Of course all of you are panicking. All the Guardians before you had to take this test, but they're not allowed to talk about it, so all three of you have come in here blind on what's supposed to happen. It probably hasn't occurred to any of you that this is supposed to happen!

Sifr specifically told you that you'll find a guide and they’ll tell you what happens next.

The Guide told you to follow them, which you currently are not doing! All you need to focus on is following the Guide, not searching for Gabe. In fact, he's probably already out of this forest and both Kol and Casey are the ones that are lost, not the other way around.

Sifr also told you to not draw attention to yourselves and I'm pretty sure running around screaming for Gabe is attracting a lot of unwanted attention right about now!

Remember: This is all part of the test to become Guardians, which you are currently failing!

Stop looking for Gabe and just follow the Guide. It doesn't matter if you get split up because you will eventually meet back up later!

>>1089710
The spell on Kol's tail kinda looks ike it's been cut. I think something might have broken Casey's spell and they've been separated.

>>1089734
>Sifr said don't draw attention to yourselves
>called for Gabe is drawing attention
I think Casey using her magic might also draw attention that we don't want.

Toxoglossa 2024/04/26(Fri)18:59 No. 1089811 ID: 8a1605
File 171418317031.png - (109.09KB , 700x500 , 16-103.png )

“Gabe, is that you?” Kol calls back, worrying about Sifr’s warning.

“Yeah! Its me!” Gabe’s voice replies.

“… Prove it! The guide uses our voices, right?” Kol demands.

“What? Er… okay, how about this: this morning you and Raithe spit-roasted me while everyone else watched!” Comes the reply.

“Yep, that works! Hang on!” Kol nods and hurries in the direction of the voice.

He comes around the curve of a root and finds the Sender looking confused. “Dude, where’d you guys go?”

“We were following the Guide! What happened to you?”

Gabe points at an invisible figure a few dozen feet away and says, “So was I.”

Oh that's... confusing. Are they personalized? Is there something tricking Gabe? But maybe they're each off to confront one of the fates?

Do not forget that this is a Trial, you three musketeers are gonna be tested, this is the first.
Hey Kol you should Signal Casey now

wait will Casey even know to turn around? will the guide guide her back to us? ...Maybe gabe should try using the tether to make a portal to her? or should these to try to run/gate to her?

>>1089811
Hmm. Well, you can follow both. Go with Gabe while Casey follows her guide. If either of you reach the destination then the tether can be used to guide the missing person(s).

Was it ever specified there only would be one Guide?

Maybe you all got one each.

Still, you could have some insurance. Tie a loop of Casey’s binding to Gabe.

>signal Casey
According to what >>1089741 said, the spell on Kol's tail looked like it was already broken and it's possible that we've been separated from Casey already.

But I don't know if that's true or not.

>>1089811
>Gabe points at invisible figure
>claims he was following Guide
I think the point of this is to separate everyone so they can take their own test and trying to stick together is running out the invisible time limit that Sifr implied we had in this place.

I'm worried about splitting up. These are the three bi mice, who always see each other through difficult situations. And Spirit Guardians always come in a set of three—has there ever been two who passed the trial, but a third who did not?

I hold that this is a test of sticking together, and we will pass it by resisting the proctors' efforts to split the team up. I don't think the lifeline to Casey is yet broken; the same glob of magic holding the lifeline to her tail is still affixed to Kol's, last we saw it. In this test, it is the power of the Binders that sees us through.

But it's sure that our time is short, and we should gather Gabe and rush back to Casey's side.

Toxoglossa 2024/04/29(Mon)17:46 No. 1090024 ID: 8a1605
File 171443797273.png - (162.23KB , 500x700 , 16-104.png )

“Wait, are there two guides?” Kol asks, blinking away shock.

“I never took my eyes off them.” Gabe insists, “I didn’t even realize you guys were gone until a minute ago.”

“Man, what the fuck is going on?” Kol clicks his tongue in frustration. “We should probably get moving. Shouting like that probably attracted attention, right?”

“Yeah, but what about Casey? Is she okay?”

“Oh, right!” Kol tugs on his tail, stretching the binding spell taut for a moment. ”She’s following the Guide too. At least I hope she is.”

“So what do we do now?” Gabe asks, looking anxious.

“If we’re following fae rules, we need to follow the guide above all else. I’ll stick with you, I guess, and we’ll hopefully meet up with Case on the other end of this forest.” Kol holds his hand out and Gabe takes it. “Hopefully we don’t get split up again.”

