Please, it's not as though I offered it in full. I'm not that daft. I'd meant it only for my left eye. I managed reconnaissance for Ishgard and Ala Mhigo well enough with it impaired, so it was a gamble I knew I could recover from at worst.
[Still, he gives a nod at Urianger's correct assumption.]
Aye, they did. Given whispers around the room, we thought they might be a homunculus, like that which Vytra used in Thavnair. Not very expressive -I could only manage to get their name.
They panicked in the second room. Most of that time I had to spend restraining them. It was, ah...
It looked... very similar to that room of tanks to our west. [The room they eventually burst out from.] But all they contained were malformed attempts at the very same child.
[ Don't mind her, she's over here listening right now, content to think while Urianger asks questions. She'll have a laundry list of her own when Thancred is done. ]
...Aye. That was no issue, though Anaxagoras mentioned they could not open the second door and use the child as payment twice.
The final room was where we reconvened with the rest. Every inch was made of iridescent strips like ribbons. The very same iridescence we keep running across, yes. And all that was in its midst was a woman.
Magi, was what she called herself. Something made for the sole purpose to listen to desires and regrets and grant them, with no limit to what she can do.
As best as we could glean out of her, though she was about as obtuse as it was trying to speak with Hydaelyn at times.
She no longer knows if she was creates or if she has simply existed. Only that she has been as she is for as long as she can remember, and that wishes are her sole purpose. There is nothing needed for her wishes, by her claim. No price or punishment. She will simply grant them. But we observed that while that was the case for a couple things tested by the others, it was... variable on how she would grant them.
[A glance given, very carefully, to Y'shtola.]
For instance. This entire situation was one such variable of an answer.
The wish giver heard cries from many demanding a way to find cure for an illness. And, in her generosity-- [He is trying to keep the sarcasm light in that word but its noticeable] --she granted it.
Not the cure itself. Only the means to find it. Our presence was only a tool to increase the success.
[...ah. Urianger's expression also turns quite serious.]
That doth reflect what we have come to know of this wish giver. Whilst wishes are granted without a price, the interpretation of the results...may not be as expected or desired.
[He looks at Thancred as he says it, reflecting on the nightmares that Thancred and Lynne experienced. Not to mention Henrietta van Zieks escaping her fatal illness only to become a monster...
He exhales and shakes his head.]
At the very least, we now know our reason for arriving here...strange though it may seem. Did she have further insight as to how we are meant to discover the cure? And...didst thou have a confrontation with her?
...One at a time, I suppose. If you'd bear with me a moment.
Initially, she didn't. All she confirmed was that what she had provided to us was all we needed to find the cure. That included our patchwork surroundings - so, places that were desired by those who had made the wish, as well as places closer to "her". But it also included our own presence... as well as the presence of infection, and our ability to be infected. She said without the risk of infection, we would not believe it to be true, and thus would not look for a cure at all.
[A very frustrating and stupid way to set that up, in his opinion.]
But she has no issues with wishes contradicting. She has no issues with what happens to us, or others, as a result of her wish granting. It isn't her purpose to understand. It is only to grant.
[A sigh, as he glances down at his arm, before continuing.]
Eventually? Something in her cracked. I don't know whether it was the hostility and doubt we showed. But she suddenly changed.
She demanded that a wish many had, one she could not ignore, was the need for a monster. Something to be the villian. Something responsible for taking, just as much as granting.
So that is what she turned to. Something hungry. Something that now craved souls.
[...]
That is when she confirmed she was the original source of the infection. The first. And that, if we wanted our cure, we would need to find the second. Someone here in town, among our own.
[A beat, and his voice goes tense.]
And while we tried to ask more, she started devouring. Starting with Finis. Falling apart under her hands, just like how the guilty have been picked apart.
[Gods, but the emotional journey that Urianger goes through with this story. By the time Thancred finishes, Urianger's hands are clasped tightly in his lap. He has so much to say about all of this, he doesn't even know where to start.]
We must needs seek out this second source, then.
[That much is obvious. He just needed to make note that he heard that.
But eventually he lets go of his hands to move one Thancred's shoulder. A gentle touch.]
I am very sorry for what happened. Not only for the child, but...everything else she did take.
[He forces out an exhale. A familiar tension his more attuned relationships will immediately recognize. That of a wall going up.]
Aye. All of the more gruesome injuries were in our escape of her. Only when we all demanded an exit did she grant our "wish".
[A beat. He has more to share, but he needs to let the tension die from his clenches fist, first. His arm aches, all phantom.
...]
According to her, the second source will have signs. It will have been a slow process. Their behaviours will have changed. "The more they succumb to the madness, the less likely they are to show their face to the public."
Magi cannot be "wished" to stop. She cannot be removed from the process. Doing so will cause the cure to become impossible, and we will be stranded in turn.
She also cannot grant every wish she hears. Sometimes a wish is so strong she cannot ignore it. But she also said she doesn't always "have enough time" to answer everything, and that her wishes come too late. I believe Childermass asked about Henrietta, Urianger... that was, unfortunately her case. The family was granted a wish. The girl was too far gone.
[ Yeah, that glance seems to mean something to her, because she closes her eyes for a moment and lets out a slow breath. ]
...
[ This isn't the sigh of someone who has had their secrets been unwillingly uncovered, however. It's the breath that comes with a full confirmation of a theory, an inkling. ]
I would hold out on assumptions, however. Most of what we did travel through seemed to be reflections of Victor and his homeland, up until we reached our end. Whether they were connected or not to Magi, we could not tell.
