Girl you were talking about weird colors and your eyes to her tons in the past, just gently let her know that the answer is 'yes' and it's 'because you think they've changed color and it's kind of skeezing you out'. It's not unreasonable to be a little uncomfortable about this.

The whole lizard situation... Let's share the less bad news fist as if they're dead like some here fear then that will turn the day from weird but neat to utterly horrific. Let's let them enjoy the morning a tiny bit before that potential mess.
But DON'T delay too long. Get your whole eye stuff cleared up and then get right into it.

Given how exhausted with talking you were last night I imagine the weird eyes could potentially be a gift in and of itself

Tell me Tanna? Do the shadows of the trees look less dark to you? I can only imagine how beautiful the night will look later~

>>1123657
Oh and uh, Don't say dead. Just tell them what we told you (minus maybe the god stuff) and then tell them you can't feel your link to him anymore. Let her draw her own conclusion.

>Apparently gorgeous. Can count on you all to never miss a detail like that.
Just as we can count on you not acknowledging the edgelord bit. What, hit too close to home?

You are being rude by evading every question. Mina is trying to have a casual conversation and you are looking away and mumbling. It got to the point she think you are offended by something she said.
Apologize and actually engage with her. She is not asking about your secrets, just silly subjects. You don't need to be this guarded.

There is no way around the eyes situation at the moment. You don't have an accessory to hide them at hand and you need to work with those two right now.
Maybe you could use prestidigitation to disguise your sclera, but that sound dangerous. Is it really worth risking blinding yourself just to keep your new visual a secret?
It's not a big deal. Tell her you are self conscious about it and face her. Don't even need to explain, she will get it when she see them.

Suggestion 2026/03/20(Fri)22:34 No. 1123672 ID: 90684d
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To Mina:
>I’ve no idea where to look, there’s no eye contact.
I'm fine having Tanna as a proxy but if it make you more comfortable you can look me in the eyes.

>I’m… well, I’m living. Still processing last night.
Hang in there kitty.
There is more to come. Not as bad as yesterday but you need to be strong for a while longer.

>They’re pretty flirty, calling me kitty cat like that.
Uh... Am I? ...Sure... I will take it!
You seem like the kind of girl that doesn't need to be reminded of how beautiful you are but if you want to hear someone say it I'm your guy.

>>1123649
>Okay, phew. I was a little worried this was a ‘this is HAPPENING’ kinda deal.
Oh, just so you know, Kome does that a lot, so you shouldn't take anything he says seriously. Like, consider what he's saying to be metaphorical or speculative rather than literal.

>general issues with wanting to destroy reality
I have some insights to give, but you might not want to hear them right now. Tell me when you're ready.

>>1123651
>try playing with it a little
Only if you're up to having a long rest after. It's not easy to recharge. It'd probably annoy your allies to have to wait, as well.
>eyes changed
Huh, your whites are black now? Interesting. That is probably due to your class change, yeah. For instance, one new ability is that you can see in the dark. Feel free to tell the others about your Edification. Speaking of which, you can do new stuff now! You can... uh... wait what the fuck? Your stat sheet is hiding information on your Talents from us! Looks like Greater Dexterity got an additional effect, and... you have a second Talent that I can't figure out at all. I'm guessing Greater Dexterity became something like Shadowed Dexterity and you get an extra bonus from being in darkness.
Aspect: Why is the stat sheet censored? Her second Talent is basically unreadable. Is the red tape getting in the way? Can you give us any hints on what it does? I suppose we'll figure it out eventually via it triggering without us meaning to, or maybe it'll gradually reveal itself.
A..anyway, you have some new spells now, and your song does something new. Too bad we don't get Shadow Bard yet, we'll have to wait until next edification.
It's too late now, but, just so you know, your other class options were Fate Melodist, Death Caller, Wind Dancer, and Spider Song. Fate Melodist leaned into bardic magic and supporting allies via alteration of Fate. Death Caller was a tanky boss killer with less support given to allies. Wind Dancer was more of a fighter class focusing on weapon attacks, and Spider Song had a spider pet, sortof like a Ranger. It would have also given you fangs and some spiderweb abilities. Shadow Minstrel was the most rogue-focused class, and has a bunch of stealth benefits as well as Shadow Bard which summons a shadow clone! Some of us favored Spider Song but worried that we'd be changing your body without your permission. Looks like we did that anyway with your eyes, sorry.

>>1123653
Tell her you've been edified, and your eyes look weird now. Considering at least one other choice would have modified your body I'm guessing that kind of thing is normal for edification.

Hmm, it's possible that the paralysis wore off when you regained the Primordial energy from resting. It had to wear off eventually right?

You won't be able to hide the color of your sclera indefinitely, nor can you trust that the Vax matter is over. There is little chance that deception will prove fruitful, but a significant possibility that it will harm you in the long run.

Additionally, for the other theory-crafting winds, this whole situation seems fairly cut-and-dry for me. Tanna's world is a simulation game, the initial parameters of which are set by the yellow king. Though I cannot do much more than wildly speculate on the role of Solo, we are an injection of randomness into the system--Which is why Tanna is able to cut the threads of fate at our direction. However, this is more akin to a stage play rather than a pure game. The three fates write and direct the play, with each character in the play being a reincarnated spirit. This is all the information which has direct support. I have 'reconstructed' the play à la Pierre Menard, but that would not be admissible in court.

>>1123650
Whole world at your adorable lil feet, slinky.
Dont have to choose any one thing now. Be open to being brave enough to try things. You may have sone fun finding out who you are. Embrace the possibilites.

>>1123653
Ok.
Hear me out.
Creepy glove puppet.
With googly eyes.
You can hold it up for them so they've got something to look at when were talking.
That way no one looks crazy cause youre talking to voices in your head.
You look crazy because youre talking to a puppet.
Its slightly better.

>>1123651
Hey.
So, we see things differently.
To us, theres a vibrant yellow in there too.
When you're calmer, describe what you expected to see, then what you can see when you look at your eyes.
It could be a result of this shadow empowerment. Scary at first, but tied to your growth.

To mina : all flirty, all the time ma'am. But seriously, you encourage us too much and it will never end. Never. Every time you think youve got a quiet moment to reflect, bam. Poems about your toebeans, pick up lines, cute nicknames and promises to scritch behind your ears. And thats just me. Theres HUNDREDS of us in here.

>>1123653
Lets add a new C to the mix slinky.
Candid.
Be without artifice.
Trust her. Its scary, but itll pay off.
Tell them youve only just noticed. It may be connected to the recent development of your burgeoning powers and skills connected to shadows but you dont know for sure.

I can promise you this is not the weirdest thing theyve seen from you. Its probably not even in the top five.
For example, they now have voices in their heads too.
Which i also think is kinda cool.
Were a communicable mental condition that you can share with all your friends.
Slinky.
You've got brain cooties and it's us.


Oh, all this talk of names.
You know what?
We gave you tanna together.
I gave you slinky.
You can name me whatever you like and ill wear it. Possibly with pride.

>>1123678
>trust Mina
I think that's one thing we can't do in the long run, unfortunately. Not unless destroying the world is what causes everything to reset in the first place and some other approach is needed to fix reality. ...oh, maybe Bakoth would know.
Speaking of which, Tanna, yeah he can still hear what you're thinking.

To Bakoth: Has the world been destroyed before?

>>1123679
The reset idea was never insinuated, it's a theory. It's not impossible to be the case but there is no reason to think it is.
As far as we know the goal is to destroy everything as part of the process of getting revenge against the theotians.

>>1123678
Interesting ideas...
To Mina:
Hundreds is an exaggeration. There is a handful active and only two or three of us ever talked to you. I hope this didn't give you scopophobia.
But I like some of those suggestions. Expect toebeans poems in the future.

From our perspective, your eyes look fine Tanna. It might be a good idea to have Mini look at them though, if they look the same to her as they do to you, perhaps she has a better answer?

>>1123703
>never insinuated
We saw a bunch of alternate timelines of Tannas of different species in a vision she wasn't supposed to have. We were given a strong hint from Bakoth that Whisper had to find a timeline that matched our character generation choices. Bakoth also said that from our perspective it looks like a time loop. The King in Yellow spoke to us about how it keeps happening again and again and nothing changes. Tanna said much the same when refusing her first opportunity to kill.
There's LOTS of evidence!

>>1123795
Are those world resets or parallel worlds?
Might be the case or might not be. We will see.

>>1123797
>>1123795

There's reincarnation in this world apparently. So it's likely that the true answer is neither, It's likely a long string of lives that the gods of fate manipulate events of in order for them to happen a certain way every time.

>>1123653
I'll call myself Lun, then. Speaking of brevity, wow, that was a lot of info to get through. You don't need to worry too much about the "nature of reality" stuff; that's mostly speculation based on cryptic clues. We're not sure what's really going on either.

I can see why you're so worried about your identity. For my part, I think that whatever strange feelings you have, the person you decide to be is your most genuine and true self. If you're afraid of being evil, then you care about being good. And when you're afraid of what's lurking deeper, just remember you're not alone against it; you've got all of us to help you become the person of your own choosing.

As for right now, it's safe to tell her about your eye color changing. She knows you well enough that she's not going to freak out at you over it. But she also deserves to know that the paralysis spell on the lizardman is broken, and about the vision we saw, and that we don't know what it all means. It's not a pleasant subject, but we shouldn't hide it for long.

>>1123812
That would require a lot of direct intervention. Like, getting the box back to the temple, putting back everything that was disturbed, cleaning up the blood and corpses...

Fox again, I have lots to talk about! Just for reference, I'll sometimes show up with two different pony names, due to quirks of how I go about talking to you.

So, do you sometimes perceive us as text, sometimes as sound? Or sometimes narrated text? How does that work on your end?

So, I did actually describe your new abilities and a lot of things to test with regards to your edification, go check those messages when you have some time.

Why not, rather than the p-word, say, 'Theatrical Performance' or 'Theatrical Manuscript', depending on situation? Does that work better?

Regarding 'Bard', our understanding of how edification works is that, generally, if you are in one sort of 'Class' or theme that casts spells, it's generally worth it to stick with that Class unless you have a specific plan for why not to. So we'll probably be continuing the music (though it's more accurately 'performance') plus other supernatural abilities thing.

I would like to test some details on range, distance, and how selective we can be when communicating with others through you.

(Assuming she agrees, it'd go something like the next bit)

Hi Tanna and others! This is the Wind, Fox. I'm going to be doing some tests to see if we can be useful for passing messages! I'm going to try different permutations of including and excluding others from chat, and testing how far from Tanna we can still talk to you all! Okay, here I go!

*does some tests with a focus on being useful to and for adventuring party, especially if we can be a sort of budget telepathy with others sub-vocalizing*

Whew, that was fun! Okay, I did have two sets of things I wanted to ask, both to let me know how the world works. Since I don't know everyone's history, I'll just ask the group overall for both sets.

My first question set: What is the most complex non-magical technology that anyone can think of. How advanced are mechanical devices? How advanced are looms, clocks, or machines that do math? What are some of the most advanced mechanisms that exist? How advanced is the process of making lots of steel (or similarly useful, do-most-anything metals) at once in large quantities? How advanced are things that use rotating power, like what sorts of ‘mills’ exist? What forms of ways to achieve useful simple work other than muscle and wind and water power exist? What are the most advanced and complex sorts of weapons anyone can think of? Also, what is the most just, noble, good, wise, and responsible polity or state or civilization that anyone can think of? Does it still exist? How good or bad is the local civilization on the whole, ‘not being broadly evil’ scale? Is it the norm or an exception? And what continents exist that people know about, and what are some bits of lore or general stereotypes for each and what is there?

And now, the second set: Could you tell us how the wild, lowbrow sorts of parties go? What music do people make? With what sorts of musical instruments? What do they drink? What styles of fighting do people bet on? What sorts of gambling and similar games are popular? What items of clothing or jewelry are usually only seen in this context? How about performances that are specific to this sort of thing? What board and dicing and tile games do common folk do, at least while it’s still light out at the earlier part of these sorts of celebrations or festivals? What sort of athletic entertainment and competition, I’m thinking stuff that usually involves accurately throwing something, do people do in or before lowbrow parties? What drugs do they do when they don't want to get so far gone that they can't party? And this next question is more for me to get an idea of how the world works -- what techniques do people use to prevent unwanted pregnancies when people seek out quiet places near the main party after dark for some sexual fun? And how can we use this knowledge to get Tanna to let loose and be social and not self-conscious?

(That's it for the group stuff that I restated)

Tanna, here's a secret about morality: you aren't required to be viscerally disgusted at things that you are 'supposed' to react badly to. It's okay if that emotion and thought isn't there! You could be emotionally fine with murder and destroying everything, it is okay to 'entertain the idea'... as long as you are capable of logically reaching the same end point as the emotion is supposed to get you to, and you actually do so. No just civilization has internally thinking a particular way be a crime; actual actions are what are right or wrong.

So: you live in reality, lots of people with value live in reality, to arbitrarily destroy reality would be to permanently remove all the thoughts, hopes, dreams, potential, culture, art, science, and everything good that exists in your local multiverse. Further, your exact scenario, with the memory loss and everything, positively reeks of foul play and hidden manipulators and you having insufficient information to make an informed decision, so taking any big permanent mass-destruction steps of any sort would be thoroughly imprudent at this time.

Also: you have a daily use of 'you or someone nearby does really well or really poorly at something once a day' from your Primordial magic. You can use that on your mental fortitude and safely navigating those torture-memories, but maybe try it at the end of the day, right before you rest?

Though that prison scenario where you want to, uh, get revenge on the Theotians... it REEKS of a manipulative setup, ripe for mistaken assumptions and a dramatic Gotcha! Plot-twist that you discover about it some distant time in the future. Do NOT assume that the information you get from that memory is 'as it seems'. Also, just to confirm, 'Theotian' is term for 'Divine being that is actively participating in the local pantheon as a deity', correct? And there might be other categories of beings with some measure of divinity that aren't Theotians, but those would be called something else, right?