>>1090024
Give each other a repetitive hand squeeze as you follow. If the rhythm is interrupted, be wary.

I don't think the forest is trying to trick you, I think this is a test of overcoming whatever's thrown at you, not anticipating it.

Once again, tie tails.
Remember to yank your tail once like Casey said!

Toxoglossa 2024/05/01(Wed)18:16 No. 1090111 ID: 8a1605
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Having felt Kol’s tug at her aura, Casey slows down. The mouse opts to conserve her energy, as long as the guide remains perpetually out of reach. Taking deep breaths, she calms her heartbeat and lets the rush of adrenaline fade.

She kicks herself mentally a little, knowing that this is the kind of trick fae like to pull on guests: assuming the guide is even a fae.

After what seems like entirely too much walking, the mouse finds herself at the edge of the great rooted forest and looks around. The glow of mana is even brighter ahead and there’s some kind of shimmer in the air that’s hard to discern.

“Casey! Hey!” Gabe’s voice catches her attention and she turns to see her partners emerging from the mist.

>>1090111
Link back up but be mindful not to lose sight of your guide.

Is that really your tether? Confirm it.

you should probably tether Gabe as well, so you aren't stuck holding hands the whole time, you probably need those hands for something sooner or later

Toxoglossa 2024/05/02(Thu)18:02 No. 1090167 ID: 8a1605
File 171469812651.png - (185.78KB , 700x500 , 16-106.png )

Casey waves and eyes the pair cautiously, “Wait, how do I know you guys are really Kol and Gabe?”

Kol reaches back and tugs on his tail. Casey feels a corresponding tug at her own tail and accepts that as suitable evidence. “How about Gabe?”

“Yeah, its him.” Kol confirms.

“Yup, I told him about how earlier he was spitroasting me with Raithe, while you were in the middle of a Miki sandwich.” Gabe replies.

“Yeah, that tracks.“ The mouse nods, confident in her knowledge of her partner. She extends another binding tendril, connecting the trio together by the tail, “What happened? How’d we get split up?” Casey asks.

“I don’t know. Gabe was apparently following the guide the whole time, so I just stuck with him.” Kol shrugs. “Maybe there are two guides?”

“Speaking of. Where’d our guide go now?” Gabe asks, looking around. Ahead of them, the roots seem to thin out, revealing a vast pallid-grey sea of dunes. The lost souls waft out over the desert , headed towards some kind of strange glitter on the horizon.

I don't think you need them anymore. Head towards the glitter.

It could be a bad thing that we lost the one part of this journey that we were warned of/were expecting but it'll probably be fine.

Also maybe don't go towards that glitter. If dead folks are going there, then that means you're on the wrong path.

"The only way out is through;" a Spirit Guardian is one who has walked the paths of the dead. If our guide has left now that the mice are out of the forest of roots, then there is nowhere else to go but forward, following the flight of souls.

But do try to be cafeful--you don't want to draw too much attention to yourselves.

how did we get here? the answer is did you expect a plane more or less made of mana to be stable.
the soul trail is still the best bet, in lieu of the guide, who we might meet again, or might not. Onward!

>>1090167
That's quite the long walk. But would using a gate be wise?

Toxoglossa 2024/05/05(Sun)10:03 No. 1090373 ID: 8a1605
File 171492863496.png - (190.92KB , 500x700 , 16-107.png )

There’s a squeal and a crunch behind them. They turn to see something horrible and leggy being impaled by a giant talon. The clawed foot peeks out from underneath a cloak or a wing that seems to shed light off of it like water off of a duck.

Toxoglossa 2024/05/05(Sun)10:04 No. 1090374 ID: 8a1605
File 171492864087.png - (111.28KB , 500x700 , 16-108.png )

The mice follow the edge of the shape upwards and realize that what they’re looking at. Standing right next to them is their guide.

“Seems like you were followed.” They say in Kol’s voice. “Ah, that happens.”

Oh! thank you guide, let's not stray too far from the guide this time, and keep your wits about you.

>>1090374
Show respect, thank them for being your guide.

Dang, we never heard that thing behind us? I guess we need to be more alert.
Thank your guide/savior and ask which way you should go next.

I’m almost afraid to ask what that thing would have done to Gabe. Was it some sort of demon?

Perhaps this is the thing that Gabe was following, having been misled, and it followed him out after Kol changed his course. Fortunate, in any case, that our guide was here to take care of it.

