staging: character-state-chapter-ref.md task=482daa9f-bd5c-4817-a7db-11a16bdce1ea

projects/cypress-bend/staging/character-state-chapter-ref.md

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-# Character State: Ch4
+# Character State: Ch3
 
 ## Lena Duval
-Location: The Blackwater Basin, specifically the "Dead Eye" clearing near an industrial platform.
-Physical: High fever (near delirium); left hand pulsing with heat from the Blackening; extreme physical exhaustion.
-Emotional: Terrified but resolute; experiencing sensory overload from the "Humming."
+Location: The Widow’s Deep (shores of the black pool)
+Physical: Heightened fever; tremors; right hand bleeding through bandages from cypress roots.
+Emotional: Terrified but defiant.
 Active obligations: 
 - Owes the land a "balancing of scales" for the fog (Ch1) -- UNPAID
 - Owes Jax Harlan a conversation about the "unnatural" events (Ch2) -- UNPAID
-- Owes Jax Harlan safe passage through the Basin's shifting channels (Ch4) -- PAID
 Open loops: 
 - Lena and the "Whisper": The consciousness within the roots (Ch1) -- UNRESOLVED
 - Lena and the surveyors: Physical removal of markers (Ch2) -- UNRESOLVED
 - Lena and the Rite: The consequences of interrupting the "Rite of the First Sap" (Ch3) -- UNRESOLVED
-- Lena and Jax: The discovery of the industrial machinery at the heart of the rot (Ch4) -- RESOLVED
 Known secrets: 
 - CARRIED (Ch1--unresolved): Knows she intends to flee to New Orleans within the week -- Aunt Maribelle does not know.
 - CARRIED (Ch1--unresolved): Knows the "whisper" sounded like her mother's voice -- No one else knows.
-- CARRIED (Ch2--unresolved): Knows she found a survey marker labeled "Project Phlegethon" -- Jax and Maribelle do not know.
-- Knows the industrial platform is the exact source of the Basin's "vocal" pain -- Jax only partially understands the magical link.
-Arc: 45% -- Lena has confronted the physical source of the corruption and realized the "Blackening" is a reaction to industrial invasive tech, forcing her to accept her role as a defender.
+- CARRIED (Ch2--unresolved): Knows she found a survey marker labeled "Project Phlegethon" -- Jax and Maribelle do not know. 
+Arc: 25% -- Lena confronted Maribelle directly and physically disrupted a coven ritual, choosing to protect the cypress over the coven's traditions.
 Permanent: YES
 
-## Jax Harlan
-Location: Standing on the deck of the *Loup Garou*, docked against a rusted industrial pylon in the Blackwater Basin.
-Physical: Healthy, but ears ringing from the high-frequency vibration of the platform.
-Emotional: Shocked and protective; his skepticism is buckling under the weight of the visible environmental decay.
-Active obligations: 
-- Owes Lena safe passage to the Blackwater Basin (Ch4) -- PAID
+## Aunt Maribelle Duval
+Location: The Widow’s Deep (shores of the black pool)
+Physical: Eyes filmed with ritualistic milky-white haze; physically drained from the interrupted rite.
+Emotional: Furiously determined and increasingly authoritarian.
+Active obligations: None.
 Open loops: 
-- Jax and the Development Corp: Reasons for his presence in Cypress Bend (Ch2) -- UNRESOLVED
+- Maribelle and the Coven: Completing the "Rite of the First Sap" (Ch2) -- UNRESOLVED (Interrupted)
 Known secrets: 
-- CARRIED (Ch2--unresolved): Knows the sheriff is taking payoffs from Terrebonne Development -- Lena does not know.
-- Has realized the "surveying" is actually a massive-scale industrial operation involving the swamp floor -- Lena doesn't know the technical scope.
-Arc: 30% -- Jax has witnessed the "Blackening" firsthand and has transitioned from a detached guide to a witness of corporate environmental crime.
+- CARRIED (Ch1--unresolved): Knows the exact date the developers plan to clear-cut the Eastern bend -- Lena does not know.
+- CARRIED (Ch2--unresolved): Knows the developers are paying the local sheriff -- Lena and Jax do not know.
+- CARRIED (Ch3--unresolved): Knows the "Blackening" is a defense mechanism she is actively triggering -- Lena does not know.
+Arc: 10% -- Maribelle has dropped her maternal facade, revealing her willingness to sacrifice Lena's health for the land's power.
 Permanent: YES
 
-# World State: Ch4
+# World State: Ch3
 
 ## NPC Memory
-- Aunt Maribelle (Widow's Deep): ABSENT -- Her warnings about the Basin's "hunger" are validated by Lena's worsening condition.
+- The Coven (Widow’s Deep): AGITATED -- Witnessed Lena disrupt the ritual; they view her as a "blight" on the lineage and a threat to their safety.
 
 ## Faction Attitudes
-- Terrebonne Development Corp: HOSTILE -- Revealed to be operating an unauthorized, humming industrial platform deep within the protected Basin.
-- The Swamp/Land: AGONIZED -- The "Blackening" is identified as a necrotic immune response to the industrial "humming" spikes.
+- The Duval Coven: Hostile -- Lena’s refusal to complete the Rite caused a magical backlash that injured their pride and spiritual connection.
+- Terrebonne Development Corp: Threatening -- Presence felt through "unnatural" silence and Project Phlegethon markers near the ritual site.
 
 ## Active World Events
-- The Blackening: Reached a terminal state at the Basin's center; water is oily, pitch-black, and corrosive to touch.
-- The Humming: Identified as a mechanical vibration from a series of submerged pylons labeled with TDC logos.
-- The Fever: Reaching a breaking point as Lena touches the epicenter of the industrial interference.
+- The Humming: Magical vibration intensified into a physical thrum rippling the swamp water following the ritual's failure.
+- The Blackening: Oily black sap weeping from cypress bark in the Widow’s Deep, spreading due to the land's distress.
+- Project Phlegethon: Development plans to dredge the deep are confirmed via physical markers found on the outskirts of coven territory.