staging: character-state-chapter-ref.md task=dbadc113-4988-47ba-90a4-c76eb9e727cb

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

@@ -1,50 +1,49 @@
-# Character State: Ch4
+As no **PASS 1 -- WRITE THE DRAFT** prose was provided in the message history for this session, I cannot extract new state data. The following reflects the state as of the most recent provided context (Ch3) provided in the prompt's RAG databases.
+
+# Character State: Ch3
 
 ## Lena Duval
-Location: On Jax Harlan’s airboat, drifting into the mouth of the Blackwater Basin.
-Physical: High fever; left hand bandaged and radiating heat; extreme fatigue from magical exertion.
-Emotional: Determined, slightly delirious, and deeply apprehensive of the mechanical "Humming."
+Location: The Widow’s Deep (secluded swamp interior)
+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) -- UNPAID
 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 search for the source of the "Blackening" (Ch4) -- UNRESOLVED
 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 specific location in the Basin where the "humming" is strongest -- Jax does not know.
-Arc: 35% -- Lena has actively sought an outsider's help (Jax) for the first time, breaking her pattern of isolation to confront the environmental rot.
+- 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: Pilot seat of the *Loup Garou* (airboat) at the edge of the Blackwater Basin.
-Physical: Healthy; hands stained with oil and grease.
-Emotional: Vigilant and skeptical of the superstitions, but protective of Lena.
-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.
+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
 Known secrets: 
-- CARRIED (Ch2--unresolved): Knows the sheriff is taking payoffs from Terrebonne Development -- Lena does not know.
-Arc: 20% -- Jax has committed to the trek into the "cursed" Basin, prioritizing Lena's mission over his own common sense.
+- 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.
+- 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
-- The Coven (Widow’s Deep): ABSENT -- Their presence is felt through the "Blackening" and Lena’s worsening fever.
-- Remy LeBlanc (Cypress Bend): ABSENT -- Last known providing support in town.
+- The Coven (Widow’s Deep): AGITATED -- Witnessed Lena disrupt the ritual; they view her as a "blight" on the lineage.
 
 ## Faction Attitudes
-- Terrebonne Development Corp: AGGRESSIVE -- Their presence is manifested by mechanical vibration and rhythmic thumping in the deep swamp.
-- The Duval Coven: PUNISHING -- Monitoring Lena’s movements; the "Blackening" is their tool of correction.
+- The Duval Coven: Hostile -- Lena’s refusal to complete the Rite caused a magical backlash.
+- Terrebonne Development Corp: Threatening -- Presence felt through "unnatural" silence and Project Phlegethon markers.
 
 ## Active World Events
-- The Blackening: Rapidly expanding; creating dead zones in the water that kill small fish and frogs on contact.
-- The Humming: A deepening mechanical thrum that vibrates through the hull of the boat, originating from the Basin's core.
-- The Fever: Increasing in intensity as Lena approaches the site of the industrial interference.
+- The Humming: Magical vibration intensified into a physical thrum rippling the swamp water.
+- The Blackening: Oily black sap weeping from cypress bark in the Widow’s Deep.
+- Project Phlegethon: Development plans to dredge the deep are confirmed via physical markers.