Regarding Strength and Power as a goal, you're probably going to get quickly stronger if you survive all this crap. I'd expect more edification before all this adventuring stuff is through, as well as other sorts of obtaining power. Though think of what you want to do with power, how you want to use it to express your agency, power alone isn't useful unless you cause some sort of change with it.

Regarding those two sorts of games I mentioned: a lot of my earlier comments were related to those sorts of things being one of the useful distortions for how we perceive things related to you.

Regarding dragons being really big: not a problem if the dragon is the female (or otherwise the one who receives) in Wyvarans getting created! Wink wink, nudge nudge!

So your sclera, to our vision, is black, and the iris (currently) is yellow, and the pupil (being a hole to the back of the eye with a clear cap over it) is black. Here's what I think happening. So the mundane ability to see in darkness, what I would call 'low-light vision' or 'superior low-light vision', has the bits of light bouncing off of things, entering the pupil and hitting the back of the inside of your eye, where extra sensitive parts are very keen on noticing even very very small amounts of light. You might or might not have this ability. You definitely have something that allows you to see in absolute, utter darkness, including magical darkness, due to how some aspect of your being is attuned to magical shadow now. I expect that this ability is more akin to some sort of magical divination or scrying, and it MIGHT not work in a null-magic zone, and it MIGHT be why the sclera is black now. Please double check how shadows look, and at what distance, if any, they change. Also, I think your eyes look pretty; my earlier comment about a 'specific bad thing' and concerns was if this would likely cause others to have a particular reaction, and if so, what.

Also, that mirror looks suspiciously high quality, and suspiciously high technology given the implied technology level of what stuff you seem to have access to. Curious...

Regarding the reset vs history continuing but rhyming with reincarnation due to divine intervention... I'd say the jury's out on mechanism and how much active intervention there is, we saw an odd sequence of events that poses questions, is all.

>>1123874
Well of course all of them didn't die around that same temple. It's not 1-1 the same every time.
But the general characteristics? Them being chased by a group, an important object, them dying on the ground? Yeah I'd say the gods of fate are capable of turning things towards something like that. Especially when they all work together towards the goal of fucking over whoever hosts this soul.

It just so happens that the "important mcguffin" this time happened to be connected to something beyond them.

dark sclera are hot though. You're totally going to kill it as a seductive bard if you end up going that way

>>1123647
Heya squeaks.
Lookin good pardner.
Real spirit sherriff look youre rockin.

Hey, im glad it worked out that you get to keep your personhood, even if its not quite fully part of the world. You get to keep being a you.
I still think youd have made a cool familiar, but thats probably a big step.

>>1123877
Hey, fox.
I think our cowboy here has an answer for your first part about how she percieves this.

Tanna said "thats a lot of text" but i dont think were impeding her with blinding walls of words. That and her ability to handle so much communication quickly, i think our mousey cowpoke here is helping her brain parse everything and reply at the speed of thought.
Another pointer toward whats happening;
The other two react like theyve heard a sound.
Early tanna did too.
This leads me to think our lil buddy is cutting out the process and just plopping the understanding of having recieved this message into their brains and their grey matter is just interpreting that in the way that makes best sense to them.
Sound being the most natural way.
But tanna has had more experience and gets a lot more in the way of messages.
Im thinking for tanna its like... having a third eye dedicated to a space thats nothing but the text, but one she can will closed if she needs to, like when she took her little breather.

If im on to something sherriff squeaks, just tip yer hat as you mosey on by.

Someone realized that common quartz vibrated when hit by lightning. They discovered it worked in reverse, that vibrating it could make tiny amounts of lightning. They also discovered that when lightning struck one lightning rod, other nearby ones would act as if struck by tiny amounts of lightning. So by tying a stiff membrane to the quartz, it vibrates from your voice, to the quartz, to the lightning, from one rod to the other, then back to quartz, and a second membrane. Which would vibrate just like your voice! These membrane-quartz devices coordinate using huge lightning rod towers arranged in a grid called "cells."

Anyway it's not really important what a cell phone is, but a group able to accomplish all that is very powerful and smart, so beware of anyone talking into palm sized rectangles! Also there are no towers, so it's probably just a magic rectangle.

> How do I tell her? And what about my eyes?!

You're a Shadow Minstrel. Why that made your sclera dark instead of giving you huge pupils, idk. Just tell them you edified and you don't know more than that. Neither do we really. (I voted for the spider!)

1/9 Tanna 2026/05/10(Sun)23:34 No. 1126600 ID: 9e9873
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>Just as we can count on you not acknowledging the edgelord bit. What, hit too close to home?

Where’s that coming from? I didn’t know what an edgelord was, I figured it was just another one of your strange colloquialisms. Sorry if that ruins whatever clever insult you thought you were coming up with.

>You are being rude by evading every question. Mina is trying to have a casual conversation and you are looking away and mumbling. It got to the point she think you are offended by something she said.

I’ve got a lot on my mind, alright? It’s not my fault she’s making things awkward, and I just met her yesterday? Why’s she trying to act all friendly with me? Come on, I barely know her. Saying you’re flirty and stuff, what was I supposed to respond back with? “Woah!!! Yeah, no, they’re something wacky am I right? Hey, your friends are probably dead by the way!”. No, it’s stupid and pisses me off. Why would I wanna be…

Ugh, fuck me. Okay. No, you’re right, I’m being a little skrik. She’s not really saying anything bad, maybe she’s just trying to make me feel welcome? Pre-amnesia I can tell, I was definitely not a small talk enjoyer.

>Apologize and actually engage with her. She is not asking about your secrets, just silly subjects. You don't need to be this guarded.

I’m not being guarded! It’s just… I mean- agh! Maybe I am, like only a little though. It’s hard, especially with all this absurd shit that’s been happening.

>Ok. Hear me out. Creepy glove puppet. With googly eyes.
>You can hold it up for them so they've got something to look at when were talking. That way no one looks crazy cause youre talking to voices in your head. You look crazy because youre talking to a puppet. Its slightly better.

Speaking of crazy, hah. As if I wasn’t already enough, thank the moons you all can prove you actually ‘exist’, you know? Would be way worse if people thought I was talking to imaginary voices in my head. Maybe a puppet wouldn’t be a bad idea.

>Girl you were talking about weird colors and your eyes to her tons in the past, just gently let her know that the answer is 'yes'

Alright… alright. Work up the courage… “Hey, look. Sorry, I just got a lot going through my mind right now, didn’t mean to make you feel bad if I did. Some more weird shit’s happened with me, and I’m a little self-conscious about.” I say to her, looking down a bit more. My eyes… errgh…

“Oh? Don’t worry about it, you’re okay Tanna. Whatever it is, I won’t immediately judge you. Share it if you like.” She says back with that affirming smile of hers, nary a sign of deceit tainting its features.

>it's 'because you think they've changed color and it's kind of skeezing you out'. It's not unreasonable to be a little uncomfortable about this.
>Get your whole eye stuff cleared up
>Tell her you've been edified, and your eyes look weird now.
>Lets add a new C to the mix slinky. Candid. Be without artifice. Trust her. Its scary, but itll pay off. Tell them youve only just noticed. It may be connected to the recent development of your burgeoning powers and skills connected to shadows but you dont know for sure.
>It might be a good idea to have Mini look at them though, if they look the same to her as they do to you, perhaps she has a better answer?
>As for right now, it's safe to tell her about your eye color changing. She knows you well enough that she's not going to freak out at you over it.

>trust Mina
>I think that's one thing we can't do in the long run, unfortunately.

There’s one of you saying I shouldn’t, and I won’t lie, I just wanna fall back on that. Like, this whole thing? Wrong, feels really really wrong… but there’s something about that that probably… probably means I should. I turn to face her, eyes and all. “Uh, it’s about my eyes. My sclera turned black throughout the night apparently. C-Can you take a look?”

2/9 Tanna 2026/05/10(Sun)23:35 No. 1126602 ID: 1703f7
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With a curious expression, Mina looks back at me. Staring into my eyes, my Soul. This… is so wrong. S-She’s going to realize… what I am? What does… I-I knew this was a mista-no, no it’s not! Ju-… just calm down. She’s still looking at me. There’s a small tilt to her head before she stands up and walks over, breaking contact. I’m tense, I’m really tense. F-Fucking… candid. It’ll pay off. It will, right?

She gets on her knees on the bedroll once she’s in front of me. Leaning forward, I stare back. Her light, sky blue hues analyzing every facet of my being. She grins oddly as her ear twitches. I can’t help it, I’m breathing harder, thinking about… s-stop it. B-But I should? She’s dangerous, I know she is… I can’t le- “Dang girl, those are sexy.”

........ “What? Wait, what did you just say?”

“Your eyes are all black ‘n smoky! You got lucky~” Mina purrs out in a way that breaks my brain. She taps my nose and I flinch, w-what is happening?!

>Be open to being brave enough to try things. You may have sone fun finding out who you are. Embrace the possibilites.

With her? B-But… a-ah? That doesn’t make any sense? I’m into guys? Maybe? Weird feeling? I pull back, waving my arms defensively(?) at her. “A-Are you… I-I mean, maybe? What’s going on?”

She leans back some and extends a hand to pat me on the shoulder kindly, her expression softening. “Haha, sorry. I don’t mean to make you uncomfortable. Take a breath, find your center, I’ll wait.”

>dark sclera are hot. You're totally going to kill it as a seductive bard if you end up going that way

That’s an angle I guess? This is… wow this is embarrassing. I can’t believe I’m taking her advice like this, but yeah. Reorienting myself, I look at the cool blue sky. Things are fine. “Thanks. So, uh, what was all that just now? Are you hitting on me?”

“Yeah~” She grins before wiggling her shoulders at me. “You’re the one that keeps asking me to look into your eyes though. Am I supposed to just ignore how pretty they are?”

“You really think they’re pretty?”

“Yup. Black complements your gray.”

“Thanks.” I mutter out as I blush and look away. But back to the original point… “I-I, I wasn’t asking for flirty reasons though, I’m being serious.”

“I know, I’m just teasing you. Didn’t want you thinking I was one of those types that believes eye color means anything. They’re pretty, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.” She says as she pulls back. When had she gotten so close? “So, I’m guessing you got edified too?”

“Eh? That’s what the Winds are saying, how did you know though?”

Mina’s smile fades as she breaks eye contact with me. “Because I did, and Eve and I are pretty sure she did too.”

Why would she be anxious about that? “What’s the dour expression for?”

“It’s definitely aaaah… strange sign for sure. People will edify once or twice, usually in the prime of their life. We’re all around that age as far as I know. But, it’s usually an individual thing? After what happened last night, the three of us all at once like this?”

She pauses for effect, words to describe the situation slowly rising. “Like, sure. It could just be a coincidence, a super freak chance. Coincidence in the realm of the Theotians, especially around your amnesia, your new friends, and Roderick- I mean, my relation to one of the three Fates, this all feels incredibly strange. It’s my job as a priest of the Theotians to find meaning in things like this, and just what exactly that meaning is.”

Huh? “What about Roderick?”

She shakes her head at me and waves a hand. “Sorry, I misspoke, nothing important. Anyways, eyes changing overnight like this aren’t that uncommon. All sorts of effects can cause it. Black like yours though, that’s usually a shadow domain effect for Shadow Weaver priests.”

The Shadow Weaver, another Theotian. I don’t feel the same vitriol I do for that one compared to the Fates. “A shadow domain effect? Whatcha mean by that?”

That spark in her eyes. The desire to explain. “Yeah, so priests such as myself, people chosen to wield a Theotian’s powers, often have similarities between what they’re capable of. As a priest of Cassilda, I have unusual access to the spell Hideous Laughter even though that’s a spell not typical towards those of divine casting strategies. Theotians have domains of power as well. The Shadow Weaver for example, one of their primary domains is shadow. Shadow Weaver priests are often very closely linked to shadow in this regard, and a lot of them gain this shadowy eye condition you have.”

>For instance, one new ability is that you can see in the dark.
>You definitely have something that allows you to see in absolute, utter darkness, including magical darkness, due to how some aspect of your being is attuned to magical shadow now.

“They’re saying I should be able to see in the dark now. Even uh… ‘magical darkness’?”

“That sounds right. It’s not a great test, but the canopy of the forest is making things a bit dark beyond this clearing, how’s it look to you?” She asks as she points to my left.

>Tell me Tanna? Do the shadows of the trees look less dark to you?

I look to where she’s pointing. Squinting my eyes, it is… a bit strange. “Things do seem oddly sharp. I don’t think I’d have noticed if you or the Winds hadn’t brought it up.”

“How sharp exactly? There’s something that looks like a large growth of waxycap a little back there, but I can’t really differentiate how many stalks there are. What about between the cracks in the trees, I can’t see through them at all.”

I can see the mushrooms she’s talking about, I can even clearly define the scales and gills beneath. The cracks in the trees too, I can see easily beyond them. There’s something weird about this sight though if I actually think about it. “There’s six waxycaps that are clear to me. And, it’s still kind of dark? I think I’ve heard from somewhere that darkvision is like, blacks and whites. This isn’t exactly like that.”

“Huh? What do you mean, what exactly are you seeing? Can you describe it?”

It’s completely natural feeling, but... “This darkness, it’s odd. I’m using my eyes to look at it, and I still register it as ‘dark’ there. But it feels like there’s a lot more levels of darkness I wasn’t seeing before, and the colors are still recognizable. There’s this unnatural kind of clarity I’m… I’m not sure. It’s more a feeling?”

“Well, that’s a new way of describing it. As long as it works I guess? There’s all sorts of strange things out in the world.”

>Please double check how shadows look, and at what distance, if any, they change.

“There’s a point where this understanding fades away though, it seems to be distance related. Where the darkness truly just does become nothing but indiscernible black.”

