Harriet’s Older Brother
With: Harriet, Xiera, Varuna
In the “southern city”, there’s someone to meet, and you were invited there. It was far enough from the kingdom and war to be called a backcountry spot. It is shown on a map. Somehow, you get there and go through brick and wood tunnels along with Harriet, fairy Xiera, and Varuna. There are people here too, in brown/dull shades of clothing and dresses. They all look pretty normal. Nobody also seems to have a 'special' hair color/they're all earth tones. An old man greets her, glad she’s safe, and a polite lady was worried about her with news of the attacks. Another lady will prepare her quarters, and ready a space for the guests. (you). Harriet reassures them she’s fine, she needs to show visitors around, and tells them to carry on with whatever they were doing. Everyone does a bow, and she explains this is the home of the militia as everyone walks onward. Xiera says there’s a lot of people for that... So, Harriet tells her they’re a lot who couldn’t sit by and let Lutz do whatever he wants, so they joined up. Varuna says Lutz’s goal was to summon castles one after the next because he’s insane. Overuse of Ephemera will lead to ruin, Harriet is sure.

So, what it looks like is this unseen Lutz guy has gotten too much of Ephemera, which is probably like darker energy because remember Persona and PD went into this place and wrecked it. It’s probably actually driven Lutz insane so him spawning up all the castles even when they’re not needed for wars, is probably its mechanism of getting him to do what it wants/increase darkness there.

At the end of one of the halls, there’s a big wooden door with a knight type guy guarding it, Harriet knocks and says she’s coming in. Inside it’s a normal room, with candles on a shelf, barrels of stuff, dried herbs, sconces and a desk/books area.

*Everything here is supposed to be sort of 'underground' or in some castle basement or something but of note is that it's all WAY too well lit. There's sourceless lighting literally everywhere. The 'underground brick and wood window-less halls' are lit like they're the mall on a saturday. Sure there are candles on the wall but everything acts like there's office-style lighting in every single ceiling, so it comes off as strange.You can't un-notice it, either.

Once Harriet gets in there and you can see past her, your character is shocked by something. A voice says wait for a reply, don’t just barge in and be rude right after knocking to Harriet. Someone’s at the desk reading a book, so you can’t see the face. Harriet pokes back with ‘we’d be here till sunset waiting on a reply from the likes of you’.

The brother takes it in stride asking “What would that day be?” (That he makes her wait so long)
So she gets on with it, that we have guests today, and he thinks they are tax collectors.
Fairy Xiera and your char are shocked, but he says it’s the last day to pay the tax is why you’re here?
This causes Xiera to freak out at what, at who, at how…could Luther be here!

He lowers the book and

Luther?!

He looks up, and…tattoo free…but with the same hair style and same long pointy newman ears, it does appear to be him. He’s in a white noble looking suit.
The scene ends

Ears:
With the difference of Harriet & Luthers’ ears, it seems 1 set of parents can produce pretty different ears for kids. Luther’s are most of the way up the sides of his head, being very long and pointy with almost no lobe area. Harriet’s are squat and much more blunt, they face outward at a right angle rather than going up.

Tattoo:
Remember, original Luther had a facial tattoo of tears falling both down and up from one of his eyes. His hair style was also distinct, somehow combed into a lattice like simple over-under on the back of his head. This one has the same odd hairdo, but the tattoo is missing.

Luther?
With…Harriet & Luther
He says yes, he’s Luther but who are you to address him so. There’s not many who know him by face and name. He’s got the same white hair over one eye. He wears knee high white boots with gold & blue trim. He’s got on a white/gold trim longer (knee length) coat with fancy cuffs, white gloves & a ruffled neck tie thing. The coat is held shut by 3 chains, and he’s probably got a vest on underneath. One shoulder has a gold pointy wing-ish shape décor on it.

Unless, you’re a spy working for Lutz!
Right away, he is suspicious of that (and has total disregard for strange people or casts because the writing was never prepared for anyone to be an abstract robot here--they just neglected the possibility for the sake of streamlining the plot along, so if him getting hopping mad over a 'spy' rather than the fact he's faced with a 9 foot tall hot pink and orange mess of spikes & random drill bits doesn't seem to fit in well......that's why.) Harriet says no way, this noble soul saved her when she was being persued. He tells her she lacks forsight because clearly that rescue was fake and it’s part of a greater scheme to find the hideout? This makes her mad so she yells at him. He says he understands her sincerity, so clam down, the princess shouldn’t yell so. She turns it back on him, no yelling for him either, older brother. His claim to the throne is long passed, he no longer has an underlying royal duty to bind his thoughts, actions, or the subjects of his research. (This is an obtuse rebuttal of him excusing his own yelling because without a claim on the throne he can yell all he wants--but look how roundabout he puts it, it's actually interesting to hear that)

Ah here he goes..research with ‘subjects’.

