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Update 6: Asleep in the Glen
Self Contained Universe - Reprise
Before we head to the Glenn, there's still a couple of things to do. Don't worry, they won't take long. We've still got that strange journal, yeah? Well, Silver's probably the only one we can ask about this here so, let's ask her if she knows anything about it.
I found this book. Do you know anything about it?
[Let me see...]
[What language is this...?]
[I'm sorry, I... don't even recognize this writing system.]
Ah, well, it was worth a shot.
Couldn't have said it better Niko! Alright, well let's g--
[Although... this insignia.]
[...hold on to the journal for now. It will be important.]
O...kay...
Again, couldn't have said it better. Now then, do you remember that bot right outside of Silver's hut? We never did go back and check in with them.
[HELLO, SMALL PERSON.]
You're not much bigger than I am...
[WELCOME TO THE LOOKOUT POINT. BELOW US IS THE OLD QUARRY. THE HEAD ENGINEER LIVES A LITTLE MORE TO THE EAST. THE ENTRANCE TO THE OLD MINES IS FURTHER TO THE EAST.]
I see!
And... that's it for them. They do also say they're watching over the plants but I was hoping for something more interesting for a robot we found asleep in a field of black clovers.
Before we go... there is one more bot we need to say goodbye to - Prophetbot.
[Hello Again.]
Hi!
The Goons and I are leaving now! We found a robot that can take us closer to the tower!
[Oh!]
Thanks for helping me and answering my questions!
[That Means I Have Fulfilled My Purpose!]
Mhm!
[I Wish You Luck On The Rest Of Your Journey.]
Aww, they ended up being a swell robot. I would have felt bad if we didn't say goodbye, especially seeing as how their one purpose in life was to literally greet us and give us the hero's journey spiel. With that though, we are done with the Barrens! Let's finally leave this place.
Just got to show the rowbot this necklace and we're Glen-bound!
Navigation
[OH! THIS IS AMBER FROM THE GLEN. I CAN REMEMBER NOW! ACTIVATING TRACKING SYSTEM...SETTING COURSE...]
Oh, sorry. There's at least a couple dozen goons with us and we may need more boats.
[YOU'LL NEED TO LEAVE BEHIND SOME OF YOUR POSSESSIONS.]
Oh.
Well... I don't think I'll be needing this crowbar anymore... or this gas mask and gloves...
[ONWARDS WE GO.]
CanNOT say enough things about how adorable that artwork was 
[HERE IS YOUR STOP. THE GLEN]
Thank you!
[THERE SHOULD BE A VILLAGE TO THE NORTH. BUT THAT'S ALL I CAN RECALL.]
Oh, that's good to know!
[FAREWELL. MAY YOUR MISSION BE A SUCCESS.]
A-Are you leaving?
[YES. I MUST RETURN TO MY STATION.]
But you'll be all alone again...
[IT'S OKAY. I HAVE NOT BEEN TAMED.]
Damn Rowbot, you got... real depressing at the end there. 
Well, welcome to the Glen! There's supposed to be actual people living here so let's go see if that's true.
Heading south through the rest of the docks just gets us to a dead end. So I guess we have to go barging in to someone's home.
Well jeez, looks like we landed on the nice side of town.
To Sleep
Ah, there we go! Welcome to the Glen! This place is such a great sight to see after all the dark industrial/mine aesthetic of the Barrens. Not to say the Barrens was bad, just that if the whole game had been that type of environment, I'm not sure I'd hold it in the same esteem.
There's literally only one way to go - through the door above us.
The Rowbot told us about a village up to the north, so we could go there. We could also just explore around and see what we find.
Oh hey! Is that... a robot or a person?
Wow! We met our first human-like character! I'll talk more about what these characters are later, but they are like Niko, in that they are human... but with a bit of animal characteristics.
This island seems to be pretty broken up. We are unable to reach that fisherman on the other side, but we can talk to this one right next to us!
Hm... Nothing's biting...
...Inspiring stuff!
