Night of Frights
- Location
- Wherever
Your gear collected and placed properly on your person, you decide you'd like to talk to Ada (And Teo and Wolfram, secondarily) one last time. It's occurred to you that Ada seems to place a lot of importance on concepts like 'justice', and if she's a priestess in training as you've been told she might feel some degree of responsibility for what the Neustadt priesthood is doing to Freelanders... or you might be able to bring her around to such thinking. Either/or.
You're not really surprised to find a Runner injecting paralytic venom into Ada again as you arrive (She makes a muffled noise of pain), though everyone else in the area seems pretty upset by the process. (Teo has managed to roll over enough to have a view, but Wolfram is still face-down in the grass: you're not sure his moan actually was in response to Ada being re-paralyzed) You're not sure why; the needle involved is surprisingly fine, you've always been impressed by how little bleeding occurs, and it plays out in about a second. You'd think soldiers -guards, whatever- would be a bit less squeamish.
You shrug it off, and simply approach Ada. (Flanked by Breeds, just in case Beardy Man gets ideas) With a smile, you say, "Before I go, I wished to have a proper conversation with you, Ada dear." The guards -even Felix- all give you odd looks, while Ada groans something incoherent into the grass. "Okay, maybe not a conversation as such, but I am a bit pressed for time, unfortunately, so this will have to do."
Ada and Teo both mumble out things that were probably meant to be angry and defiant but just end up sounding like a young child ineffectually attempting to imitate things adults are saying around them. Beardy Man looks very regretful of his life choices, while Felix and Konrad look uncomfortable.
"So you're to be a priestess of Bu-... Brandstifters, yes?" You pause for a moment to let Ada give a response, but she's silent and motionless quite suddenly. Which is a response in its own right, mind. "Right. Which, it seems to me, means you intended to share responsibility for the actions of the priesthood. So one could say that you are, in fact, responsible for the many senseless and horrible deaths in the Freelands the priesthood has caused with their cruel distribution of... Brandstifters via ignorant caravans." You're not sure why Felix and Konrad go white at this point. Or why Ada is now thrashing and moaning a little. "So I should think you would wish to right this wrong; if you come with me to the Freelands and share what you know of how to suppress the lethality of Brandstifters, or better yet how to remove them safely when they are unwanted, this would go a very long way to make things right." Felix and Konrad look relieved; what did they think you were driving at? Oh well, perhaps a question for later.
Ada slurs out something that might be roughly, "I won't be taken in by Teufel's lies." Maybe. Teo manages to choke out a really angry-sounding condemnation of- rude! Maman has always been very committed to Papa! You have difficulty imagining her finding another man even once he's dead! Wow, Teo, so rude!
Breathe in, breathe out. You smile again. "Please do give the matter some consideration while I'm off on my business."
Not that you intend to give them a choice: you'd rather Ada comes and helps willingly, but while kidnapping a teen girl leaves a bad taste in your mouth, you find yourself imagining friends -or worse, family- burning to death from the inside while you try to explain to them that you chose not to grab a probable solution when it was right in front of you because it made you ~feel bad~...
... and that is a considerably more unhappy feeling.
You wait a few moments longer in case anyone has anything to add, but all that greets you is silence.
So you stand up, mount up on a Roller (Which is very awkward, and feels quite odd, but works reasonably well), issue your final orders to the Runners (Keep Ada and Teo here, don't let anyone else go running to Neustadt) and Workers (Get Wolfram tied to a tree, then make sure everything with the carriage is in proper order), and set out with your forces, Rollers pushing curled-up Boulders while Suncrawlers do their awkward best to keep up, and the Gatekeeper runs in the middle of the group.
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Wojciech was a bit anxious: it had been two hours or so since Heiligwachtmeister Petra had taken the rest of South Gate's crew to investigate whatever thing the lad was freaking out about, and he'd yet to see sign of their return.
Truth be told, Wojciech wasn't really expecting them to have encountered trouble. Older kids goofing off in the woods sometimes ate mushrooms while they were out there, and poisonous Madcap was really easy to mistake as the delicious and perfectly safe Nightcap; usually someone babbling about strange things in the forest wasn't seeing anything real, just Madcap visions. The Heiligwachtmeister was very studious about checking potential trouble thoroughly, though; frankly, Wojciech didn't expect her back for another hour regardless. Probably she was still dragging the lads through mud and brush and berating them for their lack of diligence when they pointed out the boy was probably panicking over nothing.
But Wojciech had always been of a nervous disposition, so he was feeling a bit anxious regardless. There was also the very real possibility that a traveler might show up even though it was past dark, and ideally there'd be three people at minimum to do all the checks and so on in a timely manner; he really wished the Heiligwachtmeister had at least left Wolfram behind. One person wasn't really enough...
At last, Wojciech spotted movement down the path the Heiligwachtmeister had taken out, and he relaxed a little: finally, they were done and coming back!
Then it occurred to him that he didn't see the glow of a lantern. He couldn't remember who had grabbed it, but the group hadn't simply forgotten the lantern, and it was too dark to simply do without. Wojciech sighed in annoyance; had Felix lost the lantern again? That would be the third time in the last six mo-
Wojciech frowned, then squinted at the shadows shifting in the thin moonlight.
... no, that wasn't the Heiligwachtmeister and her crew. He couldn't make out numbers and shapes properly, but the shifting forms extended too far in a line to be the watchmen and the kids coming back. And the shapes seemed wrong to just be people walking. A caravan? Or perhaps a team of horseriders?
Now Wojciech's nervousness had better grounding: that was a very strange road for a caravan to be coming down, especially in the dark, and if it was horseriders, that probably meant knights, which meant some noble was once again trying to bring Neustadt under their dominion.
As such, Wojciech began ringing the bell, shouting, "To arms! Riders in the dark!" and similar over and over, and lit the signal fire that would ensure that East Gate would be alerted as well. Of course, most citizens of Neustadt were trying to sleep by now, so the response was slow (Probably exactly as the bastards intended!), with the younger folk especially tending to wander out, confused, before somebody got it through to them that they needed to grab their militia kit and ready for battle.
Wojciech, meanwhile, was running west down the wall, continuing to ring his bell and shout, as was his duty-
-but he slowed down, eventually coming to a silent stop, as the riders in the dark got closer. There were two reasons for this: the first was that the riders were still not turning toward South Gate, but heading straight toward the section of wall maybe thirty paces ahead of Wojciech, and some irrational instinct was telling him he shouldn't be there when they arrived.
The second reason was that the riders in the dark were now close enough for Wojciech to see that they were not Common knights. He wasn't sure what they were, but these creatures with dull glowing coals (Were those eyes?) were too large to be a knight on a horse, and were pushing enormous, oddly-round rocks in front of them.
After a long, long moment, Wojciech remembered half-heard tales from soldiers returned from holy expeditions, of the dark Dominators from Teufel's shadowlands to the west: the soldiers had spoken of dark creatures whose eyes glowed evilly in the shadows. His eyes widened in shock: the priests had always said Teufel's evil creatures couldn't leave their fetid lands! What- how- no, it didn't matter, he just needed to let everyone know. "The riders in the dark are Teufel's monsters!" He screamed, and resumed his run down the wall, bell ringing again, as he continued shouting to let everyone know that Dominators were here.
And then he glanced to one side, frowned at how the creatures were still coming right for the wall, then his eyes widened as the enormous rocks were released with final pushes at the wall-
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You wince a little as the Boulders slamming into the wall knocks a man with a torch and a bell who was shrieking something about Dominators off the wall. It's not that tall a wall, maybe two, two-and-a-half stories up, but the man has probably at least broken a leg, if not his neck. Darn it.