You watch as they argue, and Xiera whispers that this must be what Alma was talking about earlier. The record of what has been has….been messed up, since it’s a dream, anything can become reality. But really, having Luther be Harriet’s brother? It exceeds all rational notions of plausibility. But Luther grabs hold of her by a wing tip to inspect a fairy of fables and legends! He inspects her (after all, he was always basically a scientist, if it’s really a variant on him, this is normal) He’s super interested to see her, but didn’t get a good hold and she flutters out of his reach. He takes this to mean that this must be a savior form another world just like the legends say. Xiera yells does he really understand now?

He’s the forerunner of magical research. Were he to study the ebb and flow of mana around you, it would be different, because it’s clear you’re not from our world. His position is what allowed him to lay the foundation for modern summoning spells. He never would’ve made it to that point without believing in the existence of other worlds…now would he?

So, he’s a bit obtuse and slightly arrogant here too, but that’s to be expected if it’s still really a variant of him. He turns to Fairy Xiera saying, but, really, you can fly and understand speech? But, would you mind indulging my passions and becoming an experiment subject? This (with good reason) frightens Xiera away, so she flies directly behind your head to hide, saysing ‘hey listen please help me!’ (Is this a drive at Link’s “Hey Listen” fairy? It could be)

Perhaps For Another Time
Please Don’t Tease Her

It would be rude to Xiera to say Perhaps For Another Time, so if you risk putting him a bit off with Please Don’t Tease Her , he says he’s serious, it appears my sister’s sore gaze doesn’t take well to his words so…we shall proceed instead with our more pressing concern. Harriet does glower at him a lot, and he gives her the side-eye as well.

The current state of affairs is civil war, which he will explain with…
A FP view pop in show. It has Xiera on one side, and him on the other. He shows you in the center an icon with a picture of the purple rose with red stem and leaves. He claims the origin of the problem is within the flower Ephimera. Xiera says it’s a magical catalyst that drastically improves the effect of whatever magic is done with it. He shakes his head, adding that especially if it was for magic that had been regarded as impossible for normal people. It is mysterious and peculiar in that it disappears in a mist when the petals fall off, but blooms unexpectedly and never produces seeds. It has been described as a gift from god but it’s the opposite. It slowly consumes the soul of the user upon each use and alters the world, so it is a contract with a demon instead.

Xiera wonders what does it mean to consume the soul? He says he already explained it, if you use the mana that Ephemera gives, you’ll be consumed over time. If you use magic while using Ephimera, it’ll unconsciously progress to the point where reality and fantasy are lost upon you, creating total insanity. It only allows for itself, makes people incapable of thinking about others. That’s how Lutz became insane, killed the king, took the throne, and here we are.

What Xiera is probably getting at that Luther misses, is "what IS a soul really here? HOW is it consumed?" because the concept is religious of origin, she's not going to know/be raised with it because Xiao literally spawned her like a year ago. Naturally, nobody like that exists here so Luther just thinks she's being dense.

Xiera says it’s like a darker infection.
Is it really though? You only ever really see that on animals who can’t be ‘clinically insane’ or said to ‘only be in fantasy’. Anyone who GOT infected though…..was already always only thinking of themselves and not others. Gettem was already well off his bean over Melfonseana’s death/he was always selfish/arrogant/rotten, the double twins were also selfish 100% thinking only of killing things for play-time-evil, Luther the original also was ultra selfiish--perhaps the most out of everybody because as a Photoner he lived the longest and was literally going to destroy everything by killing Xion so he could know everything for himself, and Apprentice (Afin sister) never went all the way because she still cared enough about Afin despite being a jerk. So, it might be better to say darker infection preys on people who are already just like it.

Xiera concludes that it sounds like the origin of Ephemera is PD. So, consuming people plus PD, then it’s the threat we thought that it was. But, how did you figure it out? Harriet thinks about it, and Luther claims he was responsible for creating the magic that summons the Devil Castles, he’s killed many people who went insane from doing it. Harriet argues a degree here, saying he only did it for the sake of developing new magic.

