The Affair of the Blue Gate
Amidst the barren Pinelands, turquoise lakes dapple the broad swathe of trees. Supposedly, anyone who enters their murky depths never returns, but something was spotted emerging from the waters before fleeing into the forest.
Aspects
- Relevance: Knock
- Relevance: Moth
- Incident
Visitors: Knock
| Visitor | Start | Failure | Success | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ato Petros | ’I keep away from deep waters. Never have my feet touched the sea, nor my hands the roaring stream. Yet I cannot bring myself to walk away from wounds such as these.' | 'An Hour I know as the Wound, he can be found in the boundless places, such as in the depths of these wounds. But all wounds draw blood through. I seek to know the nature of this blood, to know if it may intertwine with mine.' | 'A dragon! I had heard the Wound took relict-kinds beneath his scales, but for him to shed one of my own line… I may find others on the other side. You have my gratitude, Librarian.‘ | Believing he may meet more of his draconic line in the Pinelands, Petros departed with an uncharacteristic cheer. |
| Sor Madeline Cross | ’The foremost color of the Mansus is blue. Sometimes that blue may be glimpsed in the Wake, when the Mansus-walls grow thin and weak, but the Hours act to ensure it is never seen for long.' | 'Reinforcing the walls can keep the Hours from taking more drastic measures, but the walls of the Mansus are not so easily touched. Still, there are ways…' | 'So long as I act quickly, the Pinelands may yet be spared. If what occurred at Tower Revek were to occur there… I shudder to think what may come through such a vast wound. Tell my Sister Oxiacantha I am doing good work.‘ | Sor Cross left for the Pinelands to reinforce the weaknesses in the walls of the Mansus there. |
Visitors: Moth
| Visitor | Start | Failure | Success | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sr Jesus Choqne | ’There are so many mysteries in this life, librarian. Don’t you ever wish you knew less of how much you don’t know?' | 'This is the kind of place toward which I am called. The only concern is that I must be able to leave… is that something your collection can help me know?' | 'No certainty, but enough possibility. Off to this barren place to see what I might and escape what I must. Then I’ll be off, or perhaps I’ll be caught. Until we next meet.‘ | Jesus thought the possibility he could leave the Pinelands was just good enough that he could chance a visit. |
| Subcomandante Zuazo | ’When forbidden meetings take place, they take occur where the world goes uncertain, in the Wood or the Bounds or likewise.' | 'I believe what emerged sought another in the Pinelands, one who bares the wings of his inner nature. To meet either would be incredible. To meet both at once would be miraculous.' | 'If I find what I seek amongst the pines, the Brotherhood can fly further. Where we fly, we shed scales; where scales fall, true Change arises.‘ | Subcomandante Zuazo sought to attend a meeting between the emergent creature and another Cross-awakened being in the Pinelands, eager to induct both into the Shorn Brotherhood. |
| Prof Ji Yuan | ’Been gathering accounts from the Pinelands. Old ghosts wander in the night, hill-children run in the shadows, but nothing swims in the depths… on this side, at least.' | 'One of my sponsors - let’s call her N - took an interest in accounts of a white stag. She said if I brush up on some unorthodox hagiography, I could find an opportunity T.R.N. would give a generous reward for.' | 'So the stag is St Hubert hunting again. Most of the time, he guards the Orchard of Lights, keeps its fruits from being brought out of dream. With him distracted in the Wake, I can help T.R.N. plant a few more Orchards. Here’s your payment, Librarian, for helping secure mine.‘ | With St Hubert occupied in the Pinelands, Prof. Yuan planned to take fruits from the Orchard of Lights he guards, hoping to profit from sharing its seeds with T.R.N. Limited. |
Faculty Consultations
| Faculty | Start | Finish | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lacombe | ’In the places where one is buried dead, it is only natural one can come back to life there as well.' | 'There’s always more directions to find. I found this one with the Dottore’s help, and out there in the Pinelands, I’m sure many more exist. All the things buried in the dirt and the water… what may come if they reject Life and Death? Change, Librarian, Change.‘ | Lesson: Resurgences & Emergences |
| Magdalena | The cat rolls over in a restless state as I speak, never quite staying still. After a few moments, her stripes seem to shift, and I see fur-branches sawying in the wind of her shifting skin… | Do the winged things fly between her stripes? When her body swells with breath, do black trees yield to wind? Is the space between them another Wood, not darkened, but brightened, around the walls of another House? The questions brush against my brain like fog - and when I grasp at them, they crumble like dry leaves, doomed to scatter, lost in the gray-misted gloom. | Lesson: Sylvan Stories |
| Isidoro Dahlmann | ’The skin of the world may be pierced here and there, but I have far more interest in the places it grows permeable.' | 'The Wood and the Wake are not as far as they might seem. In the wilder lands, the same tree may grow in both places; the older it grows, the thinner the skin of the world. No wonder so many spirits linger there. It was only a matter of time until something more unexpected was drawn through.‘ | Lesson: Solutions & Separations |
| Sister Oxiacantha | ’The Wood has its Door, even if its walls are yet to be found. That is why others must act as those walls.' | 'You cannot make a garden of the Wood, but you may prune its branches and push back its roots. Those who came to the Ruin of the Roots once understood that matter of necessity. Now, we must ensure those roots do not strangle the world.‘ | Lesson: Door & Wall |