose from. However, assuming that the current threat is defeated (or just kind of goes away), Lilly will eventually reach some sort of routine in her life. Now stability is good for a developing child, but not necessarily good for a variety of Ethos. I think the nightmare scenario (tedium-wise, not overall) would be having to choose an Ethos after an equivalent of Samwell Tarly's first few weeks at the Citadel, where we'd get such exciting choices like [Librarian], [Subsistence Cooking], [Going on Autopilot], and…[Nightman].
However, there is a fairly simple solution: Get a hobby related to an Ethos we want to get. Want to see [Intuitor] again? Try something new every day. Want [Keen Bow]? See if one of the Guards can teach Lilly archery. Want to get [Service to Man] because we hate ourselves? Blind obedience and deference to all males, here we go.
Granted, this isn't really a way to get some of the more "OP protagonist" related Ethos like [Seamless Call] or [Temporal Redeemer], but it may be a method to avoid getting nothing but gutterball options that relate to what Lilly is doing at the moment but doesn't really want to rely on. Of course, we still have to figure out how to tell if an Ethos gain is coming up in the first place…
It occurs to me that some of the 'bad' Ethos (not all, but some) may actually be very useful and effective in combination with other, more esoteric ones. I think that's already been discussed.
No, see, as we're bleeding out, Evie uses her spirit powers to push our soul into the tree we're leaning up against, and we use our [Oaken Core] skill to reform a body out of the wood, becoming a demi-dryad. Our [Sympathetic Linkage] can keep the souls of our family members from crossing over for a time, but we need to rush to the First Tree to ascend to our full power so we can repeat the process and give them tree-bodies as well.
[X] [ACA] Go with them.
- [X] [ACA] But only if a detachment is sent to help my family. Including a healer. (could potentially get help for Dad much sooner)
[X] [aSA] Every advantage I withhold is simply saying another's life is worth less than my own. That's not why I rode out here.
[X] [RoE] Only Utilise [Dream within the Forest] and [Effervescent Animus] (as per Excited Passenger vote). Barring defending your life, do not call upon [Cleaver of Fortune] or [Brave Blood].
[X] [EP] Only if not revealing her would risk mortal harm to myself.
[X] [RC] It only takes one unlucky day. Be careful, never having more than 50% of your total time allotment unavailable.
[X] [HitCJ] Try and push to even things out, but leave her with a larger share.
[X] [(P)VC] Defensive
- - - - Sweeping South
{-hink, these were the tiny seedlings of a single protrusion of Colossi which itself was but one of the minor fragments to make it past the Outer Lines… I was right to escape when I did.
The corruption was widespread. Metastasizing in every direction, new iterations of its unreality unfolding out of the nowhere. Already a couple structures were spinning up and initialising, I was going to have my work cut out for me preventing them from becoming operational.
In fact, a recontextualizer-vortex had just begun its work, so the first thing I did was smash its foundations out from under it. I couldn't actually stop it, if I tried it would simply mutate into untraceable filaments. Instead, I needed to reconfigure it in such a way that it didn't realise it was no longer serving its progenitor's goals.
Ha. I always made fun of Weavers, but look at me now. There would be mu-}
- - - - - - - - - - 6th Day, 3rd Moon, LE 2302
Somewhere North
"Please. Please I'm sorry, don't make me garphfamble… blargfff…"
"That's better. Now, let's try this again. Ex̸̧̣̄͑̃̀plod̸̳͇̳̦̓̾̈́e̶̯͓͍͛."
-pfthluk- -thud- -gluk--gluk--gluk-.
"No good. That was barely a melt, let alone a boom. N̶ext̴͇͋!"
- - - - - - - - - - 6th Day, 3rd Moon, LE 2302
"I can do more than just guide you," you say, with a boldness you do not feel, to those assembled. You're revealing more than you ever thought you might, but you don't think you could live with yourself if you hid something that could save so many lives.