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[Like damn Thancred, what kind of offering?! Granted, he probably didn't expect permanent blindness, but still...
Two offerings, though, and yet none of it explains how Thancred lost his arm. But he'll wait as he's sure there's more yet to the story.]
Thou didst find a child in these rooms? Then they came along with thee, is that right?
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[Still, he gives a nod at Urianger's correct assumption.]
Aye, they did. Given whispers around the room, we thought they might be a homunculus, like that which Vytra used in Thavnair. Not very expressive -I could only manage to get their name.
They panicked in the second room. Most of that time I had to spend restraining them. It was, ah...
It looked... very similar to that room of tanks to our west. [The room they eventually burst out from.] But all they contained were malformed attempts at the very same child.
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Oh, this story is going places, huh...]
I can certainly imagine why they would panic in such a place. Twelve preserve...
Wert thou able to escape the room with them?
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The final room was where we reconvened with the rest. Every inch was made of iridescent strips like ribbons. The very same iridescence we keep running across, yes. And all that was in its midst was a woman.
Magi, was what she called herself. Something made for the sole purpose to listen to desires and regrets and grant them, with no limit to what she can do.
Our wish giver.
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[And put together several puzzle pieces in the process. So she is indeed the source of the iridescence, too. Hm.]
Did she go on to explain herself?
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As best as we could glean out of her, though she was about as obtuse as it was trying to speak with Hydaelyn at times.
She no longer knows if she was creates or if she has simply existed. Only that she has been as she is for as long as she can remember, and that wishes are her sole purpose. There is nothing needed for her wishes, by her claim. No price or punishment. She will simply grant them. But we observed that while that was the case for a couple things tested by the others, it was... variable on how she would grant them.
[A glance given, very carefully, to Y'shtola.]
For instance. This entire situation was one such variable of an answer.
The wish giver heard cries from many demanding a way to find cure for an illness. And, in her generosity-- [He is trying to keep the sarcasm light in that word but its noticeable] --she granted it.
Not the cure itself. Only the means to find it. Our presence was only a tool to increase the success.
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That doth reflect what we have come to know of this wish giver. Whilst wishes are granted without a price, the interpretation of the results...may not be as expected or desired.
[He looks at Thancred as he says it, reflecting on the nightmares that Thancred and Lynne experienced. Not to mention Henrietta van Zieks escaping her fatal illness only to become a monster...
He exhales and shakes his head.]
At the very least, we now know our reason for arriving here...strange though it may seem. Did she have further insight as to how we are meant to discover the cure? And...didst thou have a confrontation with her?
[Thancred, your arm.]
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Are we in a Monkey's Paw kind of situation?
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[He doesn't like it either.]
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Initially, she didn't. All she confirmed was that what she had provided to us was all we needed to find the cure. That included our patchwork surroundings - so, places that were desired by those who had made the wish, as well as places closer to "her". But it also included our own presence... as well as the presence of infection, and our ability to be infected. She said without the risk of infection, we would not believe it to be true, and thus would not look for a cure at all.
[A very frustrating and stupid way to set that up, in his opinion.]
But she has no issues with wishes contradicting. She has no issues with what happens to us, or others, as a result of her wish granting. It isn't her purpose to understand. It is only to grant.
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Eventually? Something in her cracked. I don't know whether it was the hostility and doubt we showed. But she suddenly changed.
She demanded that a wish many had, one she could not ignore, was the need for a monster. Something to be the villian. Something responsible for taking, just as much as granting.
So that is what she turned to. Something hungry. Something that now craved souls.
[...]
That is when she confirmed she was the original source of the infection. The first. And that, if we wanted our cure, we would need to find the second. Someone here in town, among our own.
[A beat, and his voice goes tense.]
And while we tried to ask more, she started devouring. Starting with Finis. Falling apart under her hands, just like how the guilty have been picked apart.
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We must needs seek out this second source, then.
[That much is obvious. He just needed to make note that he heard that.
But eventually he lets go of his hands to move one Thancred's shoulder. A gentle touch.]
I am very sorry for what happened. Not only for the child, but...everything else she did take.
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Aye. All of the more gruesome injuries were in our escape of her. Only when we all demanded an exit did she grant our "wish".
[A beat. He has more to share, but he needs to let the tension die from his clenches fist, first. His arm aches, all phantom.
...]
According to her, the second source will have signs. It will have been a slow process. Their behaviours will have changed. "The more they succumb to the madness, the less likely they are to show their face to the public."
Magi cannot be "wished" to stop. She cannot be removed from the process. Doing so will cause the cure to become impossible, and we will be stranded in turn.
She also cannot grant every wish she hears. Sometimes a wish is so strong she cannot ignore it. But she also said she doesn't always "have enough time" to answer everything, and that her wishes come too late. I believe Childermass asked about Henrietta, Urianger... that was, unfortunately her case. The family was granted a wish. The girl was too far gone.
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...
[ This isn't the sigh of someone who has had their secrets been unwillingly uncovered, however. It's the breath that comes with a full confirmation of a theory, an inkling. ]
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She was insistent she'd granted you all a wish in the past. All four of you. Though Victor's was the only one I heard her bother to explain.
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...Weren't all four of you trying to fix something with your own worlds, or something like that?
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I believe I know which wish of mine she granted.
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...Like clones?
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I would hold out on assumptions, however. Most of what we did travel through seemed to be reflections of Victor and his homeland, up until we reached our end. Whether they were connected or not to Magi, we could not tell.
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Magi?
[Imagine knowing things. Couldn't be Sorawo.]
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[aka he explains next tag in the main story thread]