At least the charge between farmer's fields was smooth. Nobody seemed to notice the passage of your troops; you're not sure if they were asleep or if they just didn't think to look outside, but those families are so far uninvolved.
The stretch of wall you're targeting doesn't collapse quite as thoroughly as you were hoping, requiring the Boulders to uncurl and push their way into still-standing stretches to knock down a wide enough area for your troops to enter side-by-side, but this gives the Suncrawlers some time to catch up -you hadn't realized quite how slow they were before- so it's not all bad.
That done, you take a look about at the frankly kind of filthy area around you, trying to see if you can see any sign of this being the lower priests' quarter like you were told, and glossing for a moment over the dozen frightened-looking men and women holding lanterns and quite clearly having grabbed the first thing at hand for a weapon (There's three brooms in there, for a start) who are clearly reconsidering the idea of confronting you.
Then a thought occurs!
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Helga flinched as what must surely be Teufel himself turned its terrible, hot-coals-glow gaze upon the small crowd, and smiled its demonic smile.
"E̸x̸c̷u̴s̶e̸ ̵m̶e̴,̶ ̷t̶h̴i̷s̷ ̸i̴s̷ ̸t̷h̵e̶ ̵l̴o̵w̶e̸r̶ ̸p̷r̸i̷e̵s̴t̸s̸'̴ ̸q̵u̵a̸r̸t̴e̸r̶,̷ ̷y̸e̷s̷?̸" it asked in its horrid mockery of a human voice. Helga wasn't the only one to gasp in horror at the idea of Teufel seeking out the blessed ones, or to flinch at the voice. "I̷'̸d̸ ̵r̸e̸a̶l̷l̶y̷ ̸r̶a̴t̵h̴e̷r̷ ̴n̶o̴t̸ ̸h̶u̶r̴t̴ ̵a̴n̸y̴o̶n̸e̵ ̷e̷x̴c̶e̵p̴t̶ ̵t̶h̴e̴ ̵o̴n̷e̵s̷ ̶r̴e̷s̵p̵o̴n̸s̵i̴b̴l̸e̸ ̶f̶o̵r̴ ̸h̴a̷r̵m̵i̶n̶g̵ ̶t̸h̶e̵ ̶F̷r̶e̷e̸l̴a̷n̶d̵s̸,̷ ̷y̴o̶u̵ ̵s̶e̴e̶.̸"
Bart, the lad who always had more spine than sense, shakingly said, "Y-y-you'll not hurt anyone on my watch, T-T-Teufel!"
Teufel seemed to heave a frustrated sigh, which was obviously ridiculous; surely it was some mindbending manipulation only Teufel was evil enough to understand. "T̵h̵a̷t̸'̶s̶ ̴n̷o̶t̸-̵ ̶y̵o̴u̸ ̷k̵n̴o̴w̸ ̸w̸h̵a̷t̸?̶ ̸F̵o̴r̴g̶e̴t̸ ̴i̶t̸.̵ ̴J̴u̴s̵t̷ ̴p̵l̵e̸a̵s̸e̴ ̸m̸o̶v̶e̶ ̷a̴s̷i̵d̷e̴.̴"
The crowd braced itself instead, courage renewed as another half dozen people turned a corner, these ones with their militia armor and spears.
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You sigh again. Okay, you'll just look for signs. Surely there'll be... religious iconography or something to mark the temples, yes? Burner Worms or something...
You direct the Boulders to push the people aside, grabbing weapons (Well, 'weapons' in a lot of cases) and tossing them aside as able, with the Rollers following close behind to grab smaller weapons and more gently create further space. The Boulders show admirable patience with this plan, even when the peasants with spears (If these are even guards, let alone soldiers, you will find a hat in Caras' castle and eat it) manage to poke the softer parts of their front and draw a little blood, and eventually the group's nerve finally breaks, everyone fleeing east through an alleyway your Boulders might not be able to squeeze into. (Shouting about 'Teufel', of course. sigh)
The Suncrawlers fully catch up about now, and you give four of them their very sneaky instructions: top of the hill, kill people without being caught, stick to people large enough to be adults, and maybe target older folk first? (Back home, the priests of the Great Plan were generally older, at least in your experience; maybe this holds true of Commoner priests?)
You also wish them luck, but you have the impression they found the concept confusing and ignored it. Oh well. Hopefully they sell their lives very dearly regardless!
Then you focus on scouring the streets for temples.
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"L̵e̶t̸ ̶i̸t̸ ̶b̶e̵ ̵k̸n̵o̴w̵n̸ ̵t̷h̸a̵t̷ ̸t̴h̷e̶ ̴f̶o̸l̴l̵o̵w̵i̸n̵g̴ ̷i̴s̸ ̴a̶ ̶p̷u̵n̴i̸t̶i̶v̸e̷ ̵a̴c̵t̷i̴o̵n̶ ̴i̶n̴ ̵r̶e̶t̷r̶i̴b̴u̶t̷i̷o̴n̶ ̷f̸o̵r̵ ̸t̸h̷e̵ ̶m̷a̸n̴y̷ ̵F̵r̸e̷e̴l̵a̴n̵d̴e̵r̶ ̶l̴i̵v̷e̷s̶ ̵y̷o̴u̷ ̵h̶a̸v̴e̸ ̴t̷a̸k̵e̶n̴ ̶b̶y̸ ̸s̶e̷l̴l̶i̷n̸g̸ ̴y̵o̸u̷r̶ ̷'̴c̸a̶n̶d̶i̴e̶d̴ ̸b̴r̵e̷a̶d̷'̴!̷"
Curate Illsa stared from the window in horror at the monsters arrayed before the main temple of the lower holy quarter, two of them already making for the door. Was that Teufel himself in human guise? How was Teufel and his monsters here at all?! The older priests always said Teufel and his creatures couldn't leave their dark lands because they would burn in the sun's cleansing light!
"T̵h̵o̴s̶e̵ ̵o̵f̷ ̸y̵o̸u̴ ̸n̸o̵t̶ ̵i̷n̵v̷o̶l̷v̵e̶d̷ ̴i̸n̶ ̵t̶h̶i̷s̷ ̶f̷o̷u̸l̴ ̶a̷c̵t̸i̸o̷n̴ ̸g̸e̸t̵ ̷t̴o̵ ̶l̷i̷v̵e̶,̵ ̷u̴n̷l̷e̶s̷s̴ ̶y̴o̶u̵ ̸r̷e̴a̵l̵l̶y̶ ̶i̸n̵s̷i̵s̷t̸ ̴o̴n̴ ̵t̵r̵y̷i̷n̴g̴ ̸t̷o̵ ̶s̷t̴o̵p̸ ̴m̵e̸ ̴f̴r̷o̷m̴ ̶k̴i̴l̴l̸i̷n̶g̸ ̴a̴l̷l̵ ̷t̶h̸e̴s̷e̴ ̵l̵i̶a̵r̶ ̵p̵r̶i̶e̸s̴t̶s̴.̵"
Illsa turned to the frightened acolytes bunched up behind her. "You, you, you-" She pointed to two older boys and the one adult woman in this bunch. "Help me barricade the door. The rest of you? Check the back door, and if no Dominators are there, run for the barracks as fast as you can and stay there."
They all nodded, eyes wide, clearly wanting to ask questions but also recognizing that this was absolutely not the time -except for young Tia, who worriedly asked, "But what about the cauldron? Surely the monsters will kill the baby Brandstifters!"