The eyes of each adult that had dismissed you from their attention (save for Mathew's significant glances) drift back to you along with an uneasy silence. You feel your confidence practically wilt under their focus. It's almost comical the way people in authority just looking your way can suddenly make you feel more powerless than actual frothing monsters.
"That is- I mean- I can make people stronger- or not quite, but…" you stutter.
You're losing them. The idea in your head is quite clear. Reveal how you can help those who rely on Pithe to fight at 100% strength for an extended period, barter that service in return for altering their plans to get help to your family sooner. But the distance between your head and mouth has never seemed further.
You understand implicitly that simply claiming to have a helpful power will not be enough. Without Mathew to back your ability to track the Wolves, Captain Martin would never have simply taken your word for it much less hinged any strategy of importance upon its truth. You remember the way Mathew was shocked still by your ability to restore him during training, how impossible it seemed to him.
You can barely summon your courage to speak, so you'll save it all for the one request you won't budge on, the [Blessed Armsman] that already has their respect can explain the rest.
"Mathew," you say (quite proud your voice only wavers a little), "Tell them what I can do."
Mathew gives you some kind of solemn nod, you think of respect. Would he really have said nothing if you didn't prompt him? You'd never thought that to be a realistic possibility in circumstances so dire. Either way, too late now, Mathew addresses those gathered, Captain Martin in particular.
"She can slacken stretched Pithe Captain, magnify individual capacity by a rather large margin." There you go, its out in the open now.
You're not sure what you were expecting; everyone except for Mathew, Captain Martin and Madam Silva unceremoniously turning around and walking away was definitely not it. Even then, Madam Silva herself only departs languidly following a stern glare from the Captain who then addresses you directly.
"How far girl? What's your limit?" he says. You are beginning to accept that Captain Martin just sounds angry all the time, not that he has an issue with you.
"Uh…" you don't know the answer, gesturing deference to Mathew once more.
"Easily the fifth tier, Captain. Perhaps as far as the seventh," he answers, then after an uneasy delay he adds with a hint of regret, "awakened less than three months."
Your Natural Energy sight lets you see things you're sure you'd miss ten times out of ten without it, like the way the Captain stills his movements and catches his breath for the shortest instant before returning to normal.
"Ah," he says almost too quiet to hear as he steps close to Mathew to continue their conversation at a whisper.
Many times since you awoke in that clearing your powers have baffled you as to what degree they are under your control or merely directed by suggestion. So you are both surprised and not surprised at all when some alternate expression connected to {Wood Memory} in an ill-defined tangential way carries their whispers to your ear. A mystery to solve later, for now you look away to not attract suspicion as their words flow to you.
{{Captain Martin}}: "The Tithe then?"
{{Mathew}}: "No doubt."
Mathew murmurs his answer more to himself than it being an actual reply. You don't know what the 'Tithe' is, but neither he nor the Captain have a positive opinion of it judging by tone.
{{Captain Martin}}: "Does the Ministry know?"
{{Mathew}}: "Sarah said they have her down as a half-tier Healer. She didn't mention anything else."
{{Captain Martin}}: "So they'd want her when she reaches majority. I'll block that and see to it that we keep her until the Noosemen come to collect. Keep her safe tonight Mathew, she'll be invaluable for the next nine moons."
Noosemen?
That's ominous to a worrying degree.
Much to your chagrin, you need to stop listening as the mage officer from before, Marius, returns to speak with you. He is carrying a heavy looking metal shirt of some kind, you think it's called Chainmail.
"Put this on and then stand still," he remarks as he reaches you. "They're still talking, which means you're not full of hot air. You'll be getting the full works."
Marius is like a slightly nicer version of his captain. Blunt, but less harsh in tone and overall demeanour. But he still will clearly brook no argument, shoving the mail shirt into your arms.
You are no longer surprised when heavy looking things don't feel heavy, having accepted the changes slowly working their way through your body. So you slide on the flexible piece of armour without ceremony, it flows over and onto you seamlessly.
