staging: character-state-chapter-ref.md task=fc2f09b7-bf43-4baf-8693-0140fbd0dd5c

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

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 # Character State: Ch4
 
 ## Lena Duval
-Location: Jax Harlan’s airboat, "The Mockingbird," speeding away from the Widow’s Deep.
-Physical: Severe exhaustion; right hand re-bandaged and throbbing; fever breaking but persistent.
-Emotional: Guarded and wary, yet feeling a reluctant sense of safety.
+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 an explanation for the "unnatural" events (Ch2) -- UNPAID
+- Owes Jax Harlan a conversation about the "unnatural" events (Ch2) -- 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 hidden markings on the cypress trees (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. 
-Arc: 35% -- Lena has physically fled her family's territory, breaking her isolation by accepting Jax's help and revealing the swamp's "sickness" to an outsider.
+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's seat of "The Mockingbird," navigating the Outer Wash.
-Physical: Smelling of diesel and salt; no injuries.
-Emotional: Protective but deeply suspicious of the Duval family legacy.
-Active obligations: 
-- Owes Lena safe passage to the outskirts (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 Surveyors: His encounter with the dredging crew at the docks (Ch4) -- UNRESOLVED
+- Maribelle and the Coven: Completing the "Rite of the First Sap" (Ch2) -- UNRESOLVED
 Known secrets: 
-- Knows he saw terrestrial survey teams moving inland despite the high tide -- Lena does not know.
-Arc: 15% -- Jax has actively intervened in a Duval coven matter, tethering his fate to Lena's defiance.
+- 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
 
 ## NPC Memory
-- Aunt Maribelle Duval (Widow’s Deep): VINDICTIVE -- Witnessed Jax "steal" Lena from the sacred grounds; she views him as a contaminant to the bloodline.
+- The Coven (Widow’s Deep): AGITATED -- Witnessed Lena disrupt the ritual; they view her as a "blight" on the lineage.
 
 ## Faction Attitudes
-- The Duval Coven: Hostile -- View Lena’s departure with Jax as a betrayal of the land's ancient pact.
-- Terrebonne Development Corp: Active -- Heard in the distance via the roar of heavy machinery near the Eastern bend.
+- 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 Great Silence: The swamp wildlife (birds, gators) have gone silent as the machinery approaches.
-- Oily Slick: An unnatural sheen on the water's surface in the Outer Wash, smelling of chemicals.
-- Project Phlegethon: Heavy equipment is confirmed to be on the move toward the interior.
+- 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.