(So, he invents it, it works, people try it, but some of them go crazy and attempt to kill others, so he murders them instead)

He assures her that it’s all right, we sacrificed many in the pursuit of research and development, it was his own sin and that is what cost him the throne. (So, King didn’t want creepy son the mad scientist taking over and nominates kind and contentious Harriet instead—makes sense) and because of him, the world is being consumed by his research, and that’s a fact.

Why Did You Do This?
Did It Not Go According To Plan?

The better thing to say here WOULD have been “not exactly, you’ve been meddled with by an evil force from our dimension that I’m here to try and stop” because pulling blame off of people like this makes them act better. Instead though, you get 2 choices, the first one is too accusatory (Plus, you KNOW how he is—he experiments and does things for the sake of doing them—so that’s why he did it, to see if he could—even if he didn’t mean it to get out of hand…which, if he’s ok-er here he probably didn’t) So if you ask Did It Not Go According To Plan?

If it did…do you think I’d be in a place like this? This is the result of sticking to research and not looking at others. As people’s souls were consumed, he only sat and watched. Had Harriet not been here, he’d have ended up the same as Lutz. Harriet says yes it’s true he created Devil Castles, but, he also created Buster Tower that destroys them. He finishes the statement of ‘and all this is why Lutz is trying to have us killed’. The next phrase isn’t that clear. Is it that Lutz did all this, or is it that Lutz SAID Harriet did all this? "Share the devil castle tech, spread lies & rumors, do research that further ruins the nation, how many false charges are there?"

Harriet says Ephemera was discovered decades before we were born. It had a huge effect, but not enough to significangly change the world. But…Devil Castles did change the world by changing how wars are fought. Each nation summoned a DC along the border and created a situation where no one can attack, only keep posturing with it. He finishes that with if no one can attack, battle won’t spread, and it almost makes it peaceful. So…the widespread knowledge of DC hasn’t gone in vain. But, that’s only the first step toward global destruction.

Xiera asks if the destruction part is because Ephemera makes people insane. He agrees, saying all DCs need to be destroyed because they consume and also spread it. That’s why he created buster towers. But they use too much mana. And without Ephemera, no ordinary person can use it, even it was impossible for himself and Harriet too. But, you seem to have gotten it, and even destroyed a DC. Also, you analyzed the tower with your own tech & replicated it several times. (How does he know this?) What can we call you then, if not the saviors?
Blooming without explanation, becoming a catalyst without reason, such a fantasy doesn’t exist. We must destroy the flower that drives the world mad. He closes his eyes at this and Harriet worries about him a little bit.

Outside Luther’s room, Xiera confides that she feels lost because this guy has his face, but he seems to be right. She shows you the rose again, saying it disappears when your char photons get on it. It’s the crystal of a darker infection, PD did it for sure. It’s hoping to revive itself with it. Cooperating with Harriet is the right decision.

The scene ends.

It's clearly meant to be quite creepy here that it's basically 'the big bad' acting good and normal.
They're actually doing a pretty darn good job of him too, he's still mr mad science, but with Harriet around he's not rampant. The real curiosity would be did ORIGINAL Luther have a sister?
You don't know.
Remember, he was a Photoner from like 1000s of years ago AND what you saw him as wasn't even his original body!
Someone had to have been his parents/raised him, he didn't pop in out of no-where he was a regular person once on the Photoner...planet. He well could have had a sister 200 years ago in reality, making this more normal to find him here with a sister as well.

Talking With Others
241 10/4 at 1000
On the bridge, Xiera is disappointed we’d run into Luther like that. She complains that it was so chaotic as to be beyond her imagination, telling Alma she’s right about it being a dream of the Record. Alma just tells her dreams are unreliable. Maybe something even crazier and more absurd will happen now? She wiggles and waves her arms getting excited for that. Xiera, skeptical, says she’s enjoying it too much then, isn’t she. She apologizes, but thinks we need to do something about it. But, this is the first time in a long time that she got to talk to anyone again, it’s very enjoyable. Xiera asks if she was with the record…but then what did she do when Xion ‘passed’?

Alma doesn't know the full Luther story/how bad he was.
At this point she's supposed to be like...'watching Xieras tapes of history' or something but she clearly didn't get there yet. So, it's normal that she's acting this way/he doesn't scare her.