Illa winced a little at the thought, but shook her head. "It's too heavy to move safely or swiftly. Better that at least you live, rather than dying trying to save them."
Tia nodded in reluctant understanding, and everyone scattered to their assigned tasks.
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After probably twenty annoying minutes of having Rollers smash Boulders into the solid oak door, splintering the wood and slowly revealing that chairs, tables, and other furniture have been awkwardly piled against it to support whatever normal locking mechanism it has, finally space enough is cleared for a Boulder to simply shoulder its way in, clearing space for the rest of your troops to barrel through -including the crucial Gatekeeper.
"I don't know what profane protections-"
Burner! Burner! Burner!
"-you've hurk" goes the yelling woman as a Boulder slams into her now that the Gatekeeper has confirmed her infected status. (And that of her cohorts)
Hmmm. One older woman and two young men. (Now both dead, crushed, and thankfully not setting on fire) The temple seems a bit large for so few people.
Splitting up your forces quickly confirms it normally has something like two dozen living inside it, going by beds and personal belongings and whatnot, but also that there was a rear door that is not properly closed and latched: the others must've fled through it. Drat.
You also find a bubbling cauldron, which you initially ignore, assuming it's for laundry, but the Gatekeeper reported it was 'infected' with Burner Worms, and indeed it's... a cauldron of bubbling water filled with what you assume are young Burner Worms given their small size and the presence of what looks like unhatched eggs and eggshells in the bottom. Oddly bird-like eggs: you wouldn't literally mistake them for chicken eggs (They're too round), but if you found them on the forest floor you might wonder if a bird's nest had been knocked out of a tree. The Burner Worms themselves don't particularly react to you leaning over the cauldron to look: a couple might be moving their head (?) to face you, or they might just be drifting about in the water. They have far fewer of the fine hairs you saw on Petra's Worms, as well, whatever that means.
You personally remove the firewood and put out the fire, then have a Boulder rolled into the cauldron, and then a Suncrawler comes in and kills all the Burner Worms and tears apart their eggs. (You do briefly wonder if you should take any live Burner Worms or their eggs, but you don't have anything on you to safely carry them with and in any event are in a hurry to find more priests)
Then you resume the hunt.
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Jannik grabbed one of the running militia by the shoulder and demanded, "What is wrong with you? Fight, or we all will be dominated!"
Jannik realized he'd grabbed Klaus by coincidence as the usually-stern man spoke up in a quivering voice. "The monsters are too much! Our weapons barely hurt them, and they keep taking our weapons from us, sometimes snapping them before our very eyes! And-" Klaus' voice dropped to a hush here. "-I know it's Teufel and he always lies, but their leader says they're just here for the holy ones! And... they've only killed blessed people!"
Jannik's frown intensified. "Monsters? I'd heard it was knights." That was what the man who ran into the barracks from South Gate had said.
Klaus shook his head fervently. "You heard wrong, then! It's- it's Dominators, and I think Teufel himself, wearing the guise of a young woman? She keeps asking where the priests are, and somehow she knew poor Ernst was hiding in the crowd, and she killed him so gruesomely!... but the monsters didn't really hurt anyone else, and she said the priests killed innocents in the shadowlands..."
Jannik let Klaus go at that point, scowling at the man. "Right, 'innocents in the shadowlands'. And how would the priests do harm to anyone outside these walls, exactly?" Jannik, being a blessed soldier, was in fact aware of the priests selling bread with Brandstifter flesh inside it, including the final result of Freelanders dying... but that was a secret precisely so Teufel's servants wouldn't discover it and counter it. Though clearly something had gone wrong with that plan.
Klaus shrugged helplessly. "I don't know! But it's what she keeps saying, and she acts like she means what she says!"
An expression of profoundly ugly anger twisted Jannik's face for a moment, and he cuffed the coward by the shoulder he'd previously grabbed. "Don't go repeating Teufel's lies," he growled out. The implied threat of or worse will be done to you hung silently in the air between the two men, Jannik's squad glaring at Klaus from behind him.
Klaus' eyes dropped to the ground and he mumbled out an apology, and then made himself scarce at top speed.
Jannik stared after the coward for almost a minute, then shook himself. "Alright, I guess we'll be getting all the glory for ourselves, given all these cowardly militia won't horn in on our win!" This thought cheered Jannik's squad significantly (Which was, of course, the point), and they hurried through the stream of confused militia, following the flow right to Teufel's evil monsters.
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Jannik turned a corner, spotted Dominators, barely stopped himself from saying shit! aloud, and backed right up into the squad of aspirants behind him. "Weapons out!" He hissed, suiting deed to word himself.
Then he peeked out.
What in Kamin's name are these?
Jannik hadn't been on a holy expedition in a year or so, having covered himself in glory and been given the honor of ensuring prospective blessed soldiers were trained properly in deed and thought, but he remembered the Dominator creatures vividly still. He recognized one of the types, the grey-backed things that were ungainly but otherwise very dangerous, but the glistening wet things -no, there were two kinds of them, one type flat on the ground- were completely new. He'd heard stories of the Dominators changing over the years from some of the retired soldiers, but he'd never seen sign of it being so himself, and had come to think that those men must've misunderstood something, or gotten mixed-up in their old age. He'd need to apologize to Old Man Frank after this.
Truthfully, Jannik was more troubled by the slip of a girl, kitted out like a warrior but clearly not that familiar with her armor or her spear. While Jannik repeated all the things said about Teufel, in the privacy of his mind he'd not really believed such a being existed. The Dominators had a variety of forms, but nothing one would ever mistake for a human being, and though the Dominated were traitorous servants to the creatures, he'd never heard of them fighting alongside a Dominator. Yet here was a girl where Jannik's eyes would pass right over her in a crowd... except for that disquieting dim coal glow coming from her eyes, a lesser version of the Dominator glow, and...
"Y̶̛͜o̸̞̚u̴̧͙͊͗ ̶͇̀̕ͅk̸̹͊ị̷͒̆ĺ̴̙͂l̴̳̟̔̒ȩ̵̤́̉d̷̢̈́ ̸̪̈́c̸͚͉̈́̒ḧ̸̗i̸̼̓͊l̸̻̆̎d̴̛̠r̸̖͆ȩ̴̉n̴̛̥.̸̝͍̔ ̸͔̏̓Y̷̜̪̓o̴̢̅͠ụ̶̗̈ ̸̻̞̇k̶̜͒͛ĩ̸̯̜l̵̯̙̋l̸̢̖͝ẹ̵̍̋d̴̥͖̆ ̷̢͖̈m̴̗̆̏o̵̘͐͝t̸̪͓́h̵͈̖̉e̸̝͑̕ṛ̸̙̚ś̵̝̽ ̷̻͚́w̴̼̓̃i̶̜̿̀ț̶͒̍h̷̺̄̋ ̴̰̩̄̋u̸̢͠n̸̦̈̍b̴̺̹͌ö̸͉͔́r̶̺̕n̵̗̿ ̷͕̜͆̐b̷̖̄à̷̜b̵̬̫͌̎e̶̯̪͂̉s̶̯̈́.̵̛̩̔ ̶̗́̒Ŷ̶̠̭̄ó̴͑ͅu̶̦̺̐ ̷̦̅d̴̦̜̎̒o̶͕̖͝ṇ̴̱̇'̶̩̈́t̴͇̘̀͝ ̴̖̆ġ̷̗e̷̹̕t̵͕͛̕ ̴̢̭̋t̶͎͐ȏ̴͚ ̸̰̃͝p̴͖̺͝l̵͈̜͐̿ë̶̯́̓a̵̖̐͒ḍ̶̭͊͐ ̴͚̭̈́f̷̮̚ò̷̬̹̈́r̸̖̎̽ ̶̗̠̽m̵̨̮̊͠e̵͇̬̋r̴̛͓̼͋c̴̙̏̐y̷̢͚̓.̴͕̟̇"
... the voice, which was alike to the enormous worm monster that seemed to command the other Dominators.
