To Gaze Upon the Dreaming Pale Crown

Previous Quest

Next Quest

N/A

The Stone Beasts, Like Ghouls Seated

Rewards
Characters

350

40

30,000

4

4

Aksinya, Azazel (flashback), Eye of Graeae, Izmaylov (flashback), Lara (as "Weak Meow" and "Cat"), Paimon, Traveler, Vsevolod (To Gaze Upon the Dreaming Pale Crown) (flashback)

To Gaze Upon the Dreaming Pale Crown is the first quest of the World Quest Series On One Side a Palace, On the Other a Tomb.

Start Location

Start the quest by either:

Completing the World Quest Series Hesperides of Love and Hate and In the Dwelling of Life after which the quest is automatically started.
Approaching the Statue of The Seven at the White Birch Snowgrave.

Steps

Talk to the Eye of Graeae
Go to the place that the Eye of Graeae showed you
- Optional: Defeat Winged Soarer Knight ×3 for an Exquisite Chest containing the Recipe for Rimecurrant Ice Cream
Find a path into the mountains
- Optional: Defeat Chimeric Armored Beast ×1 and Chimeric Horned Bear ×1 for a Precious Chest
Advance into the snowstorm
- Optional: Defeat Winged Halberd-Knight ×2 for an Exquisite Chest
Find the mechanism for the "hidden tracks"^{[Note 1]}
Summon the "hidden tracks"
- Optional: Follow the Seelie for a Common Chest
- Optional: Defeat Winged Halberd-Knight ×2 and Winged Soarer Knight ×1 for an Exquisite Chest
Wait for the train to approach
Board the train
Enter the strange space
Investigate the strange space
Investigate the next room
Read the notes sealed in Prime Ice
Find the source of the cat cries
Find a way out of the room
- Obtaining the key awards a Precious Chest
Leave
Try opening the door in front of the staircase
Go to the second floor and search
Talk to Paimon
Head to the snow-covered palace

Gameplay Notes

During step 6, if the player sits down on the chair circled by the Seelie, the Wonders of the World achievement Stay a While, You Are So Beautiful and the Viewpoint Snow-Entombed Crownlands are unlocked.
During step 19, the player will enter Third-Person Shooter mode.
The player is unable to play in Co-Op Mode, enter the Serenitea Pot, or enter Miliastra Wonderland for the duration of this quest, even if the player leaves the area.

Pre-Quest Dialogue

Appears only if the quest is automatically triggered after completing Hesperides of Love and Hate and In the Dwelling of Life.

(Approach the train at the Central Station)

(The train starts sets off)

Paimon: It's so cold out there... The train's definitely much cozier...

Eye of Graeae: That is precisely why the trains exist. Trekking long distances through such bitter cold would hardly be good for anyone's health.

Eye of Graeae: Perhaps that, too, was my creator's original purpose in establishing it... After all, this land of ice and snow is hardly a place fit for humans to survive.

Paimon: Your creator...? Ah, could that be the strange woman we ran into earlier?

How rude! What do you mean, "strange woman"!?

Paimon: Paimon definitely doesn't mean the strange woman you're talking about right now!

Paimon: ...You know, the one who appeared in that mumbly-jumbly town with the firebird, and in that castle full of Snegovik. Paimon remembers her name was Ak...

Eye of Graeae: Miss Aksinya, yes. Judging from the memories I have recovered so far, she was once a member of the Belyi Tsar's research organization, Hvergelmir...

Eye of Graeae: She created me so that I might... guide a certain mighty power, and create a "Tomorrow" — a world where no one would ever suffer again...

Eye of Graeae: A land that has cast aside envy, hatred, and selfish desire. A "Court of Bliss" held aloft by the hands of all living beings. Thus...

Eye of Graeae: "Thus shall a radiant world descend, where there will be no distinction between human and human, nor between human and god."

Paimon: A world where there's no distinction between humans and gods? Hmm... Paimon can't even imagine how you'd make that happen...

Eye of Graeae: "A pure world of mankind, where gods need not wield divine power, and humans need not rely on gods."

