"Usually I'm on a Quest—" (The centaur mutters under his breath: "For Ananda.")
"—but." Quentin clears his throat, then stands up a bit straighter, voice finally taking on a more certain tone.
"From one seeker to another, I can surely point you in the right direction. Those bridges—" He indicates the crumbling structures that half-cross the various ponds, "—take us where we need to be. Based on your Quest..."
He studies you carefully a moment. "I'd say your options are the Vengeance Room, Heaven's Garden, or back to Chancel BAD END=DEAD END."
"I'm... honestly not sure about the thing with the chain. It was different, you know. From what Kiri expected. But I think it must have been the same place, in the end. You know... on a kind of... spiritual level? Or at least the garden she found at the end felt like was connected, even if it was... more Bleak than before."
He shrugs. "Sorry, there's a reason we usually have Harlowe or Adalet explain that sort of thing."
Well, I can guess, but I suspect it means something much more specific than would come to mind. Certainly, I am familiar with humanity's weapons of devastation, but I get the impression that the scope of Hellfire's world goes a bit beyond that.
At this point in the conversation, the centaur makes a kind of... :T ...face, though from the look in his eyes, that might actually be his polite substitution for a full-on grimace. He glances over to Quentin once more, then turns and just short of gallops to the woods without so much as a "bye."
Quentin looks a bit like he might envy him.
"Well... that's... sort of the problem, actually. Kiri's from the world, but she's not.... really..... of it, you could say? She's got a whole lot of Excrucian in her."
"I don't know if Adalet and Harlowe got to telling you about the Valde Bellum, but it's... why we're here. Um—us, I mean; the Nobilis, not you.
"It's the war for all of reality. That means every world on the World Tree. The Excrucians are from outside all that. Or, well... we call it 'outside' since there's the blue flame Wyrding Wall and everything, but I don't know if it makes sense to even talk about it like a place. It's just, you know... N͟o͇̰͔t̟̬̪̗̲̠h҉͚͈i̟̻n͙g͔͎."
For a moment there, his voice doesn't sound entirely his own, instead overlaid with something that might be Hellfire's, or... someone with a far deeper voice than either her or Quentin.
"Ah... sorry, I know it's rather a lot. I imagine this is fairly overwhelming to wrap one's mind around for the first time, right? It's been..." His expression goes distant again; his words back to half-distracted and almost airy. "...such a long time since I was taught about it."
There's a too-long pause, then he comes back to himself and smiles another apologetic smile. "What the Wyrding Wall does is it separates reality from non-existence. Nothingness, that is."
Whatever that strange effect was, it's gone. If you ever even heard it at all...?
"Well, you know, the ones doing the actual doing mostly used to be human, I think. But they find something in the world that they can't accept, and they start calling it all a lie. Something about having that happen sort of... gets the void in them, and just like that, you've got an Excrucian. Sometimes it happens the other way around, and some kind of something takes over a person and just... becomes them. Then there are Mimics, but..."
He makes an uncomfortable face.
"I've never actually met Muramasa, but he must have been either a Strategist or a Warmain, based on what he was up to. Strategist seems more likely, considering Kiri's... everything."
"That's what she says, at least. We haven't been able to confirm it, but it would fit with her having this 'curse of Muramasa' she's mentioned."
Quentin half-smiles. "Apparently that's 'kind of a secret.'"
A pause, and he continues, the smile faded. "Abhorrent Weapons are the armaments of the Excrucian host. They're made to help destroy reality, not preserve it. Kiri's the only one who I've ever heard of getting made into a Noble, but... well. She's Temptation of Angels, so all of us have to wonder if—"
He cuts himself off with a bit of a grimace.
"I'm only telling you all this because you're here, you know—it's your Quest. But it's an uncomfortable subject for us."
"M...aybe? I've always been mostly about the seeking part, personally, if I'm being honest; the bag—" he gives his satchel a lift again, "—handles the preparation. I've... got my own search, after all." He sounds wistful, there, and strangely distant again.
"Leli's over there at the central pool, though, if you'd like to meet her."
Quentin indicates a direction. Along the way, you can see patches of more and more small white flowers.
