Dungeon at the End of the Universe

Yeah, no. I’m not going to deal with that just yet. That’s a whole mess that I’m not qualified to touch.

Back to some other stuff. Just in case, I check up on my Dungeon Seeds. Maybe we did really only switch timelines, in which case I should theoretically still be able to feel them. But no, the connection is gone.

That leaves me with one last issue.

“Wanna talk?” I ask my fairy assistant.

Stupid question, I know. Faellen, just like anybody, obviously doesn’t want to discuss what happened. Unfortunately for it, it’s kind of necessary.

With a deep breath to ready itself, it says, “Yes. Where do we begin?”

“I mean, there’s only really one thing to discuss. The name they called you.”

The fairy gulps, but nods. I continue.

“Faellen was still the first name, that much hasn’t changed. What worries me most, is that extremely long nickname. Then there was the surname, Goldenbrush, which I’m curious about but it’s not really worrying. And lastly, I’m not sure how to categorize this one, but it’s the one I’m second most concerned about. What the hell is the Forgotten Court?”

Faellen’s eyes widen for a brief second before it speaks.

“Again, I know how suspicious this sounds, but I did just unlock some more ancestral memories,” it awkwardly offers. Inwardly, I groan, but I accept nonetheless. “Right, so. Remember that ancestor that did some weird experiments that marked my whole family?

Well, you’ve maybe heard that fae organize into Courts. The seasonal are ones are most famous. But there are others as well and my ancestor was part of one of those. From what I can tell, after their experiment went wrong, the time police arrived and… just erased my Court. That’s why it’s Forgotten.”

Sometimes I really miss having hands. If I had some right now, I’d be rubbing my head to stave off a headache.

“If it’s called the Forgotten Court because it went through that erasure thing they threatened us with, why are you here? And why is that in your memories, if they erased those who could’ve added it there?”

“Some must’ve been able to escape. The fact that we became the Forgotten Court certainly didn’t help the time police find us, as we became much more forgettable.” It paused. “But now I’m just theorising, that isn’t in my knowledge.”

“Alright, and you really don’t know anything about that nickname? What about the surname?”

“No, nothing. I’m not sure what to even think about it. The surname sounds familiar, but don’t remember it at all.”

“One last thing,” I ask, theory forming in my head, “You said last time that your ‘bloodline’, or Court, is especially vulnerable to time breaks. Could it be that you did some more time fuckery in the past, maybe to escape from the time police, and as a consequence to preserve causality or whatever the knowledge was erased from your mind? You did say that it was often unwilling how things fixed themselves.”

“That- that- would not be… ideal. I need to go sit down.”

Aaand great. I may have just inadvertently broken my greatest source of knowledge by giving it an identity crisis. Can’t really blame it though. I myself would hate to find out I have some blocked, or outright erased, memories.

Well, looks like we won’t progress much on this front for now. The Faellen mystery continues. At least now I can give it a bit of a better name. The mystery of the Forgotten Court. Or Forgotten Court mystery?

That leaves but one problem. The adventurers. I really don’t want to go deal with them, so I check one more thing before I go do that.

…
Objective: Provide System access to Ferras natives (3/16)
…

Yup, just as I feared. The first party of Ram, Prshky, and Dittillapp is not being counted anymore. Only the three I have in my Dungeon count. At least not all progress was lost.

Now that only leaves the issue of what to actually do with the stranded Sipalians. There were a few things to consider.

One, do I even want to tell them that anything has changed? As far as they know they’ve been kidnapped to a strange land and had no idea that eventually they would be returned. Other than the fact that the other three got returned after a while. But from their perspective that only happened after a year, so maybe they’re expecting to be stuck here for a year.

In that case I would need to figure out some way to increase their lifespan. Maybe also alter their perception so that they don’t feel like too much time has passed.

The second option is to reveal everything, or most everything. Tell them we’ve travelled into the past and that we’re currently at a time before their whole civilization even sprouted.

That… could have some unintended consequences. I’ve already caused one identity crisis today, I don’t want to cause three more. They could also turn against me. Not that that’d be a problem with their current power, but definitely annoying.

But the benefits of doing this… I don’t want to be crude, but it they accepted it and went on with their lives… well, let’s just say I wouldn’t have to wait until I’ve once more arrived at Lapis to fulfil my Spread the System quest.

There are the ethics of the thing though. I would, no matter how I want to frame it, be basically building a farm for sapient beings.

Argh, but the first option would take so much more work! I don’t want to do that!

Okay, maybe there’s also a third option, but that one also takes a lot of work. I could, theoretically, make a partial replica of Lapis with construct Sipalians and then teleport my three stowaways there once it’s time. Make a whole Truman show situation.

That one feels ridiculous and would be even more work than the first option. But it would be more fun that the first option.