45.4

You get between Nal and Kordo, and ask them what they’re arguing about. Kordo huffs, then Nal rolls her eyes and turns to you.

“We have been debating this since Kordo and I first met, actually,” she says. “It’s a question of our role here, both as Rangers and inhabitants of this valley.”

“Don’t make it too dramatic,” Kordo grumbles. “I just think that if we’re going to be proper stewards here, it’s up to us to clean up our ancestor’s mistakes.”

“Biomelds aren’t mistakes!” Nal shoots back. “They may have been created for a purpose thousands of years ago, but in the time since they’ve evolved and become part of the ecosystem. They reproduce, they coexist, just like any other being.”

“Oh, you think that caustic mulcher that has been lumbering around the wooded areas of the Valley is coexisting with everything else?” Kordo looks at you. “Maybe you can settle this. Nal thinks that big sticky-tongued, acid-drooling eating machine is a part of the environment. I, on the other hand, think that it’s been eating its way through the rest of the ecosystem, and it’s time to stop it. What do you think?”

He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a ball of cloth. You catch it and open it, and find that it’s actually a long and lethal-looking gauzeblade.

Gain the Gauzeblade reward card.

Nal sighs. “Well it’s important to be able to identify yourself to it just like any other being,” she says, “The caustic mulcher, like the other biomelds around here, is an important part of the ecosystem. I haven't observed a drastic decrease in animal populations. Have you, Kordo? If the mulcher was a mistake, nature would have corrected it by now. It doesn't eat everything. Only what it must.”

Kordo grunts. “You’ve already told me your plan to prove it. Coating yourself in leaf paste and seeing if the mulcher will eat you or spit you out? Sounds like a terrible idea.”

“If I’m right,” Nal says, “then the mulcher won’t eat living plants, or something that tastes like one. It’s not cutting a swathe through the forest. It’s helping to manage it.”

Rangers Choose

A) Agree with Kordo. The mulcher must go. Gain the INTERVENTION mission.

B) Agree with Nal. The mulcher is misunderstood. Gain the ACCOMMODATION mission.