Eye of Graeae: ...That is the outcome of the plan, as I remember it.

Eye of Graeae: But as for how it was to be accomplished... I'm sorry, but I do not know the full scope of the final plan. To the plan as a whole, I was nothing more than a "tool" within it.

Paimon: Oh, Paimon gets it! Goggles is like a crafting bench. It can craft all kinds of amazing things, but a crafting bench doesn't run around eating up its own materials.

Eye of Graeae: That is a very apt analogy. However, if I may, Miss Paimon, in present-day Snezhnaya, alchemy is not an officially supported field of study...

Paimon: R-Right... But, well, we're on our own train, so...

Eye of Graeae: ...But should I truly seek out the final power?

Eye of Graeae: What if, after obtaining that last portion of power, the memories that return are not the ones I wished to recover? What should I do then?

Eye of Graeae: What if... What if that's the only reason I was created, the purpose I was destined for...?

Then don't decide yet. Wait until you remember.

Paimon: Yeah! It's definitely not good to decide when you don't know anything yet. No matter what, you've gotta remember everything first!

What's wrong with a crafting bench wanting to craft!?

Paimon: Exactly! And if anyone's to blame, it's whoever misused the crafting bench!

Paimon: Wah, this is all your fault... Now Paimon can't stop imagining a crafting bench going "huff, huff" like some kind of dog!

Paimon: Anyway... Goggles has helped us out a lot! Even if that wasn't what Goggles was originally created for, Goggles has still been really useful to us!

When that time comes, just come back to us.

Eye of Graeae: ...Is that so?

Paimon: Besides, we already talked about all the things we're going to do together when you get your body back! Warming up by the fire, having snowball fights, running around on the ice fields... We promised!

Eye of Graeae: Yes. I look forward to... adventuring together with you both after I recover my body.

Eye of Graeae: Though I have thought this countless times throughout our journey... I am truly glad that you were the one to bring me out of that place, and that I was able to meet you both.

Eye of Graeae: The final power... all the answers are there. At the final resting place of the previous Tsar of Ice — the one known as the Belyi Tsar...

Eye of Graeae: I have marked the location on your map.

(Advance forward): Paimon: So this is... where we're supposed to go?; Eye of Graeae: No. There's still a little way to go before we get there.; Eye of Graeae: We'll have to go a little further ahead...

(Approach the blocked cave entrance): Eye of Graeae: The railway line appears to be unusable for various reasons.; Eye of Graeae: Rerouting...

Dialogue

Quest Description

According to the directions from the Eye of Graeae, one of the fragments of his power is located behind Zapolyarny Palace, where the Tsar's White Birch grows...

(Interact with the Notice Board at the entrance to the Pilgrimage to the Sacred Gorge, optional)

Notice Board: "Recently, the route from (...) to Pale Crown Palace was deliberately sabotaged. The Royal Energy Commission of Snezhnaya and the Snezhnayan Imperial Railroad Transport Bureau are currently investigating the matter."

Notice Board: "Until the railway has been fully repaired, please exercise caution when approaching, and beware of further collapses caused by structural damage..."

(Walk into the cave and come across Tsar's White Birch): Paimon: Paimon sees quite a number of these... trees here too.; Eye of Graeae: Yes. These tree-shaped objects are... all branches of that massive Tsar's White Birch.; Paimon: Feels like these trees actually turn towards us when we approach them...?

(Remove the Prime Ice block): Paimon: Brr... Now that the wall's down, the wind's blowing in like crazy...

(Advance forward): Paimon: Hmm. It feels like the closer we get to that place, the heavier the storm gets.; Eye of Graeae: Please remember to continue collecting Kresnik Kristall to maintain your body temperatures.

(Continue past the Teleport Waypoint): Paimon: Gah, this blizzard is crazy! Paimon can't see a thing...; Eye of Graeae: Energy drain detected. I recommend forward ingress along the path where Kresnik Kristall grows...