And this guide--it's in Binder colors. Is this a presence Casey knows, if only by reputation? A word of thanks may be appropriate, but it's probably best not to pry. We must speed the mission forward as discreetly as possible.

um, excuse? good to know there are living(?) things here that aren't maybe a fate, though one wouldn't think so given... souls go here, not even to stay

>>873010
Uh, folks, I think we might actually have just encountered our
first of the Fates: “ MINERVA, the moon, preserver” (appearance tracks: a huge white owl, see the post referenced above in Chapter 4 https://questden.org/kusaba/questarch/res/872282.html )

In this case, what seems to ace been preserved is Gabe’s ass, perhaps from whatever spite is left of Muir in this realm if my intuition is right.

Ask if your guide is known amongst mortals by the name, or serves, Minerva, and what they mean by “followed”? Followed through the gate just now, or followed in a broader sense?

Toxoglossa 2024/05/08(Wed)19:38 No. 1090612 ID: 8a1605
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“There’s things living down here?!” Kol asks, once the shock wears off. He eyes the carcass of the thing, which appears to be oozing liquid mana from its broken exoskeleton.

“A few.” Comes the reply in Gabe’s voice, “It’s a harsh environment, so they tend to be… robust. Most are benign, but some take interest in travelers. I would take care if I were you.”

“Uh… sorry, but was… was all of that a test?” Casey asks, reeling from seeing the immensity of the guide.

“All what?” Comes the reply in Kol’s voice.

“Uh, us getting separated and lost? Finding one another again?”

The voice that replies is her own and it seems slightly amused, “No, you did that to yourselves. I don’t know why you people worry so much. After all, I’m always nearby.”

I'm curious as to why she used our voices for a while there, but I'll just chalk it up to vague mischievous entity reasons. Let's get back to the task at hand though, I'm sure there's no time to waste. Unless time moves slowly down here or what have you. Is she the all-knowing all-seeing kind of ethereal entity or do we have to fill her in on the barghast situation?

If we did that to ourselves, then it's to us not to do it again. Stay close; make use of Casey's tether, hold hands or tie tails if you have to.

But do ask the guide if we might speed along. As fascinating as the experience is, we don't have much time to indulge our curiosity.

Sorry, it's a mortal thing to worry. Now that we're together again, where to?

"nearby". That's why Casey couldn't keep up, because Minerva decides to always be at a set distance from any mortal in the Spirit Realm. A kind of omnipresence, I suppose.

Anyway, ask where you're going next. Follow the souls?

"always nearby" is definitally a little weird, still think "guide" is a Fate posing as a sheet ghost. well at least we can't get seperated again.
...it would probably be a Very good idea for Kol to ask if he can use his spirit magic here safely

Toxoglossa 2024/05/10(Fri)18:26 No. 1090710 ID: 8a1605
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“Oh fuck. You- you’re one of the Fates…” Casey stares, stepping back as realization finally hits. “M-M-M-“

The figure turns and two eyes open, revealing a pair of blazing, golden rings that burn with the radiance of the sun. The intensity of their focus sweeps over the mice like a scythe, rendering them mute as pillars of salt.

After a few moments, the eyes shut, mercifully hiding themselves behind the veil of invisibility.

A voice quite unlike anything spoken by a mortal advises, “You might want to keep moving, unless you intend to stay here…” It sounds like a silence followed by a brief squeak in the dark, or the snap of jaws around a neck, or a last breath beneath a snake’s coils. It is the voice of death itself.

Well that's about how meeting god would go, yeah? Yeah. Let's follow god's advice.

Yes. Of course. Let's, do that..

Remember to breathe, everyone

>>1090710
We're probably going to be meeting each of them in this journey. Also, that was MUUT, not MINERVA. The "absence" we've been seeing was mistaken for the white feathers of MINERVA. ...heh, death is always close, isn't it?

Get moving. Respectfully.

Damn, there really was a muut to this point

oh
WELL, that was intense, at least we will be able to try bracing ourselves for the other two
we REALLY should get going, anyhow

I'm guessing it's probably not a good idea to try and speak their names. Not here. Names have power.

>>1090710
This is why Uncle Sifr said that you're not supposed to talk about anything when you leave this place.

Also, it seems like they don't want you to say their name.

Not sure how you would describe them, if were you allowed

That does not look like any of the original ménage a trois.

Moving on!

As you dash away, don't forget to hold hands. Staying together will be what gets you through this ordeal.