Private Roslyn is a greyish-purple Myrefolk with a muted purple face, arm, and tail undersides. He wears a dark green turtle shell on his head with a rootlike growth at the top, a green tunic with darker stripes, gray shoulder plate armor, and a gray knapsack. He also has scars running across his eyes, down his chin, and across his arms and tail.
"Hey there--You're a Spark! Can I ask for your help with something that could be a bit... unsettling?"
"Hmm, maybe a story will help explain. Have you ever heard of The Puppetmaster?"
"Hoo. Well. Where to begin..."
"Legend says the Puppetmaster was a Myrefolk consumed with gaining the ability to shapeshift freely--like a Spark can. He believed that the key to his transformation was to sever his own soul from his body.
"He managed to enchant one of his dolls to, you know, do that--wrench a soul from the body. But, you know how that goes. He ended up unwittingly unleashing a twisted, single-minded horror onto the planet.
"The doll, of course, succeeded in severing souls from their bodies. But it just kept going, pulling souls from other unwitting people and then discarding them.
"Sorry, sorry--I'm trying to get to the point! The Myrefolk here, the ones who survived--they laid the severed souls in the bog to rest"
"Well, ancient Myrefolk believed that bogs were liminal places, connected to another world--to our Ancestors who once left the water to walk on land. In that way, bogs are kind of like supernatural portals to the next life?"
"So, they were trying to lay these souls to rest. Which leads me to the task at hand..."
"Oh! The Queens stopped it! It took a tremendous amount of power, according to the stories. Some say they had to syphon energy from Attis itself!" - If the player selects “Wait! What happened to the doll?!”
"So anyway. Uh, a huge bubble formed in the bog and then popped, and it kind of... knock some mud loose which, in turn, lead to some resurfaced souls..."
"I told you it was unsettling! Ahaha, just like the souls that've been unsettled from the bog... Ahem." - If the player selects “I’m sorry, RESURFACED SOULS???”
"Now, I need you to finish pulling those spirits out of the mud. Normally I wouldn't ask a civvie to do something like this, but you look like you have a good nose for dowsing!"
"Let those natural instincts guide you to them so that you can set them free, okay?"
"Did you know one of the first lessons they teach you in Keeper Core training is: 'The Keeper Core doesn't protect your PRIDE, it protects THE PLANET.' Know when to ask for help or let someone else take the lead!"
"Exactly, so... can you help me out? With Sergeant Gale out on a recovery mission, she finally trusted me to oversee a Core Assignment, but it's not going well..."
"I got assigned to deal with a matter of 'HAUNTED PLANTS AND AGRICULTURE.' I may be a Myrefolk, but it's not exactly my specialty..."
"Well, it's actually a pretty classic case--you know, a spell goes wrong, the swampy soil soaks up dark magic, suddenly you've got a cursed daisy or an evil tomato... maybe even some kinda monster, if the magic's powerful enough! Happens more often than you'd think especially with decades of magical buildup in the Marsh!"
"Today in particular, we've got HAUNTED PLANT CASE FILE 021394: LAKEROOT VALLEY PUMPKIN PATCH. Looks like a spilled potion got into the field, and I could use a hand with cleanup."
"All you'd have to do is destroy the tainted plants before they--well, if you're quick enough, we don't need to worry about that."
"Thank you honorary Core Private! May you keep the Expanses of Feral, safe from peril!"
"You really showed those plants what-for! If only the Possessed Bog Vines of Case File 51120 had showed us mercy."
"..."
"Sorry to have sent you out there alone! Seems like I've still got some things to sort out before I can manage my own Core Mission as well as Sergeant Gale..."
"Next time, I'll be the one fighting off a possessed flower or a haunted onion--and that's a KEEPER CORE PROMISE! PRIVATE'S HONOR!"
