Okay, just so I can figure this out. Who's the traitor.
We have only a small handful of Named Watchmen, here's what we've seen about them.
1) Matthew Lye
Evidence For: Has a the Rare Ethos [Blessed Armsman], he has focused primarily on support, mentorship, and training. We've seen nothing saying he spent a significant amount of time out of town, but Lilly found it 'Odd' that a young boy focused entirely on uplifting others and committed to it as hard as he did--it's possible he's just a Good Boi but also suggests he's been heavily influenced towards being a pure support element over something more naturally fitting to his Ethos. This gives him ready access and goodwill within the Guard due to being an extremely potent asset, and he's also the first one to take note of us. He also did not betray our secrets to Captain Martin at the first opportunity, which when you consider grabbing one 'High level Ethos' character you can mold from the start, trading it off for a shitton of boring peasants is a good trade. Him sending word to Lord Waters would explain why he arrived so quickly and why his force is not addressing or exploiting the Dungeon Problem, especially since the original plan was--in fact--to collect Lilly as an asset. {Rungs to Wisdom} tried to tell us something after he did his spiel that led to Lilly realizing she could do something about us... And one of the words involved looks like it could have been filled in as Attention.
Evidence Against: He kept Lilly's secrets until she revealed them herself, but then wholeheartedly clarified the details when she did. He'd have downplayed her if he was trying to remove her from risk. And he did nothing of the sort. His abilities also don't seem especially suited for arson, and we've been told that Ethos Level is usually about the same rank as your age on average, and people generally don't develop a large number of powers if you're not Lilly. There were a lot of witnesses to that meeting as well, which could just as easily been the Plant
2) Marius
Evidence For: Abilities are extremely well suited for arson, he's kind of a gaslighting dick even if he's not being intentional about it to the point where he was a major contributor to unlocking an {Inverted} Ethos for Lilly.
Evidence Against: We literally saved his fucking life and he knows it. Even if he is the plant, unless Waters has him by the balls, he's going to do his very best to bungle it unless he's a treacherous bastard--and I feel that someone as perceptive as Martin would have cottoned onto that. Waters didn't think to use Lilly's Father's condition as leverage, which he'd know to try if Marius was reporting in.
Shit, there's actually a great deal of circumstantial evidence that does say Matthew is in a good position to be the plant, outside of Martin (Who is an ally--for good or for ill) and Marius, most of the other Watchmen lack characterization, and both of them are apparently close to Martin's confidence. And not a lot that disproves it. I think in light of that, I'm going to change the Plan to be a bit more distant.
Of course, it's just as plausible too that the plant is someone we haven't been introduced to, alas! Living worlds!
"Lilly." Mathew says, you turn to face him. "These creatures can run faster than a horse in full gallop. We can only reliably face them as a concentrated group, but we can't possibly cover the valley without splitting up and making ourselves vulnerable to the pack defeating us piece by piece. Our Diviners have not been able to predict their movements at all. Without a breakthrough we could split up into three groups at best without risking a slaughter. We need a way to track the Alphas' location ahead of time or we can in all honesty do very little tonight."
Im Pretty sure this is not talking about Lord Waters. The word preceding it ends in pha's aka alpha's. The first word here is right, second is alpha's and the third is probably actually location.
Im Pretty sure this is not talking about Lord Waters. The word preceding it ends in pha's aka alpha's. The first word here is right, second is alpha's and the third is probably actually location.
Hmm, fair enough. The situation has muddied enough at least that I've altered the Plan to scale down our use. Going full out distancing seems like it might tip off that we smell a rat, but completely shutting out our best window for gaining martial arts skills also seems bad.
Have we already talked about how {Subersion} can be applied to Lilly's other Ethea (even though it is dangerous and irreversible if a roll goes wrong)?
It also makes me wonder how inverted/subverted (in how far are those the same thing?) versions of Lilly's Ethea would behave and what the triggers for an Inversion might be.
There is also the question of the Prime Tree and what happens to an Ethos with a Locus when something happens to the Locus. Does the Ethos stop evolving, does it stop working or does it Invert? In the last case, an Inverted [Dream] might have a Lilly cut off from her source of Essence (and part of herself) - would she get the Essence from around her?
