IWUAaDNW: Initiative 6.2, 6.3

With Karjn and Ulfric as a reference, I raised my foot off the terror pedal a little bit. I wanted to see how they would react to my plans, but if those plans were too terrible for them to experience, then I would have to work in other ways.

I would have to… communicate.

I made illusions of myself for both Eira and Raffaa in their respective rooms. Raffaa had decided to climb up on the treetop, uncaring of the spider webs and canopy-bound bugs, so he could have a look around. I had used a single spider to ‘attack’ him with a fang, but after he showed no sign of caring as my spider’s fang failed to so much as scratch his skin, I desisted. Eira, meanwhile, released a visible sigh of relief when she saw me.

“I hope you don’t intend too much harm to me?” she asked with lightness that wasn’t entirely sincere. Her hands were tight around her staff.

I shook my head and ‘sat down’ with my legs crossed in mid-air, then showed her an image of herself, under attack by a dozen small birds, with a question mark over her head.

“…What would I do in this scenario?” she asked me.

I nodded.

“Hm…” she mused for a moment, then replied.

---

“Are they going to be okay?” Maryll asked worriedly. “Isn’t Taylor going a bit hard on them?”

She was right to be worried. After all, on the screen, I was showing how Eira was, all by her lonesome, fending off a dozen angry fleshpeckers by surrounding herself with a bubble of fire (“I would use Flame Fortress… no, it's not an actual fortress, it's a magical shield spell… yes, like that, but it’s more of a bubble made of fire…”), and how Raffaa was fending off a dozen spiders who were simultaneously wrapping him in webs and going for his eyes (while in reality, I was guiding him with a friendly smile).

Kamella was smiling peacefully. “They will, dear. I’m sure they’ve had worse.”

I had the feeling she knew I was laying it on like cake frosting.

—IWUAaDNW: Initiative 6.2



I considered withholding the answer from them, but in the end decided to share, if only to find out if they would think of a problem that I hadn't thought about. However, I also decided to keep this on a strictly confidential level. I trusted this group to take care of themselves, but when things inevitably decided to go south and if some people were captured, what they didn't know, they couldn't reveal.

So, on the village screen, I only showed them exploring the room and finding nothing, which led to its own set of conversations.

—IWUAaDNW: Initiative 6.3