Jannik didn't really think she was Teufel walking the Earth in a near-perfect disguise, but the idea that the Dominators might be able to grow eerily-close fakes was considerably more disquieting: Jannik imagined tens of these monsters made (Jannik shuddered as it occurred to him that they might actually start from a real person), and then sent out to quietly infiltrate Neustadt de Glaubens. The eyes and voice were wrong, but the creatures could clearly change themselves: they might iron out this flaw. In a decade's time, Jannik might have monstrous neighbors and be none the wiser.
Jannick shuddered at the thought. He dearly hoped this blasphemy was unable to stand in the sun, like the rest of the Dominators.
He whispered to his second, "I need a minute to go hot. Tell everyone to make ready to follow my lead."
And then he closed his eyes and began to pray.
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Deep breath, in and out. That last priestess had been a girl a bit younger than yourself, which had given you unpleasant feelings until she started begging for mercy and you remembered these awful, awful people had gotten almost everyone in Estvallee killed with their machinations.
"... aaarge!"
You glance up, toward where the voice is coming from, and oh my? Are these actual soldiers? Nine of them, the one in front doing the screaming and with a similar appearance to Petra -purple iconography on the shoulders, for example- and all of them armored and coming your way with swords, a couple of them with kite shields at the ready.
You shout, "I'm assuming the man in front is 'blessed'-" You'd ideally check with the Gatekeeper, but that seems unlikely to happen. "-and the rest of you aren't. He dies, but if you other eight retreat, I'll not follow!"
You're not really surprised when they all ignore you talking and just scream war cries, continuing to run headlong into your forces.
They're actually coming up from behind you, which is to say where the Suncrawlers are concentrated and only a couple Boulders and Rollers are positioned. You direct your forces to turn about, the Gatekeeper moving away from the fighting, and the Suncrawlers rotating (They do that pretty quickly, at least) to bring their limbs more to bear, while the Roller you're sitting on moves awkwardly out of the way. The man in the lead swipes his sword exultantly through a Suncrawler arm-
-and while you're unhappy to see the limb is severed at the bone, he looks shocked and horrified when steam plumes up into his face. He slows, coughing and sputtering, while his troops look uncertain, but then he waves them forward with one arm and after a moment they resume their own charge.
Most of the eight make uncertain attempts to attack the Suncrawlers once they're within reach. They stab, they slice, they dance away from awkward attempts from the Suncrawlers to grab at them, and after a frenzy of such attacks, they're sweating and breathing hard and it's not clear whether they've done anything of substance. You can see nicks on the Suncrawler bones, even a gouge in one skull, but their jelly flesh pulls back together not terribly long after a blade passes through it; you think this is meaningfully injurious to them going by your ongoing background awareness of Breed experiences (Incidentally, you're pleasantly surprised at how the four sneaking Suncrawlers have yet to report being attacked), but you suspect the soldiers think they've accomplished nothing.
Two of the soldiers went past the Suncrawlers -one actually jumped over a Suncrawler- and had rather more success each fighting a Boulder, dancing away and stabbing in and drawing blood and even taking out an eye on one Boulder if you understand its report correctly. But then Rollers push Boulders into position behind them, and when they realize they're surrounded they quite clearly despair, grit their teeth, and decide they'll at least sell their lives dearly.
Those two are pretty confused when the swords are finally knocked from their hands and the Boulders stop on your order.
The leader, meanwhile, made another stab at the Suncrawler, piercing its skull and producing another burst of steam accompanied by a horrific noise you don't know how to begin to describe, killing the Suncrawler, and staggered forward -you finally realized the Runner venom was apparently getting into him through the steam- and managed to reach a Boulder and stab it, setting it ablaze instantly while you directed the other Boulders to make space. He made a sound of triumph, and then a Suncrawler finally got a firm grip on one of his legs and began dragging him away from everything, at which point he began screaming, "No! No! No! You'll not make me into a monster!"
A minute later, where once was a 'blessed' man trying to kill you, now there is a writhing pile of Burner Worms in his armor, which you quickly direct Suncrawlers to kill.
You turn with a radiant smile upon the eight confused, frightened soldiers the Gatekeeper-
Clean. Clean. Clean. Clean. Clean. Clean. Clean. Clean.
-quickly affirms are not 'blessed'. "As I already said, if you don't fight me, and you aren't part of the priesthood or a 'holy warrior', I have no quarrel with-"
Something swoops overhead.
"-you," you finish with confusion. You glance up, but there's just empty sky.
"Dominator kidnapper!" One of the soldiers shrieks, and there's a moment where you're baffled as to how these people know your intentions to grab Ada, but then you follow the woman's hand to-
-something you've never seen before in your life. Wings like a bat, skin stretched taut between the wing bones, four stubby legs gripping tightly to the roof this one is landed on, all growing out of a rounded and fuzzy body that vaguely reminds you of a bumblebee, except there's two tiny pink eyes placed to each side of a long neck sticking right out the front, which ends in a cluster of more of the pink eyes. You can't see a mouth on the thing, or indeed any kind of orifice at all. (... what's that rotting smell?)
You blink a couple of times.
Then there's two more swoops, and two thuds as other rooftops are landed on nearby.
"Shit! How many Brandstifter cauldrons have we lost?!?" Another soldier shouts in despair, while you think to yourself that you've knocked over three so far. (Though the first was by far the biggest)
"The fog! The fog!" another sobs, and yes now that he mentions it you suppose the night is a bit foggy? You're... not sure why he's sobbing about it...
"Um," you start to say. "Do you know?..."
The soldiers stare in confusion at you, with one of them saying, "They're Dominators?" in this manner like you must be stupid to not know this already.
Somewhere nearby, there's a shriek as one of these things lifts off, carrying a person with its four legs, flying off somewhere east.
Um.
What?
[]You know what? Whatever, you're focusing on your mission: this just makes it easier! Probably! You'll keep killing priests down here, then retreat!
[]Alright, you'd intended to hunt for more priests and retreat when either a bigger force of soldiers showed up or you lost too many Breeds, but you're getting out, right now.
[]Uh... apparently the Burner Worm cauldrons were keeping these things out, and you've endangered innocent Commoners by wrecking them? That's- you should try to do something about that. Escort people to shelter, or try to kill these things, or something.
[]Your number one priority is getting an explanation about these things. One that makes more sense than suggesting they're Gendarmerie, because no, you don't believe that for a second.
-[]Your number two priority is getting out of here.
-[]Your number two priority is helping the locals fight off... whatever these are.
-[]Your number two priority is ignoring this whole thing and continuing to hit priests.
[]You're capturing one of these things. Seriously, what?
[]You're going to follow these things back to where they're taking their victims. (Hopefully it's close enough you have the nighttime hours to do it)
[]You're going to take advantage of the chaos to try to hit the priests at the top; if Neustadt's citizens are busy fighting (or running from) this threat, they might not send a significant force to stop you before you get there.
[]Write-in.
