u/PantheraAuroris

The Spiral Heart has fled off into the cosmos. Do Manzil and Ver get their weird friend back?

Goel, who is the same manner of being as the Formless, seems to have shed their own Spiral Heart a while back, despite still remaining imprisoned in the tree for fear they will keep eating everything in sight. They are still walking and capable of fighting and talking and doing person things. I imagine, personally, that the Formless will be the same way, left behind and -- though probably beaten to within an inch of their life -- will continue on afterward. And Ver will yell at them a lot.

What about all of you?

There are people who can come up with clever ideas, and people who can't. Sometimes the people who can't, aren't happy with stat checks. What then?

Our group's GM is running Season of Ghosts, and we're at the point where players are trying to essentially figure out the metaplot: that we're all (un)dead.

The GM is running this as an individual exercise in players picking up on hints dropped earlier in the run. The general conceit is that when someone figures out the secret, they now can't speak about it without the mindscape trying to hide this information, so it always comes out wrong and can't be understood. Essentially, this means the characters can't actually convey information to each other. Players have to solve this individually. This is causing some unforeseen issues. We have Players A, B, C, and D for purposes of names.

Player A hasn't solved the puzzle, and is having fun with their character being totally clueless.

Player B has solved the puzzle, and is having a grand old time doing the "I'm trying to tell you!" thing with their character.

Player C hasn't solved the puzzle, and has seemed a little sad ever since the subject came up. Upon the GM asking why, they said they feel like an idiot for not solving the puzzle because Player B already did, and that this whole game has now for them become an exercise in feeling dumb and clueless. I guess that makes sense, because now the plot ball has started rolling.

Player D has solved the puzzle and is trying to keep quiet because speaking up might make Player C feel like even more of a loser.

I (Player E, I guess) have also solved it and don't know what to say.

We have already done the "just talk to players" level of conversation. Player C does not want to do a stat check to get their character clued in, because C really just wants to feel Useful and Smart and Good At Stuff by figuring it out from dropped hints like B, D, and E did. But...well, C isn't figuring it out and is giving up. What now? C isn't fussing, but just seems quietly sad anytime the metaplot comes up now. I'm guessing eventually Shinzo comes in to clue-by-four the whole party, but IDK when.

The GM doesn't know what to do here. Like how do you account for differences in player skill without some people just feeling carried? Player C isn't being a dick, we just want to figure out how to get them having fun again.

I'm concerned that if I ask amateurs in the New England subs, I'll get either dismissive or scaremongering stuff. I trust people here.

How actually bad is the spread of alpha-gal? Given people reporting that they're getting covered in ticks anytime they get remotely off the beaten path, I'm honestly wondering whether to swear off hiking at this point unless I gear up with full permethrin/etc equipment. I'm not sure how to assess sources on this very well, so I thought a dialogue might help.

I know this year is a Very Bad Tick Year, but it's probably going to keep going like this, what with climate change. Will we have to start armoring up every time we go into nature for fear of becoming deathly allergic to mammal meat? Is this overblown? Etc? Thank you.