Difference between revisions of "Amanita (Chapter 8)"

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Amanita (Act I)#Chapter 8

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-In the tent I shared, everyone was asleep.  Waking them with unconscious vocalizing would be rude, so I stuffed a bandage in my mouth and
-<pre>
-went   out    to     the      world
-Anybody there?      I am      Hi there       I'm not      Hello again.  How's
-                Yes you are!                No, I'm not   things in the west?
-                                        I'm here, not there
-Shut up.     Hee hee     Oh, really funny     Gotcha!    Quit being juvenile
-The west could
-  be better             I'm here          By definition...     I said quit!
-First, how goes     I'm here except
-   Aranoch?          when I'm not     I'm in Viz-Jun    I'm on the Twin Seas
-                                      The Sorcerers        I hate sailing
-                                     are under attack
-Is anybody in Aranoch?
-Anybody?    I thought Inella
-               was there?     She said she was                In a harem, yet
-       Maybe she's asleep                   It's a hard life
-                                            being in a harem
-          I'm still on my way
-           to Aranoch.  It's          The Sorcerers are
-         dangerous on the road          under attack!
-  What about             Who's attacking?             This is bad
-the Sorcerers?                         A Zakarumite army          What?
-           There's Jungle Cats         Hordes of zealots     That's not good
-           attacking travelers          Dying in droves
-             in the desert            But they keep coming
-Holy crap!                      This is not news
-                              Zakarum's been doing      It is news. Why
-                              purges for years now      attack Viz-Jun?
-           Also Raiders, the            A lot of Sorcies
-         funny four-armed guys         are getting killed      Something is
-         They're getting bold                                rotten in Kurast
- Attacking Viz-Jun       Did someone say
-is more than a purge     Jungle Cats in
-                           the desert?           Netta did     My head hurts
-               I did   I've run into Quill
-                        Rats on Lycander          That's way out of
-They're all over        The Amazons sure             their range
-here in Khanduras        don't like them         Weird     Everything's going
-                                                            to Hell suddenly
- Oh! I came to tell you:
-   we may have Andarial
-     the lesser evil                Who?                 You know, Andy-baby
-    here in Khanduras                     She of the jeweled
-                                            nipple chains.
-              Is this confirmed?   Oh, her             Ouch!     She likes it
-I haven't seen her         I'd like         Just the big 3
-But I may have to        confirmation       is bad enough!     I think so too
- go through her      Good luck!         Try to confirm her,
-                  I hope Inella's OK     but try harder to
-The lesser may be                          go around her        Not good!
-working with the              Not good at all
-  greater again                                     What are we
-                          Damn...                   going to do?
-            Try to stay alive          We need a plan       Here's a plan:
-Yeah?                                                    Whoever you're after
-                                                             forget them.
-                          How's that going to help?         I'll tell you
-We're at war now                                         Right.  We're at war
-                                                          so forget wizards!
-             A war for the world     We're not an army   Volunteer in cities
-                                                         work with locals and
-                                                         fight off the demons
-                               But we're mage-slayers
-                                    Not soldiers          We have to change
-                                                         This is a new threat
-It's actually a          Right. We kill mages
- very old one            in league with demons
-                          but now the demons              It's not like I'm
-                          are here themselves               asking you to
-                                                            join an army
-                  Sir! No, sir!            That's ma'am         Ha ha.
-           I'll keep going
-            into Aranoch            Are we meeting
-                                      out there?         I'm bound for Kurast
-I'm working with the
- Rogues, but there's         I'll see you in
-not many of them left          Lut Gholein                  If she gets there
-   I'll get there        See you soon!         Good luck     Yeah, good luck
-</pre>
-I slept like someone cast a spell on me, and woke in the dark dead silence before dawn.  The silence of the Rogue pass was still unsettling -- there should be birds, bugs, mice, something.  Deciding which waypoint to use was a problem.  The last one I'd found was in the cloisters, so they'd be expecting me to use it.  Not using it meant coming in from outside, through the monastery gate.  But whichever way I went, I'd have to go through the cloisters, so there was one ambush point I could avoid by doing the predictable thing.