Passed:
For ‘passing away’ which is the very polite society word for ‘died’…and….isn’t appropriate here. Passed is used to imply that something went on to the afterlife which……….there kind of isn’t? There is no such thing as god/s, the actual closest thing to god would have actually been Xion herself! The whole thing is a conundrum of what to call beings like that and speculation of what happens upon their ‘demise’.

Alma says nothing happened. She was just alone inside the Record. She was just there, alone watching the records archive themselves. She thought everything was ok. (This seems to suggest she had made peace with being dead and simply observing this mechanism at work was entertaining enough to do for literal eternity) But now that she’s talking to people again, she doesn’t want to stop. Xiera closes her eyes, crosses her arms, and thinks about something for a bit…then asking, would you like to talk to her when she has the time? Alma wonders if Xiera is too busy for such things? She says don’t worry, talking with others is part of her role here, isn’t that right?

Yeah Totally!
Only Sometimes.

If you encourage her with Yeah Totally! Then Alma will talk whenever we can. Xiera enthusiastically agrees. You wouldn't want to discourage them here with 'only sometimes', because the more Alma lets loose, the better off everyone is with information.
The scene ends.

The Mad Minister Lutz
Delusions of the Seedless Flower
In the Cuent Capital, word spread that Harriet with the Savior was alive and well. The Savior will end the era of darkness, people started to consider that it might really work. They had hope and smiles again. The milita camp though, had no smiles because Lutz and his army is still on the prowl.

As we defeat more DCs we need to head toward the capital.
But, there’s one thing of concern which is the actions of Alisa the Sword Maiden. Xiera wonders who this is. Luther tells you that she’s legendary, but she’s not a legend from someplace else like you are, she’s a historical fact. Now a wall-fresco looking series of simple art scenes shows "in the olden days a crimson evil dragon dominated the world. It ruined everything until a band of great heroes was able to defeat it with a magic sword. The hero of the sword defeated the dragon and used the sword to seal away the curse. The kingdom was called Cuent after the defeat of the dragon. So, this is the "Crimson Castle Crusher the literal giant red dragon that is the MPA Emergency Quest monster boss.

Xiera wonders if Harriet is a descendant of the hero.
But no…they’re descendants of the hero’s companions, the hero since ancient times are only handed down the strength of the hero and not the sword, they’re not in politics.
The descendant of the hero is the Sword Maiden Alisa, though she doesn’t care for the wills of the kingdom…her existence is still a threat. Xiera wonders how, if she’s not in politics at all. Even if we gloss it over, she’s someone with a blade there will be circumstances outside of her control, explains Luther. What they mean is that Alisa is a free agent doing just whatever she wants with big magical power and a magic sword too--who knows who she'll side with, if anyone.

In the royal capital is the castle,and Lutz is on the throne, irritated as he has to listen to his underlings making reports. In a largely empty throne room with blue banners and a red carpt there sits a frowning neman man in a big fancy crown. He glowers down the red carpet at a knight armor guy who kneels to give the news to him. Lutz is dressed in a white robe that’s floor length. He has dull blue long hair, long pointy (tall) newman ears, and white gloves. The robe has gold trim and gold curly designs. The shoulders have 'feather' extensions, and he has a necklace that looks like a feathery sheild.

Lutz asks how did this happen, he ordered the suppression of all traitors. But, Luther & Harriet yet live, and the DCs are still being destroyed. The Knight guy in his helm (labeled Cuentian Soldier) explains they’re unbeatable fortresses, thanks to the power of the Devil Barriers…but there’s a method to defeat the barriers then destruction is a possibility.

Aside from him, there stands a woman in pink. She has knee high silver shiny boots with gold trim, a pink…cloak like long cover (to the ankles) that's all open in front, probably blue shorts, a garter belt on at random…silver/gold trim gauntlet gloves & wears a white sword at her side. The boots have chunky high heels. She just stands there the whole time while he is reporting. Lutz bangs a hand on the throne arm and dismisses the guy who leaves. This woman steps up and says calm down uncle.

