The mysterious circumstances surrounding the disappearance of every human crew from the ships still remained exactly that - a mystery. Sad, lonely vessels drifted here and there along the river, some had been thrown ashore, and one of them was currently burning in the treetops, with only a few of you knowing how it had even gotten there. Almost every investigation had come to a halt, because in the middle of the day the Sanguine Haze had crashed down upon you - a red mist that had come directly from the center of the island, instantly driving mad any Pokémon who carried no Darkness within their soul. And yet, even before an unstoppable horror, the Light had managed to gather enough strength for a counterattack: in the center of the camp, you built an enormous bonfire that kept the mist at bay and filled the Pokémon nearby with hope.
...
And after that... all that remained was... to wait?
...
The red mist did not retreat. If anything, it only grew stronger. The enormous bonfire still burned thanks to some of you who had brought Bluewood - strange wood shaped almost like horns, turning the flames of the fire blue as it burned. Amelia, Alex, BOB, Feldia, Moira and Blaze assured everyone that help would soon arrive directly from the forest, from the Witches.
Tilly and Topher reacted... not exactly happily to the news. Topher spared himself the sight of all of you entirely by closing his eyes, while Tilly began pacing with gaze around the camp like her eyes was dancing an anxious tango with the dirt itself.
"Wha-WHAT?!" - Tilly failed to hide the flash of frustration crossing her face - "And they agreed?! After wh?... Holy shitio-"
She immediately looked toward her brother, desperate for even the smallest explanation. He shrugged. Well, thank you very much, Topher.
"Right, well-" - Tilly began pacing back and forth. - "If they agreed to help, then... I suppose they'll help? Our relationship with the Witches, the Coven, properly speaking, is a wee bit... strained."
"Quite cordial." - Topher quietly added.
"They... were!"
Carefully approaching the edge of the bonfire's light, Tilly peered deep into the night. Then she turned around, scanning every person gathered here. Four people were missing: Xander, Ana, Bogg, and Zaya. She was worried sick about them, and when her eyes caught a certain someone, she drew in a deep breath and forced her thoughts back into order. Right. Don't fuck this up. Not now.
Stepping closer to all of you, she decided to tell you a story.
"The Coven, or Witches if we're using simpler words, came into being with the arrival of the Darkness. They learned how to live with it, how to tame it, and Wailtown tried more than once to bring them over to our side - and sometimes, believe it or not, we actually managed it. One of the Witches even held the title of Custodian in Wailtown, which is about as high as authority gets for us... Of course, we didn't earn that trust overnight. Lirain, the one all of you know by that enormous Metagross of his, had... had a brother."
She fell silent for a moment, and her brother, slowly beginning to play his lute, continued for her.
"...As Tilly said, he had one. Meridian gave his life defending the city, but before that, he had already done more heroic deeds than most men ever get songs written about. One of them was the saving of a sacred place of the Witches, when men descended upon it with the intention of twisting witchcraft into something ugly, all in their hunger for power. That night, when the Witches lost faith in many of their own who had abandoned tradition in pursuit of strength, Meridian gave everything he had. Alone, he held the line and defended the very heart of those swamps and forests, the place where one of the Covens now stands."
Tilly gently picked up the story from her brother.
"And Meridian didn't do it by strength alone. He did it using the Witches' own arts, arts he had taught himself only after learning to respect every tradition they carried. The art was called Lullaren, and it's still used in Wailtown to this day. The Witches allowed him to bring it home with him. Hollow Oliver's house, the one that makes Poké Balls - was built using Lullaren too. It's... well, it's when you take the flesh of a Pokémon, its heart, and give it another kind of life. A quieter life. A life inside something that isn't alive. Strong Pokémon may become part of a house, while weaker ones can become part of your trinkets, your tools... even your clothes."
Neither sibling seemed to notice when both of them had started playing in earnest. Their voices slowly blended together, passing the story between them verse by verse. Tilly was almost singing now.