(I have had this moment in mind for over 4 years thanks to the stupid hiatus. I didn't think it would happen quite this way given what I expected from voters, but still, I've had these creatures defined that whole time, all the way back to Ada's Interlude.
Also: lol 'next morning', but I did get it up next day! Close enough!)
You're not really surprised to find a Runner injecting paralytic venom into Ada again as you arrive (She makes a muffled noise of pain), though everyone else in the area seems pretty upset by the process. (Teo has managed to roll over enough to have a view, but Wolfram is still face-down in the grass: you're not sure his moan actually was in response to Ada being re-paralyzed) You're not sure why; the needle involved is surprisingly fine, you've always been impressed by how little bleeding occurs, and it plays out in about a second. You'd think soldiers -guards, whatever- would be a bit less squeamish.
You shrug it off, and simply approach Ada. (Flanked by Breeds, just in case Beardy Man gets ideas) With a smile, you say, "Before I go, I wished to have a proper conversation with you, Ada dear." The guards -even Felix- all give you odd looks, while Ada groans something incoherent into the grass. "Okay, maybe not a conversation as such, but I am a bit pressed for time, unfortunately, so this will have to do."
Ada and Teo both mumble out things that were probably meant to be angry and defiant but just end up sounding like a young child ineffectually attempting to imitate things adults are saying around them. Beardy Man looks very regretful of his life choices, while Felix and Konrad look uncomfortable.
"So you're to be a priestess of Bu-... Brandstifters, yes?" You pause for a moment to let Ada give a response, but she's silent and motionless quite suddenly. Which is a response in its own right, mind. "Right. Which, it seems to me, means you intended to share responsibility for the actions of the priesthood. So one could say that you are, in fact, responsible for the many senseless and horrible deaths in the Freelands the priesthood has caused with their cruel distribution of... Brandstifters via ignorant caravans." You're not sure why Felix and Konrad go white at this point. Or why Ada is now thrashing and moaning a little. "So I should think you would wish to right this wrong; if you come with me to the Freelands and share what you know of how to suppress the lethality of Brandstifters, or better yet how to remove them safely when they are unwanted, this would go a very long way to make things right." Felix and Konrad look relieved; what did they think you were driving at? Oh well, perhaps a question for later.
Ada slurs out something that might be roughly, "I won't be taken in by Teufel's lies." Maybe. Teo manages to choke out a really angry-sounding condemnation of- rude! Maman has always been very committed to Papa! You have difficulty imagining her finding another man even once he's dead! Wow, Teo, so rude!
Breathe in, breathe out. You smile again. "Please do give the matter some consideration while I'm off on my business."
Not that you intend to give them a choice: you'd rather Ada comes and helps willingly, but while kidnapping a teen girl leaves a bad taste in your mouth, you find yourself imagining friends -or worse, family- burning to death from the inside while you try to explain to them that you chose not to grab a probable solution when it was right in front of you because it made you ~feel bad~...
... and that is a considerably more unhappy feeling.
You wait a few moments longer in case anyone has anything to add, but all that greets you is silence.
So you stand up, mount up on a Roller (Which is very awkward, and feels quite odd, but works reasonably well), issue your final orders to the Runners (Keep Ada and Teo here, don't let anyone else go running to Neustadt) and Workers (Get Wolfram tied to a tree, then make sure everything with the carriage is in proper order), and set out with your forces, Rollers pushing curled-up Boulders while Suncrawlers do their awkward best to keep up, and the Gatekeeper runs in the middle of the group.
-----------------------------------------------------
Wojciech was a bit anxious: it had been two hours or so since Heiligwachtmeister Petra had taken the rest of South Gate's crew to investigate whatever thing the lad was freaking out about, and he'd yet to see sign of their return.
Truth be told, Wojciech wasn't really expecting them to have encountered trouble. Older kids goofing off in the woods sometimes ate mushrooms while they were out there, and poisonous Madcap was really easy to mistake as the delicious and perfectly safe Nightcap; usually someone babbling about strange things in the forest wasn't seeing anything real, just Madcap visions. The Heiligwachtmeister was very studious about checking potential trouble thoroughly, though; frankly, Wojciech didn't expect her back for another hour regardless. Probably she was still dragging the lads through mud and brush and berating them for their lack of diligence when they pointed out the boy was probably panicking over nothing.
But Wojciech had always been of a nervous disposition, so he was feeling a bit anxious regardless. There was also the very real possibility that a traveler might show up even though it was past dark, and ideally there'd be three people at minimum to do all the checks and so on in a timely manner; he really wished the Heiligwachtmeister had at least left Wolfram behind. One person wasn't really enough...
At last, Wojciech spotted movement down the path the Heiligwachtmeister had taken out, and he relaxed a little: finally, they were done and coming back!
Then it occurred to him that he didn't see the glow of a lantern. He couldn't remember who had grabbed it, but the group hadn't simply forgotten the lantern, and it was too dark to simply do without. Wojciech sighed in annoyance; had Felix lost the lantern again? That would be the third time in the last six mo-
Wojciech frowned, then squinted at the shadows shifting in the thin moonlight.
... no, that wasn't the Heiligwachtmeister and her crew. He couldn't make out numbers and shapes properly, but the shifting forms extended too far in a line to be the watchmen and the kids coming back. And the shapes seemed wrong to just be people walking. A caravan? Or perhaps a team of horseriders?
Now Wojciech's nervousness had better grounding: that was a very strange road for a caravan to be coming down, especially in the dark, and if it was horseriders, that probably meant knights, which meant some noble was once again trying to bring Neustadt under their dominion.
As such, Wojciech began ringing the bell, shouting, "To arms! Riders in the dark!" and similar over and over, and lit the signal fire that would ensure that East Gate would be alerted as well. Of course, most citizens of Neustadt were trying to sleep by now, so the response was slow (Probably exactly as the bastards intended!), with the younger folk especially tending to wander out, confused, before somebody got it through to them that they needed to grab their militia kit and ready for battle.
Wojciech, meanwhile, was running west down the wall, continuing to ring his bell and shout, as was his duty-
-but he slowed down, eventually coming to a silent stop, as the riders in the dark got closer. There were two reasons for this: the first was that the riders were still not turning toward South Gate, but heading straight toward the section of wall maybe thirty paces ahead of Wojciech, and some irrational instinct was telling him he shouldn't be there when they arrived.
The second reason was that the riders in the dark were now close enough for Wojciech to see that they were not Common knights. He wasn't sure what they were, but these creatures with dull glowing coals (Were those eyes?) were too large to be a knight on a horse, and were pushing enormous, oddly-round rocks in front of them.
After a long, long moment, Wojciech remembered half-heard tales from soldiers returned from holy expeditions, of the dark Dominators from Teufel's shadowlands to the west: the soldiers had spoken of dark creatures whose eyes glowed evilly in the shadows. His eyes widened in shock: the priests had always said Teufel's evil creatures couldn't leave their fetid lands! What- how- no, it didn't matter, he just needed to let everyone know. "The riders in the dark are Teufel's monsters!" He screamed, and resumed his run down the wall, bell ringing again, as he continued shouting to let everyone know that Dominators were here.
And then he glanced to one side, frowned at how the creatures were still coming right for the wall, then his eyes widened as the enormous rocks were released with final pushes at the wall-
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You wince a little as the Boulders slamming into the wall knocks a man with a torch and a bell who was shrieking something about Dominators off the wall. It's not that tall a wall, maybe two, two-and-a-half stories up, but the man has probably at least broken a leg, if not his neck. Darn it.