In fact, too seamlessly. {Melded Carapace}. You feel it immediately now, [Brave Blood]'s latest expansion. The pattern that weaved its way into your skin now effortlessly extends into the armour adorning it. The precise mechanics behind it elude you, but you simply know that any effort to puncture this armour will always somehow strike its strongest points and not its weakest. There's more there to be discerned one day, but you understand it well enough.
You also understand that pushing your already strained Pithe any further is dangerous right now. Despite the sensation of vulnerability it provokes, you clamp down on {Melded Carapace}, dialling it back to just above no effect at all so that its drain causes no additional pressure. Pithe powers don't like to be altered, but uniformly reducing their magnitude seems like the easiest and least likely to backfire.
You are drawn back to paying attention to your surroundings by a sharp inhale from Marius. He had placed a hand gently on your shoulder, but immediately went tense after a second.
"By Creation's sake! How are you still alive!" he demands.
"I'm sorry?" you ask. If anyone was going to comment on your slowly recovering injuries, you thought it would be sooner than right now. You know you'll fully recover given time anyway.
Marius just seems to stare at you, his face stuck somewhere between concern and confusion. "Your arm. Your skull. Your ligaments. Your… your bloody everything girl!" He throws his arms up in the air talking as much to his surroundings as you. "I've healed Essence Primaries before, but… does she even need limbs I wonder; at least healing women is easier."
"Women are easier?" you question, not entirely sure why that point stuck out among others.
Your question does at least pull Marius' attention back to the moment. Any other hour and you'd jump at the chance to ask a mage a hundred questions. But the tension of this night and what you know is still to come has quashed your curiosity somewhat.
"Oh yes. Essence wielders at least. Here, Maylay Bist Parwroth."
With little warning, your whole body feels awash with uplifting energy. You can actually feel the bones and muscle in your arm and elsewhere knitting back into shape. Its uncomfortable without going so far as pain. Other than some lingering tightness in your lower abdomen, you are simply flush with warmth and health. In the blink of an eye, you know you are completely uninjured.
Real Magic. You were too out of it to fully appreciate the other examples you witnessed a short time ago, but feeling it course through you like this leaves you awed by its endless possibilities. All the best stories have a Mage doing something extremely important. Mages are not constrained to a small host of abilities like anyone else, they are always doing something new and different. You hope that one day that's you.
Marius continues his explanation with a light smugness. "Inflicting infertility is a massive curse to bestow on any woman, accounts for just about any amount of healing required. But your Ethos will restore you in less than a month."
You catch your breath a little. The tightness you felt somehow feeling worse by understanding its meaning. "You… you made me unable to have children?"
"Oh come off it girl. Count your blessings. As I said, you'll be fine in less than a month. Plaz-vo Neric'snay Halcgosh." Marius intones.
You gain a small piece of awareness in the back of your mind as Marius speaks the next spell, the blood and muck that absolutely coated you until now (and thank goodness you are only realising this now after the fact so you don't die from embarrassment) reform themselves into a flowing mud-like waxy barrier over your whole body.
In this instance, the piece of awareness that the magic formed in the back of your mind has a sort-of name that roughly feels like 'Slayer Armour'. It's made strong from the fact that you have killed multiple Alphas and will protect you from more of their kind and basically nothing else. This is exactly why you think Mages are amazing, without any forewarning before tonight, Marius has something like this ready. You imagine his fallback options would likely have similarly impressed you.
Of course. That was before he trod over any of all your objections to his magic. You… you wouldn't have said no if he asked you first, but something about the way Marius just did it leaves you feeling… you just didn't like it.
"Thank you, sir," you say. Marius has helped you, healed you, armoured you. But, you'd like him to leave.
He nods slightly, turning and leaving.
You are going to have to spend the time to put to words the uncomfortable and mixed feelings that whole experience brought up, but for now; You are happy that Marius' departure gives you a chance to redirect your attention to Mathew and Captain Martin. Still talking, once more you allow their voices to be carried toward you.