She has white and gold feathered literal small wings (like a bird...) on a headband device for the sides of her head, upper-back-length neat, straight brown hair, and a mini-cape of pink flaps with gold designs. One shoulder has a gold armor cuff, the other has a silver dragon face theme with horns/spikes that point upward. It has a glowing red gem for an eye. Her pink cloth/half a robe is open in front so you can see her white bra, blue ‘bathing suit’ type top & a belt. Interestingly, the pink robe has a high collar that goes up her neck but then stops at the necklace area so her chest can be bare while she wears it. (Who is making fashion here? It is so tacky? No one would do sword fighting in chunky heels, booty shorts, a bra, a bathing suit with belly window, and a shoulder thing with horns that point at your own head and neck.) Alisa’s eyes are blue.

Lutz says it’s impossible to calm down while DCs are being destroyed. Alisa tells him that Harriet possesses the power to destroy them, but is in the company of a being known as The Guardian. The 2 heirs are at their side. While you have the kingdom’s research, their cause is justified. (So, she’s telling him off a bit here) He glowers at her with his dark blue eyes, demanding just who’s side is she on. She only states the facts as the Sword Maiden. (So, Harriet is right, she’s on nobody’s side, particularly) If he believes in the will of the people & kingdom, reconciliation is the best course. He won’t, he won’t reconcile the king who nearly defiled the nation into ruins…or his descendants.

Uncle, did he really try to?
Is this her not understanding that the King is dead or not? Does she still think the king is alive (as he talks like King is) because Lutz only ‘try to’ kill the king?

This bothers him, so he demands  “Why must you, the DC & Ephemera are essential for keeping the nation alive. To abandon them would destroy the nation, and if it disappears so too does history. Even the legend you protect and the sword you wield would be destroyed, so do you understand?”
 She thinks about it, and finally agrees, then turns to leave. She thinks he’s not wrong, because without DC we wouldn’t be able to survive the other nations, but what is the reason to abandon the castle and destroy Ephemera? She doesn’t feel she has much of a choice…except to ask them directly! And continues walking onward to exit the long throne room.

The scene ends.

1. You know this means Alisa will show up in Cuent to see Harriet, you & Luther directly
2. Lutz is also a big sword hero dragon-defeater descendant because she calls him Uncle
3. Alisa has a good head on her shoulders, this is likely to be a good-guy character
4. How does she know "The Guardian" is out and about? Probably rumors spreading as news catches on
5. Lutz doesn't come across as 'totally insane', he's just really convinced he's right and that Devil Castles are the way to whatever ultimate victory he's after. Obviously it's the Ephemera convincing him of this but he's still pretty rational and normal acting here.
6. Notice how there's not 100 stupid questions & nonsense? Notice how so far everything is adding up and the plot is progressing in a normal manner? Isn't that NICE?

Sword Maiden Alisa
This scene starts with text over the Cuent map. It shows the capital, and the camp. It tells you that "It was announced that they had to slay the previous king because he abandoned the nation’s policy and the will of the people." (Obviously false) Alisa heard the reports and documents that were discovered, with the king’s signature on them, supposedly supporting the theory that the king wanted to go to war and summon devil castles everywhere.  A strange feeling loomed over the nation, why would a gentle king do that? And so, Alisa set out to get to the bottom of it at the Cuent Militia Camp. Travelling alone and surprising all when they (The Cuent Rebels/Harriet's Crew) met her at the edge of camp, Sword Maiden Alisa arrived.

One factor here isn't going to add up just yet:
The king was supposedly "all good", which there is no reason to not believe this. It will be revealed in a paragraph or 2 from now that Lutz was ALSO good/normal, UNTIL he got too deep into the Ephemera thing & it made him crazy and evil. So then, from whence did evil start? Lutz "over using castle summoning" is his attributed reason for being bad, but the castle summoning only started AFTER the king was murdered....by Lutz. So, that does not add up YET. It will be important to watch for this plot point to come together.

