This was the previous royal line.

Though usually unwelcome, the contemplative voice broke into your own thoughts with a baffling line. You close your ears to the small sculpture's incessant prattling in order to pay more attention. "You figured out who this was?"

No. I was interested in Mana, not royal lineage... But I think I may have an idea. Did you know that the royal family currently on the throne was not the one originally leading La'Fiel?

You remain silent. You knew what Irue knew, and their memories were an open book to you... Which meant nothing if you didn't know where to read, or what you were looking for.

What we know as the 'Royal Family' is more a title for the current crown's line of succession. In other words, it's an office to be held, rather than a bloodline. It just so happens that office can be passed down in a hereditary manner.

"So what does that have to do with this place? Did they get taken over by force or something?" You grit your teeth against the chill, wishing your shadow would get to the point already.

It's more accurate to say that they expired, leaving the throne empty. While I can't speak for the specifics of the family, I remember reading that their daughter refused inheritance, citing the call of Mana to go on pilgrimage. She was exceedingly adept with the manipulation of wind, so when her behaviour began to change through-out the pilgrimages, it was of little surprise to the Shrine that she eventually vanished. Most had theorized she had finally crossed the line and become an Aeon of Jinn.

"We're standing inside of a giant ice palace, in an underwater spring, guarded by countless Undine apparitions, and you're telling me this place was made by an Aeon of Jinn?" You deadpan blithely.

It was the prevailing theory, and what history has recorded. However, your scepticism is accurate. There are... Discrepancies. For one, I do not recall any mention of a second child. If there had been two children, the dedication of the daughter to the Mana would not have caused the family line to end, and the throne to become empty.

You narrow your eyes at the sculpture which has been cheerfully informing you of its various adventures and escapades as the wind within the room swept against you with a bitter chill.

As for the other... From what we've learned, the daughter wasn't a talkative person. By all rights, she seemed the most subdued of the family. Those aren't qualities that Jinn favours.

"Then, this sculpture...?"

Yes. The queen mentioned it, but signs of favour which were strong enough to elicit a calling to pilgrimage can typically be seen from a young age. Jinn favours freedom, flights of whimsy, and light heartedness. In other words...

"It wasn't the sister that Jinn was calling, but the brother."

>Ask a question (what?)
>Go elsewhere (Unexplored areas: Basement, The Garden)
>Break the sculpture
>Other? (write-in)

Previous Threads:
http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive.html?searchall=valen+quest

Where things are said:
https://twitter.com/Riz_QM

Assorted Supplemental:
Current Abilities - http://pastebin.com/PchcdWpw
Basics of Mana - http://pastebin.com/V9b1DMrS
A List of Forgotten Things - http://pastebin.com/kPEscJ3h

Write-ups:
Kara's Day Out - http://pastebin.com/8ZbiSKLs
Adventures with Asche - http://pastebin.com/RNviCBJu
The Reclaimed Doll - http://pastebin.com/n6miP1qT

Misc notes:I hope we can wrap up the Atelier arc this thread!

>>43898152
>>Go elsewhere basement

Fuck it.
>Break the sculpture

>>43898152
>>43898282
Seconding going to the basement.

>>43898282
>>43898303
Off to the basement!

>>43898284
Domestic Violence Against Sculptures!

Writing.

>>43898284
so bully ;_;

You turn your back on the still talking sculpture, finally cooperating with the biting winds that had been trying to usher you from the room ever since you entered. Your trip back down the spiral staircase was blessedly uneventful, with each subsequent step echoing out a staccato of footsteps upon your descent. Unlike the other sculptures however, you could still faintly here the one in the room chattering on even after you had left. Its words echoed down the staircase after you, growing fainter and fainter as you moved away, and it was only when you had finally re-entered the foyer entirely did you finally stop hearing it.

It was, honestly, a little haunting to have the otherwise pristine silence of the Atelier broken by the ill-fittingly cheerful voice. Part of you is glad you couldn't hear it any more... Though if that was because it stopped, or because you were too far away, you couldn't be sure.

"Visiting your brother again, my lady?"

You halt midstride through the foyer, glancing at the sculpture of the butler which maintained its half-bent posture next to the partially ajar front door. Had going into that room triggered something else that you weren't aware of? You're caught in a tense silence as the sculpture quietly and patiently awaits your answer. An Answer you weren't technically obligated to give... But if it was talking now, then there's a good chance that it might have something to say.

>Ask about the king
>Ask about the queen
>Ask about the brother
>Ask about something else (what?)
>Break the sculpture
>Ignore it; Continue to basement.

>>43898688
>>43899680
>Ask about the king
>Ask about the queen
>Ask about the brother

File: ss (2015-11-29 at 08.37.29).png (5 KB, 495x69)

5 KB PNG

>>43899704
I guess I'll wait another 15m for voting...?

I have no clue what's going on. Deleted one of the posts.

>>43899680
>Ask about the queen
>Ask about the brother

>>43899759
Sorry Riz sometimes posts get hidden.

>>43898688
>>Ask about the king
>>Ask about the queen
>>Ask about the brother
I guess Irue will fill in the specifics.

Sorry Riz, I didn't see the post until just now, even spamming update and F5.

>>43899704
>>43899762
>>43899868
About the queen

>>43899704
>>43899762
>>43899868
about the brother

>>43899868
>>43899704
about the king.

Writing!
---

When I hit f5, my own post disappeared, so I reposted it thinking it got eaten. Then it reappeared? Probably a technical error, it just never happened to me before.

I assume it just wasn't showing up for anyone at all. My apologies.

Your curiosity was too much to ignore, so you put your trip to the basement on hold as you tried to wrack your mind for something to say in response to the butler's dialogue. While simply confirming you had was an option, what you wanted was information rather than a polite conversation. "I heard he gave you some trouble? Has he been misbehaving?" You remember the child's sculpture prattling on about some of his grand adventures being put to a premature stop by a butler. It was a bit of a long shot, but this was probably...

"The young master is always trying to go somewhere he shouldn't be." The butler chuckled, "I fear it will endanger him one day... But for now, it is my duty to look after both him and you. It warms my heart to see you going out of your way so often to be responsible for your younger brother."

You frown slightly at that. "How is the queen?" setting aside the tidbit that the daughter was supposedly quite close with her sibling, this still didn't explain the missing pieces. Who was the sibling? Why didn't they show up in history? Why were you only hearing about them now?

"Her Majesty is excited. Today is quite the special day, isn't it? Her beloved daughter will be celebrating her sixteenth birthday!"

Sixteen... So this was the time period you were in.

"And the king?"

"Unfortunately, the king will be busy most of this evening and the next." The butler apologized after a moment, "It seems a pressing appointment has come up suddenly... Though, I suppose that is not surprising to you. His Majesty has not been able to attend any of your celebrations for quite some time."

"...Any of mine?" You echo back curiously, receiving only a baiting silence in response. You take a moment to try and formulate a different question. "He attends my brother's?"

"His Majesty always makes time for the crown prince's celebrations."

