[week 5] Gotcha.

[capital_asset]

If anyone's wondering why some of the Volksgeists just lit up, it's because Parvati just cast Inspect to see if we could find any sign of the Nightmare Paraiba's been hunting Backstage.

...It's not the Volksgeists as a whole; it's just fragments of them. But it would appear that the Spirit Companions themselves are, if not the source, then certainly targets.

Comments

[lightnovelexperiences]

You know.

There is someone who has Nightmares about the Spirit Companions not being on the level.

To Grant, the cause of - and solution to - all of QC’s problems?

[capital_asset]

...Is that a reference to something?

[lightnovelexperiences]

Yes, but it’s probably also literally true: this was one of Grant’s figurative nightmares, but without him we’d never, say, have had Inspect to catch them.

Though the Orthos being Heteros probably gave those paranoid Nightmares way more power than one paranoid could give it alone. Hell, might have bled it onto him in the first place; his ship was in Aratta broadcast range.

...say, do you know what happens when you hit a Volksgiest with Shacklebreaker?

[capital_asset]

Not right offhand, although at the very least, I imagine the bonds keeping them combined would be disrupted. Possibly their bonds to Questing Country as well - those are intermittent, but there.

[lightnovelexperiences]

...they SHOULDN’T be intermittent, they should be constaSONOVABITCH Paraiba’s Nightmare was jamming the Tesserae.

[capital_asset]

I meant those of the other Spirit Companions, not just the Tesserae - most of them link to Questing Country when they have something to communicate. The Tesserae not being able to use this after Shacklebreaker's use, though, is certainly... suggestive.

[lightnovelexperiences]

You were right on the money, in any case. Striking a Volksgiest with Shacklebreaker splits it into its component Spirit Animals.

Do you or Paraiba or both have any finer-grained senses we can use to sniff out which are being manipulated and which are actually two foxes, a racoon, and a Nightmare in a Volksgiest suit?

...I mean, failing that, Casper is an Oracle of Manipulation, but this is Paraiba’s Nightmare and he deserves first crack at exposing it.

[capital_asset]

I can see the fragments of Nightmare within a given Volksgeist, but it's still going to need to be drawn out.

[lightnovelexperiences]

Point me at them and I can free the Spirits from the Nightmares. And after that? Maybe sing some battle anthems, help any Adversaries or Champions there fight a Nightmare.

Also, heads up: if Leah says the word “Darmok,” everything else that follows is an order to... well, it would have been the Conductors, and anyone following it would get empowered. But now as a Cantor? I bet it’ll work on anyone she considers her ally.

[capital_asset]

"Darmok"?

[lightnovelexperiences]

SUPER a reference, but if I'm right, you'll understand it when the time comes.

Without it being Conductive.

[capital_asset]

That will be a first. The understanding, I mean.