Have we already talked about how {Subersion} can be applied to Lilly's other Ethea (even though it is dangerous and irreversible if a roll goes wrong)?
It also makes me wonder how inverted/subverted (in how far are those the same thing?) versions of Lilly's Ethea would behave and what the triggers for an Inversion might be.
There is also the question of the Prime Tree and what happens to an Ethos with a Locus when something happens to the Locus. Does the Ethos stop evolving, does it stop working or does it Invert? In the last case, an Inverted [Dream] might have a Lilly cut off from her source of Essence (and part of herself) - would she get the Essence from around her?
TBH, while I wouldn't trust it right this second, {Subversion} is a fantastic tool for setting up false identities if we can get Bedrock up to a high enough level to reassert ourselves later.
Dang, I'm half-hoping Valerie sweeps in and simplifies the situation for us. Getting hunted down for months on end by Waters/the Noosemen/the kingdom is not my idea of fun.
TBH, while I wouldn't trust it right this second, {Subversion} is a fantastic tool for setting up false identities if we can get Bedrock up to a high enough level to reassert ourselves later.
Subverted [Bedrock] pretty much does what original Evie wanted to do to Lilly which is a bit suspect, but current Evie seems deeply loyal so I agree that this is a good tool.
I really want to know what a changed [Cleaver] would do. Instead of Lilly making ideal decisions, making forces around her make the worst decisions?
An Inverted Concordance Ethos would be scary, by the way.
(Picture: Thanos: "you should choose your words more carefully")
Voting is now Closed.
Task: QoNG
[X][QoNG] Write In. No. of Votes: 21
-[X] You don't really understand what it is that's different about you, what kind of spirit decided to tamper with things, but from the beginning, things have been weird. [Dream Within The Forest] was nice, but when it Expanded, it just added more abilities... And then a second Ethos arrived the day after you woke from your disappearance, which occasionally chimed in with helpful information and warnings--and luck you guess? You're still figuring out how that one works. Then both of these started adding new abilities--and then you gained a Third Ethos--that's where the Pithe stuff comes from, actually. For whatever reason, it seems like whatever spirits, gods, or other beings are responsible for giving us our Ethae just keep... Missing me, and throwing me new ones all the time. It was good in that it helped me protect the valley, {The Ladder} made it pretty clear how many lives were at stake if I just stayed hidden at home with Father and the others, and it was enough to help me break the defenses of the corruption in the forest, and keep up with everything--but now he just rolls in like this, does all of this, and I get a report saying that he's going to be responsible for my death if I don't stop him somehow?--and now he's planning on killing them all? Just to maybe get me a little faster when he's going to have me killed anyway? It's... It's not right, but I also can't just put you at risk by running away first--even if he doesn't have anyone watching for me trying something like that. I need help, I need to know more, I need to be wiser, I need to be stronger, so that I can find a way out of this that doesn't lead to anyone getting killed or broken on my behalf, and Father's... Not a soldier. No. of Votes: 21
--[X] TL;DR: Bring him in on the Lillyspiracy, he's stuck his neck out for us, the least we can do is reciprocate. Lilly is a gamechanger, and more importantly she's established that she's as responsible as someone can really get in her position. That being said, less demonstrations with the weirder shit--it's okay to stick to generalities, but having an unpredictable surprise up your sleeve feels like it might be important in the immediate future. No. of Votes: 21
Task: DoD
[X][DoD] Tell Captain Martin what you have overheard. No. of Votes: 29
Task: AMahs
[X][AMahs] Actually, most of what I need to train has to be done with no one else there. Mathew will be helpful, but I don't need him every day. No. of Votes: 20
Task: Lmt
[X][Lmt] Whatever the circumstances, I made a promise before witnesses and it would be looked down upon to renege. No. of Votes: 28
Task: Fsr
[X][Fsr] I want an educated tutor who will teach me anything I want to know, no questions asked. No. of Votes: 28
Task: Auw
[X][Auw] Tell Captain Martin. Whatever he hopes to accomplish, this will change things. No. of Votes: 28
Task: AC
[X][AC] Take Myah under your wing, she wanted to run away with you, collect her before it's too late. No. of Votes: 18
[X][AC] You have the tree waiting for you, dedicate time to sneaking to it and communing. No. of Votes: 17
Interlude should be up in about an hour (maybe quicker).
