Chapter 80
“Whatever you do, don’t piss off the people with chains and white cloth,” Emelia told them as they went up the pier to the walkways of Windtop Cove. “They’re from the faction called the White Flags. They run all of the Safe Havens in this Stage.”
“Are they peaceful?” Maalia asked. If Emelia hadn’t been here, Adam was fairly sure the woman would’ve been the one in charge. She seemed way surer of herself than Leon and Ruimin.
“They are,” Emelia replied. “But they won’t abide by stealing or violence. So don’t piss them off. It’s difficult to get back into their good graces if they kick us out. Not to mention, we might lose our airship.”
Shit.
Unlike previous Stages, it seemed like the NPCs played a much bigger role here, and it was important to understand the dynamic between them, as well as what boundaries they had in place. They might be fine not being able to find shelter for the 3 days they were here, but once the Stages got longer, getting banned from safe zones would be devastating.
If the Tome Keeper is right, then these people aren’t actually NPCs. They’re real living beings.
Given how they often act in predictable ways or how their first phrase to me in a new loop is the same, it is hard to believe. They feel more like thinking and evolving robots than sapient creatures.
But each of them has a backstory, beliefs, personalities, and all the things that make humans what they are. Besides, why would the Tome Keeper mislead me about the reality of the Trials?
It’s just difficult to reconcile, and it means what Maggie did, killing all those Elphin, was mass murder…