You call for your cave-hidden forces, let go of Ada's shoulders, and turn to face the general direction of Teo and the troops accompanying him. Ada startles slightly, brought back to current events by your movement. You're not sure if she's also startled by Teo and the troops arriving; she doesn't say anything suggesting such, but you really just cannot get a read on this girl.
Teo comes into view first, stepping awkwardly around a particularly large tree some distance away, confirming your belief that he ran to retrieve soldiers. Ada pushed particularly hard for Teo to leave, said he had 'business'; you're not sure if that was honest and Teo took it upon himself to come back with troops, or if this was in fact Ada's plan the whole time, but you're leaning toward the latter for the moment.
Tromping in single file behind Teo follow exactly six people. The five trailing in back remind you quite a bit of sir Shellman in dress, not to mention bearing, though their armor is not nearly so heavy as his was. (They're struggling with the uneven ground as-is; heavier armor would probably be quite dangerous for the wearer in these conditions) You note none of them has a weapon at the ready; their swords are sheathed, and two of them have kite shields hanging from their backs. The front-most member of this group -practically breathing down Teo's neck- is armored more completely, their helmet distinguished by a bird's feather sticking out the top, with iconography you don't recognize painted on the shoulders of their armor in purple and in general they have more detail and color to their outfit than the other five soldiers. Even their sword's hilt is more visually complex, made of multiple hoops that would encase the hand when held. (You can tell quite easily because this individual has their hand in said area, apparently ready to draw on a moment's notice)
Teo is still speaking to the group, regularly looking behind himself, but not loudly enough for you to make his words out clearly. Just as you're catching individual words ("... far... safe... almost!..."), the individual in front quite clearly notices you, barks out something, and Teo shuts up while the five soldiers in back suddenly look more attentive and interested than they did when you first spotted the group. The leader (?) pushes past Teo -as in, literally walks into him until he scrambles to the side to avoid being knocked over- and calls out, "State your business, your name, and your liege," in a tone that all by itself suggests violence is on its way.
The group itself advances to maybe twenty paces away while you consider your response, Teo awkwardly shuffling in the back like he's not sure where he's supposed to be now, while Ada rushes past you (Which you briefly consider interfering with, but you're pretty reluctant to hurt Ada and Teo, even given this situation) and as soon as she's in arm's reach of the group she's pretty clearly speaking in a rush, though again too quietly for you to really make anything out. A couple of the soldiers look to relax a bit in response, but most of them -including the leader- are stiff and unreadable.
Eventually you decide to be reasonably straightforward with... selective omissions. "Hello to all of you as well!" You wave cheerily, which causes one soldier to half-raise a hand in response before a glare from another dissuades them. "I am Sabrina née Vieuxpont, passing through these lovely woods on the way to my destination, and I'm not precisely sure I understand what you mean by my liege?" If this were a Freelander asking about 'your liege', Caras -well, the Baron of Soul-Consuming Carapace Shadows, pet names aren't for this kind of context- would be the correct answer, but you're genuinely not sure what a Commoner might be expecting here?
Ada is still talking, though the leader seems to be mostly ignoring her, aside intermittent glances. After a moment, the leader steps forward -pushing into Ada's space, though a little less blatantly than with Teo earlier- and claps their right hand against their chestplate, making quite the racket given the hand is itself apparently in a steel gauntlet. "Heiligwachtmeister Petra Hoffman, myself." Oh, you didn't realize she was a woman, between the distance, the armor, and her practiced almost-boom. "Your liege, as in the man I should contact if there's any trouble." Okay, that's vague. And Petra seems to consider that a complete, satisfactory explanation in its own right, staring expectantly at you. (You note her hand fiddling with her sword's pommel; idle habit? Or readiness to fight?)
In the background, you're pretty sure the troops stashed in the cave are... a third of the way here? (The cave wasn't very far) "Ah, if you mean Papa then he is quite ill and may..." It stings to say it out loud. "... um, he might be dead before a letter can reach him." You sniffle a little, then shake it off as best you can. "Oh, but perhaps you can explain how a person can be holy? I asked dear Ada and she struggled to find words!"
Petra's brow furrows. (Probably. A lot of her brow is covered by her helmet) Then in a very matter-of-fact way she says, "By being proof against the temptations of darkness and evil, of course." Oh? "My own trials were great, but I was better than them, and better for it now." Then she glances at Ada, and in a tone of gentle rebuke says, "A priestess in training really ought to already know this," leaving Ada hanging her head, ashamed.
You're not sure you understand the sentiment (What is 'the temptation of darkness and evil', specifically?), but you note that Ada also suggested being 'better' than others, though she immediately declared it wrong. And sir Shellman was very explicit that he considered him and his better than you and yours. Hmmm.
You put a pin in that train of thought, and then Petra resumes speaking. "But you did not properly state your business... Dame... Sabrina." Is that doubt? You think she's doubting your nobility. "What is your destination, and your intentions?"