Yeah, I know it was a bit last minute, but lining up all that data added enough doubt that I'm... No longer willing to fully trust poor Matthew at the moment.
Not enough where I'm willing to definitely finger him as the Plant and thus fully distance us, but enough to raise a reasonable doubt to his intentions.
Christ, this whole arc is going to really tickle my anxiety in the worst way possible isn't it? We're still weak, we barely have time to get on our feet before the next crisis comes along, and now we're about to be at ground zero of a multiple xanatos pileup.
Well, god willing, hopefully I'll get to see some warm fuzzies by the time my next rotation begins tuesday of next week.
I mean, certain narrative conventions suggest that it would be Matthew, with his proximity to the Captain, helpful training, usable advice, good looks, and sweeping Lilly out of danger in 1.10.
Looking at other information brings up questions, though. Were the names of Martin's elite group mentioned just to describe the scene more effectively, or was it also a hint that one of them might be the plant? Getting more paranoid, if Marius, as unlikely as it might be, turns out to be the plant, do we need to suspect the mail shirt he gave Lilly, and the other things he did?
On a more instinctive basis, it feels oddly straightforward for Matthew to be the plant. The kind of thing someone would expect from a modern Disney movie.
What of the other people part of the elite unit we fought with? Or one of the nurse people... If there where any.
On consideration, our info sec was 0. We involved the whole militia in the plan.
That's the consequence of going all out.
What of the other people part of the elite unit we fought with? Or one of the nurse people... If there where any.
On consideration, our info sec was 0. We involved the whole militia in the plan.
That's the consequence of going all out.
They don't know our full capabilities. The amount of people aware that Lilly is more than a strong Auron with a small Pithe secondary can be counted on a single finger. We're bringing that number up to two this upcoming chapter, but while Lilly being awesome isn't a secret, the scale of it has been kept under our hat so far. She's the equivalent of winning a local lottery and walking off with ten thousand dollars--amazing but not actually life or society changing when she's a multi million dollar jackpot winner in truth.
Hide a secret with another secret, so they think they've gotten your number when it comes out in the open. This is the art of rusemancy!
(Note to readers: Vote title of this interlude was 'In Search of my Sister')
Interlude 2.1 - - - - Don't trust a smile. 8th Day, 3rd Moon, LE 2302
(Early Morning)
In the poor light, just about every rustle or creak had me jumping at shadows. The night felt colder and colder by the hour as I struggled to keep my heat up.
Travelling was gruelling work and I could admit to myself I was definitely more of a city-girl before I started my journey east.
Most nights were fine, but it had been a few days since I'd come across campers willing to let me get my heat back up and I was starting to feel the cold more acutely each evening.
I was also just lonely. I couldn't trust anyone to come with me this time, so baring any aforementioned campers it was me, myself and I for conversation. It also didn't help that I was not used to rations.
But when the call comes you answer it. I knew where my sister was. It didn't matter how dangerous leaving the cities and venturing out into the unknown was for me, I didn't hesitate for a second once I knew.
Mother rarely spoke to me, but every single thing she'd ever told me was always right. It was time to start bringing our family together.
'Ouch', my foot nearly twisted on another stone I'd missed travelling with no sun.
Even the rocks on the rough road were starting to hurt my oddly numb yet sensitive feet as the night wore on, I could really use some helpful people about now. I should eat something, but I'd lost my appetite since yesterday. I probably just wasn't cut out for travelling alone.
As luck would have it, I saw light in the distance. Light meant people, people meant maybe they'd share some warmth with me. People often refused a trade when I offered, but some were just generous, so there was always hope.
I picked up my pace.
- - -
The next quarter hour stretched painfully long as I drew closer.
Finally, I was able to make out what looked to be a group of rangers making camp around a fantastic fire. Probably Parisians updating the border scry-stones in this region. Not necessarily the most welcoming folks; worth a try.
Announcing yourself is always a precarious process. Startle people and even the usually amiable sort will tell you to get lost. Being a woman helps, lets me get close enough that they can see I don't carry a weapon. It's important to put people at ease quickly, make them feel like I couldn't be a threat even if I wanted to be.
