I'll probably cheap out and make Anzu's Song of Seasons spells a little more versatile. Maybe let Anzu have a little more control over what the ice ribbons do in Song of Winter, for example.

And thanks for the explanation, Phoenix! I now know what Koto should know. XD

Since this offensive really has no reason beyond "Our familiars told us to do it", Ceres decided to "teach a lesson" by visually depicting why the old methods failed to resolve the war.

After all, Directive 37 is the scorched earth directive, nobody wins. Sad really, but there wasn't any other logical response to the situation the Verda side forced us into.

Honestly, I'm depressed enough just considering it that I wonder if this is even worth playing anymore.

Okay, so Ceres released the Talisman and now it’s in the street. I'll just plot hole the timeline a little, otherwise my post won't make any sense at all. So, the flowers in the street, I'm in some back yard, and the forced activation is happening again.

But, I really need to know why would the Verda care? I've been a little confused about the familiar’s motivations for a while now, we ran out into the night when the talisman came online, to do what? Stop the Autekka and let it grow? Seal it ourselves and take it home? Control the activation through some unexplained means?

The reason Miranda decided to go get the talisman in the first place was because she didn't trust the Autekka to keep it safe. They might do something with it that’s stupid, or not use it right. Or it could just be that she didn’t want them to have a Verda Talisman. It does belong her people or something.

Well, now they don't have it. I'm not what it'll do, but they don't have it. Care to explain Arhra?

Essentially the Verda position is the place has been starved of magic for far too long.

As they possess the power to do so and Ancient Verda was partially at fault for this state of affairs, they feel they have a responsibility to ensure successful restoration.

As to the Forced Activation Talisman, it was either deliberately planted or accidentally activated. In either case, creations such as this are the most effective way to achieve restoration. If deliberately planted it was almost certainly done by a Verda-type mage and if not, it is a fortunate coincidence.

In either case, it is desirable for this state of affairs to continue, due to the effects it will have. The only potential problem it creates is it may stir up undesirable or damaged things, particularly if it has not been calibrated correctly. This is why letting it run completely unsupervised is bad.

Thus, the Verda role is to foster potential mages they find and otherwise assist the re-emergence of magical ability.

More pragmaticly, they may be concerned that Autekka will move in to control this new source of potential mages and relics from the lost magic of Ancient Verda and Old Autekka.

EDIT: Oh yeah, it's probably also a good idea to avoid have something lying around that will try to zap you if you get too close to it! It's possible to make it recognise you, allowing its behaviour to be modified and also preventing, well, zapping.

Yes, this may involve blasting the pretty flower.

At this point, the cards had played such that hoping the Pretty Flower's self-defense weapons came online to properly take you out was the last possible retaliation.

After all, despite having been shot, it's still relatively fresh.

I keep noticing that some people are treating this Phantom Zone as if it's some kind of cage set up to keep the Verda from retreating. I'm pretty sure it's just a defined area where muggles won't enter and property won't stay damaged, just like where we fought the mudmen earlier. It won't matter much longer, but any word on this, Arhra?

Oh, and reading Menarker's post, I feel the need to add that school's still a couple days off, not tomorrow. Another thing I got from his post was the desire to write about Panko's adventures in procuring more cigarettes.

There are fixed edges of the barrier that are difficult to cross, mainly to prevent spells inside from hitting targets outside.

This will also interdict teleportation.

So, how do we check if its been calibrated correctly/calibrate it correctly?

This is going to end up like that scene in Ghostbusters 2 where all the crazy crap starts storming through the streets, isn't it?

Something light-hearted needs to happen after that fight, that's for sure.

We need to fight the State-Puff Marshmellow man, all together, if we intend to turn this around at all, I think.

Definately agreeing with Phil.