(Interact with the Investigation Notes inside a broken train carriage, optional)

Investigation Notes

How odd. The collapse in this section of the path to the Pale Crown Palace shows signs of having been caused by an artificially-triggered avalanche.
This requires a rather intricate operation, and... to think the Energy Commission would put up such a sign without reporting it to the Transport Bureau...
Something dubious is afoot.
Is someone in the Commission trying to cover something up? Are they trying to tamper with something inside the Palace?
That said, everyone knows that [...] guards the mausoleum within. In any case, I need to report this to Transport Bureau HQ.
As for those brigands who seek to plunder the Pale Crown Palace. I can only hope they have a chance to regret their folly.
Anyway, it's too cold out here. Time to head back.

(Approach the Statue of the Seven)

Paimon: Oof... Looks like the storm isn't so bad there!

(Approach further)

(The camera shows a wide shot of the Pale Crown Palace)

(If the player has completed Hesperides of Love and Hate and In the Dwelling of Life)

Paimon: So that is...

Eye of Graeae: Yes. That's where we're going... The Belyi Tsar's private palace outside Snezhnograd.

Eye of Graeae: Pale Crown Palace.

(If the player has not completed Hesperides of Love and Hate and In the Dwelling of Life)

Paimon: Whoa... Paimon had no idea all this was underneath that giant tree...

Paimon: Is that... a palace?

Eye of Graeae: That's odd... Why, all of a sudden...

Paimon: Goggles, what's wrong?

Eye of Graeae: I told you before... that I could sense the power that once belonged to me had been split into three parts. One of them was hidden away in a deeper darkness beyond my perception.

Eye of Graeae: But now, maybe because we're closer, I can feel it... The power I couldn't sense before is right here...

Paimon: Here?

Eye of Graeae: Yes. It is right here... within the Pale Crown Palace before us...

Paimon: The Pale Crown Palace?

Eye of Graeae: Yes. It is the Belyi Tsar's private palace outside Snezhnograd.

Eye of Graeae: There, the graceful Snegurochka once played the gusli in the palace royal hall, while waterborn fae sang along to the ethereal melody, chanting the name of the king who ruled the snowfields.

Eye of Graeae: Valiant Volkodlak clashed endlessly before the throne, vying for the Tsar's favor, while Domovoy searched far and wide for rare treasures and riches, all to fill the palace vault.

Paimon: Whoa... T-Treasure vault?

Eye of Graeae: Yes. Though by now, I'm afraid it has long since been emptied.

Eye of Graeae: They say... that was where the great king showed mercy. There, he accepted humankind and allowed them to come before him...

Eye of Graeae: To help the frail, pitiful humans of that time carve out a place of their own amid the ice and snow, the flame of Kresnik was first kindled in that palace, then spread far and wide.

Eye of Graeae: And so, unlike in the days of the Pale Star's royal court, this eternally frozen land no longer belonged to the fae alone. It became a land shared by humans and fae...

Eye of Graeae: And he renamed it Snezhnaya.

Paimon: Oh... So that's how Snezhnaya came to be. Paimon always thought the Tsaritsa founded it...

Paimon: Hmm, how does Goggles know so much about this place?

Eye of Graeae: Of course. I was created here, in a hidden chamber within this palace...

Eye of Graeae: The place we mentioned before, Hvergelmir... Though even that is only one corner of the palace's shadow.

Paimon: Oh, wow... If this palace was so impressive, why does it feel so cold and deserted now?

Eye of Graeae: Because five hundred years ago, the Belyi Tsar died fighting the Abyss and the tides of beasts. His remains were brought back here...

Eye of Graeae: And after he was laid to rest, part of his body became the "Tsar's White Birch." Since then, the Tsaritsa has ruled Snezhnaya from Zapolyarny Palace, and no one has returned here since.

Paimon: So... where we're going is actually the Belyi Tsar's... tomb?

Eye of Graeae: Yes, Miss Paimon. The Belyi Tsar's tomb — but also the place where I was created.

Wait, this isn't against the rules, is it?

We're not going to get caught and end up on a wanted list, are we?

Eye of Graeae: ...The authorities advise against entering without permission. But officially, it is not strictly forbidden.