Which wasn't a lie, in fact given how much the shivers had gotten down into my bones I'm not sure I could threaten a housecat right now. My Ethos was pathetic without the right people to support me.
"Hail rangers," I called with practiced tone. There's a certain childlike bent I can put into my voice that seems naturally disarming for people, gets me what I need more often.
In this case its benefit was demonstrably clear when out of some ten or so gentlemen, only two actually drew weapons at my call.
I walked closer, into the light where they could make me out easier, my hands out and clearly unarmed. "I don't suppose you have space by your fire."
This close I could see the rangers' faces, definitely Parisian. Most smiled warmly at my arrival. I smiled back as a few noticeably leered. Oh well, at least a bunch were the right sort. It was nice to find a camp that could help me get my heat up a bit before moving on.
"Come, sit," one of the older rangers responded, gesturing to an empty space beside him on the fallen log. The group quickly returned to their casual postures and conversations around camp.
"Thank you," I answered, curtseying in gest and taking the offered space. I was dressed in ill-fitting men's clothes that were a bit awkward to sit down with, I managed with just one or two chuckles from onlookers. The fire didn't help work the growing numbness out of my limbs, but I was certainly happy to have the company.
When you're used to having hundreds of people around you every day, the open country and unlit nights can be downright terrifying. My Ethos thrived in the cities; it was intensely uncomfortable to have long stretches with no outlet. Not that I could just walk up to people out here and tell them what my Ethos did and if I could use it on them. Only the suicidally reckless just go for that sort of thing.
Sometimes I could, people just went for it straight up. But normally I had to put in the time working them around to it, get them comfortable and not suspecting I was some random wildness psycho.
Gosh I was cold.
"You're travelling late," the same man asked once I was seated, "and it doesn't look like you've packed much of anything for your journey."
Well, given that I had next to no idea what I was doing and didn't really know how to use any of the usual tools anyway, there wasn't much to pack. I was basically making it up as I went alone, relying on strangers being accommodating.
Stupidly risky I know, but I was working with what I had. The alternative would have been to not go, which wasn't an option at all.
"Yeah… I'm a bit underprepared," I answered. Playing up my circumstance, people tended to go along with what I wanted if I was just honest about how last minute everything had been. 'Oh woe is me, I am a vulnerable girl on the roads' was as effective as it was simple.
A teen on the other side of the fire was too shy to even look at me and it was my turn to lightly chuckle.
You should see me in a proper ensemble, boy. I'd knock your socks off.
"Alexander," the man smiled a big grin and reached out his hand to shake mine, "No friends or family to come with you? Your Ethos must be handy on the road?"
"Marigold. No and no I'm afraid," I replied, holding my hands closer to the fire in a way that made my cloak partially open. They'd be able see my shivering as I spoke. I think I had them hooked. "All very last minute, no one even knows where I am. My Ethos doesn't help with travelling alone at all either."
As I spoke, another man had and taken a seat on my other side too. He would have been a large man even without heavy leathers and furs, those only further added to his bulk. Beside my rather thin frame of not quite seventeen years, the difference was stark. I wouldn't be surprised if he could lift five of me.
"Clark," the new man spoke, but not to me. He was looking over at someone else.
"Hoping we see how vulnerable she is. Wants us to feel sorry for her," Clark presumably, responded.
Drat. Wasn't expecting a truth-seeker.
This was why I had a policy of never lying, I didn't have a counter for truth seekers. I could usually get what I needed as long as I was honest, even if people figured out I was playing up a certain angle.
"Oh," the unnamed man beside me intoned somewhat playfully as he looked back to me, "hoping to get more than just some time by our fire are we."
I looked down at my feet and shrugged.
I'd been in this situation many times and it could honestly go either way.
There were methods I could use to get what I needed far more reliably than this social dance I insisted on doing. But I didn't consider that sort of manipulation to be moral.
The rangers had turned less pleasant with Clark's reveal, cutting off their own murmured conversations down to near silence set against the subdued crackling of the fire.
"Got a fix Andrew," Alexander said from beside me looking across. So I knew my huge friend was Andrew then. "Threat rating zero." Alexander pointed at me as he said it, visibly relaxing some tension I didn't realise he'd been holding onto since I sat here.