This is a nice little hut! The little green glowing jar in the back are fireflies. Like the shrimp in the first area, fireflies are the main source of light for this area.
There was a time where our people used to live in these ruins. But due to flooding, most of us have moved to less permanent settlements.
Flooding?
Aye, the land has gotten brittle... The Glen used to be in one piece, you know? But now it's just a bunch of islands that get smaller and smaller.
Ah...
Yup, that sounds like a dying world alright! Sure would suck if that happened to us!!
There's nothing else in here of interest (There's some stew on the stove though!) so let's head back out.
There's nothing else behind the house except that bridge - which leads to the town. There's not much else on this little island, so let's go see what this village is about.
To Dream
Aww, this place looks cozy!
A lot of bells in town, I've rung them all and they seem to do nothing.
Oh, hello! How are you?
Is that the sun?
Yeah!
And you're holding it? Isn't it hot?
Not really! It's nice and warm!
Well, there you have it. The sun? Not hot, merely warm. I'm unsure of the physics of that, but it also somehow controls whether this world exists or not so I'm just gonna not ask questions.
That little girl is the only one walking around the town. Let's start barging into people's houses and see what we find!
You're gonna get dizzy if you keep spinning around like that...
I'm the Tower!
Huh?
Grandpa says the Tower used to spin allll the time bringing sunlight to the world! I wanna see it too!
Well, I'm here now... I guess it'll only be a matter of time again.
I'm unsure why spinning is fun as a kid. I remember doing it all the time, even though the dizziness and headaches lasted the rest of the day. Well, hopefully she doesn't get sick...
It's worth noting that all those little containers have little bits of dialogue attached. Some of them contain beans, fish - dried, fresh, or heads, and other types of food. Even those pots on the makeshift stoves have stew, peas, and beans. It's not much but it's cool to see this game have a living breathing world.
It's not ready yet, but... would you like some stew?
I'm not hungry... but thank you!
It's the least I can offer the savior!
It would still weird me out to have anyone refer to me as a savior, kudos to Niko for taking that on the chin.
Bah, empty! Not even any pots to smash!
Uhhh, wow! Guess I found all the smashable pots!
This is it... the last of our grain surpluses... and now we're dealing with a vermin problem...
Maybe you can get cats?
Not that I'm a cat, I mean...
A cat does sound nice... maybe I'll ask my cousin to find one in the city for me. He just moved there.
So all of these pots have dialogue with them, though several repeat. They are each different types of grains: barley, wheat, oats, etc. Outside of that, there's nothing else to this room. Though, if this really is all the grains the town has left...
Oh? There's someone up here staring out into the ocean.
The land is fragmenting at an alarming rate... I don't like to think about the day when this town finally loses to the intruding sea. We'll have to find another place to settle...
...Well, them staring out at sea makes sense now.
It's slowly being chipped away already. But it's still trying to stay alive, I think. Doesn't matter... one day the world will finally give up this fight. I just hope I'm not alive to see it.
I'm bringing back the sun, though...
That won't fix the root of the problem.
Just like the other lady said...
But don't lose heart! Without the sun, the world will die much faster. At the very least... I'm sure everyone would like to see the sun again.
Well jeez! This town sure is depressing as hell!! How is the lively forest more depressing than the industrial wastelands? Is it something in the water?
Maybe these sheep will cheer us up, because the people sure aren't!
The crops have been growing poorly without the sun... and there's no telling how long our surpluses will last. Please, savior, you have to hurry!
I...
I'll do my best.
Aww, Niko. 
They're handling being a savior really well.
That guy's not kidding, these crops aren't doing anything. Hopefully, we can reach the Tower before too much longer.
And in the midst of all the sheep is the shepherd. Oh shepherd, what wisdom do you have for us?
Hmm... I need someone to help me herd my rams...
Oh!
I can do that!
You can?
I've seen some grownups do it back home... You kinda just push them around!
Hmm... but you are carrying the sun.
Ah...
Wait, can't you just... watch the sun for me?