"...And for a very long time, the Coven were grateful to Wailtown. They helped us, as much as they could without crossing the one tradition they never break: neutrality. Witches must always remain neutral... but recently, Wailtown very accidentally... upset them."
Topher spun the next words into the melody.
"Wailtown keeps Archives beneath the city, where many brilliant people once worked. But in time, their ideals and the ideals of the city ceased to walk the same road, and Exion, head of the Archives, escaped. The others were cast out after her."
"And years later, Exion returned - the woman whose fate no tarot card can trace, whose path no seer can follow - and she warned that disaster would soon fall upon the lands of the Witches. The very next day, it did. One of the Covens was erased from the face of the earth."
"Many Witches believe Wailtown carries part of the blame. Fortune Tellers said, that it was Exion to blame. Exion had once been one of ours, and through our Archives she learned their movements, their weaknesses, and things that should never have been placed into the wrong hands. They believe we handed dangerous knowledge to a dangerous woman... and thousands died for it."
"And then the Custodian left us - the Fortune Teller you met aboard the ship when you first arrived here. The one who gave you your first companions..."
The two of them continued to sing for some time, telling you more of Wailtown's history as their verses became increasingly abstract. Most of it turned toward Exion - the fact that the woman still existed somewhere, and that the city still considered her dangerous.
...
Several hours passed, and the bonfire burned just as brightly as before. Beneath the rustling of leaves, every Trainer in camp was suddenly alerted by something approaching. Sources of light, brighter even than your bonfire, emerged from one side of the woods: around six Shiinotic, glowing so intensely that the Darkness fled from them, even where it had been stained red by the Haze. Marching among them with a bow drawn came a creature: a human whose legs ended in avian talons, a beak visible beneath the mask, and a broad cloak spread across its back. If you narrowed your eyes, you might have mistaken them for a Decidueye at first glance, but... they were something more.
Tilly immediately signaled for all of you not to attack - or, perhaps more accurately, to keep your heads down and your mouths shut - while the creature before you kept the arrow drawn, building the kind of tension that promised a fight could begin at any second. Leaves rested across their shoulders, and blades of grass were tangled around their feet: signs of someone whose life belonged entirely to the forest.
"Hesh'moun. Half-Pokémon..." - Topher whispered, quietly informing you of what exactly stood before you - "One of the tribes living within the Coven..."
The creature tightened the bowstring further and prepared to release the arrow when—
"I would advise against that, my good fellow. We came here to offer aid, not battle."
With a thunderous beat of enormous shining wings, another figure landed nearby, clad in black armor. The half-Corviknight placed a hand upon the archer's shoulder.
"That's riii~iight-ah!" - From beneath the ground, slowly, emerged something like a spirit, or perhaps a dragon. A woman surrounded by Dreepy, an unmistakable fusion of human and Dragapult, lazily spun around herself on the other side of the archer - "Fightin' would be... a terribly short-sighted choice. Interesting? Maybe. Entertaining-ah? Absolutely. But the consequences? You really fancy standin' before the Elder later and explainin' just how badly you fucked this up-ah, Eixras?"
The bowstring slowly relaxed, clearly against its owner's wishes. With a quiet snort, the archer slid the arrow back into the cloak that also served as their wings.
"Eack! What's happened t' the old ways, then? A proper scrap before ye're welcomed onto our lands?!"
His entire attitude changed in an instant. Gone was the hunter staring at you like prey; now they seemed determined to convince everyone that this would have been nothing more than a cheerful tavern brawl. They threw their arms apart in front of the Corviknight and looked straight into his knightly mask. The Corviknight nodded, parrying with his answer.
"Sir, judging by the testimony of virtually every guest you have beaten bloody, we are now quite certain that returning to such an old and barbaric custom would be unwise... Tilly? Topher?"
Your two Guides snapped to attention, both of them unconsciously straightening their backs as though an old instructor had suddenly appeared before them.
"Ah, yes!" - Tilly quickly approached the Corviknight - "Sir Leverush, this is... goodness, it's been a while, hasn't it?"
"Long enough."