Oh thank goodness.
Normally I hated those sorts of powers, but that's probably exactly what they all needed to hear right now. Confirmation that I wasn't a threat to anyone right now would put people back at ease.
I'd managed to annoy them. Andrew got up and moved to stand behind where I was sitting, running a hand through my hair. "You're a very beautiful young woman."
Other rangers also began to stand up, with strange looks in their eyes.
'Finally,' I got excited. I'd been beginning to have my doubts.
This fire was doing nothing for me. I was pining for a chance to get my heat up.
I pointed my head back to look up into Andrew's eyes as his thick muscular frame towered over me. I gently steered his hand from my hair to rest lightly on my cheek before I answered coyly, "That's funny, because you have a face only a mother could love."
He shifted his hand and tightened it around my neck as the light of the fire danced along our bodies.
"Did yours never teach you any manners."
"For people? Sure. Not for dogs though," I retorted back through his choking grip. I knew where this was going, but I was a little surprised by his reaction.
Andrew was rougher than I expected.
He slapped me with his leather gloved hand, hard. With his heavyset leverage against my light weight, the impact sent me sprawling onto the ground closer to the fire. Blood seeped out of a few of my teeth that had been knocked partly loose.
I felt fantastic as I started to get my heat up, tasting the coppery liquid between my lips. I pushed myself up off the ground onto my knees and looked at the men assembling around me. I zeroed my gaze back on Andrew and his strong arms. Mmm, he's the one I wanted to get me there.
"Is that all you have," I said, spitting some blood on the ground, "that barely tickled." I couldn't contain my manic smile anymore. The pain in my mouth was glorious and I wanted more.
I could tell I'd gotten to him from the way the blood vessels in his forehead flared. Andrew stepped over the log toward me and wound up one of those beautiful arms into a haymaker punch. I closed my eyes as it descended, beckoning sweet serenity.
"Wait Andrew, I think-" Alexander tried to say, but it was already done.
I felt my nose break as the fist connected and the joy formerly contained to my mouth spread all over my face. I was thrown head over heels back onto the ground, blood spraying out from my torn cartilage in a thin arc during my tumble. The heat ignited into a furnace inside me and I quivered as I felt its surging embrace ripple through my body. My heart was leaping with anticipation inside my chest.
"Geez Andrew, some of us like a pretty face," some random added, his heat was a low ember.
Andrew ignored them as he turned back to answer Alexander, "What Alexander? Are you-"
Whatever he was going to say didn't matter, I was standing beside him holding his left wrist. Everyone who had seen me move was only just starting to react, confused how I got there. I could feel the heat in their blood starting to rise up into harmony with mine.
Andrew reflexively tried to pull his hand back from what was grasping it, his eyes widened in shock when it didn't budge an inch.
As a couple men began to reach for their weapons, I was crushing Andrew's hand in mine and exsanguinating him completely. I didn't need him to hit me anymore, our bloods had mingled well enough. My heat was way up.
Personally, I hear far more wonderful things, but I'm told high-speed exsanguination sounds like 'a slurpy pop with a slick background crackle from the bones moving out of the way' by witnesses.
I got a little lost revelling in the feeling. After being cold for so long it was easy to lose focus in the pulsing heat. I was rewarded by being impaled through the heart from behind by a metal spear tipped in violet light. I should pay more attention.
Our bloods were now one, so I switched. The man collapsed when I let go of the spear I was now impaling him through the heart with, I couldn't have used it like he had anyway.
I contorted around two magical arcing blades swinging from some men to my left. I didn't think my heat was deep enough to just let them cut me yet, so I stepped inside their guard and placed my hand through their sternums in a quick one-two punch.
I ignored the pinging thrill as their blood left them and immediately ducked my head, allowing a javelin to miss me and instead strike an unsuspecting ranger. It was hard to be taken unawares when I could feel the blood in all their bodies. The one who had thrown it at me fell on the ground screaming from a small glob I spat across the distance into his eyes. I'd set it to just drill into whatever it touched.
He'd been the one to comment on wanting a pretty face, I could appreciate the irony.