Crown Prince. Despite being younger, it was the brother who had been first in line for succession... Favouritism between the children?

The child of this lineage vanished at the age of twenty three, on pilgrimage.

Nineteen... So four years from now. You had a space of four years between now, and your meeting with the bed-bound queen. Something had to have changed within those four years.

...Right?

No, that couldn't be right. You feel like something's missing, still. These pieces aren't adding up.

>Ask something else. (what?)
>Continue to the basement.
>Solve the Atelier.
>Other? (write-in)
>Am I forgetting something...? (write-in)

If you choose to Solve, a list of information you've gained will be presented to you. You must make a decision based on the accumulated information, and then Irue will act on it - Regardless of whether it is correct or not. Successfully solving the Atelier will result in the highest quality rewards. Failure will force your hand.

>>43900928
Typing errors occurred. Should be the nineteeth birthday, not sixteenth.

>>43900948
>>Continue to the basement.

I wonder why the parents never mentioned the brother. Supposedly the daughter has told the king that she would sit on his throne, but wasn't crown princess? The way the conversation was framed, the princess had some ambition or seomthing. "Don't get too comfortable on your throne."

So something happened to the brother? If it were after she did the pilgrimage thing, that would mean that the daughter would be crown princess, no ambition needed. So something's fishy there.

>>43900948
>>Continue to the basement.

>>43901279
Cont. train of thought.

The daughter was subdued, and constantly out on pilgrimage. She had to be doing something, yeah? But personality was more like Undine than Jinn. Did she "remove" the brother from memory? That's more Luna than Undine. That sort of secret would be fitting though...And doesn't fit with the association between home/family and Undine. So scratch that?

If something happened before she went on pilgrimage, did she do it in memory of the brother? He has a lot of Jinn traits. Might have done it because he felt the call? Done it in his place, if some accident happened.

Was the law of succession agnatic-cognatic? Or jsut cognatic?

>>43901372
Last thread, a celebration was called for her return, but here she's not important enough to make time for.

>>43901183
>>43901354
To the basement!

Writing!
---

>>43901372
Agnatic-Cognatic is the typical procession in La'Fiel.

>>43901407
Makes a point worth considering.

>>43901279
>>43901372
Both of these are also approaching important details.

I figured I'd offer you some confirmation hints that you aren't going in the wrong direction. I hope it helps!

In general, these two lines seem more important than just the words.
>Jinn calls me.
>Every spider comes back to its web.

>>43901582
All four of the discussion things you linked were me. ;_;

Confirmation that it's agnatic-cognatic and not cognatic is nice. Doesn't help much, but nice. Definitely not a jealousy thing, then.

Anyway, the closest I can come up with now is that there was a crown prince son and a subdued older daughter. The two were somewhat close (brother chatters at her, butler expects her visiting him), and in the four years between her nineteenth and the chat with the bed-queen, the daughter rose up in status and the king/queen, like, forgot about the brother? Or something? The daughter was a strong wind adept, but never showed the personality shifting expected of Jinn Adepts. Maybe the children did something so that the brother would be free to go on pilgrimage with her? Luna-related, to account for the history discrepancies and non-mention of the brother.

Crackpot theory: something happened to the daughter, instead, and the brother pretended to be her to be free? Still no explanation of what happened to the history books.

Neither of these explain the Jinn/Undine Aeon question.

>>43901787
The ...right? came after the assumption something changed between 19 and 23. So something happened earlier?

>>43901787
Building off crackpot theory though.
If the something that happened to the daughter was her becoming the Undine Aeon, and her brother took her place to ...be free, that would explain why she kept saying Jinn calls for her, because he's more Jinn inclined than his sister.

And the reason "she" kept leaving on pilgrimages was to keep up the ruse, perhaps?

That.. might be a bit farfetched, though.

...Although, the outside interference that turned an undine atelier to ice could've possibly been the brother then?

>Dear, you've gone on more pilgrimages in the last three years than most do their entire lives

so the pilgrimages are recent. This is from the standing-queen, who showed no signs of illness, so there's significant time between the two queens.

>>43901933
Still no explanation for remembering/mentioning only one child. If she disappeared and he stepped up, he would have to have done something Luna or Undine related to either keep his life a secret or modify the memories.

>>43901933
And the brother is significantly younger so the crackpot theory is extremely unlikely. To put it lightly.

There was a mentioned behavioral shift in the daughter. it would be shortly after the conversation with the healthy queen about marriage prospects, maybe?

You shake your head, filing the information away as you move down the other hall. Your path to the basement is still blocked by a door not quite open enough for you to slide through... A fact that vexes you as you try to inspect the crack leading to the downward staircase. Unlike the other doors, this one was hardly open enough to be something that invites you to enter it - It was nearly the opposite. You very nearly had to press yourself against the door just to peer beyond it.

Of course, that course of action was quickly discarded as you started to freeze against the door.

It was pitch black beyond that crack, lacking even the partial illumination which the rest of the palace had eerily illuminating it. A fact which was almost entirely lost on you, as your eyes could barely tell the difference between an abyss and broad daylight. Several attempts to squeeze through the crack came and went without a hint of success, and your patience quickly started to fray with the door. There was a cool breeze drafting out from beyond, and if all else held true, that means there had to be something down there.

You just couldn't get to it.

At first you had thought that it was simply a frustrating aspect of the door being a solid sculpture, until you managed to slip your arm through and feel the limbs pressed against the door from the other side. Solid ice, as everything else was, but undoubtedly humanoid... The door wasn't stuck, it was behind held shut. Or, at least, it was trying to be. That everything in this palace was solid meant that this door being partially open was anything but a coincidence.

However, just because you couldn't get through, didn't mean it wasn't possible to enter.

>Break the door open
>Send your Irue through instead
>Other? (write-in)

>>43902063
>Other? (write-in)
Hit the Garden

The Butler knew we were visiting the brother, regardless of time period, so maybe the brother was restricted to a certain area of the palace. Going places he shouldn't have indeed.

>>43902063
>Send your Irue through instead

Godspeed, 'rue.

I feel a misconception that is shared is that a lot of what is happening is Mana related.

An Atelier is a reflection of the Aeon, which is a human (or some such) which has gained the favour of so many mana, or has such an affinity for a specific Mana, that they are no longer 'human'... But they aren't Mana either.

In other words, the key element in this is not the Mana, but the Human. This goes for many things, including why the brother isn't mentioned, and the form the Atelier has taken.

>>43902063
>>43902089
Try the garden, yeah.

Don't quite trust Irue not to berserk and don't wanna break anything until we don't have anything else left.

>>43902156
I think some of the ease we jump to Mana-related things is that they just keep happening to Irue, at a probably abnormal rate.

Simulacra of memories past or of an alternate life? Hum.

The bed-queen mentioned winter was coming, and the healthy queen mentioned memories of the summer. Probably nothing there, but it's something to think about.

>>43902252
The summer-memory mentioned a diary. Maybe that's the book in the garden.

