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+# Character State: ch-06
+
+## Elara Vance
+- **Location:** The blighted foothills, seeking the Stone Sanctum.
+- **Physical:** Exhausted and reeling; her ribs are a mapped agony where the Sigil burns with "tidal" heat. Traces of river-mud have dried into a second skin.
+- **Emotional:** Fragmented; the Vessel’s memories pull at her identity like an undertow. She feels the weight of Thalric’s death as a physical debt.
+- **Active Obligations:** Debt of protection to Kaelen—UNPAID.
+- **Open Loops:** The Council’s role in the root-born corruption—UNRESOLVED.
+- **Arc Progress:** 58%. Integrated the Water Aspect; now battling the "erosion" of her selfhood.
+- **Status:** Permanent.
+
+## Kaelen
+- **Location:** The blighted foothills.
+- **Physical:** Lungs burning from the rot-breath of the forest; hand white-knuckled on the Hilt. Vigilant.
+- **Emotional:** Grimly committed; he has traded his cynicism for a shield, acting as Elara’s tether to the waking world.
+- **Active Obligations:** Life-debt to Elara—UNPAID.
+- **Open Loops:** Missing Grove map—UNRESOLVED. Sunstone’s true potential—UNRESOLVED.
+- **Arc Progress:** 55%. Transitioned from thief to anchor; his loyalty is now a matter of blood, not gold.
+- **Status:** Permanent.
+
+## Thorne Blackroot
+- **Location:** A ridgeline overlooking the narrow pass to the Sanctum.
+- **Physical:** Tracing fresh blood from palm-scars; his skin is pallid, veins blackened by blight-conduit.
+- **Emotional:** Sadistic anticipation; he views Elara’s pain as a birthright he was denied.
+- **Arc Progress:** 40%. Has successfully funneled the Vessel into a kill-zone using Blight-thorns.
+- **Status:** Permanent.
+
+# World State: ch-06
+
+## NPC Memory
+- **The Forest Spirits:** Agitated; they recognize the "Two-Fold Vessel" is approaching the Earth heart, but fear the shadow clinging to her trail.
+- **Circle Scouts:** Aware that Kaelen’s light (Sunstone) is their primary obstacle to a night-ambush.
+
+## Faction Attitudes
+- **The Circle of Thorns:** PREDATORY. They are no longer tracking; they have initiated the "Harvest" protocol.
+- **The Council of Oakhaven:** COMPLICIT/IGNORANT. Their silence regarding the blight's origin is now a primary driver of the conflict.
+
+## Active World Events
+- **The Great Blight:** PHASE SHIFT. The foothills are turning into a "Grey Zone"—foliage isn't just dying; it is being repurposed into weaponry.
+- **The Vessel Ritual:** Stage Three (Earth) REACHED. The terrain is actively resisting the Vessel’s passage due to Thorne’s interference.
+- **Current Objective:** Breach the Blight-Thorn thicket to reach the Stone Sanctum.
+
+## Canon Artifacts/Key Items
+- **The Sigil:** Pulsing with a dual gold-blue resonance. It is becoming heavier, acting as a spiritual anchor that drains Elara’s stamina.
+- **The Sunstone Shard:** Currently the only thing preventing the party from being swallowed by Thorne's artificial "Night-Veil."
+- **Blight-Thorns:** Sentient, opportunistic vines that respond to Thorne’s commands and the scent of the Sigil.
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