Rather than attacking me, the rest of rangers began to run. I was briefly confused as I hadn't put on quite enough of a display to cause that kind of reaction. I nearly slapped my forehead when I remembered that my eyes were gushing blood down my face and onto my clothes by this stage of heat if I didn't rein it in. It tended to have a profound effect on anyone watching.
Didn't matter though; I'd already collected a few murder-concepts. I expended half my heat into the river of blood forming out of the multiple exsanguinated corpses fallen around me. Four humanoid clotlings rigged themselves together nearby. Born from murder-concepts, they would be excellent at reciprocating in kind; I added a few stab-concepts to help them sharpen their edges and dispatched them to their work.
I set about collecting some rations and anything else I might need from the scattered debris while the clotlings scampered off to rush down the fleeing rangers. The mewling, crying and moaning amongst various screams was always a bit off-putting, but it was easiest to ignore at times like this while my heat was raging so strong. The thumping pang of satisfaction I felt in my gut each time they claimed a quarry certainly didn't hurt either. Besides, I never started things, they only had themselves to blame.
I also didn't attack the innocent. Take the boy sitting in blank faced shock nearby. Poor thing hadn't even moved when the crimson pool spread along the ground around and past him. He hadn't helped me, but he hadn't gathered to participate either. Probably about fifteen, I'd noted and dismissed him earlier when I arrived as having no promise of giving me what I wanted. After tonight he'd probably never even think of becoming like that anyway. Our bloods need not mingle.
With no one else left, my clotlings melted and my eyes stopped bleeding as I pulled the heat down into my centre to keep me going. The night was warm and balmy now, like being wrapped in a thick blanket. I'd be good for a few days.
"Bloody Mary," the boy mumbled.
I stopped picking through the bodies, that was surprising, "I didn't think I was known this far out?"
The boy shrank in on himself as I turned my attention toward and walked over to him. He must have been terrified.
I placed my hand on his chin and made him look up at me. "It's okay…" I tugged on his mind, "…Janus, I'm not going to hurt you."
"Bu- you- you're supposed to be-" he stammered before petering out. This was awkward, normally everyone went in on the act and I didn't have to deal with survivors. It felt wrong to just ignore them, but I never knew what to say.
"I told you didn't I. I'm travelling. Go home Janus, be good. All evil needs to prosper, is for good to do nothing."
I wasn't sure that made sense, but 'Marigold' and 'good at speeches' did not mix. So he wasn't going to get anything better. There was still an abundance of supplies, I didn't feel bad leaving him there as I walked away. I was even nice enough to set all the blood scampering away so he wouldn't have to clean anything.
Once more out into the warm Gaia's night I guess.
A couple minutes down the road, I felt my nose reset and a few new teeth grow to push out my loose ones. The early injuries always took a little bit longer to shake out, but I was good now.
I got to reflecting about my journey's approaching end. Nice people were always harder to deal with. I'd quickly get flustered and not know what to say. When I was trying to manipulate people into initiating opportunistic violence it was easy to talk, I wasn't nearly as good at keeping friends. When you had to care about someone's opinion of you beyond just trying to get their blood up, it got so complex.
Which brought my thoughts my biggest source of anxiety.
I hoped she'd like me, Mother hadn't told me how to make a good first impression. It didn't matter, family is family. I'd kill for her, especially if she was still too young to understand the necessity. That's what being an older sister meant. It didn't matter that she was Mother's favourite, I wasn't the jealous sort. But still, I hoped she'd like me.
Soon I would pass out of Parisi and into Narisell on my way east. The distance was hard to track, but I knew I was getting closer. I doubted she was as far as Scobar.
It might be harder to keep my heat up in Narisell, they had a reputation for being kinder than most, but I'd make do.
Back onto the lonely open road. Concerns aside, I was really looking forward to some consistent company again.
"Oh my goodness, thanks Abby. Yeah, all smiles again. Geez, I can start getting super lame if I leave it too long."
Yes, we need to do that more than once a day from now on. There's too much drift.
"No argument from me. I feel awful otherwise. Anyone else we need to see today?"
No let's avoid settlements for now, you're crossing a border so they'll be more wary. Our target is almost directly south.