At least the charge between farmer's fields was smooth. Nobody seemed to notice the passage of your troops; you're not sure if they were asleep or if they just didn't think to look outside, but those families are so far uninvolved.
The stretch of wall you're targeting doesn't collapse quite as thoroughly as you were hoping, requiring the Boulders to uncurl and push their way into still-standing stretches to knock down a wide enough area for your troops to enter side-by-side, but this gives the Suncrawlers some time to catch up -you hadn't realized quite how slow they were before- so it's not all bad.
That done, you take a look about at the frankly kind of filthy area around you, trying to see if you can see any sign of this being the lower priests' quarter like you were told, and glossing for a moment over the dozen frightened-looking men and women holding lanterns and quite clearly having grabbed the first thing at hand for a weapon (There's three brooms in there, for a start) who are clearly reconsidering the idea of confronting you.
Then a thought occurs!
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Helga flinched as what must surely be Teufel himself turned its terrible, hot-coals-glow gaze upon the small crowd, and smiled its demonic smile.
"E̸x̸c̷u̴s̶e̸ ̵m̶e̴,̶ ̷t̶h̴i̷s̷ ̸i̴s̷ ̸t̷h̵e̶ ̵l̴o̵w̶e̸r̶ ̸p̷r̸i̷e̵s̴t̸s̸'̴ ̸q̵u̵a̸r̸t̴e̸r̶,̷ ̷y̸e̷s̷?̸" it asked in its horrid mockery of a human voice. Helga wasn't the only one to gasp in horror at the idea of Teufel seeking out the blessed ones, or to flinch at the voice. "I̷'̸d̸ ̵r̸e̸a̶l̷l̶y̷ ̸r̶a̴t̵h̴e̷r̷ ̴n̶o̴t̸ ̸h̶u̶r̴t̴ ̵a̴n̸y̴o̶n̸e̵ ̷e̷x̴c̶e̵p̴t̶ ̵t̶h̴e̴ ̵o̴n̷e̵s̷ ̶r̴e̷s̵p̵o̴n̸s̵i̴b̴l̸e̸ ̶f̶o̵r̴ ̸h̴a̷r̵m̵i̶n̶g̵ ̶t̸h̶e̵ ̶F̷r̶e̷e̸l̴a̷n̶d̵s̸,̷ ̷y̴o̶u̵ ̵s̶e̴e̶.̸"
Bart, the lad who always had more spine than sense, shakingly said, "Y-y-you'll not hurt anyone on my watch, T-T-Teufel!"
Teufel seemed to heave a frustrated sigh, which was obviously ridiculous; surely it was some mindbending manipulation only Teufel was evil enough to understand. "T̵h̵a̷t̸'̶s̶ ̴n̷o̶t̸-̵ ̶y̵o̴u̸ ̷k̵n̴o̴w̸ ̸w̸h̵a̷t̸?̶ ̸F̵o̴r̴g̶e̴t̸ ̴i̶t̸.̵ ̴J̴u̴s̵t̷ ̴p̵l̵e̸a̵s̸e̴ ̸m̸o̶v̶e̶ ̷a̴s̷i̵d̷e̴.̴"
The crowd braced itself instead, courage renewed as another half dozen people turned a corner, these ones with their militia armor and spears.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You sigh again. Okay, you'll just look for signs. Surely there'll be... religious iconography or something to mark the temples, yes? Burner Worms or something...
You direct the Boulders to push the people aside, grabbing weapons (Well, 'weapons' in a lot of cases) and tossing them aside as able, with the Rollers following close behind to grab smaller weapons and more gently create further space. The Boulders show admirable patience with this plan, even when the peasants with spears (If these are even guards, let alone soldiers, you will find a hat in Caras' castle and eat it) manage to poke the softer parts of their front and draw a little blood, and eventually the group's nerve finally breaks, everyone fleeing east through an alleyway your Boulders might not be able to squeeze into. (Shouting about 'Teufel', of course. sigh)
The Suncrawlers fully catch up about now, and you give four of them their very sneaky instructions: top of the hill, kill people without being caught, stick to people large enough to be adults, and maybe target older folk first? (Back home, the priests of the Great Plan were generally older, at least in your experience; maybe this holds true of Commoner priests?)
You also wish them luck, but you have the impression they found the concept confusing and ignored it. Oh well. Hopefully they sell their lives very dearly regardless!
Then you focus on scouring the streets for temples.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
"L̵e̶t̸ ̶i̸t̸ ̶b̶e̵ ̵k̸n̵o̴w̵n̸ ̵t̷h̸a̵t̷ ̸t̴h̷e̶ ̴f̶o̸l̴l̵o̵w̵i̸n̵g̴ ̷i̴s̸ ̴a̶ ̶p̷u̵n̴i̸t̶i̶v̸e̷ ̵a̴c̵t̷i̴o̵n̶ ̴i̶n̴ ̵r̶e̶t̷r̶i̴b̴u̶t̷i̷o̴n̶ ̷f̸o̵r̵ ̸t̸h̷e̵ ̶m̷a̸n̴y̷ ̵F̵r̸e̷e̴l̵a̴n̵d̴e̵r̶ ̶l̴i̵v̷e̷s̶ ̵y̷o̴u̷ ̵h̶a̸v̴e̸ ̴t̷a̸k̵e̶n̴ ̶b̶y̸ ̸s̶e̷l̴l̶i̷n̸g̸ ̴y̵o̸u̷r̶ ̷'̴c̸a̶n̶d̶i̴e̶d̴ ̸b̴r̵e̷a̶d̷'̴!̷"
Curate Illsa stared from the window in horror at the monsters arrayed before the main temple of the lower holy quarter, two of them already making for the door. Was that Teufel himself in human guise? How was Teufel and his monsters here at all?! The older priests always said Teufel and his creatures couldn't leave their dark lands because they would burn in the sun's cleansing light!
"T̵h̵o̴s̶e̵ ̵o̵f̷ ̸y̵o̸u̴ ̸n̸o̵t̶ ̵i̷n̵v̷o̶l̷v̵e̶d̷ ̴i̸n̶ ̵t̶h̶i̷s̷ ̶f̷o̷u̸l̴ ̶a̷c̵t̸i̸o̷n̴ ̸g̸e̸t̵ ̷t̴o̵ ̶l̷i̷v̵e̶,̵ ̷u̴n̷l̷e̶s̷s̴ ̶y̴o̶u̵ ̸r̷e̴a̵l̵l̶y̶ ̶i̸n̵s̷i̵s̷t̸ ̴o̴n̴ ̵t̵r̵y̷i̷n̴g̴ ̸t̷o̵ ̶s̷t̴o̵p̸ ̴m̵e̸ ̴f̴r̷o̷m̴ ̶k̴i̴l̴l̸i̷n̶g̸ ̴a̴l̷l̵ ̷t̶h̸e̴s̷e̴ ̵l̵i̶a̵r̶ ̵p̵r̶i̶e̸s̴t̶s̴.̵"
Illsa turned to the frightened acolytes bunched up behind her. "You, you, you-" She pointed to two older boys and the one adult woman in this bunch. "Help me barricade the door. The rest of you? Check the back door, and if no Dominators are there, run for the barracks as fast as you can and stay there."
They all nodded, eyes wide, clearly wanting to ask questions but also recognizing that this was absolutely not the time -except for young Tia, who worriedly asked, "But what about the cauldron? Surely the monsters will kill the baby Brandstifters!"
Illa winced a little at the thought, but shook her head. "It's too heavy to move safely or swiftly. Better that at least you live, rather than dying trying to save them."