Indeed, they appear to be snowdrops, sprouting here and there at the bases of the crumbling bridges, and then more and more frequently as you head towards the center of the moonlit clearing, until the ground is almost blanketed in white.
And there, sitting on a toppled stone by the largest of the pools of water, is a woman with pale skin, night-dark hair, and a distant, sorrowful expression. She is looking up at the stars.
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"—but." Quentin clears his throat, then stands up a bit straighter, voice finally taking on a more certain tone.
"From one seeker to another, I can surely point you in the right direction. Those bridges—" He indicates the crumbling structures that half-cross the various ponds, "—take us where we need to be. Based on your Quest..."
He studies you carefully a moment. "I'd say your options are the Vengeance Room, Heaven's Garden, or back to Chancel BAD END=DEAD END."
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He smiles, almost apologetic. "Everyone else always loved that one."
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Well, that does sound like it would be popular with this crowd.
"Heaven's Garden," though... is it that place above the chain, in the sky? Or somewhere else?
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He shrugs. "Sorry, there's a reason we usually have Harlowe or Adalet explain that sort of thing."
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Perhaps I'll investigate there, but is there anything else I ought to know, first?
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He fiddles around in his knapsack without really looking at what he's doing, then frowns to himself when he comes up empty-handed.
"...Guess Kiri never really cared about how my bag worked, ahaha." A pause. "Well... do you... know what an Abhorrent Weapon is, miss?"
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Quentin looks a bit like he might envy him.
"Well... that's... sort of the problem, actually. Kiri's from the world, but she's not.... really..... of it, you could say? She's got a whole lot of Excrucian in her."
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"Hell is part of the world too, you know. Just like Heaven. Just like... Beauty."
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Then—is abhorrent something from outside the world?
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"It's the war for all of reality. That means every world on the World Tree. The Excrucians are from outside all that. Or, well... we call it 'outside' since there's the blue flame Wyrding Wall and everything, but I don't know if it makes sense to even talk about it like a place. It's just, you know... N͟o͇̰͔t̟̬̪̗̲̠h҉͚͈i̟̻n͙g͔͎."
For a moment there, his voice doesn't sound entirely his own, instead overlaid with something that might be Hellfire's, or... someone with a far deeper voice than either her or Quentin.
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There's a too-long pause, then he comes back to himself and smiles another apologetic smile. "What the Wyrding Wall does is it separates reality from non-existence. Nothingness, that is."
Whatever that strange effect was, it's gone. If you ever even heard it at all...?
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[ hm. that's unsettling. ]
...how does "nothingness" make a sword, though?
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He makes an uncomfortable face.
"I've never actually met Muramasa, but he must have been either a Strategist or a Warmain, based on what he was up to. Strategist seems more likely, considering Kiri's... everything."
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...wait, Muramasa? That Muramasa? The famous one?
......he made her, then.
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Quentin half-smiles. "Apparently that's 'kind of a secret.'"
A pause, and he continues, the smile faded. "Abhorrent Weapons are the armaments of the Excrucian host. They're made to help destroy reality, not preserve it. Kiri's the only one who I've ever heard of getting made into a Noble, but... well. She's Temptation of Angels, so all of us have to wonder if—"
He cuts himself off with a bit of a grimace.
"I'm only telling you all this because you're here, you know—it's your Quest. But it's an uncomfortable subject for us."
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Should I be looking for Muramasa?
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"Please do not go looking for Excrucians, Miss; you might go mad and I don't want to deal with the Locust Court again."
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[ she will put it... lower on her to-do list. he seems like he needs a sternly-worded letter, though. ]
If this is a quest, it makes sense for me to talk to everyone here before moving on, doesn't it?
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"Leli's over there at the central pool, though, if you'd like to meet her."
Quentin indicates a direction. Along the way, you can see patches of more and more small white flowers.
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she tucks some hair a little more out of her face, and looks toward Leli—and then nods to Quentin. ]
Thank you. I think I will do that, in fact.
[ and: onward ]
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And there, sitting on a toppled stone by the largest of the pools of water, is a woman with pale skin, night-dark hair, and a distant, sorrowful expression. She is looking up at the stars.
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