"Super. Equipment, c̷͈̋lȅ̵͉̝̺ǎ̷͍͚͈̮̒͊n a̶̞͒nd̶̗̓̀ ṗ̴̨̭͒͊̀ac̶͔͙͚̐̂͆̈k̷̲͚̤̑͑̂̓ u̸̩͊̍p. Air, s̸co̶͎̘̕ŭ̵̼̺͌t̷̟̜̀̋ ah̶̛̪ẹ̶̎ad. Let's go, I'm gonna kill for a warm bath when we can hit the next town."
- Good ol Marigold, she's an interesting one to write. Thinking about her past makes me sad, but she's found a path forward and kept her will to live along with a measure of happiness, no matter how unconventional some may call it.
- Valerie draws closer, learning new tricks along the way.
There's Waters, there's Marigold (Who wants to help us but is apparently a fucking horrorterror fully realized Bloomling hemokinetic who Flower is in direct contact with and uses as an Agent), and now Valerie is coming and she's apparently just gotten an advance that lets her apply her Words to herself. Which is Subversion on steroids apparently. (Wait, does this mean Abby is a Demon then?)
Christ, this is going to be a disaster. I just wanted a little downtime! Instead we've got two Transcendent conspiracies coming our way and Waters doing machinations.
The only good news is that none of these are friends, all of them are powerful, and their goals are most definitely not in alignment. This gives us a little room to maneuver--though I suspect Marigold is going to be perfectly willing to butcher Lilly's family if it's a choice between that and risking Lilly getting hurt. Flower wants Lilly in her camp--I wonder if Aboleth is from Colossi in comparison and this is the big transcendent war dropping down here by proxy?
Yeah, I am very glad we stuck our neck out to pull Martin into the Lillyspiracy because we're going to need every mote of support we can gather. Provided he doesn't kill us outright, his cover would give us a great deal of time to prepare to navigate this incoming clusterfuck.
(Also, how frustrating it is that despite being running on an Apotheotic/Ascendent Ethos, that Valerie still seems to be levelling incredibly fast? That's not even remotely fair)
Wow. I can actually feel bad for Valerie. Amazing writing.
I want to see more of Marigold before ruling her in or out, and hopefully go to the Namesake Source too just to be sure.
I'm not arguing with the save from the last update, but of all times for {The Ladder} to need to recover, eesh.
Edit: That misdirection with the name of the Interlude though. I was completely expecting to read about Penelope being mutilated or captured by a dastardly Marigold. Not this.
It does look like the recovery time on [Cleaver of Fortune] isn't too bad usually? The Anchor strain might slow it a bit, but Cleaver was back online from being unbalanced within half a day or so?
That being said... Uh... While it's okay to feel a bit bad for her, she really made her own bed here. She was happily doing horrible things to the people she ran across well before she learned how to literally retroactively rewrite her own values to be okay with anything she does.
The original idea hinged upon Lilly learning very-fast writing; the meta-power then selects the best plan according to the Lillies' judgement, and actual-Lilly writes out said plan.
(The big unknown is, in this case, how much computation the meta-power at the end allows. In total, we certainly get more than the two seconds worth of thought, but how much more?)
This is almost certainly a very inefficient use of the power. The meta-power that "chooses the best" doesn't seem to have any special power to discern "best result" other than things that Lilly herself could learn by comparing 'freeze frame' versions of the results. It's easy to figure out which course of action results in "kill three giant wolves in one and a half seconds" because you can tell what is and isn't working. It's not so easy to figure out which course of action results in "plan for hiding from the bad guys" when, importantly, you can't see the part where the bad guys come looking for you and only have a handful of seconds at most.
It is similarly difficult to figure out which course of action results in "write down the best plan for hiding from the bad guys," or for doing anything else.
And in any situation where we're so hard up for time that it's remotely helpful to go burning [Sample Space] seconds just so we can poll the results of a billion Lillies all thinking about the problem for two seconds each... The danger is almost certainly great enough that saving those [Sample Space] seconds for something it's actually designed to do is more worthwhile.
I find it very frustrating that we keep trying to unproductively rationalize a way to get enhancements out of this one power when we have so many other better options for enhancements that do the same things more efficiently.
You're right, however, in that sample space seems to synergize with hyper-accelerated thought. We should be looking for such a power next (maybe the speculated bullet time from the Brave Blood ethos?).