The brother sculpture was in between two children's beds, yeah? But as per >>43902095
the brother was in a specific place. So something restricted him to the third floor? Or the butler sculpture is self aware and mocking us for visiting that memory.

Someone holding a door closed in the basement. To prevent someone from getting in? An unwanted visitor, someone who shouldn't be there, or something needing hiding...

You shake your head and step back. There was the possibility of sending your shadow, the real Irue Valen, through on your behalf... But if they encountered something down there, then it's a very real possibility that they would simply go berserk again. The last thing you needed in this place was for something like that to happen, especially if they ended up deciding to try and pick a fight with the giant Atlach Nacha outside of the ice globe.

You can't imagine that ending well, no matter who wins.

Walking back to the foyer, you realize that the only other place you had left to visit was... Literally locked away, behind a frosted glass window of ice. The Garden you had spotted through that window not long after entering, filled with floating orbs of light which just barely shed visibility onto the sacred space within, and the girl's sculpture which held a very much not-made-of-ice book in its hands.

You had a faint idea of who that statue was supposed to be now, and after your discussion with the queen, you've also got your suspicions about exactly what that book was supposed to be. If anything in this Atelier could be considered a 'key' to understanding, it would be that book...

The fact it's the only thing not frozen in this Atelier concerns me.

You found yourself in an uneasy agreement with your shadow's sentiments. It was special, which could mean just as many good things as bad. As you find yourself staring at the frosted portrait of a window in front of you, you find yourself experiencing a chill down your spine that is wholly unrelated to how damnably cold it is. Unlike the windows in the throne room, you realize that it was this 'window' alone you couldn't discern the details of. Was this even supposed to be a window? Was it just a portrait made of ice that you happened to be able to see through?

These questions floated around your thoughts without any answer as you looked up at the image of the obscured woman wielding a pair of swords from within a bed of thorny roses. As usual, soft lights filtered in from beyond it, hinting at the garden which lay beyond... Which you have no real idea as to how to get to.

Besides breaking through.

>Shatter the portrait, enter the Garden.
>Say something (What?)
>Other? (write-in)

So the winds want us to leave or something, herding us away from certain memories? It was especially strong with the brother. Maybe the Aeon is still directing things, or set it up in a similar way.

An ernest wish for a fragile palace of fleeting memories, hostile and lonely?

>>43902506
"Jinn calls me"

I'd rather break our way into the basement room than here.

But before we leave, might as well try different phrases.

>Jinn calls me
>An apology
>Spiders, webs, yadayada?

Any other suggestions?

>>43902565
>>43902611
>>43902565
Trying for key phrases!

Short update coming in order to frame this a little better.

You'd really rather try and break into the basement before you smashed this window, honestly... Though, if you don't do that, it isn't as if you have another way into the Garden beyond. There was, of course, the possibility that it was waiting for some kind of trigger, however. Like the butler, the king, the queen, and any of the other sculptures in this place, the window guarding the gateway to the Garden may have simply been waiting for that one specific key.

You open your mouth to provide a litany of phrases that might have been related, only to catch yourself. If you said something wrong, would something happen? You could easily just volley off dialogue after dialogue at the portrait, but there's no way something so careless wouldn't have repercussions, right?

You shut your mouth, swallowing tightly as the wind whistles through the halls. You had the information already to figure this out... You knew the right answer to this, didn't you? This place, if it was an Atelier of Undine, then the Aeon had to have been the daughter. If the Garden was locked away like this, then the key to enter it would have had to be something either important to them, or in relation to them.

There were really only two things you could think of that fit those conditions.

>"Jinn calls me"
>"Every spider returns to its web"
>This was a bad idea, I'll break into the basement.
>Screw it, I'll just break the portrait.
>Other? (write-in)

>>43902920
>"Every spider returns to its web"

>>43902920
>This was a bad idea, I'll break into the basement.

>>43902920
>This was a bad idea, I'll break into the basement.

But before brute forcing it, try words at the sculpture holding it shut?

Riz, my nails can't take this.

>>43902945
spiders!

>>43902964
>>43903076
Basements!

Writing!

While I'm writing, what would you like to try to say at the door?

>>43903178
>"Every spider returns to its web"

>>43903178
Maybe calling out to a brother? 'Come out' etc.

or the sort of thing someone might say just before leaving on a long journey

and the spider thing.

You open your mouth a few times, but ultimately decide against it. While you can't particularly say you're scared of what might happen should you provide a bad answer... You are Reasonably Apprehensive of triggering something inadvertently when you could have avoided it. Not the least of which because, to this moment, you had remained alone in this glacial palace.

You're not sure if you want that to change just yet.

Pacing back to the basement, you offer a small prayer of thanks that there wasn't any witty banter from the sculptures you pass about your incessant wandering back and forth, and finally arrive back in front of the held-shut door. This time, however, you've got a plan! A similar plan to the one you just had, but hopefully with much less riding the line on failure.

"Every spider returns to its web!"

...The low wail of a blowing wind mocks your confident announcement as you stare at the unresponsive doorway. "Hey, little brother, are you there?" You wait for a moment, receiving nothing. "Come on out, it's going to be okay, you know?"

What were you even doing? Your eye twitches.

"Open the damn door!"

...To your surprise, it obliges. You're left flat footed and bewildered as the sound of cracking ice erupts from behind the door and allows the partial crack to widen into a semi-respectable gap before you. "Inside Princess, before the guards come!" And the familiar voice of a butler calls you in from beyond. You step through after a moment, peering beyond the door to see the form of a butler - the one from the foyer - with his arms pressed so tightly against the door that they ceased to be two separate pieces of ice. "I expected you would not remain uninvolved, Princess." The sculpture tiredly murmured, "Your brother is down stairs, in the usual place. You must hurry, he cannot escape alone."

You glance down the spiral stairs, a cold wind billowing up from below and blowing your hair awry.

"It stinks."

You blurt out your opinion almost reflexively as you descend, holding your nose while you go. It isn't something so mundane as a sour smell, or rot, or even something that could normally be smelled at all. Rather, if the rest of this place smelled vaguely of regret, then what you were walking into was like a festering, stagnant pool. One that rode the wind, viciously growing stronger as you pressed downward.

You dug your heels in, pressing yourself forward with all the strength you could muster, and it was barely enough to make progress. If you so much as slipped, it wouldn't be unexpected to be literally blown back up the stairs entirely. Like the brother's room all over again, you're left to angrily wonder just what the purpose behind these monstrous winds even was.

Eventually, however, you manage to step foot into the basement. The brother's statue is easily visible, leaning against a heavy chest large enough to fit a fully grown wolf into had you the inclination. Its decorations are ornate, intricately carved, and depict a woman clad in flowing cloth, surrounded by eight orbs. In one hand, she wielded a brilliant sword, brandishing it aggressively against the world. It was a beautiful depiction, entirely of ice, enough so that your attention had been ripped from the sculpture and onto it briefly...

But all to soon, you had regained your priorities. The sculpture leaned against the chest, with a sense of panic written across his face as he stared at the doorway you had entered. The rest of the basement contained suits of icy armor, and grand replicas of fanciful jewellery and weapons which you're relatively certain would never serve their purpose in actual use.