Paimon: Not strictly forbidden? Then that means we're strictly allowed to sneak in!

Eye of Graeae: Then again... getting put on a wanted list could be interesting.

Paimon: Whoa, no thanks... Okay, Paimon knows what to do. If we get caught by some Snezhnayan guards...

Paimon: Paimon will just say the guiding mechanism sent us the wrong way and we got lost! Getting lost isn't illegal, right? Yep, that's our story.

Paimon: But... the train tracks are broken. What are we gonna do?

Eye of Graeae: It's all right. That route was only ever meant to mislead people. It was never the real way into the Pale Crown Palace.

Eye of Graeae: Think of it as a marker, telling ordinary pilgrims and those visiting in remembrance that they should go no farther.

Eye of Graeae: If we really mean to cross over, we'll need to find... the mechanism that activates the "hidden tracks."

(The camera focuses on a tower on the left)

Eye of Graeae: I can sense it. The mechanism that summons the "hidden tracks" should be up on that tower.

Eye of Graeae: But the tower appears to be encircled by the "Tsar's White Birch." We'll have to find another way in...

(Follow the Eye of Graeae's navigation to the top of the tower)
(Approach the terminal): Eye of Graeae: This is the place... One moment. I shall summon a train to take you to the Pale Crown Palace.

(Interact with the Records of the Orderbearer, optional)

Records of the Orderbearer

According to the Old Sire's orders, we have introduced a small-scale blockage on the path to the Pale Crown Palace.
This is quite strange. According to previous custom, he would have had the High Table do this. It seems he is no longer in good health, and his adopted children cannot hold back much longer...
Or does this mean that this job is so important that it needs to remain... beyond the reach of those gangsters? Is that why it's been left to us Energy Commission members who can do some "field work"?
The disguise is perfect. Even the most seasoned detective from the Transport Bureau would not be able to detect any flaws.
Alright. Re-tested the control console here. No abnormalities. Time to pack up and head back.

(Place the Eye of Graeae on the terminal)
(A train emerges from the distance and arrives at the station)
(Board the train and approach the first carriage): Eye of Graeae: Find yourselves a seat. I'll go start the train now.

(Sit down)

(Condition missing)

Paimon: Goggles, you're amazing! Is there any train you can't drive?; Eye of Graeae: ...Not exactly. For some reason, the trains currently running in Snezhnaya only keep their power systems, leaving no room for remote control.; Eye of Graeae: These early prototypes, though, still have control interfaces...
(The Traveler's eyes begin to close and they begin to see Paimon blurry): Paimon: Oh... Is... that... so...

(Condition missing)

Eye of Graeae: That... is true... However...

Paimon: However... What...?

Paimon: Do you mean that...!?

(‍Traveler‍): (Strange... Why is Paimon speaking so slowly...?)

(‍Traveler‍): (No, wait... Huh? Is it me?)

(The Traveler's eyes close)