{{Captain Martin}}: "-rly arranged. Lilly trusts you yes? Can she be kept calm?"
{{Mathew}}: "I don't know sir. She's a firm heart, but her wits seem quite frayed."
{{Captain Martin}}: "Yes or no Sergeant? The girl taking flight at a critical moment could collapse the formation. Can it be done?"
{{Mathew}}: "She preens at encouragement from authority, sir. Have officers vocally encourage her and she'll do whatever she can to prove them right. In a melee, she'll probably mimic the bravest man beside her."
{{Captain Martin}}: "You mean that as a compliment yes? She'll match the best of us?"
{{Mathew}}: "I… Yes. Now that I think about it, she won't be the first to break."
{{Captain Martin}}: "Good. Because she is listening."
Captain Martin looks right at you.
You forgot to look away as you were listening this time. He points sternly at the ground in front of him and Mathew, the command clear.
You almost trip over yourself jolting to obey. As you come to a stop in front of the Captain, you know that if you don't take the initiative right now, you might never work up the courage again.
"I can do it Captain sir. I could have hidden with my family, but I chose to come here. I'm ready, I promise," you plead, surprisingly articulate.
The revelation you could likely hear all of their conversation sits unspoken on the air. Captain Martin spares you any sort of admonishment, for now. "Then see to it that you are a woman of your word Lilly. In my absence, do whatever Sergeant Lye orders you to."
"Yes sir." You salute with your fist over your heart, having seen watchmen do that to officers from time to time.
The Captain's mouth quirks into a slight smile. "It is time to see how far your boon can stretch. We'll start with the best candidate from each group and go from there"
- - - - -
Ranging your way south, the contingent nears your home, time seems as though it has raced by to this moment. A whirlwind of faces, directions, and conversations.
You had come a long way from the girl who could just barely link healing to other people. But still, there was a big divide between maintaining a link between Chariot plus your father as you had done and then what was being asked of you by the Captain.
Would it be enough to convince the Captain when you put your foot down on going to your family first? How many people could you hold onto ready to replenish? The Watch numbered more than a hundred, would your contribution be important enough?
You needn't have worried. 186, that's how many Watchmen there are. 123 draw from Pithe, 2 from Essence, the rest you can't identify.
You've passed a critical threshold without even noticing it. Stepping into that intangible place and meeting the Prime Tree solidified an important part of the [Dream within the Forest]. As each watchman came before you, you felt a tiny channel easily birth and lock into place. As natural as breathing. Your Essence never more than a thought away from them.
And it is Essence. You understand the name now. People don't take in Natural Energy from their surroundings and concentrate it. The [Dream] can certainly work that way, but normally people actually produce it. Every single person has a slightly different 'flavour' for lack of a different word. A footprint in the Essence that you now feel around each of them. You think this is where most of the [Dream]'s powers likely come from, incredibly artful manipulations of the unique flavours living things leave in the Essence flowing out of and through them. Knowing what people said, what wood remembers, borrowing the features and strengths of other life, reaffirming and strengthening links that already exist. There's a bit more to it than what you are seeing, but you feel like you're most of the way there.
The original plan had called for 'Communion Stones', some form of long-distance communication, to inform you of the locations of various groups of watchmen so that you could relay what you could sense of nearby Alpha's. But as each new link was formed you rapidly began to realise that would not be necessary. You are no telepath. You cannot speak between minds, but it turns out that more primal communication is not beyond you. Every single watchman connected to you is aware of their relative position to you, each other, and any concentrations of creatures that you can detect.
On that leverage you staked your claim to the Captain. Suggesting the central formation strike directly south toward your home, while the smaller groups maintained a holding action at any wolves further north. You'd expected resistance. It was strangely troubling that Captain Martin immediately agreed with your request and reorganized the entire counter offensive around it.
Still, you'd got what you wanted. Unexpected luck is not always an ill omen.