"Sis! You came, you really came!" You can barely hear him over the winds, "The butler said that I had to run before Father returned, what's happening? Tell me what's going on!"

...

"Sis, I can feel the wind in here. There's an exit somewhere, I know it. Come help me move this chest! We can go find Mother, she'll know what to do, right?"

Though the request is straight forward, it's taking all your effort just to stay down here. Advancing towards the statue of the crown prince would be like trying to walk through a literal wall of wind, and you're not even sure if you can lift a foot.

"What's going on?" You grit out under your breath, but Irue's answer is the mental equivalent of a shrug.

>Yell something over the wind (what?)
>Send Irue through the wind.
>Try to force yourself through the wind.
>Other? (write-in)

>>43904071
>>Yell something over the wind (what?)
Jinn calls to me!

>>43904108
As good a guess as any.

>>43904108
>>43904182
Kay.

Writing.

This might be the event? Escape of royalty from the palace, from the guards (sent by the king?). Regrets out the wazoo, so something the daughter did here might have sealed the brother's fate.

>I had to run before Father returned

So the father plans to do something?

>Come help me move this chest!

Some secret passage? Why would the queen know what to do? Might just be a child's usual response.

A lot of Irue's attention is being paid to these depictions of women with swords. What might these be?

"Jinn calls to me!"

You shout the first thing that comes to mind, hoping desperately that you get some kind of response. Your cry is nearly lost in the roar of the winds, and for a moment you think nothing has happened. A few moments later however, you confirm that nothing has happened. At least the wind didn't pick up to spite you and send you careening into a wall or anything...

"It'll be our code!" You barely catch the words over the wind. The sculpture was saying something... In response? Your eyes widen, fighting against the wind as you try to hear it. You're too far away, and the wind too loud. You could barely even hear yourself, much less someone across the room!

"Butler... map... Carona."
"When... over... me?"
"...The wind... I'll..."
"..Banished..."
"One day... home?"

Bits and pieces of the sculpture's murmured dialogue flicker past your ears, but not enough to make any sense of what it was saying. This was the last piece of the puzzle you needed, and you couldn't make out a damn word!

"It'll be an adventure!"

You want to scream in frustration as the last pieces of information trickle past you, only allowing you fragments of what you had wanted. The sculpture falls silent, and you're left standing against the localized typhoon with a dull sense of emptiness. "Jinn calls me!" You shout again, straining your ears for a repeated dialogue... But there's nothing.

>Go somewhere (where?)
>Say something (what?)
>Break things.
>Other? (write-in)

>>43904569
>"Butler... map... Carona."
>"When... over... me?"
>"...The wind... I'll..."
>"..Banished..."
>"One day... home?"

Best guess at filling the meaning this in:

"Butler will have/hide a map near Carona"
"When it's over, come with me?"
"...The wind...I'll do it"
"I'll be/am banished"
"One day I'll come home"

What's next...probably saying "jinn calls to me" to the window.

If it turns out we were actually capable of getting closer and we were supposed to do that first I'll be slightly cheesed. : /

>>43904661
Return to the portrait, say 'Jinn calls me'. Correct?

Any other votes?

If not, writing in five minutes.

>>43904779
>>43904661
Seconding them.

We're all gonna die. RIP Irue

You make your way out of the basement sourly, fighting the urge to lash out at the persistently blowing wind at your back. You would only hit air anyway, which would just serve to drive you more up the wall than what had just occurred. Passing the desperate looking butler who had been trying to hold the door shut, you finally let your emotions show as you sneer in passing. You had known it the moment you stepped foot into this Atelier, but you hated everything in here.

The useless aesthetics, the mimicry with no function, the endlessly repeating dialogue of sculptures and memories. This cold, this wind, the path which led you down here. You wanted nothing more than for this entire place to break apart... But that was something you absolutely couldn't do. Not without something irreversible happening.

So here you stood, in front of that frosted portrait, a chill down your spine as the lonely moaning of the wind continued through the otherwise silent halls.

This was it. There was no one else to go to, was there? This was where the memory ended. You had experienced everything contained within the Atelier. Everything except the Garden which lay just beyond sight, concealed beyond the very portrait you stood in front of now.

>"Jinn calls me."
>Solve the Atelier
>Other? (write-in)

>>43904779
Return to the portrait, yell Jinn at it till i5 does something

>>43904978
>Solve the Atelier
We didn't miss anything did we

>>43904978
>"Jinn calls me."

Hopefully this gets us in the garden. I want that not-ice book.

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97 KB JPG

>>43904978
>>"Jinn calls me."
Puzzles are hard.

>>43905004
If we say solve it's a info dump, and then Irue acts, right? And if Irue's/our guess as to the correct action is right we get points.

Riz, if we stumble through the same set of actions, do we get the same points as if we did them through solve?

>>43905075
Yes. Though, to clarify.

Solve is an information dump of the information you gathered, and then the players are allowed to make one final vote as to what to do based on that information.

You can 'solve' the Atelier without choosing that option, by all means. The difference between stumbling to an answer and the Solve option is that stumbling allows you room for error and take-backs, but lacks condensed information and leaves it to the players to discern.

Solve, on the other hand, is Final Destination. You have the information presented to you, and are then forced to make a decision. All or Nothing, no take-backs.

>>43905128
It's a totally open decision? or with Irue's favored plans mentioned?

>>43905148
I would treat it much like a Forgetting option. Each player is free to put forth their answers.

If even one of you is correct, then that will be the one that counts.

>>43905195
Well, a solve rate of 1/7 instills me with confidence in our problem-solving.

>>43905004
Solve.

>>43905036
>>43905049
Jinn.

Any final voters? Writing in 5m. Either way, this will likely end your time in the Atelier arc.

>>43905294
I was >>43905036

Can I change my vote to solving the Atelier?

>>43905318
Alright.

Two votes for Solve.
One for Jinn.

I suppose I should start writing.

Oh boi. Either a high point or a nadir. You're all smarter than me, I hope.

You stare up at the portrait. There's a feeling of finality in the air, so you take a moment to go back through what you learned. The things you had managed to gather during your time in this Atelier - A last second attempt to solve this retched place.

To begin with, wasn't it obvious that this place was an Atelier of someone favoured by Undine? Between its location within the spring, all the Atlach Nacha, and all the ice, it had to be, right? So the Aeon was definitely partial to Undine. That Mana was water, pure water. Flexible, adaptable, and endlessly deep. It was a Mana with a calm temperament, who held secrets within its depths. Apparitions of Undine were often known to guard secrets, things long forgotten or stolen away, but they were also fiercely territorial. More so than any other Mana, Undine considered it's 'home' to be sacred.

Assuming the Atelier was a reflection of the Aeon, and that Aeon was favoured by Undine, then it followed suit that this Atelier resembled there home, didn't it? This palace of Ice... Ice. Why Ice? Undine was the Mana of water.