I cannot. I am but a simple shepherd.
Um... okay...
Come back when your hands are free. You will be rewarded if you can herd my rams.
Sorry Niko, but it's in the rule book - Only messiahs are allowed to hold the mcguffin. And I mean, cmon how many shepherds have been messiahs?
These are the rams that need herding. We'll have to come back when Niko's hands are free, aka when the world has been saved. The sheep can wait until then.
Before we continue on, let's double back a bit to find a dude that was a bit out of the way.
The light from these lanterns will have to do for now. I'm starting to see some very small sprouts. It will probably take some time for these to bear fruit...
Sure enough, Niko can go investigate...
Small sprouts. I gotta be careful I don't step on these!
There's an invisible wall on the sprouts so we can't accidentally walk on them. Ok, with that out of the way, let's continue on past the shepherd.
Ooh, a caravan! And a bell! Let's go ring it.
Well, we got someone's attention alright.
You here to trade?
Trade?
Yeah!
Is there anything you want to get rid of? Make me an offer and I'll give you something in return!
Hm...
Do we have something like that, Goons?
Hmm, well let's check our inventory.
We've got the literal sun, a robot's memento that they had to break programming to give to us, and a strange journal written in another language that was given to us by someone who put a document on my PC.
What will you give us for the cursed strange journal?
Wait, trade this?
Don't you want to find out what it says first, Goons?
Well... yeah we do, but also what if they have like a second sun? It's worth a shot. right?
What's that? A book?
Uh, not sure if I wanna take books, I can't read!
Oh, well. That plan was dashed. What about the amber locket?
I don't think it's right to trade this away, Goons...
I've dug up a couple of these before.
Oh?
Yeah! There's this guy who would trade me the BEST things for them.
Oh?
Like, one time he brought me this little machine that plays music!
I don't know what it's called, but you have to wind it up...
Music box?
That's it!
I wish that guy would come back soon, I haven't seen him in forever.
I wanna do more trades with him!
Dang, the music box sounds cool. Though, I'm unsure what we'd do with it. Maybe we were robbed of a music box version of one of OST songs, and for that I will never forgive Magpie here.
Also yeah, let's go ahead and be the worst influence on our little messiah.
Niko's already tired of our BS 
Magpie is the only real reason to come down this way, but there are a couple other things to see before we head back to town.
Like this shrine for instance. I'm unsure what/who it's for. There does seem to be some kind of religion to this world, despite the fact that the technology has to be somewhat advanced for robots (and rowbots) to be around.
Around the shrine are various articles of clothing and a rod made of amber. But otherwise nothing else of note.
The flood can take away our farmlands... but it can't take away our fish!
Well, so long as you don't eat too many fish at once, it can't.
Uh, why is the door full of vines Niko...? Is that normal? Should that be the case? Either way, we'll have to remember to investigate this later.
That's it for the village. The only other way to go is back to that island we started on and then south.
Alright, so we don't really have any leads about what to do with this area, so let's just try and find the way to the city and get o--
Alula? Where did you go?
Goons, did you hear that?
Yeah we did, sounds like someone's looking for someone else.
Alula!
I think it's coming from south-east of here.
Alright! Our first lead! Let's go investigate...
Have you seen a little girl? She's a little bit shorter than you, and-
Wait...! That's... the sun.
Are you our savior?
I... yeah?
Oh my stars! Sorry for my rudeness!
Huh? It's alright...
Are you looking for someone?
I've been looking all over, but...
What does she look like?
Um... a little shorter than you, long blue hair, two blue feathers on the top of her head...
I'm sorry, I haven't seen anyone like that...
I'm gonna interrupt this to say I love Calamus' portraits. If you haven't noticed, the eyes on his head will also express emotion and that's a really neat detail.
Where was the last place you saw her?
Back inside the ruins.
She said she was headed towards the forest, so I'm waiting here now.
Well, sounds like we've got a big brother in trouble. We'll need to help him and finish exploring the southern parts of the Glen.