To say that you rolled over any opposition is itself still an almost criminal understatement.
With your support, every subgroup of the Watch have utterly annihilated anything in their path even resembling a wolf. Those who cannot draw from Pithe have been held in reserve, savouring their strength for if and when it is required as their brothers in arms have led the charge.
Despite encountering Alphas by the dozen, there is almost nothing of note that you have experienced. You detect them kilometers ahead of a subgroup, said group of Watchmen detonate, evaporate, or eviscerate them apart. All the actual fighting takes place so far from you that your own previous encounters with Alphas remain your most personal.
Your main contribution has not been allowing Pithe fighters to go a little harder as you'd expected it would be, but simply coordination. The Watch are well trained and use even limited bursts of power with frightening efficiency. The Alphas have not adapted because there is nothing to adapt to, the danger they posed to unarmed farmers and a single fleeing girl rendered miniscule against a proper armed force. Their uncanny ability to ambush that had been holding back the Captain's options utterly overturned by the superior tactical awareness you have lent the watchmen.
Mathew once spoke to you of the advantage of being able to draw upon many superhuman dynamics in combat, what you've witnessed feels like the next step beyond even that. Multiple individuals perfectly manoeuvring around and complementing each other. The most common example you have witnessed is one watchmen getting up close and personal with an Alpha using showy flashes of colour that hint at some lethal potential, only for the killing blow to come from someone far off. Though when the Alphas try to adapt to that tactic, the 'distraction' watchman proves their showy moves can become quite real and deadly if ignored. It's an unwinnable situation for the monsters.
You'd had concerns of simply running out of Essence to give, the pull has been frankly enormous compared to anything Mathew ever required. But again, the Well that you draw from has proven nearly limitless in scope. Rather than you being the chokepoint, a couple of the younger men have started to come up against Overstrained Resonance and had to fall back into the reserve themselves. There is a strain, a tiredness slowly creeping over you, but it is a mild thing in its early stages.
You keep expecting the other shoe to drop. Your initial trek north was fraught with repeated unseen peril and close calls. This anticlimax puts you more an edge than any hard-earned victory ever could. You want to believe that you will simply arrive home and thus effectively end any ongoing danger to your family. But you won't be able to rest until then.
You've known this whole way that your father is alive. You've also remained aware of potential links leading to each of your family too, another unexpected boon from the practice of connecting to so many of the Watch. But your excitement still grows when you clear a small crest within the valley and can see your home not a quarter hour's travel away. You are close enough to make out the workshop still intact and unbroken. Until you saw it with your own eyes, some niggling doubt had persisted that their true fates were obscured from you somehow.
Conversation has been sparse during the journey south. Despite the unexpected ease of the counter-offensive, no one has forgotten this is a matter of life and death for many people. In that regard it has been an unusual yet welcome reprieve from your earlier frantic escape northward. You've had time to think.
Expansions once more draw near. A tremendous glut of fullness has been washing into you throughout the night, your connection to the Watch minutely connecting you to each kill they have claimed and flowing into your Ethea (You have not allowed Evie to consume it all). You feel more confident you won't need to isolate yourself to be safe this time, but there will likely be those who see you expand once more. Honestly, you've made yourself far more visible than you first intended at the onset of this night.
And I haven't even showed the strangest parts.
You worry that you have not guarded your secrets well enough. Tonight, there are hundreds of witnesses to some of what you can do. Not long from now you will have to face the hard question of if you can actually stay in Harmuph much longer. Too many coincidences, too much special notice brought down on your family, you may be becoming a danger to them. Words like 'Noosemen' have given some foundation to previously formless fears of the wider world. After all your worries over being sent off, it may be your own choice that bears you away in the end. An unhappy thought that does not need to be decided right now; Captain Martin draws near atop his own horse.
You and the Captain have not shared any words since he practically jumped at your suggestion of striking out directly south. Your attention has been constrained mostly to keeping so many links stable, his to constant communication through those magic stones to other groups.