Hadn't Irue said it, though? Ice was water, in a different form. It's purity diluted and changed by an outside force. At first you had thought that to be Jinn, but... But Aeons were human, weren't they? This Atelier didn't reflect Undine, it reflected the Aeon - The human who had lost their humanity. The existence which was closer to Mana than humanity, but ultimately couldn't claim to be either. That force which changed this Water to Ice.

The Aeon itself? The human who used to be the Princess. The one who, favoured so by Undine that they would become an Aeon, was publically known only for their affinity with Jinn. For their persistent pilgrimages. The one who, for every conversation you had engaged in, held no traits at all to be favoured as such. The one whose Atelier reeked of regret and nostalgia.

What did they regret? You had peered into their memories, filthily violating what should have been their most private sanctums as you explored this Atelier stubbornly. Apologizing to their mother, the queen. Going on pilgrimages, constantly leaving their home - Their home, which they loved so much as to recreate it in such painstaking detail within this Atelier. It may have been in the nature of Jinn to leave, but not Undine.

Yet, each and every time. Every pilgrimage, the same excuse. The same reasoning. The reason for her to leave her home.

'Jinn calls me.'

Those words, offered plainly by the princess time and time again; Echoed by someone far more whimsical, far more deserving of Jinn's call. A brother she cherished. One she looked after and doted upon, listening to their incessant inane chatter without any intention to stop them. One who had been driven from the home she so loved. Banished... Fled, in fear of her father, the king.

But Why? What had the king done which led to that? Their life had continued just fine in the years to come... Except, there was never any mention of the younger brother. The family moved on without ever speaking of him again. Even in history, he no longer existed. Stricken from the record? And as time passed, even the queen grew ill. Her condition worsening each year. The time that Princess should have been home, should have been with her mother, on Pilgrimage instead. The mother she... To the very end, had never once told that her sibling was still alive and well.

You blink. The secret she held, until the very end. From her family, even from her mother, that the person whom had been erased was still very much alive and well.

And that secret...

Banished by her father, the king. A man who had never had time for her, doting only on the son who was cast away. A man who would always throw celebrations upon her return, only to make the excuse of it becoming a political issue. To the end, a man who had never acted the part of a father; Only a king.

A king, who doted only on his son. His heir - The rightful heir to his throne. What would cause him to cast out that heir? As young as they were? Information you didn't have... But did it matter? Regardless of why he was cast out, that son remained the legal Heir. That son who had... Wanted to return home? Whom the princess herself had wanted to return home? The only way for such a thing to be possible would be if the one who had cast him away was removed from power.

...And so those words. Delivered time and time again, with every return to this cherished home that the princess had watched fall apart from within.

'Don't get comfortable in your throne.'

An ambition that burned inside of her. Not for her own succession, but the return of her brother.

This ambition, one that never came true. Standing where you are now, history told the tragic truth that no such thing had occurred. The line of royalty had changed entirely as their family line came to an end. In the end, that princess had become an Aeon, constructing this Atelier to pursue her own goals. A reflection of herself. This Atelier was to her as Water to Ice.

Frozen in Time. Unwilling to let go of the memories of her humanity. Unable to move on, and let go of the regret. Unable to leave the web she had woven. Though favoured by Undine, it was almost sickening to say, but in becoming an Aeon, the princess had become a queen.

You stared up at the portrait, it's frosted visage still indiscernible to you.

The gateway to the most private part of the Atelier - the Princess' innermost sanctuary.

This frosted portrait guarded the Garden beyond.

Awaiting the return of its Queen.

Patiently.

Eternally.

Because...

>Why?

>>43905746
...because the brother is here? Near Carona, the promised meeting place? The last proof of him? Or maybe his grave. She feels she failed, and so she hunkered down.

>>43905746
>>Because...
This is where her brother is. Either interred, or frozen in time along with the other snapshots of days gone by until the time came when he could return.

Pilgrimages not so much pilgrimages as they were simply
>"Visiting your brother again, my lady?"

>>43905805
Does the diary include a record of the brother's movements? Which would be the secret and why it's guarded most closely.

>>43905823
Does this mean the figure inside is, in fact, her brother?

It would explain why the focus on wind despite it being an atelier of ice. The orbs inside were also like the ones in the basement, but were they hers or his?

>>43905746
Because king is dead and throne can be claimed.

>>43905838
Or perhaps just where the brother went to hide. If >>43905850 is on the right track, finding him would be the next step.

>>43905838
>Dear, you've gone on more pilgrimages in the last three years than most do their entire lives. Your father may not see it, but I still remember the days we would sit in the gardens during the summer, and you would be content to quietly write in your diary. One does not simply 'awaken' to a calling, my daughter..."

The diary begins the story from before the banishment. A garden in the summer, from before winter came.

Could also include a record of his banishment or working causing his seeming erasure.

Because he will someday return from beyond the veil and reclaim his birthright! As a zombie!

>Awaiting the return of its Queen.

>Patiently.

>Eternally.

How many years ago did this all occur?

Maybe it wasn't waiting for her to return, but for her brother. If he died, it would be waiting eternally.

>>43905891
Should mention this:
>more pilgrimages in the last three years
We were told that it had been four years between the timeframe where we talked to the sculpture of the brother and the time we spoke to the ill queen. Which means the brother was banished that very year, assuming the pilgrimages were her way of seeing her brother.

We were told that the Shrine was coming to test the children for aptitude at that time, so it's possible that something that they discovered then may have led to this.

There's some treasure hidden by the prince and guarded by his sister, like crown jewels or something?

>>43905913
Did she take the fall for the brother, is that why everyone identifies her with Jinn instead of Undine? So he wouldn't have to go on the pilgrimage?

Is that why, suddenly, the king gave a shit about her?

>>43905913
I thought the chattering about testing was many many years ago, the healthy queen was next, and then the king and bed-ridden queen?

Maybe they had a plan/plot to get their father out of the way and failed? Or missed?

>>43905912
This is a matter of history. The time of that royal family has long, long since passed. It is something you read about in books, not a matter of the present.

I'll be closing the voting in about 10 minutes. Please be sure you've finished what you wanted to say before then.

>>43905929
Oh yeah, could this have been a Jinn family the way Rinnier's belonged to Salamander? And that the connection to Jinn was more important than the actual birthright?

Or the son was "defended" by a Jinn natural disaster?

>>43905949
Or the other way around. Undine family, brother takes fall for sister, she assumes the Jinn pilgrimage cover?

>>43905746
because... this is a cherished a memory of hers, possibly the last time she could be in the garden contentedly writing in her diary, and go to see her brother.

If the garden's closed off like this, it's likely enclosing a time that was the most important to her?

If not that, my second guess is that this garden is before she left and became an aeon, and that it was an impossibility that he could return at this point- which is why the only thing not composed of ice is there. It was the end of her journey to bring him back home.

>It'll be an adventure!

From the prince. So, Jinn as he was, he didn't want the crown, argument, accidental/purposeful treason, banishment?

