Another win for Noah: he is still important enough to keep around despite his attitude, but not considered powerful enough to require more brainwashing or extensive restrictions.

Nail taking the credit like a vermin... but the thing I don't understand is if he backstabbed Veda or later the JSP decided to 'remove' her.
Taking in account the veneration Mail had for Veda.

Or maybe Noel and others passed the trophy to Nail to avoid disclosing Noah powers ?

Honestly, this is better for Noah, I think. If the Empire wised up to the fact *he* was the one who ended the Nightmare, they'd start experimenting on him a lot more.

"I was out cold at the time, out like a light."

Would be a proper response.

@oskarloko

Nail would never backstab Veda, it just sounds like the JSP throwing a fit and having the power to make it everyone else's problem.

And Eloy raises the very valid point of everyone keeping the knowledge of the nightmares too close to their chest.

Best outcome for both parties, really. Noah gets to keep up his charade and Veda/Nail gets much needed cred.

The only unintended consequence is that the Royal Guard (and Justopea) are lulled in the false belief that black crystal is a foolproof solution to all their magic issues.

Er, Noah? I think you popped your stitches...

Interested in what happens next meets with Veda and/or Nail.

Nail and Veda would know the truth of Nail not being responsible (unless things got really weird at the end). Neither knew of his power but could potentially figure things out through process of elimination.

I wonder how things went with Noel though and what he told people since he had the most information. But also was the one with least power politically.

I also am curious on whether or not things like this might chip away at the JSP's power. Not sharing information with the other "pillars" and not being able to actually resolve the problems themselves. Sure none of this is public information but those behind the scenes probably know about it.

I feel like Nail took responsibility for the victory because no one was aware of Noah's power.

I mean, the radar kid suddenly disappears in the chaos, then he's back, and somehow he solved things?

@Sean
I wonder if Veda, and by extension, will truly be exiled if the court finds her guilty, or if she'll be "exiled" and just not allowed in public so they can still use her skills.

I was going to say Veda was watching when Noah disappeared, but it's also possible she was literally blinded by that point. Though she could still have had that other eye. I hope whatever magic keeps her alive involves some kind of regeneration. Like you said, they do definitely know Noah did something.

I imagine after Chernyl's power disappeared, Persephone merged her full body back, grabbed Noel and Chernyl and ran. While Nail was likely pre-occupied with Veda's well being, I wouldn't put it past him to try to kill Chernyl. Maybe he really did get to stab her before they managed to retreat.

Though it does make me think about Malhart and the rest. The captured kids still need the antidote to black crystal poisoning, Malhart might need some of it too, and the messages with Catz imply that they were with the other Veda Project kids. So I don't know where the Hallowman group would feasibly run to.

I guess what information even the Empire truly knows depends on what Nail and Veda told them, given that Noah was unconscious for days, and Gazz never entered the inner sanctum.

I have a suspicion that Nail knows more about Noah's power than he admits, and he protects Noah by covering for him. Maybe he protects his and Veda's "investment" this way.

So did Nail actually use the black crystal on Chernyl and Noah trapped a powerful nightmare in his head for nothing? Did Nail just take credit for what Noah did and didn't actually get to use the black crystal? Did both actually happen as claimed and Nail honestly thinks he's the hero? Will we ever find out?

Nice to see the Empire has well organized forces that make their plans using complete information of the situation.

Seriously though, the military knew nothing, the royal guards knew nothing, Veda only knew after deducing it... By what authority could the JSP just hide everything from everyone? Did even the emperor know? Almost feels like the JSP are running things. Nobody seems to dare to blame them for their part in this mess.

I wonder what happened with Noel since he lost an arm.

@Presticus Not for nothing. As Noel said, once a nightmare is manifested, even if Chernyl's power is turned off the nightmare stays active. Its as real as any other character at that point. Trapping might have been the only way to deal with it.

@oskarloko I don't think Nail can backstab Veda unless Veda orders him to do so. When things were falling apart and Hollowman appeared to be winning and Nail had a chance to kill Chernyl he didn't. He turned to Veda, even in her condition, and asked for instructions. Its probably her idea for him to take credit for the win.

Vader requested Haven be evacuated in the presence of a snivelling coward: https://www.neorice.com/hoh_noah_1941 So... I find it very hard to believe they weren't aware of the danger. Impossible in fact. The cowards themselves discussed evacuation in response to the Malhart meeting: https://www.neorice.com/hoh_noah_1883 So yeah, they don't have plausible deniability regarding their knowledge of the danger of the Nightmares, or anything close to it.

They did a great job at the very easy task of keeping track of Alex btw: https://www.neorice.com/hoh_noah_1879

@Presticus If Noah's ability won't banish nightmares when used on Chernyl - I don't think the Hallowman's lying about that - why would Black Crystal? They both seem to do the same thing - deactivate magic. It'd keep Chernyl from summoning more nightmares, at least?

I wouldn't be shocked if Nail really did use the black crystal on Chernyl, but Noah's probably still responsible for the nightmares despawning.

I wouldn't be surprised if the empire doesn't know that Noah did that, but "after much bloodshed and sacrifice the problem mysteriously stopped itself without a clear cause or explanation" is the kind of explanation that needs a coverup.

@Presticus: The last time we saw Nail he was immobilised and disarmed, so I really doubt that he stopped Chernyl. Would it have worked any better than Noel's attempt to disrupt her power if he had? He may have scratched/dosed her after the Nightmares were banished of course. That would prevent further onslaughts once she's had fresh dreams.

@Presticus Nail was impaled by a giant hand and the black

... crystal sword had been confistcated. There is no way Nail believes he solved the problem.

Probably he just took credit to keep info on Noah secret for whatever Veda's nefarious scheme is. After all, Noah could feasibly be a replacement Chernyl. The power to make dreams into reality, in some vague sense

@Nomi
My guess is that she will be "exiled". As far as people in power know she did exactly as she promised and has record of requesting an evacuation and it being denied.

The JSP seems to be powerful enough that no one can go against them, but I suspect a good amount of people in power aren't fans of them right now.

@Presticus Using black crystal on Chernyl coudn't do more than what Noel did: the nightmares, once created, exist as independent entities and cannot be dispelled by targeting Chernyl. Using the black crystal would, however, stop new nightmares from appearing.

So by all appearances Nail used the black crystal successfully to stop new nightmares from being created but also took credit for the old nightmare's disappearance either because he wanted to cover for Noah or because he wanted more leverage to defend Veda.

I see no reason why black crystal would be different then Noel powers, AKA no NEW nightmares, but you still need Noah to clean out the old ones. Rather or not Noel squealed about the dream wishes is up for debate, but everyone is happiest with Nail taking credit.
Alot of N names in that ark huh?

interesting