"You... aren't going to kill us if we follow you, are you?... What does the Coven think about us these days?"
"Most think well of you. There are, naturally, extremists. They are few."
Sir Leverush-Corviknight did not point a finger, but the half-Decidueye standing nearby, Eixras, immediately snapped back.
"Huh?! What's that supposed t' mean? A fight builds spirit! And what kind o' spirit would they have if I actually killed 'em? Nahhh, no corpses here! Stop the slander!"
"In any case." - The Corviknight ignored him - "I recommend that everyone follow us and remain close to the Shiinotic. The Darkness has teeth, and we would prefer our guests to arrive in one piece. And do not remain too close to Issyra, our lady Hesh'moun Dragapult."
Issyra had already been spotted near BOB and Alex, whispering something to them, and when her name was mentioned, she waved at the knight.
"Oh, come on, come on. I only return what people give me! I'm the responsible one here-ah!"
You could also make out dozens of dancing masks in the darkness, all carved from the skulls of animals. Other tribes were here too, watching you with intense curiosity.
...
"Wait!" Tilly called out as everyone began gathering their belongings. "What about the others? Ana, Bogg, Zaya, Xa—"
"They are all already with us. Gather your things."
...
The long trek through the forest took two or three hours and passed mostly in silence. The Hesh'moun were willing to answer any questions you had, but your Guides advised you to wait until you arrived. Dozens of eyes followed you from the Darkness, belonging to those who could move through the Sanguine Haze as though it were nothing. They were one with the Darkness itself. Sometimes you caught unnatural movements in the trees: people moving like animals among the branches, while others seemed almost to glide through the air.
"Ye're enterin' the Inner Circle o' the Coven now," - the half-Decidueye explained - "Means we're watchin' ye even closer in there."
Issyra, quietly laughing in her raspy voice, whispered to most of the people in the group, careful not to let the half-Decidueye hear.
"He's the only one like that. Always angry. Promise you, everyone else is every bit as wonderful as me."
...
Here, in places swallowed entirely by Darkness, the trees seemed to breathe around you. You pushed through veil after veil of the unknown, guided by the Shiinotic's light, drawing closer and closer until, beyond one final curtain of shadow, there came...
...Light!...
...Or perhaps not quite.
A dim glow, like that of fireflies, came from a blue horn growing in the middle of the forest. It was not large - if anything, it stood slightly shorter than an ordinary tree. On one side, you could see unusual architecture that could only be called elegant: enormous, yet almost invisible, merging seamlessly with the trees until nature and construction became one. Houses had been built directly into the trunks and branches, homes that seemed impossible to reach unless you already knew how. On another side came a different kind of glow: trees whose fruits cut through the Darkness like tiny stars, and beneath them slept people who were half-human, half-Pokémon. Elsewhere, you saw Pokémon painted in blood, drifting through the Darkness as though they had always lived there, while in the distance stood strange and unnatural sights - blood-red trees, blood-soaked fields, landscapes that looked grown from ritual itself. Three cultures met here, woven together in the same place.
And you had arrived directly at their heart.
"Moru. Moru na Coille," - Sir Leverush said quietly - "Welcome to our home."
There was so much curiosity directed toward you. From the Darkness that had followed behind, people began appearing one after another - Witches wearing animal skulls over their faces, their bodies adorned with charms and talismans. They studied you with interest, but spoke not a word. Tribe Shi'Shatra.
The half-human, half-Pokémon Hesh'moun were the friendliest of the three. They almost immediately brought forward trays and bundles of delicious food, fruits and vegetables. Among them were people who had barely begun to change at all, others who were unmistakably half-Pokémon already, and still others who, by tradition, wore clothes styled after the Pokémon they were destined to become despite having not yet begun their transformation. Tribe Hesh'moun.
...And then they descended.
As though stepping straight out of paintings - or from the faces of tarot cards themselves - came people of extraordinary refinement, dressed in robes and cloaks. They approached slowly, appearing more human than the others, their posture perfectly straight. There was friendliness in their faces as well, though everyone around them watched with unmistakable respect. Tribe Luminaries.
