Some of the clearings have traps in them now that put up big angry spikes when stepped on, so that's new.

Great! Wonderful! What fun! After her first near miss she learns to recognize the circles on the ground and stay the fuck off of them.

She almost misses the tarot card tucked between the branches of a tree at the edge of a clearing, but the white paper catches her eye and she goes over and tugs it free.

The picture on its face is of a telescope, which she has just enough time to notice and absorb before her crown pockets the card and... eats it, somehow. She gets the sense that her crown is thinking hard about something, and then it settles into place and gives her a sort of mental tug in a specific direction. If she goes that way, there will be wood to finish her buildings with!

"So that card lets you... see farther?" she guesses.

Hesitant agreement. It's not the full picture but it'll do as a summary.

"Huh. I was wondering what those things even did. Sure, let's grab some wood. Let me know if you see anything else useful, okay?"

Cheerful agreement. The crown bounces slightly on her brow as she proceeds.

The wood comes in the form of numerous tidy stacks of lumber plus a mysterious statue. It takes her a second to understand that the blocky, roughly-carved shape depicts a cultist in prayer. She scowls and chops it down with her crown-axe, and her crown happily pockets the debris. With that and a few small, easily-cut trees from the edges of the clearing, she moves on.

Not long afterward, her crown directs her down a specific path with a wordless promise of power and safety.

An enormous catfolk with a red plaid coat and an improbably fancy hat presides over a small assortment of things.

"Beauty is truth, truth beauty, and that is all ye need know of your heart."

"...hi?"

"That we lived three summer days, I could fill my heart with such delight, more than fifty common years..."

Her crown is leaning eagerly toward a small chunk of stone; she allows it to reach out and pocket the thing, and instantly knows that it's one of those Commandment Stone fragments she's supposed to be picking up for doctrinal purposes.

The shopkeeper(?) reaches out and sweeps most of the rest of the pile away. "Oh but a thing of beauty is a joy forever!" he purrs.

The only thing left in front of him is a tarot card. "Thirty gold," he says when he sees her looking at it.

That's a ridiculous price, but she consults her crown anyway. How many of those coins does she have on her...?

"Bugger, I can't afford it," she sighs.

The shopkeeper shrugs.

Next her crown directs her to a clearing with a sacrifical ritual ongoing, like the one she rescued... what's their name... Meron from, way back at the start of all this.

"The worm, it is hungry," a robed cultist intones, waving their knife over a bound horsefolk. "It feeds. It partakes of our flesh. But that is the price for safety. For that, we gladly give it all we have."

Well, that makes the Lamb somewhat less comfortable about murdering all these people.

She consoles herself with the evident knowledge that they're the ones trying to murder that terrified captive. She is against the sacrifice of helpless, unwilling creatures. That seems like a solid principle to wage a one-lamb war over.

They fall beneath her blade like so many before them, and her crown shatters the altar and pockets the weeping stranger.

The more she uses her new curse, the more there's a sense from her crown of flexing muscles long disused.

After a while, it gets her attention in the aftermath of a battle, and she pauses to listen. Something about... changing the form of her curse, from a bolt that flies straight through the air to... a line drawn across the ground that then erupts with violent power? Sure, she'll try that out if the crown thinks it's a good idea.

Making the ground erupt with violent power turns out to be... concerningly fun. She has a great time obliterating burrowing leaf-monsters for a bit, until she arrives at a familiar-looking stone-floored clearing and sees another of the enormous creatures waiting for her there.

This one has four huge red eyes set around a fanged maw, with wooden horns reaching out all around like the petals of a flower. The maw vomits burning green orbs and she decides she would not like to find out what happens when they touch her.

With the help of her new curse, though, this one goes down even faster than the other two.

Reduced to the size and approximate shape of a person, the creature reaches out to her with trembling hands and a pleading look. "Please, spare me..."

She sighs, and lets the crown pocket them. One more for the collection.

And back at home—

Nope! It's Chained God Surprise!

augh she HATES Chained God Surprise

"Do not make the mistake of becoming the servant of your Followers," says the grinning apparition from behind its threadbare veil. "They are for you to use to your advantage!"

Well, it's always nice to know how people think of you. She feels like she doesn't dare even finish thinking that thought.

"Their faith is a resource; spend it as you would gold. For you can always regain their trust with a well placed gesture of kindness."

The One Who Waits grins a wide, toothy grin as it dispenses this wisdom.

"Let it empower you, let it give you license to do unspeakable things. Bend them to your will."