# Character State: ch-05

## Lena Duval
Location: Safehouse, Lower Ninth Ward, New Orleans.
Physical: Suffering "The Severing"—intense tremors, nausea, and sensory overload from city industrial noise; feels a "hollow deafness" where her magic resided.
Emotional: Violated, desperate, and claustrophobic; feels hunted by the coven while trapped by the city’s "Urban Wall."
Active obligations: Owes Jax Harlan the truth behind "Phlegethon" (ch-05) — UNPAID; Owes herself a way to muffle Maribelle’s psychic intrusion (ch-05) — UNPAID.
Open loops: Navigating a world where she is "blind" to the supernatural (ch-05) — UNRESOLVED; Confirming if the voice in her head is truly Maribelle or her own fracturing mind (ch-05) — UNRESOLVED.
Known secrets: CARRIED (ch-05--unresolved): Knows the developers are targeting the "Heart of the Bend" for Project Phlegethon; CARRIED (ch-05--unresolved): Realizes her mother's locket is vibrating in sync with the city’s industrial noise, not the swamp.
Arc: 45% -- Transitioned from a defiant runaway to a crippled survivor; her stubborn independence is now her only weapon since her magic is gone.
Permanent: YES

## Jax Harlan
Location: Safehouse, Lower Ninth Ward, New Orleans.
Physical: Tense, sleep-deprived, nursing a bruised shoulder from the retreat.
Emotional: Protective but overwhelmed; moving from skepticism to a grim acceptance of the Duval curse.
Active obligations: Delivering Lena to a "neutral" contact in the city (ch-05) — ACTIVE.
Open loops: Identifying who leaked their safehouse location (ch-05) — ACTIVE.
Known secrets: CARRIED (ch-05--unresolved): Has observed that Lena’s tremors stop only when she touches something organic or him.
Arc: 20% -- His role as a mere "escort" has dissolved into a shared fate; he no longer asks "if" the magic is real, only "how" to survive it.
Permanent: YES

# World State: ch-05

## NPC Memory
- Aunt Maribelle (The Coven): HOSTILE — Initiated "The Severing" to force Lena's return — Proved the coven’s reach extends into the city.
- The "Neutral" (New Orleans): UNKNOWN — Rumored contact for displaced magical talent.

## Faction Attitudes
- The Duval Coven: Relentless — Using Lena’s withdrawal symptoms as a leash to pull her back to Cypress Bend.
- Terrebonne Development Corp: Opportunistic — Exploiting the coven’s distraction to advance Project Phlegethon.

## Active World Events
- The Severing: A magical feedback loop causing Lena’s physical collapse as she distances herself from her power source.
- The Urban Wall: The phenomenon where city iron and electricity act as a static barrier, shielding Lena from tracking but inducing physical illness.
- The Stagnation: A growing rot in the geography of Cypress Bend caused by the absence of a Duval anchor.

## Metadata
- Current Chapter: 05
- Key Item: Lena’s silver locket (vibrating with industrial frequency).
- Key Term: "The Urban Wall."
- Mood: Claustrophobic, clinical, and desperate.