>I can only imagine how beautiful the night will look later~

Yeah, I… I wonder. The shadows are already strangely pretty, shaded like this. What might the dark sides of the moons look like? Probably won’t be able to see that far…

3/9 Tanna 2026/05/10(Sun)23:36 No. 1126603 ID: 63a044
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“So, Tanna, are they involved with this edification business at all? The Winds?”

“Huh? Oh.” Oof, got into a little trance there. Focusing back on Mina I say, “Yeah, I can only assume they are. They say they chose what I became. I’m a ‘Shadow Minstrel’ according to them.”

Mina struggles for a moment, probably thinking of what to say to that before she seems to decide on, “A Shadow Minstrel? Uh, what does that even mean?”

“I’m ssshhhadowy. I’m muuusic…y.” I answer back jokingly. I dunno why this is so funny to me. Can’t help but laugh a little before continuing. “Yeah, yeah no. To actually answer your question, I’ve no idea. It’s a bit of a self-explanatory title though, don’t you think?”

Mina raises her hand and covers her mouth as she giggles some at that. Looking back at me she says, “I suppose? It’s sort of weird to put a label to it like that though. Maybe that’s where you get being a weirdo from.”

“Cheh, maybe…” I really doubt it though. Breaking back into topic I say, “But yes, they’ve already listed out some of the things I can do now. They went into SUPER specific detail; even down to the number of seconds some of my spells last.”

“H-Hold on, so you already know everything you’re capable of now?” Mina says, a note of surprise in her voice.

>you have some new spells now
>Spell Level 0: Detect Magic, Phantom Noise, Prestidigitation. Spell Level 1: Charm Creature, Grease, Silent Image, Suggestion, Umbral Step, Vanish.
>you can cast a first level spell 5 times a day, any from your known options.

“Fairly certain I am. Capable of casting some new spells like Suggestion and Umbral Step, whatever that last one is. Phantom Noise as well.”

“Wow, Umbral Step? And here I thought I’ve learned something exclusive.”

“Hmm? What do you mean? It kinda sounded like you thought it was strange that I knew everything about my edification already.”

“No, you’re right. I do think it’s strange. ‘I’ get to cheat though with what I know about myself due to my relationship to Cassilda. Those with a similar connection to the Theotians often can as part of that morning ritual I mentioned earlier, Allotment. There’s a concentration to it where I’m finding ‘myself’ in a way, and I get to learn about what Cassilda may have bequeathed unto me.”

“So a pleb like me already knowing without having to go through that makes you feel insecure?” I tease at her.

“Oh terribly so.” She teases back as she leans forward and pushes my shoulder softly. She’s smirking now. “I’m gonna have to find someone to complain to about this.”

“Hah. Wait so… what about Evel’yee?” I ask, looking back at her. She’s retrieving some arrows from the target.

Mina looks towards her as well before saying, “Yeah so, for most other people, they gotta try things. There’s a general feeling to it, it’s why Eve’s shooting so many arrows, not that this isn’t what she normally does every morning, but she’s a little more focused with it than normal. She knows that something’s up. When it comes to things like this, everyone’s always got their own methods.”

There’s a curiosity now. “What’d you learn anyways?”

“Some fun stuff… some scary stuff. But I’m finally capable of channeling energy now! I can’t wait to try it!” Her ears perk up, and I swear I can see stars in her eyes. “Oh, oh! I also learned this new spell called Convergence, it’s completely new to me! I wonder if it’s a completely new spell in general? As for its functionality, it’s… well it’s kinda situational? I can cast it on a person via touch and daze everyone around them! Uhhhh, including myself it seems like.”

That’s confusing. “Like casting it on yourself or dazing yourself?”

“Both! The person the spell’s cast on isn’t affected by it, so... mhm. I think it’s meant to be used with this other new effect I got?”

“Wazzat?”

Her excitement is tempered with this sort of awkward feeling she’s exuding, like she isn’t sure herself. “I can store spells on people now? Basically any spell as far as I can tell, as long as it’s one you can normally cast on other people. The flexibility behind it is sort of mind blowing? I’ve never read about an effect like this before either except maybe through tomes written by exceptional casters? It’ll stick on them for a while before fading away, and I can activate it whenever during that duration.”

I mean the obvious idea would probably just be storing healing spells on a person, but... “That sounds really damn complicated. What about something like a Fireball? Is that possible?”

“Uhhhhhhhh, yeah. I think I could? Y-Yeah, I don’t see why I couldn't? Krai Tanna, that’s a heck of an idea.”

“I really doubt I’d be the only one to come up with something like that.”

She squints her eyes at me before sucking in some air. “Yeah… yeah okay, that’s probably true. Would be real hazardous to the person the spell’s stored on though.”

“Funny though.” I say while giving her a stupid smile.

“Got a bit of Jacob’s humor in you. Gallows.” Mina snorts back. Killing that tangent though, she dives back into talking about her new ability. “There’s some spells I can’t store with this though. A good example being Shield. There’s some spells that have the distinction that you’re only capable of casting it on yourself.”

“There’s always some kind of stipulation.”

She shrugs at me. “That there is, but I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s still a way to make it work. That’s enough about me, what about you?”

>your song does something new.
>you have Bardic Music, as a magical effect separate from casting proper Spells. You can use this to counter effects that are sound or language or song based, or to distract enemies, or to create darkness and ‘Buff’ (that’s jargon for magically enhance) people’s agility and strength in the darkness.
>You can keep Bardic Music up for 42 seconds in a day, split into 7 different 6-second intervals.

I’m a little hesitant to share, but… eh. “Yeah, I can go into some details. So, I guess I’m capable of creating magical songs now and maintaining them? Again, really specific, up to 42 seconds?”

“That’s not too uncommon, there’s plenty of reported instances of bards like yourself, between simple to legendary, capable of mystical ballads that shaped the fields of battle with their song.”

“That’s me, legendary figure of legend.” I say with a laugh. “’Tis one of the things I can do now, embolden others. Not really what I would’ve pegged myself as but sure. It might come with the effect of also making things darker?”

“Sssshhhhadow bard, ooh~ shaaaadow bard.” She sings to me in a surprisingly low tone. Her speech is normally pretty high pitched. “That’s sweet. They chose that for you? The Winds?”

>your other class options were Fate Melodist, Death Caller, Wind Dancer, and Spider Song.

It’s still strange to think about, but... “Indeed. They say I could’ve been other things too. Other titles like Fate Melodist, Death Caller, Wind Dancer, Spider Song.”

“That is so very very confuzzling… like, people don’t directly choose what they edify into. You direct it with your life choices, and it’s more following where a current leads. A part of who you are.”

“And certainly not having someone pick it for you.” I add on. “Not that I mind I guess?”

“You don’t?”

“I mean, meh? Why would I? I was never going to ‘directly’ choose anyways.”

“No but…” Mina pauses at that as she puts a hand to her chin to think. “It’s a core part of your being Tanna, an intrinsic evolution of your Soul. A gathering of power that represents who you are to your most core whether that’s something you’ve obtained during your current life, or something that can’t truly be erased from one to the next. To have it be tampered with, doesn’t it feel unnatural? I don’t know how I’d feel about that myself. The idea of thinking that you have ‘options’ too…”

“Ehhh, fuck natural.” I say, leaning back and looking up at the sky. I can’t help feeling completely non-plussed by the idea the more we talk about it. “Gotta shake things up once in a while.”

Mina looks at me oddly, but doesn’t say anything back for a little. We sit there as Evel’yee shoots at the target in the distance, each of us in our own little worlds before Mina breaks it with, “You’re positive they’re not lying to you about this?”

“I don’t think they’d lie about something like this. They can be a little tricky, but they aren’t malicious like that. I gotta admit too, there’s something sort of familiar about each of them. Shadows, Death, Fate, Spiders. Each one feels… strangely important to me.”

“What do you mean?”

I don’t know exactly. Just that… I don’t know. They feel important. I shrug at her before remembering, “Oh well, actually. There is one that kind of stands out. The Wind Dancer. But I mean, c’mon, they are called the Winds.”

She laughs softly when I say that. “Kinda gives it more credence in my opinion.”

“Sure does.” I laugh back. There’s still so much I don’t understand about all this though… “Do you know more about edification, Mina? I’m only really familiar with the surface level ideas, I’m curious what you meant about it being an intrinsic evolution of the Soul. Could those things be important to my Soul? Death and Shadows and stuff? I’m sure the Winds would really appreciate learning more about it too.”

“Only what I’ve read from books and was taught, but I’d love to go into detail about it! I gotta ask, what are they anyways, Tanna? The Winds? Shouldn’t they already know about a concept like this? I mean, if they’re so involved as to tamper with your Soul like that.”

“No, they’re even newer to all this than I am with my amnesia. Really, I’m fairly certain they’re not from this world.” I wait for her to say something in response to this revelation, but she tilts her head and stares at me as if I should continue. “I don’t know. Some said they were humans, others ponies. Hells, one of them’s waiting to send you a projection of themselves drawn. I’m not sure what species though? Maybe a Rakunai with real black fur? The especially long snout kinda makes me wonder.”

>To Mina:
>I'm fine having Tanna as a proxy but if it make you more comfortable you can look me in the eyes.
>>1123672

“O-Oh?” The projection is sent, and Mina’s eyes widen in response. It’s pretty fucking cool you all can do that at will. She looks back at me and says, “Wow, that is… that is a reaaaally weird thing to have in my head all of a sudden.”

“Right? Maybe we don’t need a puppet after all.”

“What?”

“Sorry, just a stupid joke.”

“Er, ‘aight. Is that really what they look like?”

“Probably? Again, some said most of them were humans. But others corrected them last night so I’m not sure. They’re not always in sync with these sorts of things.”

“Well, whoever this one is, they’re super cute, haha! I guess I really can look you all in the eyes! I thought you said their fur was dark though? It’s sort of a lightish blue color to me.”

What? “Eh? Blue? I was pretty sure it was black?” I’m looking at it right now, it’s 100% black fur.

Mina shakes her head at me though. “No, definitely bluish. Maybe we just see it differently?”

“Maybe.” Why would that be the case?

>To Mina, in reference to “>I’m… well, I’m living. Still processing last night.”:
>Hang in there kitty. There is more to come. Not as bad as yesterday but you need to be strong for a while longer.

“Aw, thanks. I’m going to… miss how things were. Even think about how Roderick is really…” She says as she clutches her collar where her amulet is. “...It really hurts. He did so much, he was such a selfless person. He deserved to grow old and die peacefully, not like this. I can only hope his next life he finds that kind of peace.”

“I… apologize.” It’s all I can say. I killed him. I really… really should not let her know I enjoyed it.

“It’s okay,” She whispers out, not sensing anything. “You did what you had to, and I know he would’ve agreed with you stopping him. I’m sorry for freaking out at you again last night. I just… very bad head space. Keep asking myself, why couldn’t my spell have worked? Why did I panic? Why us, and why did we even come back?”

From Vax’s diary, I could mention that the box latched onto them from the very moment they stumbled close to it, but it seems like poor taste at the moment. Mina sits there opposite of me, looking into her amulet. With a sudden resolute shift, she says, “The roads of Fate have already been traveled, and there’s no use in regretting where they’ve led me. I won’t cry about this anymore. Not now. There’s… things happening in the present, and it’s time to act. This is why Cassilda chose me, I need to stay strong.”

I grit my teeth at her reciting her Theotian’s bullshit at me. Was that close to feeling bad for her… fucking… I gotta get off this subject before I do something stupid. “Erm, yeah. Anyways, the Winds. They can send things like that. Sounds, projections. They sent me some ponies at one point, I think I can… hold on. Lemme try something…”

“Try what?” She asks inquisitively, her ears perking.

Hey Winds, can you send Mina the pony drawing you sent me before?

Uh…

Winds? Hmm, maybe that’s no-

>To Mina:
>>/questarch/1101830

Oh, nice! Thanks! There’s that same surprise from her a moment earlier, but hardly as much as before. “Oh, that’s what you meant by ponies. I was wondering. Those are some suggestive looking horses.”

“Suggestive? What do you mean?”

Mina covers her mouth and snickers before saying, “Just that some of them look like they’re having a lot of fun.”

“Uh, yeah, aren’t they all? That’s what I thought too.”

“You’re funny~” Erm, what did I say? At least it got her off the whole ‘Roderick is dead’ bit. “Anyways, I can explain edification a little more in depth. We should wrangle Eve into this, distract her a little from shooting the day away.”

“Sure, I’ll get up in a sec, I need to discuss something with them real quick.” I say to her, giving her a wave. She gives me another big ol’ smile and nod before standing and moving to Eve.

>Not unless destroying the world is what causes everything to reset in the first place and some other approach is needed to fix reality. ...oh, maybe Bakoth would know.

Once she’s not looking my way, I feel the box in my pack… I hate the idea of talking to that guy. But I know I’m capable of it. And you all have a question for him too. I would just have to open the connection only a little bit, enough for just us to speak.

>Speaking of which, Tanna, yeah he can still hear what you're thinking.

...That sucks, but I sort of suspected. There’s nothing about my strange silence effect that should stop that from what he was capable of earlier. Other than keeping him quiet. He can still reach out silently. Isn’t that right?

4/9 Tanna 2026/05/10(Sun)23:37 No. 1126604 ID: 8894ef
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I was wondering how long it’d be when you’d decide to speak to me again. And yes. That’s exactly what I’ve been doing. Only thing I can do inside this stupid thing. I’ve some amount of sight too if you bother to care, though the inside of your pack is fairly limiting.

Why are you openly admitting that? Wouldn’t that be something you’d wanna keep hidden, or is it another one of your trashy lies?

The rat, and I should clarify that I mean the one with the bow, took a peek in your pack while you and the priest were sleeping, though the little whore had enough sense to not carry me off. I could tell she wanted to. Maybe I could’ve persuaded her, but I figured everyone was oh so tired from that day’s antics, can’t have a good narrative without some moments of downtime. Really though, I imagine she would’ve told me to bugger off. You know, it’s a lot harder to convince people to do what you want when they know you’re the one whispering all those nasty thoughts in their head.