Well, you'd been hoping for a clearer explanation, but you have the impression miss Petra here would have little patience for further evasion or stalling. "I am a diplomat-" This is sort of true now that you think about it? You kind of are Caras' diplomat... toward his vassals. "-from far to the west, heading east on... a kind of vague mission, to be honest?" You have this image in your head of the lie you are painting: a Sabrina from somewhere so far west they don't have Gendarmerie, who has no specific destination in mind but has been given a mission to seek out some kind of help from somewhere to the east. "I was expecting to stop in at Neustadt for a start, now that I know about it." To demolish it, but shhh.
By now your troops are around halfway to the clearing. Petra frowns very hard at you, then a soldier says something to her you catch only a little of ("... sounds familiar..."), and Petra's frown deepens. "Where in the west, Sabrina?" You notice she doesn't call you Dame. You also notice she puts her left arm on Ada and maneuvers the girl behind her.
"Uh. Ouestvalee?" you try, because you don't actually know any names for any places further west aside that the Council lives in Soissons, which you have this sneaking suspicion name-dropping Soissons would not help.
You're not really surprised when Petra sneers out, "Dominated." Nor when she draws her sword, shouts, "Kill the filth!" and charges you. (Though Ada looks pretty alarmed, and Teo looks completely lost) The other five soldiers take a moment to properly cotton on, but dutifully draw their swords and come at you.
Darn. So much for getting a complete explanation for this 'holiness in people' thing.
You turn and run backward into the clearing, letting the clank of armor tell you how far behind your pursuers are, and when it sounds like they're passing right between two of the Boulders, you order them to attack.
As ordered
Screams ensue, and you glance behind to see one Boulder pretty much just fell onto a soldier, his lower half hidden under the mass while he claws mindlessly at the ground in a futile attempt to get out. The other Boulder appears to have been facing the wrong direction, as it finishes awkwardly turning in place as you're glancing back, and it does its best to charge at the closest soldier staring slack-jawed at the crushed soldier, but said soldier looks alarmed and resumes running toward you and thus out of the Boulder's path.
Petra and the soldiers all shout in alarm at each other, with it mostly being variations on the word 'Dominator', repeated at varying intensities and with some yelling it as a question and others yelling it as an assertion. One soldier is more coherent, screaming, "But they can't! This is the land of light!"
They still chase you, though.
... up until you run between two more curled-up Boulders, at which point the line soldiers stop, turn to look about more completely (Clearly reacting with horror as they realize all the boulders in the area are, er, Boulders), and start shouting about how they're surrounded, should retreat, and similar sentiments.
Petra doesn't slow down at all and in fact finds the lung capacity to berate her men as cowards and say something about how this is why their families will never be blessed, and-
-why do you smell pork?
As you keep running (Sort of glad you never had the opportunity to get out your armor and weapons: those things are heavy! You're already getting tired!), ordering the Boulders you're passing by to just get up and attack Petra already since the ruse is up, another glance back reveals Petra fearlessly jumping at the Boulder on her left, spinning a bit as she goes. You're at a bad angle to see exactly what happens, but apparently she hits what she wants, because she makes a, "Ha!" sound of triumph, pulls her sword out, dodges around a clumsy attempt by the Boulder to stab at her with its proboscis, and resumes running after you. The Boulder turns awkwardly, and you can see it- uh. It's on fire. Its wounds are on fire, its entire front going up, and bits of fire flying away from it irregularly to hit the damp grass. (Is that its blood that is burning?)
Why is it on fire?
The Boulders can't keep up with Petra at all, though the burning Boulder stubbornly does its best to continue the chase, even as its arms fall off, its eyes srop working, and its legs finally fail to carry its weight, causing it to fall face-first into the ground and lie motionless. The other Boulder pauses-
Query?
-and after a moment you tell it to help contain the other soldiers.
(Something reminds you of Teo and Ada, and you order the Runners to get out of the carriage and stop them from fleeing)
You keep on running, kind of baffled at how Petra is keeping up with you (You're getting a stitch in one side! She's in heavy armor!), angling yourself for the Suncrawlers and Rollers, hoping you'll make it in time, half-listening to Petra screaming invectives about you, your family, your entire 'forsaken country', and Teufel, and half-realizing that Petra probably has a Burner Worm and clearly knows how to use it the way Caras has described to you.
You're not sure if you're just imagining a sizzling sound worryingly close behind you, but that burnt pork smell is definitely real and queasily intense, and apparently Petra tries to throw a knife at you? It misses, and she curses, but also it had what looked a lot like a handprint-shaped portion hot enough to glow? So you skirt around where you last saw the knife, do your best to ignore Petra laughing about how you 'can't escape the light of justice', duck around a tree, collapse to the ground as you gasp for breath-
-and Petra's triumphant shout is interrupted by her slamming into a Roller that just walked behind you.