Friends, we were created for a single moment,
To call back those dreams flickering on the verge of extinction, to...; To...?; (‍Traveler‍): (Hmm... Where... am I?); (‍Traveler‍): (Wait... wasn't I just... on the train?)
(The Traveler finds themselves in some kind of laboratory with two Domovoy): ???: Izmaylov... Izmaylov. Hah, spacing out again, are we? We need to keep watch on the thing inside the egg at all times, remember?; Izmaylov: I wasn't spacing out... And the Proto-Man is in a highly stable state. Even in the gloom of the Font of the Shadow Realm, he shines as brilliantly as a pearl.; ???: Then you weren't spacing out. You were worried.; Izmaylov: You are right, Azazel. There is too much to think about.; Azazel: There is no need for such concern. Your teacher, Miss Aksinya, remained quite composed upon hearing of His Majesty the Tsar's passing... Oh, are you worried about something else?; Izmaylov: The newly ascended Tsaritsa. It is her attitude that concerns me...; Azazel: Her attitude toward those fae nobles wallowing in Mora and decadence? I doubt it's anything favorable.; Izmaylov: I mean her attitude toward Hvergelmir...; Izmaylov: After all, our research has crossed into forbidden territory. The only reason we were allowed to continue before was His Majesty's tacit approval and protection. But our new Tsaritsa...; Izmaylov: Well, I've heard certain things.; Azazel: What kind of things?; Izmaylov: They're planning to ban anything related to alchemy. Hvergelmir has plenty of bio-alchemy projects, so it's obvious those would be shut down. And if that happens...; Izmaylov: His Majesty's final aspiration will never be realized.; Azazel: Perhaps that would be for the best. Have you forgotten what happened during the last experiment? And besides, His Majesty, in the end, also... Never mind...; Izmaylov: ...You are right, Azazel. But I still need to think this through.; Azazel: Don't dwell on it, Izmaylov. It's not our call to make. Besides... the higher-ups are meeting today.; Azazel: Once they've decided what to do, they'll inform us.; (‍Traveler‍): (Is this... a Shadow Realm? Paimon and the Eye of Graeae are gone...); (‍Traveler‍): (...There are two people up ahead. Maybe I should try talking to them.); Izmaylov: Hmm?; Azazel: Something wrong, my dear Izmaylov? You'd be even better company if you didn't get distracted so easily.; Izmaylov: *sigh* I keep feeling like someone's watching us... But when I look back, there's no one there.; Azazel: Hah. Come now, Izmaylov. Maybe you should keep your eyes on the things that matter.; Azazel: Speaking of which, Mr. Koshchei seems to have left in a hurry and forgotten to close his office door. Well, never mind. Once we're done recording the data, I'll close it for him.; (‍Traveler‍): (They can't see me... That's strange. Something feels off, like I don't quite belong here.); (‍Traveler‍): (But I'm not feeling too uncomfortable. Hmm... Maybe I should take a look around first...)

(Talk to Azazel and Izmaylov, optional): Izmaylov: Strange...; Azazel: Stop staring at nothing. We still have a lot to do...

(Talk to Vsevolod behind the locked gate, optional): Vsevolod: ...The formula is perfect. I'm sure Grand Duke Alvis will praise the results of my hard work over the last few days upon his return.; Vsevolod: Let's... Let's rest here for a little while. Whew...

(Enter Koshchei's laboratory)

(Interact with The Alchemist's Notes (I), optional)

The Alchemist's Notes (I)

...The core challenge in retaining the characteristics of two or more organisms within a single individual is, in truth, the question of maintaining different circulatory systems within a single body.
Ordinary bio-alchemy can solve this problem via an artificial organ known as the Prime Chimeric Nexus.
After resolving the corresponding rejection reactions, one can allow embryos with different properties to form an internal circulatory system specific to the embryonic organism via this organ.
Once a system is formed, the different "components" of the different embryos can be combined during growth, resulting in a Chimeric Beast.
The Prime Chimeric Nexus can only support up to three different embryo types... This is the limit, according to accepted knowledge.
Aksinya says the data indicates the limit is, in fact, five. I made a bet with her that if she can indeed create a Prime Chimeric Nexus that supports five embryos, I will take her to Podvorye Restaurant for drinks in secret.

...

The Embryonic-Ichoric-Telluric-Rudiment (henceforth "Eitr") has changed everything. It is as if we have obtained the final form of the Prime Chimeric Nexus.
It is like a living bio-furnace that can devour any living embryo without limitations.
And its products are nothing like the previous Chimeric Beasts, which had to undergo nurturing cycles to await their growth and harmonization before reaching a completed stage.
Instead, the Eitr swallows, then fully absorbs the embryos, and directly reconstructs their biological traits. And even with that, the number of circulatory systems remains but one.
This must have been the foundation stone for developing a sort of perfect life form.

...

The Eitr is indeed the most perfect of all Hyperborean creations. Its sole weakness is that it is far too perfect...
To the point where it cannot preserve the special components of each organism, as would occur using the Prime Chimeric Nexus.
Perhaps we should consider ways to isolate the biological characteristics from organisms formed from the Eitr?
Ah, I get it now. This must be why the Hyperboreans only created the Leshy in the later stages of their Eitr research...
They must have turned away from the Eitr's bio-furnace in search of more stable forms of life, ones closer to eternity...