-Nobody was waiting in the cloisters.  The barracks were empty too.  For once, I let my guard down, listening for thoughts, any kind of thoughts.  That's dangerous to do around demons; maybe worse with undead.  Even if you find a mind, it's guaranteed to be full of the thoughts that leave scars.  At first, I felt nothing.  No one was near.  I opened up wider.  Harsh, sharp whispers came from inside the monastery.  I immediately pulled back; the contact was like reaching out in the dark and touching razors.  Most of them were at ground level, clustered behind a gate at the rear of the barracks: there was the ambush, a big one.  I don't think they noticed me, or understood if they did.  Fewer thoughts scrabbled under my feet -- there was a basement under the barracks.  I had no way of knowing if there was any way through down there, but walking into that ambush would be suicide.
-The basement was a jail, probably the only place in the monastery the new owners left the way it was.  They even put in some new prisoners -- three Goat demons had been locked in a cell right by the entrance.  I got in some target practice.  Had they committed some crime even demons disapprove of?  Maybe they'd been caught being nice to someone.  I didn't ask.  The rest of the jail's cells were open, and empty except for skeletons and ghosts.  A lot of people died here, and were never taken out.  Did the Rogues bother to bury them, or leave them where they were?
-Things the Rogues left were everywhere: neatly stacked crates; huge casks of water, wine, or explosives; long tables with chairs.  All the torture equipment was recently used.  Rogues were tied spread-eagle to tables, and disemboweled for an audience of chairs.  Some tables had two legs knocked off so the ones in the back could enjoy too.  In every room there were Rogues, decapitated, burned, ripped in half, torn to pieces, or broken on wheels.  All were naked, but unmolested.  Most likely, stripping them was purely psychological.  Documents were lying around on tables or desks, probably neatly detailing punishments and the ends of many lives.  I imagine most people would have a hard time with the bloody bits scattered on the floor.  My problem was the papers.  Seeing that much documentation, and leaving it all where it was, was probably the hardest thing I've ever done.
-The Rogue jails went deep, three levels of cells and torture rooms.  What the hell were they doing with so much of that stuff?  Whatever the reason, the jails saw a lot of use, judging from how many dead people they had to raise.  There were some demons there -- the Goats, some Misshapen in a side hall, but all the rest were undead.  Why would people like Charsi have so much torture equipment?  Maybe it didn't belong to the Rogues, maybe the demons somehow brought it in.  Or maybe it was all old, from times when a woman like the Countess could be a Rogue leader.  The modern Rogues seemed more interested in using their jail for storage.
-The deepest part of the jail hid a few surprises.  There were two hidden rooms the demons hadn't found, combination treasuries and armories.  Kashya recognized the gear I recovered, and actually smiled.  Quality weapons seem to bring her great joy.  I also found two banners in the treasures: one matched the Countess', and the other I didn't recognize.  I was a good girl, and didn't ask about them.
-Another surprise was a centrally located hall, with tables, chairs, and long shelves of books.  Some people think criminals are forced into crime by a lack of education, and want libraries in prisons so they can better themselves.  As far as I know, none of these people approve of torture.  Seeing a library and torture chambers in the same complex was very odd.
-The biggest surprise was guarding the northern jails, near a stairway going up.  On top of two pillars, stone statues of dragon or snake heads sprayed explosive balls of fire at me as I came through.  They were obviously an imitation of Hydras, fire creatures mages summon to lay traps and scout dangerous areas.  A success with the pyrotechnic experiments, perhaps?  They worked fine, except that they didn't attack the undead.  Maybe those old bones were "local" in the stone Hydras' rudimentary minds.
-The stairway took me back to the surface, coming out under a covered walkway above a green lawn.  Above, the sun glowed feebly though a thick layer of gray cloud, hardly giving any light at all.  Down on the grass, two Rogues were desperately shooting at me, not even taking time to aim.  The first shot I didn't dodge plinked off the armor; after that, I didn't bother to dodge.  The lawn had a waypoint, which I was glad to see.  Then, there was the cathedral, a gray stripped skeleton of holiness towering over me.  That, I wasn't glad to see at all.  I wanted to be on the other side of the monastery, not in its heart.  I didn't like the looks of the place.  My shields were up as strong as I could make them, but just looking at it, I felt spikes laced with vinegar pricking me.
-I thought of leaving, of going around.  Sure, the cathedral was probably in the middle of an open courtyard, with no cover.  A good run might make it across.  Then, if I found the other side, I might get through the gate and escape.  I'd have to travel across the biggest desert in the world without any water or food.  Maybe Andarial (if this is her) would only send half her demons after me.  Crap... it would be easier to just go in there and kill her.

Difference between revisions of "Amanita (Chapter 8)"

Latest revision as of 15:34, 13 February 2017

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