The question now is how this pertains to this atelier. It's been waiting for its master, so that means she never returned to it for whatever reason. Aeons probably don't die the same way humans do, so can't necessarily just assume it was old age.

Undine values home, and so did the princess. But she kept going on pilgrimages, for some reason or another, under a pretense meant for her brother.

I'm thinking this might've been the closest:
>>43905823
>Pilgrimages not so much pilgrimages as they were simply
>>"Visiting your brother again, my lady?"

>>43905932
>You had a space of four years between now, and your meeting with the bed-bound queen.
Which means the timeline is Speaking with brother --one year-->brother is banished --three years of pilgrimages--> non-ill queen conversation --one year--> ill queen.

Though
>>43900928
>Her beloved daughter will be celebrating her sixteenth birthday
>>43900948
>Nineteen... So four years from now.
Which of these is the accurate one, exactly? Not sure the distinction matters, but just for the record.

>>43905996
See
>>43901114

>>43905996
Riz said it was nineteen.

>>43905983
It was likely less of something he decided than it was something he saw/did/learned, based on the butler's
>"The young master is always trying to go somewhere he shouldn't be." The butler chuckled, "I fear it will endanger him one day...

>>43906002
>>43906005
Right, missed that somehow. Whoops. Doesn't bode well for my depth of focus for mystery-solving, eh?

>>43905985
It could just be that she no longer considered the palace home and replaced it with this?

>>43906011
That line.

Where did he go and what did he find? It might be the reason he was banished.

>>43906011
So he learns something he wasn't supposed to, opsec means he needs to be taken care of? Like a political deal that placed the kingdom above the family or soemthing.

>>43906016
If that's the case, it's even more of a reason to suspect that the brother is here in some capacity, since her devotion to him would be one of the primary reasons to suspect she no longer felt as though the castle is where she belongs.

Something about the repeated 'woman with sword' motif still strikes me as odd. The chest's design and the window have a lot in common. A symbol for the egress the prince took?

The wild mass guessing sure isn't getting us anywhere without any kind of confirmation one way or another. : <

Alright, window is closing.

Going to read through everything once more and start writing. One way or another, congratulations on ending the Atelier arc!

>>43906031
It might not even be that, it could be that he was being taken by the Shrine for some reason after they discovered his great affinity for Jinn, and the Father was on board with it where others (butler and sister included) were not, and tried to spirit him away.

The pilgrimages might have been something like >>43905949 suggested, and the sister chose this to keep up appearances. She seemed somewhat antagonistic toward her father when they spoke, so I wouldn't be surprised if this whole thing was some sort of political maneuvering battle.

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>>43906059
This was a fun arc. Looking forward to our spectacular failure when I wake up!

Everyone here smells like >>43906091 to Doppelrue!

Those pilgrimages were a sham, to be sure. Someone so favoured by Undine as to become an Aeon couldn't possibly have felt the call of Jinn, and you were almost certain... Those words, 'Jinn calls me', were merely a reference to her brother. Even if it was removed from who she was, in order to make those excuses accepted - To make a reality from lies - You imagine she must have dedicated a great deal of effort to meditating in accordance to Jinn. Defiling her own nature time and time again, steadily increasing her own mastery over wind during her pilgrimages. The same ones she used as an excuse to see her brother.

Undine, like deep water, held a peculiar characteristic: A surface disconnected from its depths. It could mean many things, but as you looked at this...

As you looked at this, you realized that to the princess, it meant that to lie became normal. To live a life disconnected from her own, and don a mask that did not resemble herself at all. These winds blowing through the halls were merely the results of her long pilgrimages made in order to see her brother without arousing suspicions. Pilgrimages which, by definition, must elicit results or their very completion would become suspect.

In the end, all of it would trace back to her brother, however. You suppose that the moment her brother had been banished, that palace had ceased to be a true 'home' to her. An event which had shattered the family there, leaving only a husk which continued to function for outward appearances. From that moment... No, when had it finally happened?

That for the princess, home was where her brother was.

These memories of what her home had been, frozen in time. A sanctuary locked away within it all.

If her brother had truly spent the rest of his days in Carona, then that explained why the Atelier could be find underneath that frustrating city... But it also answered one other question. The question you had been trying to solve.

The Atlach Nacha - Spiders.
This glacial orb, and the palace it contained - A web.
And at the center of it all - A Garden.

If her brother had stayed in Carona, and her home had been with her brother, then of course she would return. She would always return to pilgrimaging; Always return to Carona.

She would return because this was her home.

Because...

"A spider always returns to its web."

You murmur the words silently, your understanding of the Atelier clicking together piece by piece. An intimate understanding of the Aeon who had created it, leaving you feeling a weight inside that threatened to pull you down. A complex and difficult to describe feeling that you couldn't shake from your shoulders, as if that understanding had granted you the empathy to share a portion of the Aeon's burden instilled in this Atelier.

Before you, the portrait shifted. Ice cracked, shattering away as the frosted sword wielding woman within broke free of the crystallized rose bed she had resided in. Two massive swords resided in her hands, a faceless human torso... But what emerged where the monstrous forelegs of a spider, clad in ice. They stabbed into the floor, sending out a shock wave of cold with each pointed staccato impact that resulted from it pulling itself free from its resting place.

You stumbled back, craning your neck up as the arachnid-maiden straightened her posture proudly and towered over you to the point of nearly being capable of walking clean over top of you should it desire.

Every Atelier has a Guardian.

You remember Irue saying that when you had entered. You had assumed it had simply not noticed you yet... But no. As its featureless head tilts towards you in consideration, you realize that something like that had been impossible. There was nowhere inside of a spider's web that said spider was unaware of. From the moment you had arrived, it new exactly where you were.

It had been watching you.

Observing you.

And even when you had pressed yourself against it to view the Garden beyond, it had not so much as moved.

You swallow thickly, muscles tensed as you watch it. You think back to the times you had considered smashing something out of irritation, the time you had thought to simply break into the Garden beyond. Now that you had taken the irreversible step, that very same Guardian had been roused from its resting place.

Its legs spread, lowering its main body such that the torso atop it could stoop closer to you, you remain frozen in place long enough for its frosted face to come within mere inches of your own. Your own breaths elicit puffs of steam, and for what feels like an eternity, everything is still as the ice around you.

And you understand. That weight inside of you, the empathy from having understood the Atelier. It resonates with the Guardian before you. Without words or meaning, a sentiment is exchanged. Without that empathy, would communication have been impossible? A fight inevitable?

...No, even if you call it communication, it was nothing so eloquent.

...It's accepted our presence.

You wince reflexively as Irue's voice breaks the silence, and the Guardian withdraws calmly before seemingly dismissing you as it stride out and over you, descending the stairs without a second glance and leaving the passage to the Garden open to you. You glance back, watching it stride through doors that opened of their own accord, before it vanishes into the courtyard beyond.

"How did you know it accepted us?" You murmur, moving closer to the rose bed warily to peer beyond. It was not dark inside, so much as a solid sphere of water sealed beyond the portrait. That the sphere had yet to come spilling out was something you would easily chalk up to Mana things, except...