In the big tent, Alisa thanks Harriet for agreeing to meet. Harriet is honored by her presence. She explains that the duty of her house is only to bear the Legendary Sword and the Hero Strength, we don’t get involved in politics. Luther appears (replacing Harriet in the ‘scene’ theater that this is presented as) and asks her that if Lutz is her uncle, wouldn’t feelings surface over a blood-relative like that? She’s ready to counter him, and says if he puts it that way, then as descendents of legends, both of you (Him & Harriet) have ties with her even stronger than blood. He is forced to shut his eyes and shrug at this, then goes away.
Harriet wants to get to the point though and asks why she’s here.
She’s looking for the truth behind Devil Castles and Ephimera. Luther comes out to ask what would listening to enemy excuses do for you, because you already know where your uncle stands, and where we stand too. (This is pretty wise, any closed-minded character would dismiss him--he's feeling her out for this) She knows the DC’s are uncles prized treasure, if they’re to be destroyed then she sees the outcome of this battle. But, to whom shall she lend her strength and sword? Is this really the place to bestow herself? That’s what she needs to know.
He’ll tell her that using Ephemera corrupts the mind from the inside, only allowing for thoughts about itself and influences the will toward malice for others. He was the one to discover it, through the development of the DCs and handed his data over to the King, while proposing a ban on it’s use, and the king agreed, then enforced a new law to back the ban. The Prime Minister and all his followers opposed it, assassinated the king, branded him & Harriet traitors and took over the nation after running them off.

This makes her mad, so she demands to not believe a grandiose story without evidence. He says she ought to have encountered plenty of evidence already being Prime Minister Lutz Niece. Now she’s further aggravated, at the implication that he’s a murderer. Harriet steps in to tell her that the PM was kind and gentle, using his thoughts for the nation and people, even her father poured lots of faith into him. During the defense of the nation, it was he who took the initiative of summoning more castles than anyone else…and from the over use of Ephemera, the negative effects took him over. Notice that none of this is actual 'evidence' physical or otherwise to help Alisa, but she seems sort of ok with it.

Luther returns saying the DCs he built for the nation and its people now must be destroyed for the nation and the people, and even, the sake of the world. He says it’s ironic. (What he probably means is disapointing to him, as he really thought he was onto something, but then it turned out to be the opposite of what he wanted.) Harriet worries about him a little, as she appears behind him. He tells Alisa that this concludes their half of the story…so she can believe what she wants, but he assumes she’s already made her decision.  She thinks about it a little, then asks him what he means by that. He doesn’t get to tell her, because Varuna appears with an urgent report for Harriet, because someone is summoning a DC in the plains in front of the camp. Alisa is upset, there shouldn’t be any forces out there. Luther thinks its possible they already made their move as you were here with us talking. To use the Sword Maiden, to use a niece as a pawn in the plan, it seems Lutz’s insanity reaches new heights.

Alisa is sad, whispering out Oh Uncle, and the scene ends.

It’s refreshing to see a level-headed character done pretty well like Alisa is here.
She wants to see for herself everything going on, then actually does it without flying off the handle.
Luther isn’t really super compelling with how he states their side of things/he could have done better but hey it’s Luther. Having him try to ‘catch her at stuff’ is also pretty typical.

Alisa’s Resolution
In the plains, Alisa claims Uncle is kind and gentle, he took care of her, she looked up to him, so it was because it was his words…she accepted everything he said without question. She wonders what the founding legends and traditions were pointing toward. The sword and strength she inherited exist only so that she can slay the revival of the Crimson Evil Dragon, she can’t use her strength for any other purpose. Using those words as her excuse, she’s turned a blind eye to the reality of the situation. So everyone, Harriet, Luther, Guardian, let’s stop my uncle, then try to reconcile before his mind is consumed totally.

Luther asks her if she knows what she’s implying, (likely murdering Uncle Lutz) to which she closes her eyes, admits he took the life of the king, and will accept the risks. Luther then promises to see it thru to the end, so if our convictions are at fault, then she can strike us down with all her strength. To which she says it goes without saying.
The Scene Ends.

The Sword Maiden’s Duty
You walk up to meet Alisa outside the tent, so she says she’ll call you Guardian as everyone does, she’s Alisa, this generation’s maiden, she’s honored to meet a figure of legend. (Of course, she's another non-reactor to someone extremely unusual/or something these people of this would would never see) Fairy Xiera flies in, asking if she’s a legend too? Alisa explains she’s more tradition than legend, for generations the only Sword Maidens are allowed to inherit the Hero Sword and Strength. (how do you DIS-Allow inheriting? That’s not how that works--you can't control what your kids get and don't when they are born--maybe she is mis-using a word.) Xiera thinks about this.

How Strong Is It?
Could You Use It To Save The World?

If you ask How Strong Is It? (It’s clear it can’t save the world, or she’d of likely already done it) She’s not sure, she never thought of it as anything other than traditional power. It serves 1 purpose, the key of defeating the CED that will resurrect. The sword will only reveal the true power when facing just that dragon, that’s the legend she follows. It’s a wives’ tale by now, but she can’t downplay the importance or try to reject it.

