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--donation bonus (day #8, post 4/5)--
“Yeah... so, uh... we’re back in Brighton, but... what the hell do we do now?”

‘Well. Roman’s note said we have a few months before Atreya goes to war. So. I think the only logical thing to do is to focus on increasing your ability with iron until our allies return to retake Sescoria.’

“We just leave Abolish and Geoffrey to run wild? They’re going to be slaughtering people...”

‘What’s the alternative? Rush in to stop them on our own? We’ll die, and then there really won’t be anyone to protect the civilians here.’

“I guess so...”

‘But in a way, you’re correct. We can’t just sit here and have you try to meditate your way to victory. That’s not going to work. Meditation is okay for steady growth, but it’s not fast enough. To stand a chance, we need to press you harder.’

“And how do we do that?”

‘Simple,’ said Garovel. ‘We go looking for trouble.’

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Geoffrey’s return to the Rofal mansion had been a decidedly quiet one. Desmond had wanted him to stay in Sescoria, but Geoffrey thought he should be in Brighton in order to continue the family business. To his great disappointment, however, no one was here to meet him. For the past few days, he’d had the entire house to himself.

So he fixed that.

Dozens of living puppets wandered the corridors. He made a game of it, controlling them all from his office, seeing through their eyes, rifling through their minds, and putting on a veritable play by having them interact with each other in various ways--sometimes peaceably, most times not.

It amused him while he waited for the phone to ring, but then there came a delightful surprise when one of his puppets saw someone venture through the front entrance, someone not under his control.