I think [Sample Space] may actually have anti-synergy with hyper-accelerated thought, because if you're using one you don't need the other nearly so much.
I think you are greatly overestimating the power of "have a billion of you sit and think for five minutes, then pick the most attractive result" as compared to just "sit and think for five minutes," or even "sit and think for five seconds."
There are better and more pressing paths to pursue, like even having the ability to perceive Mana and Flow.
Just using Martin then dropping him would be a significant waste.
[Cleaver of Fortune on Steroids] has told us that Martin would follow us all the way (if we don't screw it up)
The recent action demonstrates that he has the loyalty of at least his Elite
The recent action has also soured the Elite significantly on Lord Waters; with their initial negative impression, they'll be very inclined to believe the summary Martin will soon provide them
Said summary is also awful enough that it'd be an easy sell to the guard subordinates
Previous loyalty to Lilly + hope of victory from our help with the wolves
{Contention Prognosticator} tells us we cannot avoid fighting Waters. Better to do so with an army on our back, than counting on our own personal power increases to match his entire party.
In short, this is one of few opportunities at gaining the guard's loyalty against an unambiguous villain, while we still have a low enough profile to be seen as a wronged party.
Note that fleeing Harmuph and "using" Martin at some later time are not mutually exclusive.
We could, for example, flee Harmuph, find a location where our family is secure, and return to lead the Harmuph militia (or portion thereof) towards some goal.
Nowhere is a great place to start; we won't gain any traction in Somewhere, where the power systems are too entrenched.
Lord Waters having more formidable forces (assuming he's allowed to escape) is indeed a danger; but that is the danger of every uprising. Our communion gives us the perfect ability to engage in perfectly-coordinated guerilla tactics, striking where the enemy is weakest, flowing away from Waters' attacks. Perhaps more importantly, it gives the guard hope of victory.
There is danger, yes, but we also know from Word of QM that hiding leads to our eventual death. This is, perhaps, our only chance to gain allies in a big way, rather than spending the rest of our years on the run, barely staying ahead of our hunters.
1) The world is a big place; this is not the only place on the planet where it's possible to recruit people.
2) Hiding leads to "eventual" death. That doesn't mean hiding from this specific threat for the next immediate weeks or months leads to death.
For example, it may well be that if Lilly is to survive to eighteen, she needs to save the world from some overwhelming threat that would crack the planet like an eggshell on her seventeenth birthday. If so, she needs allies to inform her about the nature of the threat and help her counter it... but she doesn't need specifically the Harmuph militia, and she doesn't need to start now.
Trying to start a revolution in Harmuph may well be counterproductive towards that aim, even! It might result in us getting mobbed by royal armies and crushed long before we even learn about the danger that would have killed Hiding!Lilly years from now. Indeed, starting three months from now under a new name in a foreign city out of Lord Waters' reach might actually be easier!
It does look like the recovery time on [Cleaver of Fortune] isn't too bad usually? The Anchor strain might slow it a bit, but Cleaver was back online from being unbalanced within half a day or so?
That being said... Uh... While it's okay to feel a bit bad for her, she really made her own bed here. She was happily doing horrible things to the people she ran across well before she learned how to literally retroactively rewrite her own values to be okay with anything she does.
Oh yeah, I realise Captain Martin in Lilly's corner is a major boon at that cost. I was only making a fuss because Lilly and us voters need every scrap of information we have, now that there's 3 confirmed parties with different agendas all headed for Lilly.
A few guesses at other powers from Marigold-Instinctual threat provocation? Blood subsistence? Low-grade regeneration, creation of temporary minions stemming from an Oath source?
Edit: Forgot to add this part, I know Valerie's bad, she's a threat at least on the level of Rapid Iterator, and at this point we have to take steps toward permanent solutions for her.
I don't think it's Inverted, just what a combat focused Essence build actually looks like. Bloomlings apparently level up much faster than normal, and she's a Bloomling that's been adventuring for a couple years now, with what's apparently a very scary combat build.
I think the threat rating they got was legitimate. The problem is that her build is one that goes from zero to "Now everyone's dead" with concerning speed in a dangerous situation.