S-She what?! No, no you’re… just shut the fuck up.

Hah, it was rather cute how you were snuggling me last night too.

Okay fine, you can see outside your marble prison to an extent. I don’t know why you’d throw that out there.

It’s because there’s nothing you or your Winds can do to stop what’s coming.

Sure, keep laughing it up and pretending you got everything in control. I don’t plan on reaching out too often. Let you stew in your silence some more, maybe I’ll give you a final ‘fuck you’ when I’m about to destroy you.

You’re funny~

I’ll enjoy watching you die.

It’s so cute seeing teeny parts of who you actually are peek out. A shadow of the being you once were. Anyways, as much fun as sniping back and forth with you is, do you actually have anything important to say to me?

What will happen if Mina touches the box?

I told you already. We’ll die.

How, specifically, would ‘we’ die?

It would be extremely painful.

You think you’re such a big guy… I could let her do it you know. I could set something up with her, walk away and skip to some other country. How would I be in any possible danger when I’m that far out, hmm?

Mhm, yes. You could. I assure you, you’ll still die with me. I’d make sure of that. No actually, dying would be your best case scenario I believe? In reality, your fate would likely be far, far worse, hahaha.

...

You can tell I’m not spinning a false yarn for you, yeah? Some inkling in the back of your mind that realizes just how truly dangerous it is for her to be in this close proximity of the box? Maybe it’d be a good thing? ‘Good’, hah. Subjective little word. I’m sure there’s plenty of people who would love for her to touch the box? That’s a rhetorical question, I know there are.

Personally, I don’t actually care that much. Life, death. I’ll be back in some form or another. I always am. You on the other hand though, sure would be a shame. A terrible loss in general really, there’s something being made here I don’t think I’ve ever experienced before. I’d find it quite awful for things to end so prematurely, though I imagine someone else would be even more disappointed about it.

I wonder if he’d step in if Mina did touch it? Hmm.

Who?

Oh he’s big and yellow and a curmudgeon. The Winds have already told you who he is. Absolutely detests getting directly involved, something about the sanctity of story or some such trite. I really doubt he would.

What is he? Mina had no idea and she’s a religious nut.

Hah, what is he not? He’s the long shadows cast across wastes littered by the skulls and spines of long dead beings, or the hues of colors of hence would penetrate your feeble mind and leave you with cursed knowledge you could never possibly hope to comprehend. Truly, in literal ways, the very life that you breathe, the very Soul you are, is already tainted by his touch. By all their touches.

Why are you like this? You say you don’t care, yet here you are speaking in riddles, trying to preserve some kind of veil.

It’s all a part of the story, Tanna. The play. To reveal the curtains too early, we’d spoil the narrative. I do ‘care’ about that.

What do those words mean? Story, play? What… context are you using them in?

Haha, are they stinging? They meant something to you at one point, your inner Soul stirs upon their mention. Maybe you should try reflecting on that too, realize what you actually are, you pathetic little mink. Don’t you worry though, the climax of the story is a ways off. Gives the audience time to grow attached before it’s all ripped asunder for their amusement. Perhaps you’ll be the one doing the tearing?

I-I don’t want to be that, whoever I was…

You can’t run from who you were, ‘Tanna’. You can never escape your Fate. Beings like us, we were made for singular purposes. And sometimes the people who make us grow to fear what we’re capable of.

Well, maybe for you. I doubt that old yellow bastard even knows what fear even is anymore. Really, even trapped as I am, this infant mind of yours is such a simple toy to play with. I’m not really interested in breaking it yet though. No, how about you sit back and let the adults talk for a bit.

I don’t give a shit about who I was! What do you mean by story?! How do you even know the Wi-

Please. As you are now, I’m so far beyond anything you could ever understand. Explaining inane things such as this is a waste of my fucking time, but I’ll draw a line even someone as small as you could understand. It’s obvious the Winds have something they wish to ask me, it’s the only reason you’d actually be bold enough to engage with me in the first place. So, Winds. Please, ask it.

>To Bakoth:
>Has the world been destroyed before?

Well, isn’t that a tricky one to answer.

How is that tricky? It’s a yes or no answer, and the world clearly isn’t destroyed.

Oh it’s tricky Tanna. Definitions, there’s a lot of different ways definitions could affect that answer. And despite what you may think of me, I’m really not that fond of lying. It’s far too easy.

Speaking of which. Destroyed. Show of good faith here, I’ll provide a definition for you all just so you know what exactly I’m referring to. If you mean the complete annihilation of all physical life upon the surface, oceans, skies, and underground of this world, then yes. Exactly once has this occurred.

W-What?

What? What? You sure do say that a lot. Some reason you didn’t also add, “That’s bullshit! There’s no way! Simply impossible!”

What you’re saying doesn’t make any sense though dumbass. The world is clearly not destroyed!

How very astute, woooow. And yet for some reason you don’t think I’m lying about that, do you? Whatever could that mean?

I… you don’t know what I think.

Anyways, there’s so much more I could say about this little bit, but maybe that’ll give you something to ruminate on? Your theories are so very fun to pry into. Do stop by more, I’m always willing to share venomous truths with you, depending of course. Wouldn’t want to spoil things too early.

I’ve had enough of your bullshit. I’m closing you back up.

I’ll always be around Tanna, and especially to you Winds.

5/9 Tanna/Squeaks 2026/05/10(Sun)23:38 No. 1126605 ID: c94bae
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...I do whatever it is that I do and silence him again. Dammit, why is he able to rattle me so badly? They’re just words. They should just be words. But he does know about me…

>that prison scenario where you want to, uh, get revenge on the Theotians... it REEKS of a manipulative setup, ripe for mistaken assumptions and a dramatic Gotcha!

I don’t know, can something that painful, something that evokes such anger and fear in me be manipulated?

...

Okay, don’t answer that. I guess what I more mean is, even if it is manipulated, the emotions are there, and they’re very visceral. This bitter hatred and my feelings towards this blinding prison… they aren’t fake.

>Also: you have a daily use of 'you or someone nearby does really well or really poorly at something once a day' from your Primordial magic. You can use that on your mental fortitude and safely navigating those torture-memories, but maybe try it at the end of the day, right before you rest?

I uh… I’m not sure what you’re talking about at all in regards to this. I trust your word that it’s real, but I’m not feeling any sort of effect that’s like that. If it’s still around though at the end of the day, do you think you could help me use it on… well… should I even try to navigate those memories?

Eh, I can think about that later. I’m still on the ground. Mina’s chatting with Evel’yee some distance from me, though they do pass a glance my way. I give them a quick wave. Seems that talking with Bakoth is a lot quicker than a normal conversation, but still not as quick parsing and responding to what you all have to say.

>So, do you sometimes perceive us as text, sometimes as sound? Or sometimes narrated text? How does that work on your end?

It’s usually just silent text, though I’m not sure how exactly I parse it all so efficiently. It’s formatted too, which sort of helps with recognizing some of you? And sometimes the text links to other bits of text through numbers, and if I try to I can remember exactly what was messaged. It’s a little hard to know the exact time of when it was sent though. There’s a sort of feeling I can sense in general from the most recent batch too. Like, before learning fully that something happened to Vax and Jacob, I was getting a sense of urgency from it. I didn’t immediately open those messages to learn what it was though, I had paced myself. Likewise, Fox, you sent a giant message that has a lot of questions. I’ve gotten a little lost looking within sometimes, but I’ve read it. I know you wanna test out the limitations of sending messages, I do too. I’ll try to get to everything, though there’s going on.

You know, it’s funny about all that. There have been times you’ve managed to catch me off guard. Remember when you blared an alarm in my head while I was getting all sad and shit? I hadn’t expected that at all. Same with you sending that sound message to Mina. I don’t really get how you work in that regard, you send messages in bursts but that felt very reactive.

>Oh, all this talk of names. You know what? We gave you tanna together. I gave you slinky. You can name me whatever you like and ill wear it. Possibly with pride.

So, I know it’s a bit of an interjection, but I don’t want to leave you hanging on this. You’re Trip, right? From >>/questarch/1084069? I remember someone giving you the pony name of ‘Rain Buzzer’ from >>/questarch/1101830. I can always tell it’s you, you have an extremely distinctive way of formatting the text you send me.

Get to name you anything, huh? Remember Fart? Hmm… no, no I’m joking, ‘lol’. Did I uh… did I use that phrase right? Nah, but honestly, I always appreciate whatever you have to say, I’d like to keep calling you Trip if that’s okay. (Maybe Rain Buzzer too if you’d prefer that.)

“Hey Tanna, you doing alright? C’mon, come over here! Eve wants to show us something!”

Ah, well there goes the moment. You all can see what I mean though. Our conversations are very quick. Even as I’m standing up, I can narrate like this. Mina and Evel’yee were likely only waiting for me for a few seconds there. Anyways, time to get social.

Private Conversation

>Heya squeaks. Lookin good pardner. Real spirit sherriff look youre rockin.

Hah, I’ve been trying to think of a name for myself besides ‘Aspect’. I’ll wear that for now pardner.

>Hey, im glad it worked out that you get to keep your personhood,
>I still think youd have made a cool familiar, but thats probably a big step.

That’d’ve been an odd one, familiarhood. I dunno if I’m ready to decide on a form yet…

>If im on to something sherriff squeaks, just tip yer hat as you mosey on by.

Oh I’ll do more than tip my hat towards you. I streamline a lot with Tanna understanding the messages you send, but she can focus on them individually to really visualize in her head the actual text. A third eye’s a good way to describe things, it’s a very quick process too. I push priority on certain things based on what she and you are feeling, but I do try to nudge it in a way that’s hopefully more interesting for you all to read. Messages towards others is a LOT slower though, so be careful about relying on that in more time sensitive scenarios.

>Aspect: Why is the stat sheet censored? Her second Talent is basically unreadable. Is the red tape getting in the way? Can you give us any hints on what it does? I suppose we'll figure it out eventually via it triggering without us meaning to, or maybe it'll gradually reveal itself.

Yeah, there’s some red tape behind it, but the first one was meant to be a test. Gauging things. You’re completely right about the Darkness bit, I’ll go ahead and uncover most of it since there’s no real point in hiding it anymore.

As for the second talent, I don’t have liberty to say much. It’s meant to be hidden and likely won’t be revealed in full for a while, but I was given permission to tell you all in the case that you did ask: It has happened twice already in Chapter 1. Good luck with that, sending you all back to Tanna.

Returning back to Tanna

6/9 Tanna 2026/05/10(Sun)23:39 No. 1126606 ID: 8894ef
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Standing up, I make my way over to the two of them. Mina gestures towards me while Evel’yee meets my gaze. I’m not attempting to hide it anymore, I meet her sharp glance back. It’s hard not to feel something coming from it. Suspicion, analyzation, competition… did she really take a look into my pack last night? As I’m wondering about that… “Yeah, you see what I mean?”

“Weren’t kidding. Those’re black as night.” Evel’yee says gruffly, still gauging me.

She wants to say something, I know she does. She’s holding her tongue though. “Yeah. Looks like you got something else you wanna say.”

“Nah, just thinking. Seeing in the dark’ll probably be useful.” Evel’yee says casually before nodding and facing away from me. With a side glance at the two of us, she places a hand on the string of her bow. “Should have a pow-wow on what we’re each capable of now, but check this shit out.”

Mina and I give each other a quick glance before observing Evel’yee. Satisfied with that, she takes a deep breath through her nose. Some seconds pass until she erupts with a sudden burst of violence, her bow is drawn instantly as she pulls back…

EVEL’YEE USES A POINT OF FOCUS AND ACTIVATES RAPID SHOT.

>EVEL’YEE’S ATTACK: 9(4[Dexterity] + 3[Roll] + 2[Combat Modifier] + 1[Size] + 1[Weapon Focus] - 2[Rapid Shot]) > 8(5[Base] + 3[Center]) = SUCCESS

>EVEL’YEE’S RAPID SHOT: 13(4[Dexterity] + 7[Roll] + 2[Combat Modifier] + 1[Size] + 1[Weapon Focus] - 2[Rapid Shot]) > 8(5[Base] + 3[Center]) = SUCCESS

The first shot flies unerringly through the air, but she doesn’t stop. Even as the arrow is mid-flight, her hand rushes to the quiver strapped on her back. In less than a second is the arrow snapped and drawn, zooming through the air just behind its sibling as two satisfying thunks can be heard one after the other. It’s hard to tell with all the arrows already stuck in it, but those looked like surefire shots.

“Twins 'prove.” Evel’yee laughs and grins at us with a snarl. There’s a bit of a shaky underlying pant to it though. “Fuck, that’s a good rush, but it sure as shit takes it out of me.”

“Wowza! I didn’t even see you draw a second arrow, that’s incredible Eve!” Mina says praisingly while giving some claps.

It was kiiiinnnnd of cool. “Can you do it again?”

“I think I could get another one going if I really needed to. Did it earlier this morning while you were off snoozin’ and Mina doing the meditation thing she does. Took a bit to recover from that, would’ve prolly be better to save it.” Evel’yee relaxes her stance and grip on her bow and faces us fully. With a wicked grin, she says, “Love showing off though. Gimme a little, love to see how it’d work on a live target.”

Sheesh, bloodythirsty thing. I shouldn’t really be the one judging that though. Mina, ignoring that, asks, “What’re you doing there exactly? That’s not just simple practice, right?”

This mousling simply gives a curt shrug. “No clue. Something with my Soul if I had to guess. I’m def’ feeling more accurate than before, that’s practice paying off with the eddie. Moving my hands like that though, firing two shots all quick like? Is something else, like I’m reaching for something that wasn’t there before, an intense sort of focus. Had been feeling it for a while, but when I woke up today it just felt… ‘different’.”