Mathew has remained close, but you have not really spoken during the tense journey. After the conversation you overheard between him and the Captain, your trust is no longer so complete as it was before. He may have done nothing wrong at all, but you don't know that, and when the stakes could be your life and your family's…
You feel rather foolish realising you never considered such things before, in part, because Mathew looks trustworthy, because he is attractive.
It's time to grow up Lilly.
The Captain speaks as he draws close enough, "I'll be blunt Lilly," pulling you from your thoughts, "My best men and I will be continuing into the forest. I have an idea of what has caused this and I want your help to put an end to it. Accompany me and my elite and I will shower your family in wealth and favour."
Chariot and the Captain's steed continue at pace alongside each other as your home draws nearer. You look at Captain Martin unsure what to say. He is content to look forward awaiting your answer. Rationally you understand the incredible amount of influence and riches one of the most powerful men you know could conceivably be able to offer.
But more fighting? Why would he even need you?
You just kept getting swept up into things with no warning. You are starting to have doubts you're cut out for this life.
- - - - - - - - - -
{-aking good progress on preventing any further damage to the underlying parts. In fact, my successes were compounding in surprisingly helpful ways allowing more time for side projects aside from sinking-boat maintenance.
In terms of survivability, one of Lilly's main weaknesses was the need for a body and organs, or any specialised structures separate from her soul at all really. Her emotions and altruistic cognition also represented unreasonable risks. Both had to change immediately. The pseudo-crystalline analogue often used as the focal core for Foundational Ethea would simultaneously be a far more secure housing vessel and help me erase her ridiculous race loyalty.
Were this any other era I'd be insane for trying something so unsubtle. But after the Maw's flyby, I think I could actually get away with simply flagging her as the next scheduled placement site. If the chaos I left behind was any indication, no one is still manning that proverbial watchtower. Still, if I didn't want her soul to immediately decohere, prep work was necessary for the coming transmu-}
- - - - - - - - - -
Choice Time:
*** Make sure you copy paste exactly from the options, the only change is adding 'X's.
*** Approval/Multi-Voting Allowed. (Do it all in one post or tally won't count it properly)
*** Write ins are encouraged. In fact, creative and intelligent ideas receive bonuses on rolls.
Collecting Influence: Captain Martin vouches for your personal safety and promises ongoing favour and support for you and your family if you continue with the expedition. He is quite insistent. There will be lasting consequences to acceptance or refusal.
[ ] [CI] Okay. I'll come.
- [ ] [CI] [Yes] I trust you not to push me too far sir. (Agreement)
- [ ] [CI] [Yes] But I set the pace. (Attempt Compromise)
[ ] [CI] I'm sorry. I need to hang back.
- [ ] [CI] [No] But you can continue on tethered to me. (Communication Delay)
- [ ] [CI] [No] I must rest, I cannot support the expedition further tonight. (Refusal)
Family Matters: Going or not, you will have some time to see your family again either way. Is anything in particular on your mind?
[ ] [FM] Write In.
A Pressing Concern: The other side of yourself, the Prime Tree, strongly hinted you were under a certain time pressure to physically meet. Do you share this information with the Captain?
[ ] [APC] Yes, you will likely need their help to get there in the increasingly treacherous forest.
- [ ] [APC] [Reveal] Try to convince Captain Martin to detour toward the Prime Tree.
- [ ] [APC] [Reveal] Make the Captain aware, do not try to influence him beyond this.
[ ] [APC] No. You've already embroiled yourself in far more attention and intrigue than you have any appetite for.
(Heavily influenced by the result of the 'Collecting Influence' vote)
[Dream within the Forest]: Level Up: Lvl 3 -> 4
[ ] [DwtFLU] She was all the forest and all the forest was her.
[ ] [DwtFLU] Feral rage surged within, lashing out in every direction.
[ ] [DwtFLU] Wherever her feet trod, life could not help but spring forth.