...

The five-embryo-compatible Prime Chimeric Nexus that Aksinya constructed only lasted a few breaths in a stable state.
I warned her that this was a low-probability coincidence involving multiple factors that could not be replicated.
She said, "But your bet was about whether or not it could support five embryo types!"
I said that this technology was purely developed for our bet, with neither practical applications nor developmental potential.
She said, "But your bet was about whether or not it could support five embryo types!"

...

She didn't want to drink at all. She only ordered some non-alcoholic soft drinks at Podvorye Restaurant.
I spent more Mora bribing the Pale Crown Palace guards than she spent on drinks. Seriously, what an unreasonable woman.
...Perhaps she just wanted to take a look outside the palace?

(Interact with The Alchemist's Notes (II), optional)

The Alchemist's Notes (II)

...The experiment is complete.
Aksinya believes it finished as per its designated direction, and thus, a success. And indeed, it is a grand endeavor most worthy of praise.
But can this really be called a success?
So-called eternal love... the so-called courtyard of eternal bliss...
Is that is not merely a dead end with neither change nor improvement?

...

What "shared love"? Is this the world she desires, where all shall love all... Yet love should not be such a thing.
If all differences in this world were to disappear, and all were to be blended into one, what would we be "loving," precisely?
There would be nothing to project love outward upon, nor would there be any corresponding entity within to love.
A "love" created by removing the key elements behind love is nothing but a falsehood, an empty shell.

...

The person within the egg is right.
"He" speaks truth. Aksinya has not perceived the terrifying essence of eternal love.
I cannot... allow her plan to come to final fruition. His Majesty Monomakh has passed, but I know she has not given up simply on that account...
Before the time comes, we must stop her. The person within the egg... I agree with "his" plan.
I know, however, that she will one day surely return, breaking free from the shackles of the land of shadows.
When that time comes, I shall prove to her... that love will not be eroded by cold silence, not even in the grand scheme of eternity.

(Interact with the message on the board)

Message: (A note, written in an elegant hand...)

Message: "I will be returning to the House of Hesperides for the next few days, so I'll leave the cat in your care. I can hardly trust the others with her, given how absorbed they become in their experiments."

Message: "I am sure my colleague Koshchei shares my respect for living things and will remember to feed my Lara... The key and specially prepared cat food are on your desk."

Message: "...And remember, my Lara only eats from her bowl. Please don't scatter her food on the floor. She won't eat anything off the floor."

Message: "P.S. If I find that my cat has not been properly fed, or that she has somehow grown parts from another animal, I will find out who is responsible. — Pavlina"

(‍Traveler‍): ("Pavlina." Is that... the name of that Snegurochka up on the mountain?)

(‍Traveler‍): (Yes. They all used to be... colleagues at Hvergelmir.)

(Interact with the cat food bowl on the table)

Pick up

(Obtain Cat Food and Snegovik Laboratory Key)

(Open the door to Pavlina's laboratory using the Key)
(Approach the Mora Chest in the middle of the room): (‍Traveler‍): (This Prime Ice... I feel like there's something inside it.)

(Investigate the Mora Chest and read the notes)

Someone's Notes: (A note, written in a cold, stiff hand with almost no variation...)

Someone's Notes: "...The prisoners used as experimental material have already been handed over to Alvis. There is no doubt that the results of that experiment were 'incorrect.'"

Someone's Notes: "But is that what humans... Is that what loveless fae should seek as 'love'? Perhaps the Snegovik, incomplete in spirit as they are, truly could make use of this technology..."

Someone's Notes: "To gain the 'love' they lacked from the beginning. Just as... just as 'he' told me, dreams that are too grand have no meaning. Perhaps..."

Someone's Notes: "Perhaps 'he' was right. That power... That power should have been ours from the start, as compensation. It was never meant to belong to Aksinya's aberrant dream."