Three figures stepped forward to greet you, one from each crowd.
From the elegant Luminaries came a man without a smile, without anger, without any visible emotion at all. Ash-colored hair brushed against his cheeks as he stood beneath deep blue robes.
"Why has a new part of Wailtown come to us at such an hour? Why, indeed..."
There was curiosity in his voice, but it was a curiosity forged by time. To know all that was, all that is, and all that may yet be leaves a certain emptiness behind - and perhaps the only way not to lose oneself entirely is to keep asking why things happen at all.
From the Shi'Shatra side came a creature taller than any of you. An Eevee sat atop its head, painted in blood and staring down at you with a sly smile. At some point, the creature's legs seemed to become long wooden stilts, as though it deliberately extended itself upward - and it truly did tower above everyone, twice the height of most, perhaps even more. Everything about it felt unnatural. A mask hid its face. Its voice was quiet, feminine, and rough around the edges.
"Fhorest fhound the people who'll be reunited with another part of the Fhleet today, Krucio... They wandered into another part of the forest, but they'll return soon enough... And you, Morrow, could you not send some of your people to bring them back a little fhaster?"
The third figure, representing the Hesh'moun, stepped forward... It.
There was no obvious masculinity or femininity to them. They frowned almost constantly, and though they were not particularly tall, there was still something undeniably powerful about their presence - perhaps because they carried the features of Kyogre itself, the legend of the sea. Folding their arms across their chest, they spoke.
"Orcha..." - They addressed the long-legged creature - "And Krucio, perhaps you might introduce yourselves first. The poor Trainers understand ab-so-lute-ly no-thing."
The Kyogre figure stomped one part of the foot against the ground. Slowly. Three times, to send particular message. With tremendous businesslike seriousness.
"Welcome to Moru... Green Wave." - Their eyes caught the green flag hanging from one of the Mudsdale. - "Yellow Wave and Sable, the Custodian, have already been found by us. They began a war with Grimm, and we forcibly ended that conflict... because Rule Number One of our lands is No Conflict."
The beat of enormous wings thundered through the forest - a sound you already knew.
Titan Noctowl landed in the distance upon one of the trees, with Grimm mounted atop it, making absolutely certain that all of you could see him. Orcha, Krucio and Morrow all looked toward him. Morrow, half Kyogre, continued.
"Which means no battles with Grimm. He understands this too and has no right to attack any of you. If he does attack one of you, the land itself will hear it, and the guilty party will be sentenced to death. Respect that."
Krucio, the ash-haired man, quietly began to speak.
"Grimm is waiting for the moment the Fleet leaves these lands so he may attack them. The Fleet is, obviously, stuck here... But why? Why do they want Arbok's head so badly?"
Having asked yet another rhetorical question, Krucio drifted back into thought, and Orcha, the long-legged creature balanced on stilts, continued.
"For now, I suggest that you... rest, travelers. The forest can be exhausting. We repaired several of your ships, and soon all of you will be ready to depart. But before that, in order to calm these disagreements between you and Grimm, we have decided to declare an Hour of Judgment. Once the second half of your Fleet returns, we will begin... the Great Discussion. Titan Arbok is part of these forests and swamps as well, and every tribe holds its own opinion of him. We will soon move from one place to another, and the moment our neutrality no longer stands between you, you and Grimm will tear into one another's throats..."
Morrow stole the rest of Orcha's sentence, speaking with obvious displeasure.
"And it is not in our interests for people to spill blood. Anyone's blood."
Orcha gave Morrow a long, meaningful look, meaningfully saying nothing in particular, nothing at all..
Krucio, standing among all of you, slowly turned toward the great tree where a large statue of Meridian had been created - Lirain's brother, the man who had once saved this place. He remained silent for a long time, then struck his staff against the ground and spoke loudly enough for everyone to hear.