[ ] [DwtFLU] She saw it in her dream, it became a little more real.
[Dream within the Forest]: Approaching Milestone Expansion (Will influence Lvl 5)
[ ] [DwtFAME] I embrace the connection between all things.
[ ] [DwtFAME] I embrace the primal and deep parts of myself.
[ ] [DwtFAME] I embrace the path of restoration and heritage.
[ ] [DwtFAME] I embrace our twin nature.
[ ] [DwtFAME] I embrace that which hides beneath the waking world.
[ ] [DwtFAME] The Dream should not be pruned, I grant it unrestrained growth.
[ ] [DwtFAME] Write In:
/\ (You cannot simply state an overly specific thing for a Write In, it must be a broad abstract concept or theme intimately connected to the current expression of the Dream. I won't disqualify a too specific winner, but I will broaden its scope. For example, "I wish to defend myself better" is way too specific and would become "I embrace the vicious struggle to thrive" at minimum.)
[Brave Blood]: Lvl 2 -> 3
[ ] [BB] The swinging blade crept forward glacially. {..im..}
[ ] [BB] She closed the gap in the blink of an eye. {Locat……}
[ ] [BB] Never defenceless, a shield always at the ready. {….mmon}
[ ] [BB] Arrows flew and swords clashed, she found the calm in the storm. {….ackin..}
Burning the Candle at both Ends: You feel that the Pithe Resonance, while still taut, is less strained than earlier. You could potentially draw on it without any risk of lasting consequence, at least for a short time.
[ ] [BtCabE] Freely make use of what you have regained. You have a good sense of how far you can safely push things.
[ ] [BtCabE] Remain as conservative as humanly possible, only draw upon Pithe to save another's life.
[ ] [BtCabE] Short of impending death, you will not call upon the still stretched source.
Next Interlude Vote:
[ ] [NIV] In search of my Sister.
[ ] [NIV] The end of the First Era.
[ ] [NIV] Meanwhile across the Ocean.
Doubling Down: I thought the next Integration Vector would need to be consumed as the receiver point for {{REDACTED}}, but it turned out that Flower's mark ran deeper than expected (Lilly may even be of the Prime Line) and made the task far simpler. At the cost of a few short moments of being very visible to those who knew what to look for, I could use that Mark as the anchor instead. A large price rendered suddenly costless in a single moment, in return for some perhaps unwanted attention.
[ ] [DD] She'd likely never have another shot at this. He who sows the most seeds, reaps the greatest harvest. (Evie's {{REDACTED}} will not replace your fifth Ethos choice (available Ethea will be rerolled))
[ ] [DD] Better one tree firmly rooted than two seeds plucked from the ground. (Status Quo)
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- I didn't really have to roll the Ethos options you would've been choosing from, but figured why not.
- Difference between Pithe Stamina and Stressed Resonance for those wondering: Lilly has done something impossible for almost anyone else. Pithe Stamina is what your Essence is freely replenishing, it's why you can use {Pulse Surge}/etc more than a couple times an hour. What you have done is blow right past that soft cap and come up against a harder limit. Think of a pipe, other people have worry about having enough water to pump through, you have to worry about the fact you've pumped so much water through that now the metal joints are starting to bend and flex.
(Regenerating other people's Pithe Stamina is akin to lending them extra water to pump through their pipe in this analogy.)
- Hitting Sympathetic Linkage Tier 10 has let me add some comments to the Character Spreadsheet since Lilly understands the 'layout' of her powers on some level now.
- Mathew witnessed you expand earlier today and was surprised to see it happen so soon. Now he is going to see you do it again.
- We are at the climax point of Arc 1 people. With or without you, the Captain is confronting what is in the forest.
- I'm still not super happy with the pacing of this chapter. But sometimes rolls don't cooperate and at this point it's probably just time to move on and continue Lilly's journey.
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- There were a number of trials and tests to maintain your Essence Linkage. You just kept acing every single one by wide margins. So Multi Tier-Up.