Someone's Notes: "...I will stop here before Alvis 'accidentally' comes across this again and causes more trouble."

(The camera focuses on a painting to the left): Weak Meow: Meow... Meow...; (‍Traveler‍): (Huh. Where's that coming from? Is it... behind that painting?)

(Shake the picture frame for the first time): (‍Traveler‍): (The picture frame makes a faint clacking sound... but I can hear the cat's cries a bit clearer now...)

(Shake the picture frame a second time): (‍Traveler‍): (The sounds from behind the picture frame are getting louder. Seems like something's falling off...); (‍Traveler‍): (Let's try that again...)

(Shake the picture frame a third time): Picture Frame: "Crack!"
After some shaking, the picture frame finally falls off its original perch, revealing the passageway behind it...

(Enter the secret passage): (‍Traveler‍): (Is that another room behind the painting?)

(Enter the next room): (‍Traveler‍): (The path... it's blocked. I'll need to find a way out...)

(Interact with the cat): Cat: Meow... Meow...; (‍Traveler‍): (It looks like it's starving... But according to what Pavlina said earlier, it won't eat unless the food is placed in its bowl...); (‍Traveler‍): (Too bad. There doesn't seem to be a food bowl nearby...)
(The cat runs off)

(Attempt to open the door, optional): (‍Traveler‍): (Can't open that door without the key...)

(Interact with Grand Duke Alvis's Notes, optional)

Grand Duke Alvis's Notes

...Even after His Majesty's passing, Hvergelmir remains within my control. This, perhaps, is why His Majesty entrusted everything to me while he yet walked amongst us.
An alchemist who knows only to trample life into the mud, a young Snegurochka dissatisfied with her own race, and... *sigh* Aksinya, the Court Jester whom His Majesty coddled all too much...
How could they possibly survive this tumultuous situation on their own?
They will still have to rely on my methods, will they not?

...

Yet we Domovoy were never ones to do business at a loss, Your Majesty, the late, great, Belyi Tsar...
Naturally, I have the means to protect this secret chamber, sitting precariously as it does like an egg in an overturned nest. But all within it shall be mine to claim.
The great sighing in my mind has grown more frequent.
The person in the egg, the creature who was created... dares to lecture me?
Yet "his" words are not bereft of sense.

...

I will have vengeance upon [...], yet this move must not be discovered by the one who sits upon the new throne...
The destruction of Kitezhgrad appears to me a perfect opportunity to avoid the cleansing directed at [...]
Snezhnaya shall need a new Kitezhgrad, and that shall be my great work. Once accomplished, even the one on the new throne shall have no choice but to acknowledge me.
Before that, I should... I shall get the share I deserve. It is what "he" promised to me. I must obtain that power.
And after that, once Novokitezhgrad has been established, we can move Hvergelmir to that new city in secret.
Everything here shall be of aid to my research... All so I can get closer... to that person within my mind...

(Investigate the board)

Unnamed Potion Formula

What makes matter cease to be matter? What allows the Transcender to transcend?

Kresnik crystal ore should be the ideal material. It is power refined from the authority released when the colossal beast of (...) from ages past lost control, making it the substance whose nature most closely resembles the conditions surrounding the birth of (...).

Perhaps... Separated, everything is not the cause. For everything to be everything, what was divided must be gathered back into one?

(‍Traveler‍): (...On the scales... Do we need to try completing this experiment first...?)

(Approach the scales): (‍Traveler‍): (Hmm... The needle on that scale looks very much like that key we picked up earlier.); (‍Traveler‍): (But it doesn't look like there's a way we can remove it... Is it being kept in place by some ceremony or something?)

(Interact with the scales)

Investigate

(‍Traveler‍): (A set of scales... There's a feather on the left pan, and something is supposed to go on the right...)

(‍Traveler‍): (This looks like some kind of ritual. The feather is probably just there to represent something "as light as nothing." What matters is the right side... Something real, but with the same weight as "nothing.")

(‍Traveler‍): (The things on the table are...)

Reagent Bottle

(‍Traveler‍): (This liquid is giving off a strange glow...)