“On the topic of feeling different in general, Tanna was asking if I could explain edification some. Especially since her Winds are a bit unfamiliar with our world.”

“Eh? Whatcha mean by that?” Evel’yee asks.

7/9 Tanna 2026/05/10(Sun)23:40 No. 1126607 ID: 9e9873
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Oh, how to explain? Well, “I think most of them aren’t from around here. They don’t know a lot of concepts.”

“What, like Outsiders? Celestials ‘n shit?” That’s not a bad line to follow actually. Wonder why I didn’t initially think that myself.

“No, I don’t think so. They speak about things from where they’re from that I’ve got no clue about, but they don’t understand other really basic concepts like edification. They’re even asking about the definition of a what a Theotian.”

Mina excitedly waves her hands at us. “Ooh oh! That’s no good, maybe I can help explain some stuff! With how all of us edified throughout the night too, and what you’ve said about them ‘picking’ for you Tanna, perhaps some understanding might help everyone.”

Goodness what a dork, haha. “They certainly have some questions lined up. Start with edification though.”

“Can do! Okay, so to begin with, Edification.” Mina takes a deep breath and gesticulates with her hands at each of us. “We all just experienced it. It’s a process involving souls. Keep in mind everything I’m about to say is very theoretical since examining and researching souls is very difficult, they sort of exist outside of the natural Weave. To begin with, every living creature has a Soul! Bugs, grass, trees, animals, people! Souls are very important, and it’s all a part of this great big cycle of life, death, and rebirth everyone on Aldebaran goes through. Throughout the process of living, though there’s some debate on that, a Soul can grow stronger, become larger. How it becomes stronger isn’t one hundred percent understood, but there’s some correlatory evidence that overcoming harrowing experiences and dedicating oneself to training will allow a Soul to expand. Most creatures, and I mean beings like trees, plants, and small animals, will not experience edification during their lifetime. This is a process more often associated with more complex living beings such as people or animals.”

“What do you mean by expand?” I ask her.

“So imagine your Soul as a container. As a person lives and gains experience, their Soul is constantly growing and more energy is constantly filling it. This energy is often called Manah, and pretty much everything generated it. Lifting a hoe to till a field, swinging a sword, cooking a meal and then eating said meal? All of these actions embody your intrinsic self, who you are, and you become ever so slightly stronger for it. It’s minimal, but this accumulation will generally lead to a person experiencing edification once during their young adult years. All that energy pushes up against the boundaries of a person’s Soul and causes expansion, what we felt today.”

“This sudden expansion is dramatic, the Soul suddenly undergoing an explosive shift. It can be felt, you feel the vigor of life coursing through you. Oftentimes this changes is an adaption of your surroundings, and you gain abilities to unconsciously manipulate the Weave around you. Sometimes those ways are even unique solely to you. Evel’yee’s supernatural speed with drawing her bow earlier is likely due to her constant training, an evolution of herself. But there’s other general effects that everyone will also experience. You LITERALLY become harder to kill, your senses growing sharper than before, the manipulations of your body more natural and fluent. There have been incredible people who have edified multiple times that have survived terrible, TERRIBLE wounds. Having their hearts ripped out, flesh flensed from their body, all due to how powerful their Souls are. You likely won’t live long without your heart though, but the Soul will burn itself hard to keep you alive for as long as it possibly can.”

“Remember the tales of Neth and Hindronolkin.” Evel’yee quips in the middle of Mina’s explanation, not that she seems to mind. I dunno who they’re talking about but Mina does a little dance when Evel’yee mentions them.

“Oh, oh! Don’t I ever! I don’t know how, but the Valsharess having Hindronolkin’s heart in her hand and crushing it in front of him only for him to ignore it and still take her out! Then Vanaya, right as he’s about to close his eyes whispers to him…”

“It’s one-hundred percent bullshit Mina, there’s no chance all that actually happened.”

“Can we get back on track? Edification? Intrinsic part of who you are?”

Evel’yee chuckles at that, and Mina reigns herself in. “Right, yeah. Sorry. So, Tanna, you’re all shadowy and stuff. That’s a key part of who you are, either during this life or a previous one.”

Spiders, Death, Fate… Wind. All of those possibly. “A previous one, how’s that possible? Isn’t the Soul ‘erased’ during the Journey? …Oh, can you explain that for the Winds too?”

“Sure. So, generally. Yes. Living things die, and their Soul, having no body to inhabit, will enter something called the Journey. For you all Winds, this is our version of reincarnation, I’m sure you’ve got something like it. Our Theotians maintain the order and protection of the world by using our Souls. We talked about it last night, Tanna, but when we do ‘Good’, ‘Evil’, ‘Law’, or ‘Chaos’ actions, we accumulate these energies into our Souls. Keep in mind these karmic energies are different from Manah. While a normal flesh and blood being will find it difficult to actually utilize said energies, a lotta smart people believe these energies help a Soul more easily edify. A reward from the Theotians. Souls, even unedified ones, can hold a LOT of these energies.”

“Back to the original point, when a creature dies, their Soul enters the Journey. Excess energies are ‘wrung’ out from it, including ‘all’ of the experiences it went through during its life. Manah and karma. We don’t exactly know why, but we’re fairly certain beings called ‘Outsiders’ are created from these energies. Angels, Demons, Agathions, Devils, and more. They can be called upon with certain spells, but that’s another discussion. This process, cleaning the Soul of the energies and experiences of its life, sets it up to then be re-used. Every Soul, part of something new in their next life. But even through this process, it’s thought that some qualities of a Soul cannot be erased. The inner most core of their being. The true self. Sometimes this quality is greater than others.”

“W-What do you mean?” I ask. There’s… something calling to me. Like some sort of echo deep inside.

“Souls are unique. They can be made anew through copulation occasionally, but more often than not, a cleansed Soul that’s gone through the Journey will inhabit a concepted newborn. That means that some Souls are old. Very old. This is more… religious belief on my part, but there’s some evidence to it, old experiments suggesting people trying to track a Soul throughout the process. But part of Cassilda’s ideology is that there’s always a portion of a being, a Soul, that cannot be erased. That some small part of them is retained throughout their various lives, and those qualities make themselves apparent in one way or another.”

“Heh, that my quality? Always meant to be a fucking bitchy runt?”

Mina shakes her head at Evel’yee and says reaffirmly, “No, I think you’ve got a defiant Soul Eve. One that’ll stand up to any amount of adversity and come out on top.”

“And… me?”

“Well… I dunno! Spiders, Shadows, Death, Fate, Wind. It’s certainly a bit of a mish-mash of things that’d be core to who you are as a person, whether in this life or another. I’d have said you were related to the Theotian known as the Shadow Weaver in some way if it were just shadow alone, but those other qualities are strange, I don’t really know what they’d correlate to. They’re very specific things to embody too.”

“What’re you talking about?” Evel’yee asks with a tilt of her head. I realize we haven’t told her about this yet.

“The Winds chose my edification. They chose for me to be something called a ‘Shadow Minstrel’, but there were others.”

“Seriously? Spiders and death? Fate too? Bit of a freak, you some kinda eye cultist?” Evel’yee says…

Did this little scrat did just suggest I’m a worshipper of that false god? “No, Evel’yee. Don’t you ever fucking relate me to those pieces of shit again if you know what’s good for you.”

“Hey, where the fuck’s that coming from bi-” Evel’yee begins, but Mina puts a hand up and waves it at her.

“Hey, we each got our own things, no need to blow up over misunderstandings. Tanna, chill out.” The Cassildite lectures at me.

“Shov-...” I… ugh, what am I doing? Just did the same damn thing she did last night. Calming myself down, I start to apologize. “I didn’t mean that, sorry.”

Evel’yee sits there looking at me, I struggle to meet her gaze. She rolls her eyes and shrugs. “It’s whatever. No big deal.”

We sit there for a little before Mina breaks the silence. “Anyways, the fact that we all edified at once. Throughout my explanation, do you really think we all just ‘happened’ to edify together? The chances we were all equally close to breaking that barrier?”

“Does seem pretty fucking odd, but we did just go through some shit. How weird is it really?”

“Lemme reiterate. At the same time, with all this weird stuff happening, and this sudden introduction of these otherworldly Winds that decided Tanna’s edification? No, there’s something absolutely offputting about all this. It’s my job to read signs like this… we’ve GOT to let others know what’s going on.”

I… don’t like that. The idea of letting others know what’s going on, specifically who Mina considers ‘others’. Gotta think about that later. For now, a change in subject. “I get that, but there’s a way to go still. Evel’yee mentioned earlier about figuring out what we’re capable of. The Winds have got some things they wanna say, and they want to test what they’re capable of too. You mind if we experiment a little?”

“Um… sure?”

“Yeah, what’s this entail?”

“So, there’s a few things, but I’ll let ‘em explain.”

8/9 Tanna 2026/05/10(Sun)23:42 No. 1126609 ID: 83feff
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>Hi Tanna and others! This is the Wind, Fox. I'm going to be doing some tests to see if we can be useful for passing messages! I'm going to try different permutations of including and excluding others from chat, and testing how far from Tanna we can still talk to you all!

Evel’yee’s ears perk up, but Mina seems to have gotten used to you all doing that. “Well, alrighty. They really can send messages like this? No sound, just some kinda telepathy?”

“That they can. The potential’s fairly strong, don’t you think?”

“Sure is.”

“But yes, they want to run some tests. Mind spending a bit going back and forth while answering some questions they have?”

Mina gives me a thumbs up while Evel’yee nods and says, “Do it up.”

>if we can be a sort of budget telepathy with others sub-vocalizing

Taking some paces towards the target Evel’yee was shooting at, say about… 15 feet from the two of them, try it out Winds. Can you re-iterate my thoughts to them? Evel’yee, if you can read this, can you move behind Mina?

Sorry, I can’t rewrite Tanna’s thoughts to others like that. Only things you all have written.

Hmm… she’s not moving, just staring at me awkwardly. “Anything?” They shake their heads at me. I guess you’re not capable of that. That’s fair. Maybe you just can’t send messages this far away?

>To Mina and Evel’yee:
>What is the most complex non-magical technology that anyone can think of.

“Oh hey, I got that!” Mina calls out.

“Yeah, me too!”

“So it’s gonna be these kinda questions?”

“Yeah, they wanna know about our world.”

“I’d go with these things called spectacles! They’ve been rolling them out recently, they’re these little pieces of super clear glass you stick next to your eyes. Apparently some people don’t have perfect eyesight, and they help!”

“There’s these special slings I’ve been wanting to try! I think they’re kinda magical though? You don’t gotta be able to cast spells to use ‘em though! There’s flintlocks, I know some fools that got some! They look complex as hell, haven’t gotten a chance to really look at one though!”

>To Mina and Evel’yee:
>How advanced are mechanical devices?

“Advanced?! What do you mean?! Compared to what I guess?!”

“We got clocks and stuff! They’re cool! They push a buncha little bits around to keep track of time!”

“Hey, are you gonna keep throwing more questions at us?! It’s kind of a pain to yell!”

“Yeah, they got a ton! Hold on though, lemme try some quick things really quick, I’ll be back over!”

I step towards the target, a good distance back…

30 feet.

Try it Winds, send one out.

>To Mina, in reference to “They’re pretty flirty, calling me kitty cat like that.”:
>Uh... Am I? ...Sure... I will take it!

There’s a little bit of a delay this time before she responds. “Yeah!! Though thinking about how you all might not be from here, calling an amurrun ‘Kitty Cat’ is very flirtatious!!”

I take a few more steps further back, still able to see them.

40 feet.

>To Mina:
>You seem like the kind of girl that doesn't need to be reminded of how beautiful you are but if you want to hear someone say it I'm your guy.

I’m waiting... “ANYTHING?!”

“NO!”

Alright, so there is some range. Lemme get closer and try something else. I step near the target and pick it up, I should be within range of when you were able to send messages earlier. Using the target, I hold it up in front of my face.

“What’re you doing, Tanna?!”

“Hold on!” Try again.

>To Mina:
>You seem like the kind of girl that doesn't need to be reminded of how beautiful you are but if you want to hear someone say it I'm your guy.

I wait for them again, I’m positive Mina would react to that as soon as she got it, but nothing again. I gotta assume the message didn’t arrive. I put the target back in the crook of the rocks and head back to the duo.

“Sorry, was testing if I could send within certain ranges, and whether I needed to be able to see you or not.” I say to them as I arrive.

“Ah, so there are some limitations. That’s handy to know though.”

Alright alright, go ahead and send it Winds. Bet Evel’yee would find the context funny too.

>To Mina (and Evel’yee):
>You seem like the kind of girl that doesn't need to be reminded of how beautiful you are but if you want to hear someone say it I'm your guy.
>>1123672

“Oh gosh those handsome eyes again, ahahahaha! Was that what they were trying to send the entire time?”

Evel’yee on the other hand recoils in confusion. “What the fuck was that?”

“It’s a projection of what one of the Winds looks like, though I’m pretty sure it’s a drawing. That’s how we appear to them too.”

“Eh? We’re being drawn for them?”

“Yup. They can send sounds too.” Spook her real quick for me Winds. I turn to Mina casually. “Funnily enough they weren’t sending the projection with it earlier.”

>To Evel’yee:
>(trombone noises)

While Evel’yee jumps in the air, Mina puts the back of her hand on her chin and bends forward. She notices Evel’yee and giggles. “Goodness, did you get her with a sound too Tanna?”

I give her a bit toothy smirk as an answer. Gets another laugh out of her. “Well to respond to you Winds, please do! I’ll never get tired of being told I’m pretty, ‘specially not from a well-drawn fella such as yourself. Doing good there Eve?”

“Assholes. They can definitely send noises.” The mouse, dusting herself off and trying not to look a little shaken, turns to Mina and says, “Also you’re a fucking dork.”

“I know! What can I say, attention is addictive.” Mina says, shifting sideways a little and giving Evel’yee a smirk. The mouse just grunts at Mina in response, not deigning to say anything back.