- There were lots and lots of ways for Lilly to end up in personal danger this chapter, but the Watch really aced their rolls and the couple of chances the wolves had they failed theirs (or focused on somewhere else).
- Yeah, there isn't much more for me to put here. Most notable rolls are things that just didn't end up happening or had a chance to go wrong and didn't, so I can't really talk about them without being spoilery.
- I was actually expecting more Ethea to make the selection roll given all the conditions you're meeting tonight, not that it matters with Evie messing around anyway.
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Current XP: [Dream within the Forest] Lvl 4: 1331/1500 (+719) [Cleaver of Fortune] Lvl 2: 331/600 (+22) [Brave Blood] Lvl 3: 600/1000 (+40) (+6) halp oo [Effervescent Animus] Lvl 1: 2006/3000 (+569) (-6)
Character Sheet and Maps: Public - It's a Girl's World
(Comments added to many cells in spreadsheet)
[X] [CI] Okay. I'll come.
- [X] [CI] [Yes] But I set the pace. (Attempt Compromise)
[X] [DwtFLU] She was all the forest and all the forest was her.
[X] [DwtFLU] Wherever her feet trod, life could not help but spring forth.
[X] [DwtFAME] I embrace the connection between all things.
[X] [BB] Arrows flew and swords clashed, she found the calm in the storm. {….ackin..}
[X] [BtCabE] Freely make use of what you have regained. You have a good sense of how far you can safely push things.
[X] [NIV] The end of the First Era.
There's some parts of the comments on the character sheet that cut off at the bottom for some reason. Needed to copy and paste the comment into something else to read the last few words.
I really like this combo for Dream Within a Forest. Normally I would be very concerned about how thus connection could backfire since the Maw seems to have some sort of corruption effect going by what happened to the Wolves and its in our Forest (and the Forest was her). But iirc our first pick for Evie was to help us with Maw bits and make them not super horrifyingly evil which should hopefully mitigate that potential Achille's Heel.
I'm assuming these are all part of a bigger part cause I can't really make any guesses what they mean alone next to the Brave Blood powers.
I think they're trying to tell us Important... Locate... Summon... Backing(not sure on this one might be Cracking, Attacking or Tracking instead).
Which is pretty ominous especially since Brave Blood doesn't really talk to us the way Dream or Cleave do so it trying to a message through sounds important. Like if Dream was the one saying this I would go 'duh find our tree' but as is I'm not sure.
That SF voids my formatting whenever I copy over from a Word Doc and I missed re-purpling these. It's Evie talking. Same as when she commented on your Ethos picks last time.
Since you helped me spot that, I'll tell you that everything missing letter was replaced with '..'
[X] [CI] Okay. I'll come.
- [X] [CI] [Yes] I trust you not to push me too far sir. (Agreement)
[X] [APC] Yes, you will likely need their help to get there in the increasingly treacherous forest.
- [X] [APC] [Reveal] Try to convince Captain Martin to detour toward the Prime Tree.
The idea is to use our agreement to have the captain change his route to move to the Prime Tree
[X] [DwtFLU] She saw it in her dream, it became a little more real.
Should just make the Dream better all around I think
[X] [DwtFAME] The Dream should not be pruned, I grant it unrestrained growth.
No idea what this is, but I always like growth so I'll vote for it
[X] [DwtFAME] I embrace the primal and deep parts of myself.
[X] [DwtFAME] I embrace that which hides beneath the waking world.
These are alright alternates I think
[X] [BB] Arrows flew and swords clashed, she found the calm in the storm. {….ackin..}
Dunno what any of the choices mean but this seems alright
Edit
[X] [DD] She'd likely never have another shot at this. He who sows the most seeds, reaps the greatest harvest. (Evie's {{REDACTED}} will not replace your fifth Ethos choice (available Ethea will be rerolled))
Forgot to vote on this, I'd rather have more power rather than less, even if it exposes us slightly