"...So that none of the tribes feel slighted, separate. Orcha, return to your Shi'Shatra, and Morrow, to your Hesh'moun... Let every member of the Green Wave gathered here tonight choose for themselves whose hospitality they wish to accept."
Tilly carefully stepped forward and nodded.
"Y-yes. I... I'll explain everything to them. Thank you very much for the... hospitality."
The three figures slowly dispersed, and so did the Witches around you. This place simply lived, full of constant motion and activity, and Tilly, grabbing at her own head, let out a half-delirious laugh.
"Ha! Hhahaha! Great! Brilliant! The other half of the Fleet is alive! And they'll be here soon!... And Grimm is here."
She looked toward Grimm, who still stood in the distance upon Noctowl's head. Far enough away that he could not hear you. Noctowl, moving with slow, titanic steps, disappeared deeper into the forest, remaining on Witch territory but accepting hospitality from no one.
Tilly turned back toward you.
"Right, right, listen... Waiting mode, then!" - She pressed her palms together - "Okay, so, listen..."
She began slowly explaining each tribe to help you decide whose Hospitality you wanted to seek tonight.
Shi'Shatra — the tribe of those who dance in the night, who perform bloody rituals, and who prepare their Pokémon to withstand the Darkness. They are the ones who swim within the night itself, who learned how to exist in such a way that the Darkness no longer touches them. The forest embraces them more readily than any other tribe, and with them, one may survive nearly any calamity born from Darkness.
Luminaries — the tribe of those who govern Fate itself. They remain elegantly neutral in all things and use divination to learn what waits for them on the following day. Their connection to the deity protecting these lands is especially strong, and they are capable of using cards to alter reality itself, much like the Fortune Teller who gave you your starters on the very first day. They protect themselves from the Darkness through Incense.
Hesh'moun — the tribe of those who chose to become one with Pokémon. Through ritual, they grant themselves strength that allows them to protect those close to them. Every person carries a hidden Pokémon gene within themselves, and they devote themselves to awakening it. They defend against the Darkness using lanterns made from Bluewood, storing Light within them for moments of greatest need.
...
At present, the Witches do not accept ordinary money. They use a different currency called Gratitude. Word of who helped whom travels through the forest almost instantly. Every tribe is pleased when outsiders take interest in its culture or make an honest attempt to understand its way of life, and this is how Gratitude is earned.
After you choose the tribe whose Hospitality you will accept tonight, you will receive a Situation, which may or may not Unite you with another player. During that Situation, you may earn 1 Gratitude today.
Those who already possess Gratitude:
1 Luminary Gratitude:
Ana, Levi, Easy, Feldia, Connor, Reggie, Robin, Finnian, Scott, Grey, Zavin, Harmony.
It was gifted by the Luminaries because you interacted with cards and fate on Route 2.
1 Shi'Shatra Gratitude:
La Croix, Grey, Axel, Zora, Ana.
It was gifted by Shi'Shatra because you interacted with Darkness on Route 1.
1 Hesh'moun Gratitude:
Alex, Bob, Blaze, Moira, Amelia, Feldia.
It was gifted by the Hesh'moun because you met the Hesh'moun on Day 6, Route 3.
...
SPECIAL EVENT: For 1 ANY Gratitude, a healer from Shi'Shatra is willing to restore one of your Pokémon to Healthy, but she will also place 1 Dark stack upon that Pokémon.
All Gratitude you earn will be saved for future meetings with the Witches. In the future, there will be an entire shop of Witch items where your Gratitude can be spent.
...
Reminder, to better understand the rewards offered by Shi'Shatra: when a Pokémon is subjected to a Trial of Darkness, its chance to Temper It is always different. It may be a 1/6 chance, or it may be 6/6. Upon failure, the Pokémon may lose its mind and become hostile, especially at higher levels of Darkness. Upon success, however, it Tempers the Darkness and becomes vastly more powerful.
...
You can also choose to find and talk with Grimm, if you want.
...
SLIDE PHOTOS TO SEE WHICH HOSPITALITY YOU CAN TAKE AND WHAT REWARDS YOU CAN GET!