You do your best to both turn around and scoot away, giving you a view of the action while getting away from the danger, as more Rollers move in and the Suncrawlers follow a bit behind. Petra herself is clearly glowing, the inside of her mouth rather reminding you of seeing a furnace, cracks starting to form in her skin and her armor having some of the non-metallic bits set alight. (She seems to have lost the armor over her left knee at some point, the straps keeping it in place apparently burned away) Yikes. She initially appears to try to climb over the Roller, but her hands sink into its jelly flesh instead of getting a proper grip to climb with, and she spits more curses and tries to go under it, but it grabs her with its hands. The poison in its flesh also is clearly getting to her, her arms moving oddly, and when she attempts to stab at the Roller with her sword, she loses her grip entirely on the second stab.
Petra says something triumphant-sounding you can't really hear over your heart beating in your skull, sneering at you, and seems to try to clasp her hands in prayer. (At least, her forearms sort of slap into each other, as she closes her eyes and starts murmuring to herself) Which is weird, and the weirdness has you inclined to back off more just in case, so you do that, and oh my Petra's flesh has caught fire and her face is more an impression of dark spaces in the flame than anything else, she shouts something about Teufel's servants, and she... seems to abruptly die, body no longer holding itself up, as her entire body burns like a pile of dry kindling rather than like a person who was alive just a second ago.
To your intense relief, the Rollers aren't being set alight. The Roller that Petra first slammed into seems to have had much of its flesh evaporate in the last minute, and one of its eyes has wilted, laying against the skull and wiggling in a mildly upsetting manner, but the bones seem unaffected and otherwise it seems fine.
Over the following minutes while you lay where you are, waiting for the stitch in your side to go away, the pyre that was Petra slowly reduces in intensity, eventually no longer requiring the Suncrawlers and Rollers intermittently put out leaves and branches that dry out enough to alight. Finally, there's nothing left but cracked bones, ashes, a scorched area where grass used to be, deformed steel, and-
-a writhing mass of Burner Worms, which for the moment seem unwilling to move away from Petra's remains but still. Burner Worms. Live Burner Worms, in the open.
You're not sure how to respond to them.
[]Ignore the Burner Worms. You don't want to waste resources on this.
[]Try to kill the Burner Worms by having a Suncrawler attack them. Whatever happens would be informative, and you're okay with risking losing a Suncrawler to make sure you don't have these Burner Worms about.
[]Leave the diminished Roller to watch the Burner Worms and report to you any changes, but otherwise leave this topic for later.
[]Have the Workers assemble something to contain the Burner Worms, and see if you can bring them home with you later. Maybe direct Burner Worm access will make it easier to figure out a cure? Or maybe they'll burn your carriage down on the way home...
[]Write-in.
------------------------------------------
Once you're done with all that and no longer panting for breath, you make your way back to the clearing.
To your surprise, the four soldiers who weren't crushed are standing with their backs to one another, surrounded by Boulders in a standoff. (The crushed soldier is dead, not only crushed but with a hole through his neck that clearly bled profusely) When one of them spots you, he shouts, "We surrender! If you please!"
Huh?
"You can do that?" you say with some surprise.
Another soldier mutters something that sounds a lot like 'no, we can't' but is promptly kicked by the soldier beside him. The fourth soldier, the one facing directly away from you, shouts, "I'll not die to satisfy the Heiligwachtmeister's glory-seeking!"
Huh.
You'd sort of figured Commoner soldiers were all like sir Shellman and would fight to the death no matter what. Petra certainly was.
You didn't really discuss with Caras topics like... prisoners.
Hmmm.
[]You'll take this cautiously, but be nice about it; check them for Burner Worms with the Gatekeeper before lowering your guard, have them drop theirweapons but also call off your own forces, and then ask questions. Why are these Commoners willing to surrender? If you let them go, what will they do? What are their plans more generally, and what's the context you're missing?
[]You'll ask questions at metaphorical swordpoint before even considering accepting their surrender. Petra already came worryingly close to killing you, and you're unconvinced of their honesty with all that the Common Lands have done to Caras' territory.
[]You'll just kill them and be done with it; they're soldiers, they tried to kill you, they're reaping what they sowed and anyway you're here to demolish Neustadt. If you don't kill them now, you'll probably end up killing them later.
[]You'll ask them if they're willing to defect. You'd... sort of assumed that would never happen, but these Commoners seem a bit less committed than what you've seen so far. Maybe that's a real option?
[]You'll accept their surrender, disarm them, have the Workers arrange to tie them up somehow, and move on; you can figure out what to do with this bunch later.
[]Write-in.
(Note that the topic of Ada and Teo will be addressed later; please don't do a write-in involving them unless you have a clear reason for rolling together how to address them with how to address the soldiers. Which I guess you could schizophrenically vote to kill them all? But I don't expect you folks to do that given how adamant you've been on trying for captures and all)