Those glowing orbs you had seen within the sphere.

"Those are-!"
Frozen eggs.

You watch the softly glowing eggs as they float past innocuously. They resembled the gem like eyes of the Atlach Nacha from the shafts...

Apparitions are born from a core infused with essence which can draw them forth. That is their life line. Simply because they may come to resemble eyes later, do not mean they are not 'eggs' now. These cores are still too immature... It will take time for them to develop into the Atlach Nacha we encountered on the way in.

You nod distantly, looking beyond the floating sphere of soon-to-be Apparitions towards the sculpture of a young woman within. In her hands, even now, that book was held tenderly; Unsoiled despite countless years of having been submerged in this water.

"But... How am I going to...?"

Swim to it?

You stare blankly into the water.

Fine, I'll retrieve it.

What you held in your hand was a book that had been dearly cherished by the last princess of a long replaced royalty; One whose lineage dated back to the founding of La'Fiel itself. Through her life, she had watched everything within her family fall apart. She learned that 'Home' was not a house, but where your heart was. She lived a life of deception, gradually becoming further estranged from everyone around her; Even the brother she had so desperately tried to stay near.

In the end, she could no longer understand the people around her. Locked away so far beneath her surface, that princess became a Queen of Ice - An enigma that could no longer communicate her true feelings with the world. Held within were the feelings and thoughts she could no longer share, a shifting tome of liquid pages and incomprehensible observations.

>You have acquired the Relic: 'Diary of Reflections'
>In the end, you are only what the world sees you as; Regardless of who you are underneath. Change your image, and forsake yourself to live another life.

>You solved the Ice Queen's Atelier!
>Having gained an intimate understanding of the principles behind both its creation, and its creator, you are afforded tolerance within its boundaries.
>You may interface with it as a User, gaining partial access to its capabilities.

>Ice Queen's Atelier
>'Home is where the heart is.' - Return to the place your heart resides.
>'Jinn calls me.' - Follow the late Princess' path, and return to Carona.
>'A spider's Web' - Set a location as your 'web'. You will always be aware of what enters this area. You must return, or the web will cease to exist.

>Return to Carona
>Do something else first (what?)

>>43906596
>>43906592
Hooray! We didn't kill Irue.

I can't think of anything else to do here except a bit of extreme silliness and saying goodbye to the butler and brother before returning.

It's kind of funny that Irue hates Carona so much and now has a bind to it.

>>43906643
She also has the ability to discard her life and live another...again. Irue seems extremely good at figuring out ways to facilitate running away, even if she's a bit dense sometimes.

>>43906592
Where is our heart, how does that work anyway?

>>43906596
I'm going to cry, I'm so glad we managed to solve this without it blowing up horribly in our face.

>>43906651
When I read the post with the spider being revealed, I sat there for the next few minutes hoping we didn't kill Irue and alternately freaking out about my vote to say "jinn calls me" to the window and just what would happen.

>>43906592
Well, my tears aside though, Can you explain a little more about the Spider's Web, Riz?

Can it be any location? and How soon do we have to return to it?

>>43906666
The post says we have 'partial' access. I wonder if we missed something that would give total access, or if that's reserved solely for the original Ice Queen?

>>43906648
Home is where your heart is.

Where is your heart...? Well, it doesn't have to be a place. It doesn't even have to be a person. You can return there, but you don't know where it is.

Isn't that normal? Most people couldn't say for sure that they know where their heart really is.

Regardless, if you use it, you will return there immediately. Perhaps you should be prepared for what you find when that happens...?

>>43906651
I believe in my players!

>>43906666
It can be any location, but you must be there to establish it. Establishing a web will take a decent amount of time (perhaps a few hours to a day).

You must return to it at least once a month. Spiders with webs do not stray far from them.

Irue in particular has an interesting loophole regarding this ability, but I won't tell you what it is. If you can figure it out yourself, you deserve to use it.

>>43906679
It is reserved for the original Ice Queen, and a few other things... But, you may think of it as the difference between User and Administrative rights. You are, of course, only tolerated within someone else's world.

The only guess I can make about Irue's loophole is that the Doppelrue is sufficiently her to also count. But we haven't managed to make the Irues operate independently yet, so that's moot.

>>43906694
Or it might have something to do with Irue's weird weaponless existence.

>>43906694
This is correct. I'm a little surprised you got it immediately.

Anyway, I may have missed it, but have there been votes for what to do next? I've only noticed questions for clarifications.

>>43906729
>>43906643 was basically my vote, sorry it was unclear.

>>43906729
Well, we've basically only been running in the ruts that Irue and Doppelrue were the same person (sort of) for half the quest now. : P

Well it's been a while, so I'll take that as the vote and start writing.

It will be a short update!

>>43906779
After the monster 4 or 5 post update you put up, you have to take the chance for shorter bits.

Looking around the Atelier, you take a moment to gather your bearings. It was subtle, but your actions had... changed things. You no longer felt the hostile bite of frigid cold within the icy palace, nor did it continuously try to encase you within a crystalline prison if you stood still for too long.

In short, you suppose it was as if the Atelier no longer seemed to reject your presence.

While that was great and all, it didn't change the fact that you still hated this place. Everything inside it, the memories it held, the sentiments of its creator. While you held a share of that weight within you now - Proof of the Atelier's acceptance of you - It didn't change that you found the entire thing depressing and repulsive. Were all Aeons like this? Broken wrecks with tragic stories? You had expected something larger than life, which made the world quake in its footsteps! Not... Not this.

The corner of your lips tug downward as you look back over the Atelier around you. Whatever you had expected... It wasn't this.

Tucking the Diary of Reflections under your arm, you make your back to the butler at the door. He had been the first to greet you, the same man who had been trying to hold the door shut so the prince could escape. Given his age, it was likely he had served the royal family for years...

You never encountered any other sculptures of him. Had he, too, been removed from the palace after the banishment?

Despite solving the Atelier, you were still left with questions that didn't have answers. Why had the prince been banished? Why had the queen fallen ill? What happened to the butler after that?

In the end, this place wasn't so convenient as to have those answers. You're not even sure if those answers can still be found. One thing you did know for sure however, was that any lingering pity you had for the displaced royal family in the beginning was well and truly gone now.

You bid farewell to the sculpture of the butler. An awkward, one-sided affair. Of course it didn't respond; It was a sculpture. You were talking to an object. Through it, you had glimpsed memories of a man, brief flashes of his life, and his feelings. Enough to feel obliged to bid even this imitation of him good bye.

You're surprisingly sentimental.

Irue's commentary was duly ignored as you bid farewell. Perhaps it was your nature as a Doppleganger, an Apparition of Shade, but it was the emotions in this place which you found yourself unusually attuned to. One of the reasons it disgusted you so much.

"This is the kind of thing they were supposed to rise above." You choked out bitterly, looking at the grandly articulated palace. Each lovingly crafted detail before you made your eyes burn, and you fought to keep your mouth from warping into a snarl. "Is that what she gave up to become an Aeon?" Your fists clenched at your side, driving skin white from pressure, and you felt your nails dig into your palms.