So basically:
The dragon these generations of maidens are supposed to defeat somehow never resurrects or comes back / out from / wherever it is, so they get a sword and a power they never end up using and that’s why it’s so ‘legend’ like this. Even as the nation collapses or the family falls, she’s forbidden from using the Strength. Xiera says that’s painful. She agrees, but it’s her duty, she’s the last defense against the CED, she felt pain and suffering but is not sad she got what she inherited. People form legends are like that, right Guardian? She smiles at you, and the scene ends.

The bottom line:
So the sword and the power ONLY WORK if there’s a red dragon around somewhere, and since there’s not, she’s got nothing but a title going on for herself. It would have been nice to have something like she can’t draw the sword, or ‘its ordinary and proven normal’ until a dragon pops out--but they did not illustrate that here. She can’t save anybody with a sword or a power that doesn’t work.

The Battle of Cuent Central Plains
This sends you to a camp ship so you can prepare. However, it gives instructions…that don’t translate. It’s something to do with level scaling? You can buy stuff and prepare before you go, but you don’t earn buster points or any of the ‘buster stuff’ that’s usual (From when they thought the buster questing/bust medaling was going to be a huge fad—it’s basically a bit of its own separate mode, just fighting these siege castles). This tells you that it only has the big crystal at the end/no enemy drops, but the crystal never comes out because this is story mode. The win condition is to beat the castle.

After the camp ship, you go down to the battle tent. The party indicator still says 8 people possible but it’s not because this is a solo story/so just initiate the countdown to go by yourself. The castle you get will be the gray one (not the black one) and the ‘scaling’ that was confusing is that all of the enemies are SUPER weak, likely around level 20 or so—but the buster towers are YOUR level, as are the buster piles. However, there are still the usual amount of them trying to kill the towers so you really have to be on your toes. The version of the battle is the big empty field but now with boost hoops for speed-running placed around in it. There are the buster towers on one side, mostly set to defensive (So, gattling guns etc) and the Devil Castle/it's wall on the other. (It is not the canyon pit map) It is highly likely to give a poor grade because this thing still…isn’t meant for 1 person. They’re basically jimmying it so that you CAN win (or are likely to win) through the level scaling.

This has zero dialogue or story to it.

The Devil Castle
Another map explanation with arrows and icons appears. It tells you “After defeating castles the militia goes toward the capital, the heroes reach their destination outside the walls where Lutz is, and Harriet once called the place home…
So it shows you Harriet & Luther, talking outside the castle walls. The castle is somewhat barn-shaped, or church-shaped, with one taller ‘steeple like’ point on the front of a peaked roof gray building. Smoke billows from the back, into the distance. The field has pink flowers, torn banners, and was obviously the scene of a fight. Harriet says Cuent Castle is very nostalgic now, and inside we shall find Lutz…Luther says he cast judgement on his closest associates, using them as pawns and now pays the price for such behavior. He’s foolish, losing sight of everything after being used by the DC’s, He is without a doubt beyond help, to think, he’d encounter someone who is farther gone than he was.

*This is interesting.
Luther is claiming to have gotten “The Ephemera Crazies” or whatever it is they’re going to call it, but somehow gotten BETTER from it? As if it was an illness and he got over it? Nobody ever said you could get better from it, it was always portrayed as a 1 way street. What did he do to fix himself?

Harriet says let’s just go end this. 

Now, you can see Lutz. (This would be impossible to do, it’s another scene your character could never see because it is very far away and has basically nothing to do with you.) Lutz is ranting on the front lines, he’ll summon a castle and smite the traitors with his own hands. He is in front of the Cuent Castle gates, and has his skeleton brigade behind him. There doesn’t seem to be any humans in sight, so he’s basically talking to just ‘enemies’, whether or not they can understand him. He claims he’s got justice on his side, and everyone else deceives with lies. (Meaning Harriet’s crew)Even if a savior stands against us, we have ephemera so it means nothing. Stories carry no weight in the face of Ephemera, so let history be rewritten right now.

It can be pretty positive that the ‘monsters’ aren’t any sort of people here. They’re probably Ephemera manifestations of ‘things people thought would be scary’, so that’s why green ogers, skeleton with sword, goblin green little guy with club & ‘grim reaper’ all appear and are fairly ‘typical’.