“So, was that Fox? One of them named themselves earlier, though the projection doesn’t look like a kitsune…” The amurrun asks inquisitively.

“No, they mix their messages a lot. Good luck keeping track of them. It’s hard even for me, and I’ve got them all organized and stuff.”

“They got any other questions? It’s a bit exciting getting to explain things like this!”

“Oh yeah, they’ve got a ton still, but there’s something else they wanna say. Apparently they like pads?”

“Pads? Like paw pads?”

“Yeah, they called them toe beans.”

Mina pulls back a bit and squints her eyes playfully at me. “Oh, now that’s a term.”

“What?”

“IIIiiit’s sorta loaded.”

“Yeah, there’s some real freaks out there.”

“I wouldn’t call them freaks, they’re more just… into something a little niche? Carofolk sometimes have a fascination with them.”

“Wait, really? I’m pretty sure they’re just saying they’re cute?”

“Well, let’s hear it!”

>To Mina:
>all flirty, all the time ma'am. But seriously, you encourage us too much and it will never end. Never. Every time you think youve got a quiet moment to reflect, bam. Poems about your toebeans, pick up lines, cute nicknames and promises to scritch behind your ears.

“See what I mean?”

“It’s a little ambiguous. Maybe just a cultural difference thing too? I wouldn’t wanna assume.”

“I’d… be careful with ‘em Mina. They’re warning you y’know?”

“Baaah, maybe not your thing Tanna but I looooove attention. Consider it an invitation Winds, feel free to make whatever poems you like! Just make sure to follow through on those scritches, I love ear scritches!” She knows not what she asks.

“Aye Mina, I dunno what they’re saying to ya but… you don’t even know what they are? Maybe Tanna’s right and you should be careful?”

“P’shaw, they can’t be that bad!”

>To Mina and Evel’yee:
> And thats just me. Theres HUNDREDS of us in here.

“O-Oh, wait, really?” That gets her shaking a bit.

“Are there actually Tanna?”

“There’s definitely several unique individuals, I don’t know exactly how many though.”

>To Mina and Evel’yee:
>Hundreds is an exaggeration. There is a handful active and only two or three of us ever talked to you. I hope this didn't give you scopophobia. But I like some of those suggestions. Expect toebeans poems in the future.

“Eeeh okay, that’s a little more manageable. Making me self-conscious about my pads now, haven’t met too many guys into that. Maybe Tanna could make ballads out of them?”

This is getting out of control, ahaha. “Please GODS do not encourage them to do that, I am BEGGING you.”

“Oh fuck that’d be funny.” Evel’yee giggles, cracking another rare smile. “Playing on yer ‘monica, break a verse out about pads.”

“Imbue the melody with your new shadowy power.”

“Shut the fuck up, shut the fuuuck uuuup.” I say, but I can’t help but laugh a bit. I’m sort of actually having fun talking to these two. I… just a little longer, don’t wanna ruin this yet. “Alright, alright. There’s a ton of questions coming your way. You two ready for them?”

“Do it up.”

“Yeah, fire away!”

>To Mina and Evel’yee:
>How advanced are looms, clocks, or machines that do math?

“Again with advanced...”

“I get the feeling they have access to technology we don’t. Remember last night with future-tech bows and stuff? They might be more advanced than us.”

“Well, I mean we got clocks? Pendulums, springs, gravity. They’re fairly rare, sell for a lot, often need tuning. Oh, and sextants! There’s standard ones people use all the time, but mine’s slightly enchanted to help with lining shit up, and comes with a mental map of times and tables to reference.”

“For people that can’t interact with the Weave, there’s abacuses. Fairly simple stuff, but you can Prestidigitate complex equations relatively reliably. It’s not exactly easy per say, but the mechanical aspects of the Weave are often dense with mathematical computations. Those that practice True Arcane spellcasting are geniuses.”

“As for Looms, they’re a fairly recent invention! I have to give it to Carofolk, their furless digits really do beat ours when it comes to precision, so clothes for us Beastkin were once a lot rarer. They’d manage with little needles and hand-sew their stuff, and while Rakunai could match them there was no way they alone could keep up with all the demand. It’s possible to do it with magic, fairly mechanical horizontal and vertical weaving, but you’d normally have to have two people work on that, and it didn’t produce a lot. A few decades ago, most Beastkin were fine with the no clothes style, it was a major sign of wealth to have some.”

“Now we got these foot operated machines that can mass produce stuff. Some wizard guy named Melificent popularized the machine. Now if you don’t got at least a shirt on, you’re looked at as a weirdo.”

“Leeeet’ssss go a little faster. Really, there’s a ton.”

“A’ight.”

>To Mina and Evel’yee:
>What are some of the most advanced mechanisms that exist?

“Elastyr Grand Slings. Terrifying.” Evel’yee says, I’ve heard of those too actually.

“Oh yeah, those are advanced. Imagine a complex slingshot the size of a horse with a magically treated band of super rubber that absorbs and stores the ambient Weave around it within the band itself.”

“Pull those suckers back, load up an expanding metal ball, and nothing short of a black iron wall’s withstanding that. A person gets turned into a fine red mist.”

“There’s also these giant turning wheels called windmills! Purely mechanical, only Weave involved is the natural wind that pushes it! They’ve been around for a few decades at this point I think.”

>How advanced is the process of making lots of steel (or similarly useful, do-most-anything metals) at once in large quantities?

“So if they’re from somewhere else, why is it called steel? Is it really a coincidence that we have the same metal? How are you able to understand them in the first place?”

That’s a good question actually. “Uh, magic? I believe they’re translating themselves in some way, and maybe our steel is some kind of analogue to theirs? I don’t really know exactly though, but we do have steel Winds.”

“In terms of large quantities, you’d have to rely on Threadsmiths. Normal blacksmiths can make it through mundane means and with enough time and heat, but for outfitting an army? There’s special facilities from what I know that produce a LOT of heat, and the exact methods and spells used are kept secret. The process is extraordinarily expensive, both for paying for the service and the materials required.”

>To Mina and Evel’yee:
>How advanced are things that use rotating power, what sorts of ‘mills’ exist?

“Wind mills, water wheels, and treadmills for the most part.”

“Not much to add there.”

>To Mina and Evel’yee:
>What forms of ways to achieve useful simple work other than muscle and wind and water power exist?

“Well, I guess there’s always the Weave. There’s things ‘like’ windmills and water wheels that can kind of power things. It’s pretty small scale and it takes a lot of infrastructure, but a person capable of casting spells via Simplified Arcane or Divine methods, sorta like you Tanna, can supply the requisite weave necessary to make power stuff.”

“Take Cosiax for example. There’s a bunch of posts throughout the city that have these little crystals in them, and they’ve been connected through the Weave to turn on at night all in exchange for something equivalent to a 3rd tiered spell. From what I’ve heard, it was a logistical nightmare to setup.”

“Not gonna find anything that fancy anywhere out in the wilderness or random bumfuck village.”

>To Mina and Evel’yee:
>Could you tell us how the wild, lowbrow sorts of parties go?

“Getting into the more social stuff now.”

“Wild parties? I don’t really have that much experience in that regard, everything I’ve gone to has always been a bit stuffy. I’d sneak out a ton though, things could get pretty raunchy in the closet~”

Evel’yee clasps the back of her head. “Well, I went out of my way not to get involved, but parties in Burnswallow were about as lowbrow as you could get. All sorts of bad shit; hard drugs, lots of violence, and… other things.”

>To Mina and Evel’yee:
>What music do people make? With what sorts of musical instruments?

“Despite the major religious influence the pantheon has on our country, I’d like to think our choices in music are far more secular. ”

“Rough stuff depending on where you are on the continent. Shanty, free roam sort of styles were pretty common where I’m from. That harmonica of your is a pretty popular instrument, but you got makeshift percussive instruments people loved stomping their feet to.”

“In the more… prim parts of Sacriel you’ll find more flighty stuff. South and central. We like our woods and winds, and there’s a lot of vocal performances as well! There’s the Kethrum too that’s been getting fairly popular, though it requires some magical aptitude to play. They can make all sorts of percussive sounds.”

>To Mina and Evel’yee:
>What do they drink? What styles of fighting do people bet on?

“Besides water? Alcohol. A classic in Burnswallow was something called Spidervein. Okagou need the strong shit to feel anything really. Should see ‘em square up drinks against a dwarf or a Rakunai, usually ends with someone vomiting blood.”

“That does sound familiar.”

“Bellshade wine is fairly popular too, but for most folk a simple ale will do.”

“Fancy shit.”

“Aye.”

“Feral bout’s are something folk host local tourneys for, get a crowd going for bets. Kin die sometimes, but you know what they say, always the next life or something.”

“Those’re supposed to be illegal…”

“Just how it is up north. If it means anything, most people don’t try to kill their opponent. Quick way to build up some resentment. There’s some sadistic fuckers out in Burnswallow.”

“There’s duels as well, and group bouts! Sanctified challenges people can enjoy watching. They’re given weapons imbued with non-lethal enchantments so people can display their skills. It’s quite fun in my opinion!”

I know you’ve got more you want to ask, but this nagging feeling that something happened to their friends… it’s sort of making me feel bad. One more.

>To Mina and Evel’yee:
>And this next question is more for me to get an idea of how the world works -- what techniques do people use to prevent unwanted pregnancies when people seek out quiet places near the main party after dark for some sexual fun? And how can we use this knowledge to get Tanna to let loose and be social and not self-conscious?

What?! Let loose!? I’m being super loose right now, can’t you see how social I’m being?! Mina lets out a snort while Evel’yee leans back and laughs. “Don’t answer that last bit.”

“Hah, well. If I’m being honest, I don’t understand the question?”

“Just don’t get pregnant. You don’t want a kid, there you go. ”

“I guess. I mean, you still want to avoid sexual diseases, but you can usually get those cured.”

“Yeah, avoiding pregnancies isn’t really a problem if you’re actually being responsible and know that you can’t support a child Winds, there’s some kinda sense to it. If you really don’t want one, you can just not have one.” Evel’yee looks away when I say that, her expression darkening slightly. Eh?

“That sense ain’t always there…” She mumbles darkly.

Uh… eesh? Getting a bad vibe there, I try to sort of change topics to get off what I just said. Maybe something of interest? “U-uhm, there are some remedies you can make too to prevent them for sure, like making a tea out of soulslip weed and bittervine.”

Mina looked like she was going to say something to try and lighten the mood too, but my comment must’ve caught her off guard as she genuinely turns towards me with surprise. “Wait, really?”

“I… I think so? I’m pretty confident. It’s a really old recipe.”

“Well, that’s the first I’m hearing of it. Soulslip’s poisonous, isn’t it?” She looks back to Evel’yee, who’s still looking somewhat down. Deciding to change topics much to my own personal angst, she says, “Well, whether it does or not, as for getting Tanna to let loose~”

“Oh gods, nuh uh! Shh, shut up! We don’t need to be going into that last bit!” I say with a slight flair of dramatics. Evel’yee puffs a small exhale of a laugh out her nose. “Hey, sorry if I said something.”

“It’s fine, ain’t gonna last out at again. ‘Tis just old stupid shit.” The weski says softly, looking back up at me.

I give her a smile. She does so back, and it’s nice. This whole exchange was actually kinda alright, maybe… no, no… damn it. I can’t, I gotta let them know now. This has been delayed for far too long. Go… go ahead Winds.

9/9 Tanna 2026/05/10(Sun)23:43 No. 1126610 ID: a36ad0
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>To Mina:
>First I would like to request a favor from you. Tanna is embarrassed to ask but she need something to eat. While I'm confident she could find something for herself it's better not to because... well... the next topic.

Mina laughs at that. “Hungry are you? Course, we can get you something. Maybe go hunting… but ah, what’re they talking about?”

“I… oh, w-wait, hold on.” I say to them, pretending not to know exactly what’s going on. “The Winds are letting me know of something pretty urgent...”

“Eh? What’s up?” Evel’yee asks, an etch of concern crossing her features.

“There’s… shit.” I’m sorry, I’m sorry. “Don’t freak out right away.”

>To Mina and Evel’yee:
>I don't wish to alarm you but something might have happened to the guys while you were sleeping, assuming what we saw was real.

There’s a lapse where the two of them process this. Evel’yee suddenly seems a lot more grim than before, while Mina…

“WHAT?!” She snarls viciously as she immediately begins to freak out. The amurrun takes an aggressive step forward towards me, eyes slitted and jittery as whatever’s going through her mind only seems to cause greater agitation. Suddenly, she looks towards the entrance of the temple. Her breaths are shaky as she gets ready to sprint, but Evel’yee grabs her hand and jerks her towards herself firmly. “Ev-”

“Remember what Roderick would say Mina. You can’t rush into these kinds of things.” She says. She’s using that rough, hardened voice, the same one from last night after Roderick died. “Let Tanna speak, she has to know more.”

“Y-Yeah, I do. It’s important, this could be really dangerous.”

>To Mina and Evel’yee:
>I suggest that you all check together.

>TANNA PERSUASION CHECK ON MINA: 17(3[Moxie] + 10[Roll] + 2[Effective] + 2[Evel’yee Help]) > 8(8[Difficult DC] + 2[Friends Involved] - 2[Moxie]) = SUCCESS

Mina struggles, she’s glancing at the entrance to the temple but she shakes her head. She looks like she’s on the verge of tears. “G-Gods please, please Cassilda… Tanna. What happened?”

Firm breath, even explanation. “I don’t know for sure. The Winds have just told me that that rat we saw last night, the one you all kept seeing during your time there, was some kind of shapeshifter. They put Jacob to sleep, and they were reaching for Vax before their vision ends.”

“T-They really just saw this?” Mina asks shakily, her voice trembling with anxiety.

“Yes. Received it from them just now.”