Without knowing why, you strode the stairs, storming the hall and thrusting open the once unmoving icy throne room doors.

"You erected a monument to FAILURE!"

Calm down-

"You gave up, and revelled in your inability to move on! You stopped trying!"

There's nothing here.

"We believed in you!" Your voice tore at your throat, resounding through the hallway towards the smiling sculpture of a king. Another ornament within this Atelier, incapable of changing or even acknowledging the rage bubbling up from inside of you. "We believed in you, but you couldn't even believe in yourself! You ran away from it all!"

"YOU GAVE UP BEING HUMAN!"

...We should go.

The sculpture of the king remained unmoved. After a few moments, even your own echoing voice faded away. You wiped at your cheeks angrily, twisting on your heel to storm away with your held ducked angrily towards the ground. You muttered the command you knew would take you away, allowing the twisting winds of the Atelier to wrap around you obediently.

As that whirlwind picked up, you caught a glimpse of the Guardian watching you from the foyer below. It stood solemnly, seeing you off quietly even as you wanted nothing more than to never see this place again. Eventually, even that sight was obscured to you as the winds blinded you.
___

When you opened your eyes, you it was night time. A sea of lights spread out beneath you, the lively town of Carona which remained lit up even after the sun had set. It had taken you a while, and a detour through a place you wanted nothing more than to forget... But you had finally made it.

You were back on the surface.

...And so far above Carona that you could only see rooftops and streets.

...A miscalculation has been made.
Gravity took hold at that moment.
As skilled as she was with Jinn, flight was likely a matter of course for that Aeon.
You hated this town.
So... I suppose it is natural that her waypoint would end in open air, where nothing could obstruct her.
Everything that had ever been connected to Carona in some way had done nothing but cause you grief.

"I hate this plaaaaaaaaaaaace....!"

Hopefully you landed on something soft.

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http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive.html?tags=Valen+Quest

And we are archived.

I'll lurk the thread for a bit to try and answer some questions if I can.

Apologies to all anons who participated in Valen Quest but died at their keyboards wondering when QM would finally stop.

To those who did not make it to the end, we will never forget your sacrifice.

Congratulations on completing the Atelier, everyone! Surprisingly, you managed the best possible ending.

I hope everyone had fun, because we're back to our scheduled business in Carona!

>>43907032
Short, huh? 3 post updates short, everyone. That's Valen Quest for you.

Maybe we'll meet up with Rinnier in prison and get our Relic confiscated. : <

Thanks for running, Riz! I'm guessing the Forgetting this thread was something incorporated into the final understanding?

>>43907032
What's the Shrine's policy on delved Ateliers and retrieved Relics? Is it something like "we'd appreciate those expressions of our faith" or does it involve more of a "yoink?"

>>43907045
>forgetting
Yes. I'll add it to the list of Forgettings shortly, but since it was more or less gotten in the end.

>Something must have changed in those four years... No, that's not right, is it?
The Forgetting was the previous knowledge that she been on pilgrimage off and on for three years. So, in other words, rather than "a four year" time span for something to have changed - It was one year. A much more immediate frame of time, which became important in regards to the prince later in >Solve.

>>43907058
If they could 'yoink' they would, however, people with Relics tend to fall into categories where that is not applicable. Like...

"I beat up the Guardian and will kick your ass through the wall if you try."

Or

"I don't have to take shit from you; I'm rich/royal!"

They will, however, "greatly appreciate donations from kind people". These donations may or may not include large amounts of cash, or favors being traded.

Artemis also has an interest in Relics, as do most ruling governments. Their stances on acquisition vary.

>>43907083
>people with Relics tend to fall into categories where that is not applicable

And then there's Irue, earning her relic through empathy and understanding like a scrub.

>>43907099
When it comes to Ateliers, there are two general methods of approach.

>Solving
What you experienced. Having to make sense of the Atelier, and come to an understanding regarding its creation, and its creator. Doing this allows you the most benefits, as it also typically grants you User access to the Atelier's capabilities on top of whatever was within.

>Conquering
You literally kick in the front door and kill the Guardian then loot the place. A lot can be lost doing this, and it is highly lethal. A fight between Irue and the Guardian would have resulted in death, unless you managed to escape the Atelier.

...Solving certainly has its own kind of danger to it, however. The 'weight' you gain will never leave you. It is shared empathy with an Aeon, which are neither human nor Mana.

Most people simply cannot 'Solve' Ateliers, as they lack the Empathy to do so, and make sense of what is inside before the Atelier/Guardians kill them, so 'Conquering' is the traditional method, even if its rewards are far lower.

>>43907122
I guess there's some sort of known and established 'Atelier theory' then? Is it known or obvious when an Atelier has been Solved? Other than by the presence of Relics, of course. Like, could someone in the know look at Irue and know that she's Solved an Atelier?

>>43907151
I could think of one person who could do that. But they are unique in that ability... It is not something that can typically be understood at a glance, or even with continued study.

And of course, when it comes to knowledge, Luna is an exception in all matters.

>>43907182
Every time Luna shows up, I just sort of want to shake my fist in impotent confusion. Oh well.

What did you expect us to get out of this, if anything?

>>43907207
Expect...?

Enjoyment is the first thing to come to mind. I really hope my players have fun, and feel like their choices matter - So even though I didn't plan on your visiting an Atelier any time soon, I rolled with what was chosen and its where we ended up.

Though much like Shade, while I continue to believe in you all, if you can't handle what you choose, there won't be any holding back.

As for the Atelier. There's a lot you could have gotten out of it. Putting the 'rewards' aside, there was a fair bit of fleshing out in the history of La'Fiel, with information in it. I can't stress enough that honestly, I consider information to be a currency of its own - How you remember and use things can change a lot. One day, you WILL be in situations where things you learn can be of use to you... You just need to not Forget it, when that time comes.

There was also the introduction of what an Atelier is like, and some insight into Aeons, both of which were subjects that I feel most anons weren't entirely sure on. I hope this experience was enlightening for everyone in that regard.

>>43907297
Well, I enjoyed the Atelier, in all its nail-destroying, internally screaming glory.

It's really easy to Forget things, but that is the point. This quest is similar to real life in many ways, just in a different setting. That might be part of why the playerbase is so small. Oh well. We figured this out! Maybe our success rate will go up from here!

>>43907348
Hopefully!

Discussion is key. I think when you started to come together, you made quite a bit of progress. I imagine it would be horrible to think about how the Atelier would have gone if no one had shared their thoughts through it.

>The quest is similar to real life
I'm not really sure what you mean, but I think someone (you?) mentioned something similar in the quest general over the weekend.

I took the criticism there to heart and have been thinking over how I can improve in some aspects... Though in the case of Forgettings, their difficulty to remember is partly by design. I feel like making them easier to get would diminish their worth, and the feeling of success the anons get when they do remember.

Though I suppose it's cruel, I personally prefer the suffering of failure each time, because it makes the elation when you succeed so much sweeter.