Tia nodded in reluctant understanding, and everyone scattered to their assigned tasks.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
After probably twenty annoying minutes of having Rollers smash Boulders into the solid oak door, splintering the wood and slowly revealing that chairs, tables, and other furniture have been awkwardly piled against it to support whatever normal locking mechanism it has, finally space enough is cleared for a Boulder to simply shoulder its way in, clearing space for the rest of your troops to barrel through -including the crucial Gatekeeper.
"I don't know what profane protections-"
Burner! Burner! Burner!
"-you've hurk" goes the yelling woman as a Boulder slams into her now that the Gatekeeper has confirmed her infected status. (And that of her cohorts)
Hmmm. One older woman and two young men. (Now both dead, crushed, and thankfully not setting on fire) The temple seems a bit large for so few people.
Splitting up your forces quickly confirms it normally has something like two dozen living inside it, going by beds and personal belongings and whatnot, but also that there was a rear door that is not properly closed and latched: the others must've fled through it. Drat.
You also find a bubbling cauldron, which you initially ignore, assuming it's for laundry, but the Gatekeeper reported it was 'infected' with Burner Worms, and indeed it's... a cauldron of bubbling water filled with what you assume are young Burner Worms given their small size and the presence of what looks like unhatched eggs and eggshells in the bottom. Oddly bird-like eggs: you wouldn't literally mistake them for chicken eggs (They're too round), but if you found them on the forest floor you might wonder if a bird's nest had been knocked out of a tree. The Burner Worms themselves don't particularly react to you leaning over the cauldron to look: a couple might be moving their head (?) to face you, or they might just be drifting about in the water. They have far fewer of the fine hairs you saw on Petra's Worms, as well, whatever that means.
You personally remove the firewood and put out the fire, then have a Boulder rolled into the cauldron, and then a Suncrawler comes in and kills all the Burner Worms and tears apart their eggs. (You do briefly wonder if you should take any live Burner Worms or their eggs, but you don't have anything on you to safely carry them with and in any event are in a hurry to find more priests)
Then you resume the hunt.
-------------------------------------------------------
Jannik grabbed one of the running militia by the shoulder and demanded, "What is wrong with you? Fight, or we all will be dominated!"
Jannik realized he'd grabbed Klaus by coincidence as the usually-stern man spoke up in a quivering voice. "The monsters are too much! Our weapons barely hurt them, and they keep taking our weapons from us, sometimes snapping them before our very eyes! And-" Klaus' voice dropped to a hush here. "-I know it's Teufel and he always lies, but their leader says they're just here for the holy ones! And... they've only killed blessed people!"
Jannik's frown intensified. "Monsters? I'd heard it was knights." That was what the man who ran into the barracks from South Gate had said.
Klaus shook his head fervently. "You heard wrong, then! It's- it's Dominators, and I think Teufel himself, wearing the guise of a young woman? She keeps asking where the priests are, and somehow she knew poor Ernst was hiding in the crowd, and she killed him so gruesomely!... but the monsters didn't really hurt anyone else, and she said the priests killed innocents in the shadowlands..."
Jannik let Klaus go at that point, scowling at the man. "Right, 'innocents in the shadowlands'. And how would the priests do harm to anyone outside these walls, exactly?" Jannik, being a blessed soldier, was in fact aware of the priests selling bread with Brandstifter flesh inside it, including the final result of Freelanders dying... but that was a secret precisely so Teufel's servants wouldn't discover it and counter it. Though clearly something had gone wrong with that plan.
Klaus shrugged helplessly. "I don't know! But it's what she keeps saying, and she acts like she means what she says!"
An expression of profoundly ugly anger twisted Jannik's face for a moment, and he cuffed the coward by the shoulder he'd previously grabbed. "Don't go repeating Teufel's lies," he growled out. The implied threat of or worse will be done to you hung silently in the air between the two men, Jannik's squad glaring at Klaus from behind him.
Klaus' eyes dropped to the ground and he mumbled out an apology, and then made himself scarce at top speed.
Jannik stared after the coward for almost a minute, then shook himself. "Alright, I guess we'll be getting all the glory for ourselves, given all these cowardly militia won't horn in on our win!" This thought cheered Jannik's squad significantly (Which was, of course, the point), and they hurried through the stream of confused militia, following the flow right to Teufel's evil monsters.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Jannik turned a corner, spotted Dominators, barely stopped himself from saying shit! aloud, and backed right up into the squad of aspirants behind him. "Weapons out!" He hissed, suiting deed to word himself.
Then he peeked out.
What in Kamin's name are these?
Jannik hadn't been on a holy expedition in a year or so, having covered himself in glory and been given the honor of ensuring prospective blessed soldiers were trained properly in deed and thought, but he remembered the Dominator creatures vividly still. He recognized one of the types, the grey-backed things that were ungainly but otherwise very dangerous, but the glistening wet things -no, there were two kinds of them, one type flat on the ground- were completely new. He'd heard stories of the Dominators changing over the years from some of the retired soldiers, but he'd never seen sign of it being so himself, and had come to think that those men must've misunderstood something, or gotten mixed-up in their old age. He'd need to apologize to Old Man Frank after this.
Truthfully, Jannik was more troubled by the slip of a girl, kitted out like a warrior but clearly not that familiar with her armor or her spear. While Jannik repeated all the things said about Teufel, in the privacy of his mind he'd not really believed such a being existed. The Dominators had a variety of forms, but nothing one would ever mistake for a human being, and though the Dominated were traitorous servants to the creatures, he'd never heard of them fighting alongside a Dominator. Yet here was a girl where Jannik's eyes would pass right over her in a crowd... except for that disquieting dim coal glow coming from her eyes, a lesser version of the Dominator glow, and...
"Y̶̛͜o̸̞̚u̴̧͙͊͗ ̶͇̀̕ͅk̸̹͊ị̷͒̆ĺ̴̙͂l̴̳̟̔̒ȩ̵̤́̉d̷̢̈́ ̸̪̈́c̸͚͉̈́̒ḧ̸̗i̸̼̓͊l̸̻̆̎d̴̛̠r̸̖͆ȩ̴̉n̴̛̥.̸̝͍̔ ̸͔̏̓Y̷̜̪̓o̴̢̅͠ụ̶̗̈ ̸̻̞̇k̶̜͒͛ĩ̸̯̜l̵̯̙̋l̸̢̖͝ẹ̵̍̋d̴̥͖̆ ̷̢͖̈m̴̗̆̏o̵̘͐͝t̸̪͓́h̵͈̖̉e̸̝͑̕ṛ̸̙̚ś̵̝̽ ̷̻͚́w̴̼̓̃i̶̜̿̀ț̶͒̍h̷̺̄̋ ̴̰̩̄̋u̸̢͠n̸̦̈̍b̴̺̹͌ö̸͉͔́r̶̺̕n̵̗̿ ̷͕̜͆̐b̷̖̄à̷̜b̵̬̫͌̎e̶̯̪͂̉s̶̯̈́.̵̛̩̔ ̶̗́̒Ŷ̶̠̭̄ó̴͑ͅu̶̦̺̐ ̷̦̅d̴̦̜̎̒o̶͕̖͝ṇ̴̱̇'̶̩̈́t̴͇̘̀͝ ̴̖̆ġ̷̗e̷̹̕t̵͕͛̕ ̴̢̭̋t̶͎͐ȏ̴͚ ̸̰̃͝p̴͖̺͝l̵͈̜͐̿ë̶̯́̓a̵̖̐͒ḍ̶̭͊͐ ̴͚̭̈́f̷̮̚ò̷̬̹̈́r̸̖̎̽ ̶̗̠̽m̵̨̮̊͠e̵͇̬̋r̴̛͓̼͋c̴̙̏̐y̷̢͚̓.̴͕̟̇"
... the voice, which was alike to the enormous worm monster that seemed to command the other Dominators.