>TANNA LYING CHECK ON MINA: 14(3[Moxie] + 9[Roll] + 2[Effective]) > 6(4[Easy DC] + 3[Mentality] - 1[Believable]) = SUCCESS

>TANNA LYING CHECK ON EVEL’YEE: 14(3[Moxie] + 9[Roll] + 2[Effective]) > 8(6[Medium DC] + 3[Mentality] - 1[Believable]) = SUCCESS

Please don’t tell them otherwise. You saw what she was like just now… it’s the right decision… “The person was some black scaled reptilian with…”

>Anyway it's not really important what a cell phone is, but a group able to accomplish all that is very powerful and smart, so beware of anyone talking into palm sized rectangles! Also there are no towers, so it's probably just a magic rectangle.

I was going to say ‘red’ eyes, but I don’t think they know about my own eye color being yellow for you all while it’s gray for them. I don’t want them asking questions about that. “...a weird object. The Winds are calling it a ‘cell phone’, but it’s some kinda rectangle she was talking into. She was able to put Jacob to sleep with a spell, maybe with a method similar to how I paralyzed Vax last night. She seems dangerous as all hells.”

“A-are they dead?”

Krai, that’d fucking put a damper on things. “I don’t know for sure. The connection I had to Vax through the Paralysis is gone.”

She puts a hand to her mouth and chokes out a sound. Mina’s shivering badly, but Evel’yee’s the one to speak. “Alright. We’ve got to go down. What’s each person capable of now?”

“I-I can… store spells on people for a few hours, and channel energy. H-Heal people around me. Touch people’s Fate and give them good luck with it too, and I can share my Fate with them.”

“Explain.” Evel’yee asks evenly. It’s kinda scary how calm she is now.

“A-anyone I can see, spells, injuries, healing. I share it all with them for 15-20 seconds I think. I don’t fully understand it.” And Mina is just… it’s like a role reversal in a way.

“Spells?”

Mina seems to actually calm down now, and she says in a script-like way, “Bless, Hideous Laughter, Protection from Evil, and Sanctuary. I’ve got a new cantrip called Grace, it sort of lets me see a little into the future? Always capable of Cure Light Wounds.”

“There’s also Convergence, a sort of disabling spell that I cast by touching someone. The person touched isn’t affected, but everyone around them is.”

“Tanna? What about you?”

You know what, this is a good opportunity actually. “Lemme just have the Winds send you two what I’m capable of now. Should be faster.”

>To Mina and Evel’yee:
>Anyway, new stuff you can do: you have Bardic Music, as a magical effect separate from casting proper Spells. You can use this to counter effects that are sound or language or song based, or to distract enemies, or to create darkness and ‘Buff’ (that’s jargon for magically enhance) people’s agility and strength in the darkness. Any of your songs can make things a little bit darker if you want, too. You can see better in darkness now. You can keep Bardic Music up for 42 seconds in a day, split into 7 different 6-second intervals.
>Your spell list is now, Spell Level 0: Detect Magic, Phantom Noise, Prestidigitation. Spell Level 1: Charm Creature, Grease, Silent Image, Suggestion, Umbral Step, Vanish. Your cantrips are at-will, and you can cast a first level spell 5 times a day, any from your known options.
>You definitely have something that allows you to see in absolute, utter darkness, including magical darkness

“You’re one hundred percent sure?”

“Yeah, I trust they’re right. I’ve already verified I can see things in shadow way more than I used to.”

“Are you with us here?”

Huh? “Eh, whatcha mean?”

“These aren’t your people, you’re still willing to come down and help us?”

I hadn’t even thought of that… I guess, I mean should I? Is she really offering me a choice here? She’s looking at me sharply, like it’s a test. I had assumed I was just going to go down and help in the first place, why had I done that?

I don’t know. I feel like… I should. After all that time talking to them this morning, I don’t really want to leave them to get into trouble on their own. I have a feeling Evel’yee isn’t going to let me walk away with the box either. I give Evel’yee a nod. “I ain’t leaving you, don’t you worry. Let’s go check on those two morons.”

“T-Thanks Tanna.” Mina says softly in our circle. She’s looking at the ground and trembling still.

Evel’yee gives me a nod and reaches into her pack. Pulling out something meaty and delicious smelling, she says, “Proper right there, skrit. Here, take a snack, don’t want you going down feeling empty.”

>Hm, how about a friendly competition with Evel'yee? Let's see who can go hunt down biggest meal for breakfast.

That’s kind of her… “Thanks… think we could go hunting after this? Bet I can bag something larger than you can.”

Evel’yee gives me a grim smirk. “Hah, as if, but sure. Sounds like a good time. Let’s get down there and drag ‘em out, I’m ready to put this fucking tomb behind me.”

“Likewise.”

“Eh, Tanna, for reference, we had blocked the two of them inside the jail room with some heavy furniture, and tied Jacob up really tight.”

“Oh, apparently he somehow had managed to wiggle out.” I say. So that answers that.

Evel’yee looks me dead on with surprise that breaks way quickly to annoyance. “Are you fuckin-oh my gods. That slippery fucking asswipe, I swear if he’s still alive. Whatever. The only other exit would be the trapdoor, but that’s locked and barred on our side, and there’s no ladder down there for it. Ropes are up here, so whoever’s down there should still be down there. Any last preparation steps before we head down?”

We all step up the ledge of the underground temple and look down. It’s way brighter than it was last night, but even the remnant darkness down below gives way to my new vision. I don’t see anything out of place really, even the table with the books and coins on top is all still there. I guess… this is a good time to call upon you all. I’m putting on a brave face, but I’m afraid of what we might find down there. Do you have any recommendations on how we should go about doing this, Winds?

Alright, here's the strategy:

Mina stores convergence on Tanna.
Tanna slinks ahead, and if Tanna gets into a bad spot, she can cast phantom noise to tell Mina to trigger the convergence spell.
Once convergence is triggered, Mina & Evel'yee can come in and get a surprise attack on the now dazed target.

It's not entirely clear from what Mina said whether multiple spells can be saved on the same person, but if she can, it should be possible to trigger multiple spells in a single round. If this is the case, it might also be useful to give Tanna the bless spell, or sanctuary.

>>1126602
Alright, so "eyes are a window to the Soul" is not so literal. You don't have to hide them. More likely we need to keep people from looking directly at your soul. Or maybe it's that our Primordial power shields you, and if we expend it then you have to worry about direct eye contact...

Aspect, is this something you can confirm/deny?

>>1126604
Tanna, please do not talk directly to Bakoth. He's right, he could break your mind, but he can't do that kind of thing to us. The most he could do is mislead us, and so far it seems like he doesn't want to do that. He's withholding information, but not giving out false or misleading information, as far as I can tell. It's much safer for us to just talk in private and relay our own, thoughts to you.

To Bakoth: Did that "destruction" happen before or after the world was broken such that the King in Yellow was given the task to watch over it? "before" and "after" being from your perspective, of course, not that of mortals. Or was that the event that broke the world? Regardless, that's not quite what I was getting at. I more interested in knowing how successful Tanna has been in her previous life/lives.

>>1126606
Ah, neat. Rapid Shot. Costs 1 Focus. Here's how that probably works: she can have at most 3 Focus points, fully recharged at the start of the day. After using Focus, she can do something related to her class out of combat to "refocus" and gain 1 point. She can only refund the last Focus spent, so if she uses more than one focus in a single combat, then she can't refund more than one of them. Essentially, 2 of her Focus can only be used once a day, but she has one reusable point.

To Evel'yee: What do you think about death?

>>1126610
Uh what is that in the sky? You have a green shattered moon?

>prep?
Well, if they're both free we'll have to subdue them again. I doubt we'll run into the woman since if she wanted to fight us she could've done that much earlier. She may have already gotten out in some way only a rat can get through...
Anyway, since cantrips are free, we should cast Grace before entering rooms. If a fight is likely, then store a spell before going in.

If we DO run into the woman, then... I say try to hit her with a disabling effect then run away.

to Evelyee and Mina
If the person possesses a cell phone then it's not out of the question that they also possess a Firearm
What that basically is, Is a small metallic non-magical ranged weapon capable of shooting small pieces of jacketed lead at high speeds.
If they pull something like that out be warned. The shots go fast and ricochet if they hit a wall.


to Bakoth (alone)
Are you saying Tanna was once something that destroyed the world? I've been meaning to ask something like this before but had no real evidence for it. Is Tanna a fallen "god"?

Unrelated to that but HE has started feeling things again, Specifically disgust at us wanting to keep your other as he is.

>>1126627
They have flintlocks here. So more accurately you'd say she might have something better than a flintlock.

>>1126630
Right I forgot about that. Though I'd personally say they're the next step after Flintlocks. Able to hold several before needing to reload.

>It has happened twice already in Chapter 1
Hmm, well, Tanna got cursed twice, the first time we didn't get to roll a save. The second time we got a bonus of +2 to barely pass the check from what I think read as "Passenger". Except, that doesn't really fill in the blanks.

█████ ██████
Whenever ████████ is ████████ ████████ in the ███████ of a ████████ with a ████, ████ ████████’s ████ is ███████ from the ███████ of ████ and ████ to ███████.

Looking at this... I think the start of it is "Whenever someone is fatally wounded", maybe continuing with "in the course of a battle with a foe", but there were more than two Fatal Wound situations.
Another thing that happened twice is that Tanna killed two things- the spider, and Roderick.
...I wonder if this is something that allows Tanna to trigger True Death? Heck, that might be the blacked-out name. The blacked out sections seem to usually be one letter longer than their actual contents. The second half is probably talking about what happens to their soul. Could that last word be Nirvana? "The character's soul is released from the cycle of Fate and sent to Nirvana?" Except, fatal wounds don't always result in death, so one or two of the words must be wrong.

>evee looked in your bag.
Thats just bakoth using the truth to sow discord.
Annoy him by not biting tanna.
She didnt take anything after all.

>clothes and sewing for beastfolk
Ah hah!
I KNEW your nudism had a reason.

>mina likes attention.
Oh.
Oh no.
Shes going to regret that.

>>1126615
This is a solid plan.
We can call it operation, living flashbomb.

Tanna scouting makes sense.
Yesterday, evee would have been best, but now shes an eagle eyed sniper and our slinky is one with the shadows.

Light on your feet and eyes open slinky.
Lead em in.

>>1126607
Personally, I've always found the concept of full reincarnation terrifying.
You lose everything. Every precious moment, every hard-fought lesson... every scrap of love you had for anyone else, ever. And what's your reward? To do it all over 'again'? As if your life never happened? Even if there's a truth to your core identity, some part of you that is fundamental... what if that core is tortured by repeating its trials? And more importantly, how can you be sure that you aren't being used?
Imagine being a mother with a child you love with all your heart, and then dying and reincarnating as the crazy psycho bandit who murders that child. Imagine reincarnating as one of the tormented plague carriers you read about in a book who lived ten thousand years ago, space and time inverting around mere mortalkind just to ensure that the suffering was real, that it existed, and that it happens to some version of you! Imagine reincarnating as someone you'd never willingly choose to become in this life - because some angel demanded you become someone else and didn't want to deal with some pesky free will to get through it!
...
I wonder if the darkness and confusion we are born into is just the last embers of our past identities finally ceasing to be as we're born once more.

Really hope you can change things, Tanna. For all of us.

>>1126609
>Spectacles
Children's toys. I got some, myself.
I know a couple tricks you can use with 'glass':
* Micro-Ray of Fire: You can create a tiny ray of fire with convex spectacles and the rays of the sun. It's not really useful for much, since it can take hours to 'cast', but if you're desperate to spark a fire and you're out of combat, it can help with your cooking if you misplace your matches.

>Clocks
Uh-oh.
Yeah, about that. Spectacles and clocks being invented around the same age is very suspicious. Spectacles are typically easier to invent, because they can then be used to look at the miniature parts of clocks to develop more advanced gearwork for the clocks, and calculating the exact ratios between gear teeth needed for the precise timekeeping... well, that can take decades without the School of Calculus.
Which means, I think someone's been selling this stuff from a more advanced stock

>Flintlocks
*sigh* That's... good.
I mean, if you want to fire a single precise shot every twenty seconds, and not, say, thirty sound-piercing bits of metal in the span of five seconds.
See, that's the difference in technology between your world and the one invading - might be even worse than that, if they got the heavy stuff. A proper minigun, the kind of legendary weapon you'd give to a bodybuilding ogre - will fire around 30 to 100 bullets per second and can basically murder an entire charging cavalry army without any need for strategy. And then mix that with the comms units with cell phones, and you've got a tactical six-man army that can fell gods.

We are dealing with a tech gap the size of Hell. If we don't close it, we lose.

>>1126610
Strange. Mina, you seem to channel your winds whenever we get to talking about technical terms like spell lists. Guess we'll see if we meet one day.

To be honest, we've got all these wonderful little sheets of documentation about everything you'd ever need to know, at our 'fingertips'. The Internet is one of the most useful and dangerous artifices in our reality: every scrap of knowledge ever created... and filled to the brim with lies, propaganda, and malignant scrying. Think of it like the library of the gods, but almost every employee is a con artist. Yes, it's as idiotic as it sounds, but it's why we're so dang smart.

Evel'yee, I remember an old technique I once saw. (I suck with bows so take it with a grain of salt) You basically hold each arrow between your fingers and reload as you re-draw the bowstring. This saves you time and ensures you aren't disarmed if something happens to your quiver. You could also re-distribute the arrows in a light mesh of fluff so it's harder for them to fall out.
[treat this as a temporary bonus thanks to tactical advice, until she eventually gains a level and solidifies this skill with training]

Mina, give everyone Grace as a stored spell. Stay close to Tanna, be ready to heal Evel'yee on command.

Tanna, pick out a room and grease the hell out of it. If things get bad, lure the enemy to that room, lock them inside and throw a match as you shut the door.

First chance you get, charm the first creature you see. And call it Steve. (it's tradition)

My... aren't you guys an emotional roller coaster? I have a lot to say about this exchange but will save most of the silly topics for after the stress passes.

Out of curiosity: what are the related root words for steel in your language? It's interesting that Mina thought it was something strange to translate. I would guess that if your culture is older than ours, it might have something to do with meteorites.

Now you have to juggle the few inconsistencies of that lie without annoying us. Remember that it only takes one of us to reveal the truth to them, so be careful about blaming us.
It happened last night. I'm not sure when, but I presume closer to when you fell asleep than when you woke up. You need to come up with an excuse for why, according to you, we witnessed a past event in case it ever comes up.

(For everything bellow this) To Evel'yee:

Congratulations on your new supernatural archery trick. I'm sure it will come in handy for turning enemies into pincushions.
>>1126624
>Here's how that probably works...
Three uses per day is pretty good already, but try to find out how to recover that fourth daily use.

I don't know if it will be useful, but we have some information and speculation about what happened. This seems like a sensitive topic for Mina, so I think you will better judge if anything might not go well with her.

While we don't know what Shi'zen did at the end, I doubt she killed the guys. It's a possibility, but if that was her goal, I presume she had plenty of opportunities and wouldn't have wasted that sleep spell. She was even behind Jacob while he was escaping his bindings, so yeah... killing them should be relatively easy.
All that said, I'm pretty sure she did something. Based on nothing but a vague connection to a certain yellow being, my speculation is petrification. One year as a marble statue! Classic.

I doubt Shi'zen had any trouble leaving, since she can probably climb very well and go through the rubble in rat form.

Unless there is another giant spider or similar somewhere, I don't expect you will need to face anything too dangerous this time. Well... that is if the guys are not roaming free.

And... I'm sorry for being flirty with Mina behind your back. It kind of developed that way because of the way I talk to cats. If it makes you jealous, I will stop doing that. I'm sure the others will accept her invitation even if I refrain for your sake.

(Only to send during appropriate downtime, I don't send this during the urgent times, and I try to send this to relevant folk all simultaneously)

Fox here, wanting to show off something to everyone when things are calm, especially for our rapid shot archer and as a reason for my technology oriented questions.

Everyone together after that drama is over? Well I want to show this. I hope this works, don't know if it will... it is meant to be a recording of a person using a few combined technologies related to archery, formatted into a sort of visual illusion like thing. Note the advanced bow design that's mechanically just better than other sorts of bows, it is a sort that requires a machine to span (or a golem I guess), and the attachment device for holding the arrows and enabling the movement, and the rapid reloading mechanism for quickly placing another set of arrows in, and the device that shines a very very particular sort of light at the target for useful and fast short range aiming. Some of these things might be possible for you all and might actually complement the soul-improved archery stuff.

https://youtu.be/a91zx70AqUc

Fox here, I'll reply as I think of things. You need to figure out who here is least inconvenienced by your 'darkness, concealment, plus bonus to physical attributes' when you use your Shade's Song. Though it's possible that because they are your allies, these allies of you that hear you could possibly not be impeded by the effect?? Unsure.

Man rereading Mina's explanation on souls kinda points out an understated fucked-upness to the process.

So new souls ARE born but only occasionally? So what exactly are Older souls doing when they "reincarnate"?
Are newborns just born souless and develop one on their own?
And more horrifyingly are the new souls Supplanted/absorbed/destroyed by the older souls whenever they are finished their journeys?

Alot of uncomfortable questions are raised and it's not even a good time to get into them (and depending on how things go it might not be for awhile). How frustrating.

Fox again. Okay, Shade's Song can shroud allies and doesn't specifically require you to engage the Shadowed effect to darken the area within a 15' radius of you. Though you might want to try 6 seconds of Shade's Song with the optional Shadowed rider on the group and have them prep some test activity of strength and dexterity, maybe that includes but isn't limited to a melee test flourish (like a leaping lunge or something) to test how it affects strength, dexterity, and how/if it affects attacks at all. Have only those best able to see in the dark adjacent to you for this test drill. Engage your bardsong only for the smallest amount of time possible, about six seconds, and see if you can also do anything useful while/during/immediately after engaging the effect as part of the test. See if you can engage the effect without using your hands or while actively wielding your weapon.

(This bit is actually urgent.)

Fox here: Disagree on Grease as setup. Only some more exotic variants of the spell version of Grease are flammable, last a long time, cause a very hot flame that's worth it, burn while also retaining their useful slipperiness for a while, or are useful for clever setups. Generally, mundane grease is what one uses for weird trap options, not the spell ones. Trap spells exist, just not generally at the first circle of magic. Also spending time running away from an enemy requires a person to be in contact with them for a while and retreat, supposedly to lure the to waiting allies, which often places them at extreme risk of dying in the meantime. At the lethality levels of combat overall might only last 6-18 seconds, things like this don't make sense.

Also HARD disagree on the trick archery techniques!!! They only work with very very light, thin arrows and certain sorts of very light bows or at partial draw!!! The hand trick in particular requires you to put the arrows and your hand on the outside of the string and use a thumb draw or one of a few alternate draw techniques, NOT a finger draw, or to use an arrow rest device if you favor an unsuitable draw style, like it seemed like she was using. And she should generally use whatever draw method she is used to, yea? For actual rapid shot options that work with a heavy bow at full draw and also speed up aiming, without needing to learn (or use!) different draw styles, I have an...experience to show you when things aren't happening quickly or urgently any more.

(Please only send these parts when things have calmed down)

Fox here, a few things like I said, as I think of them. Nothing particularly urgent. Lessee... what do I want to talk about?

So the comment about the ponies having fun and implications in that conversation. Several of them were blushing. Blushing in mammals happens during times of shame or embarrassment, but also during sexual pleasure. And yes the artist totally did that on purpose.

Regarding the once every 24 hours use of the 'Path' type 'Primordial Edification' ability and how you didn't feel that ability as part of you as strongly: it's possible our action or interface or activity has something to do with when or how you can use the 'make yourself or someone near you do very well or very poorly at a single, short term thing' ability. Regardless of whatever extent our decisions are involved, knowing your wishes and preferences helps us be more confident in our actions, just like when we have to make decisions on your Class (Edification path) or whatever.

Along those lines, we DID also get choices of what to pick for your Primordial Edification stuff. And one of the options was to give us more control over the choices your friends get too. That one didn't win the vote, Path was more useful at stopping you from dying in an emergency, but the assumption (I'll get into why later) is that we will have more chances to go back to that list and choose other options. Which means we might actually get a chance to go back to that list, pick it up (if it's competitive, there were some JUICY options on that list...), then later pick edification options for others. And, according to the sources we are pattern matching, then retraining, rebuilding, and retroactively picking from choices that could've been made earlier, might be (in a bounded, limited way) on the table as well for folk stuck in a suboptimal 'build'. SO! Since we can't actually predict precisely what choices will be presented to us, it might be a good idea to get some guidance and preferences and rules of thumb from the others, especially on what sorts of supernatural abilities and themes, or adventuring roles, or even out of combat utility or skills, they want over others via this mechanism.

So some of the things said earlier implied it is an act of will akin to moving a limb, along with some related sense that is common, like sight, that can prevent unwanted pregnancies, and the category of drugs that cause one to lose awareness of events and control over one's body can inhibit the otherwise trivial capacities? Do I have that right? If so, it is unlikely that these capabilities are what I would think of as natural. What I know of biology says that those capacities only show up in people when some powerful individual or group changes how people are put together, in a core way, while attempting to specifically improve their actual lived quality of life. Otherwise the 'normal' acts would tend to cause pregnancy, regardless of any desires of either participant, as a consequence of the completion of the act itself. Same with trivial, low-side-effect contraceptive teas, as opposed to harder on the body, very-early-only, abortifacient teas and also much trickier, require regular and careful dosing, don't always work, contraceptive teas being the tools that work in 'tea' form.

On the reincarnation debate, I will say that a lot of afterlife models can be designed in a creepy and non-uplifting way, but most things, with just a category description like 'reincarnation', don't imply creepiness or unethically designed systems like people are saying it does. Besides, if the system doesn't have large amounts of continuity -- the 'one candle lighting another', a soul's incarnates are fundamentally different people, even if there are recycled bits. Also presumably, with regards to fetuses and infants and developing souls and the like, there's probably a complexity gradiant that probably has a lot to do with how developed the brain is, and if there are deities or whatever tweaking how the mortal self functions, it's unlikely they'd allow an inherently unethical system for something so core and likely in their direct control to stay around for long.

(Share the appropriate of these musings with everyone relevant)

Regarding the tech gap the size of Hell. The next step more advanced from the Flintlock Musket is the 'caplock rifle' or 'percussion rifle', or 'percussion rifled musket' or 'caplock rifled musket'; this means a muzzle loading musket with a rifled barrel (assuming some Flintlocks are rifled but most aren't, as an accuracy vs reload speed tradeoff; these advancements gets you best of both worlds and even moreso) and a percussion cap based lock. A paper cartridge that contains the powder and the minié ball (jargon, see below), and is carried in a box, tin, or pouch; the soldier takes one out, bites it, dumps the pre measured powder load into the muzzle, uses the paper as wadding, places the greased minié ball (a sort of bullet designed to engage with the rifling that is easier to load than a spherical bullet; descriptive names would be 'expanding base bullet' or 'cup base bullet' or 'self-sealing round' or 'compression bullet', or come up with the name of a local inventor rather than the other reality one), into the muzzle and rams it down with a rod, pulls back the hammer, places a percussion cap on the nipple, aims, and pulls the trigger, causing the hammer to hit the percussion cap, causing a spark, igniting the powder, launching the bullet. We can tell you the chemistry of the black powder and the percussion cap from a particular set of realities, but there's no specific requirement that your reality match the one we know the details of, but the requirements of function of those parts should be the same. Now the PF1 encyclopedia that resembles your world predicts something like this whole setup exists, but it also predicts something that is directly counterfactual to our lived experience and, uh, plain logic: that this system is fundamentally less reliable than the flintlock system it obsoletes. And, uh, the whole everything pre-measured, pre-sized, pre-prepared, should make it MORE reliable (as well as faster!) not less than the flintlock that preceeds it. Hope this works:

https://youtube.com/shorts/g-eC8qpovKg

Also, that ogre's minigun described earlier? Was invented about 105 years after the weapon in that recording was.

For comparison, the Minigun. This is against a fake torso (with fake/simulated time distortion/slowdown towards the end):

https://youtu.be/IJ9rZr5hRoY

Also the cell phone we saw your foe using was invented about 4 decades after that minigun. And it's called a minigun because it's a smaller version of a larger thing, meant to destroy extremely heavily armored, uh, 'carriage-based variants of adamantine golems armed with heavy ranged siege cannons'. Of course extrapolate how cannons would also advance from where you know them to when they exist in the world where the Minigun exists.

Anyway, the PF1 thing. Go back earlier to when I was talking about games, adventure simulations, dreams, simulated realities, and so on. Folk have already used the term... theatrical performance in relationship to your reality. And, honestly, that's not philosophically problematic or worth getting in an existential angst spiral over. No one, in any reality, can ever be truly sure that their reality is utterly, truly real; there are limits in what is knowable and knowledge itself that prevent this. And anything that helps you, or us, USEFULLY model (even partially!) your reality via pattern matching is ASTOUNDINGLY powerful and useful FOR YOUR BENEFIT and to help you actually achieve your goals! Also, you're a Bard, you should be a natural at this stuff.

Here's a prediction that I'd like to make based on pattern matching:

If these folks stick around you and you all don't die violently, then in weeks and months during this adventurer lifestyle you are going on, you and your companions will be Edified regularly, often simultaneously, often after resting after something big and dramatic happens. We don't have an intradiegetic explanation of the cause and mechanism, but we do have an extradiegetic pattern match and accounting jargon ('experience points' and 'character level advancement' and 'xp threshold required to level up') on the phenomena. And we do know edification as a category of thing that happens, just not the local version, specifically called Edification and what it means here. So lots of broad accuracy, low precision knowledge until you fill in the details.

>>1126819
>Grease not flammable?
It was when we used it in the first thread.
>Mina tosses her torch into the grease, and it immediately begins to light up.
That said, it *is* probably more useful unburnt.

>>1126820
Its also an excellent lube.
Right squeaks?
Heh. Feels like ages ago i asked that.

>>1126824

I feel like there's lots of different lubricants that one would want to use for different circumstances, and that someone should make a lubricate cantrip that gives you fine control over the features but can only apply to a small object or something, remember specialized lubricants that folk use for sex originated as being for medical use, then the sex specific ones diverged from the medical focused ones due to different needs. Heck there's a lot of room for lots of utility cantrips that can do things Prestidigitation can't, and a way to adjust one's daily available loadout of at will cantrips...

>>1126819
You could keep those in a notepad until they are relevant.

I think you are right about those effects not being natural. This complicate the plans to use primordial with a dispel scroll to free them from the mind effect. There might be several divine blessings acting upon a person that could be interrupted potentially permanently. Maybe inherent conscient control over impregnation could be a worth sacrifice in exchange for mental freedom, but it's also possible there are other effects necessary for survival that we are not aware. Concerning.

>>1126828
Dont think overly on it.
Just a throwback to one of the first things i said.
I managed to get a borderline divine entity to call me a pervert.
It was a proud moment

Oh,hey
Mina.
You seem nervous.
Dont worry.
You three have us lot watching out for you.
Thisll be over quicker than you think,then we are all gonna find the nearest tavern and drink to the end of this fustercluck.
Deal?

For what it's worth, any ability we have to tamper with your Soul is very limited. We couldn't edify you in just any way. You would have naturally edified to Shadows, Spiders, etc, and all we could do was maybe bump the process a little.

Like for instance if you just loved butterflies, and butterflies were totally your favorite thing, then we might have had Magical Sparkling Butterfly Princess, instead of Shadow Minstrel.

Don't know what more to do about Jacob and Vax and the temple, but good luck!