Jannik didn't really think she was Teufel walking the Earth in a near-perfect disguise, but the idea that the Dominators might be able to grow eerily-close fakes was considerably more disquieting: Jannik imagined tens of these monsters made (Jannik shuddered as it occurred to him that they might actually start from a real person), and then sent out to quietly infiltrate Neustadt de Glaubens. The eyes and voice were wrong, but the creatures could clearly change themselves: they might iron out this flaw. In a decade's time, Jannik might have monstrous neighbors and be none the wiser.
Jannick shuddered at the thought. He dearly hoped this blasphemy was unable to stand in the sun, like the rest of the Dominators.
He whispered to his second, "I need a minute to go hot. Tell everyone to make ready to follow my lead."
And then he closed his eyes and began to pray.
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Deep breath, in and out. That last priestess had been a girl a bit younger than yourself, which had given you unpleasant feelings until she started begging for mercy and you remembered these awful, awful people had gotten almost everyone in Estvallee killed with their machinations.
"... aaarge!"
You glance up, toward where the voice is coming from, and oh my? Are these actual soldiers? Nine of them, the one in front doing the screaming and with a similar appearance to Petra -purple iconography on the shoulders, for example- and all of them armored and coming your way with swords, a couple of them with kite shields at the ready.
You shout, "I'm assuming the man in front is 'blessed'-" You'd ideally check with the Gatekeeper, but that seems unlikely to happen. "-and the rest of you aren't. He dies, but if you other eight retreat, I'll not follow!"
You're not really surprised when they all ignore you talking and just scream war cries, continuing to run headlong into your forces.
They're actually coming up from behind you, which is to say where the Suncrawlers are concentrated and only a couple Boulders and Rollers are positioned. You direct your forces to turn about, the Gatekeeper moving away from the fighting, and the Suncrawlers rotating (They do that pretty quickly, at least) to bring their limbs more to bear, while the Roller you're sitting on moves awkwardly out of the way. The man in the lead swipes his sword exultantly through a Suncrawler arm-
-and while you're unhappy to see the limb is severed at the bone, he looks shocked and horrified when steam plumes up into his face. He slows, coughing and sputtering, while his troops look uncertain, but then he waves them forward with one arm and after a moment they resume their own charge.
Most of the eight make uncertain attempts to attack the Suncrawlers once they're within reach. They stab, they slice, they dance away from awkward attempts from the Suncrawlers to grab at them, and after a frenzy of such attacks, they're sweating and breathing hard and it's not clear whether they've done anything of substance. You can see nicks on the Suncrawler bones, even a gouge in one skull, but their jelly flesh pulls back together not terribly long after a blade passes through it; you think this is meaningfully injurious to them going by your ongoing background awareness of Breed experiences (Incidentally, you're pleasantly surprised at how the four sneaking Suncrawlers have yet to report being attacked), but you suspect the soldiers think they've accomplished nothing.
Two of the soldiers went past the Suncrawlers -one actually jumped over a Suncrawler- and had rather more success each fighting a Boulder, dancing away and stabbing in and drawing blood and even taking out an eye on one Boulder if you understand its report correctly. But then Rollers push Boulders into position behind them, and when they realize they're surrounded they quite clearly despair, grit their teeth, and decide they'll at least sell their lives dearly.
Those two are pretty confused when the swords are finally knocked from their hands and the Boulders stop on your order.
The leader, meanwhile, made another stab at the Suncrawler, piercing its skull and producing another burst of steam accompanied by a horrific noise you don't know how to begin to describe, killing the Suncrawler, and staggered forward -you finally realized the Runner venom was apparently getting into him through the steam- and managed to reach a Boulder and stab it, setting it ablaze instantly while you directed the other Boulders to make space. He made a sound of triumph, and then a Suncrawler finally got a firm grip on one of his legs and began dragging him away from everything, at which point he began screaming, "No! No! No! You'll not make me into a monster!"
A minute later, where once was a 'blessed' man trying to kill you, now there is a writhing pile of Burner Worms in his armor, which you quickly direct Suncrawlers to kill.
You turn with a radiant smile upon the eight confused, frightened soldiers the Gatekeeper-
Clean. Clean. Clean. Clean. Clean. Clean. Clean. Clean.
-quickly affirms are not 'blessed'. "As I already said, if you don't fight me, and you aren't part of the priesthood or a 'holy warrior', I have no quarrel with-"
Something swoops overhead.
"-you," you finish with confusion. You glance up, but there's just empty sky.
"Dominator kidnapper!" One of the soldiers shrieks, and there's a moment where you're baffled as to how these people know your intentions to grab Ada, but then you follow the woman's hand to-
-something you've never seen before in your life. Wings like a bat, skin stretched taut between the wing bones, four stubby legs gripping tightly to the roof this one is landed on, all growing out of a rounded and fuzzy body that vaguely reminds you of a bumblebee, except there's two tiny pink eyes placed to each side of a long neck sticking right out the front, which ends in a cluster of more of the pink eyes. You can't see a mouth on the thing, or indeed any kind of orifice at all. (... what's that rotting smell?)
You blink a couple of times.
Then there's two more swoops, and two thuds as other rooftops are landed on nearby.
"Shit! How many Brandstifter cauldrons have we lost?!?" Another soldier shouts in despair, while you think to yourself that you've knocked over three so far. (Though the first was by far the biggest)
"The fog! The fog!" another sobs, and yes now that he mentions it you suppose the night is a bit foggy? You're... not sure why he's sobbing about it...
"Um," you start to say. "Do you know?..."
The soldiers stare in confusion at you, with one of them saying, "They're Dominators?" in this manner like you must be stupid to not know this already.
Somewhere nearby, there's a shriek as one of these things lifts off, carrying a person with its four legs, flying off somewhere east.
Um.
What?
[]You know what? Whatever, you're focusing on your mission: this just makes it easier! Probably! You'll keep killing priests down here, then retreat!
[]Alright, you'd intended to hunt for more priests and retreat when either a bigger force of soldiers showed up or you lost too many Breeds, but you're getting out, right now.
[]Uh... apparently the Burner Worm cauldrons were keeping these things out, and you've endangered innocent Commoners by wrecking them? That's- you should try to do something about that. Escort people to shelter, or try to kill these things, or something.
[]Your number one priority is getting an explanation about these things. One that makes more sense than suggesting they're Gendarmerie, because no, you don't believe that for a second.
-[]Your number two priority is getting out of here.
-[]Your number two priority is helping the locals fight off... whatever these are.
-[]Your number two priority is ignoring this whole thing and continuing to hit priests.
[]You're capturing one of these things. Seriously, what?
[]You're going to follow these things back to where they're taking their victims. (Hopefully it's close enough you have the nighttime hours to do it)
[]You're going to take advantage of the chaos to try to hit the priests at the top; if Neustadt's citizens are busy fighting (or running from) this threat, they might not send a significant force to stop you before you get there.
[]Write-in.
(I have had this moment in mind for over 4 years thanks to the stupid hiatus. I didn't think it would happen quite this way given what I expected from voters, but still, I've had these creatures defined that whole time, all the way back to Ada's Interlude.
Also: lol 'next morning', but I did get it up next day! Close enough!)
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