prof | Let's Play The Spirit Engine 2

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Chapter 3: Pilgrim's Rest

Part 2: In Too Deep

So!

This place is just a bucket of cheer.

Taylor said that the Bowbuffer was the place to find the Foreman!

Let's get going.

This is pretty creepy!

I'm sure I can find something to do with your crates of valuable merchandise!

Aside from some generic gera, I get this totally kickass item.

More on it next time I'm in a fight! For now, I have a Foreman to chat with.

We're very sorry to interrupt you, Foreman, but the Watch-Chief said we should come and speak with you.

Newcomers, eh? Ahhh, never you mind my temper. S'just the drink talking. Between you and me, I think I may have had a few tankards too many. Hehehe. What were you looking for?

We need to leave for Porto Vale. The Watch-Chief said you might be able to help us find a way through.

Oho! You want to leave, do you? Well, lean closer, I'll let you in on a little secret... so do I! So does everyone here. This place is literally going to hell. I'm just sorry you had to join us.

Is there really no way out of here? We've been assigned safekeeping of this military briefcase and it's a matter of national importance that it reaches Admiralty House as soon as possible.

Let me see... the Seal of the Dragon? Well I'll be damned. A pity. It'll be buried here with us. Only a matter of time, now. You folks should get a drink while you still have the chance. No point in dying sober.

The situation surely cannot be that bleak. Maybe there's something we could do to help?

You three? Hah! Whatdya think you are, heroes or something?

I don't know, Foreman, but we're willing and it couldn't hurt to let us try.

Pah! Speak for yourself, do-gooder. It could hurt plenty. This place looks safe enough to stay right now. I hope you're not getting any crazy ideas about going out into the tunnels.

Maybe you could be of some use. In the very worst case, we still have room in the morgue for anything the demons throw back. Alright, then, listen close.
The only way out of Underport, until the spring at least, is through the Northern Canalway.
When the seige started, we closed the North Gates in a panic and now that the canalway is flooded, the pressure behind is too great to move them again.
If they're to be reopened, we'd have to first redirect the flow of the river down south, through the Eastern Canalway. That'd best be done at Weir 21, if it were still possible to reach it.
Secondly, we'd have to find some way to kill off this foul black weed that's been clogging out water and has taken hold around the gate. We've tried everything from axes to explosives. You've seen the pilgrims?

The people in the purple robes? Yes.

Of course you have. How could you miss them? They're everywhere, smiling inanely as these beasties cut down our townsfolk.
Most of them have left now. They walk out into the tunnels without a care in the world and the demons won't touch 'em.
Everyone hates them. There's been unpleasantness. Foul language, beatings... even murder. The pilgrims won't raise a hand to strike back, though. They're all sunshine and smiles. Proper terrifies me, I can tell you.
They say they've come here to visit the Cathedral of Edges. It's a strange carved chamber which the mining crews opened up in early summer. I only saw it once myself before the trouble started. Eerie, Godless place it is.
That's where people say they're summoning these beasts that they're in league with, and where they're growing this rotten weed. Ariene thinks otherwise, and for now she's upholding the law here.
Reach the cathedral and I believe you'll find the key to unlock this hell that we're trapped in.
I've sent no less than three squads of armed men to do the same thing and all of them were returned... disassembled. Good men sent to a foul end under my direction.
I still hear 'em crying to me at night. The whiskey here keeps 'em quiet.
If you can do what they couldn't, we'll all be grateful to you, though I don't fancy your chances. Tell the Guards at the eastern blockade that Leroy Sykes is letting you through.
Now go! Leave a broken man in peace. I doubt I'll be seein' ya again, anyhows. So long, strangers.

Okay! On the way back...

Why? What are you intending to do with it?

Open it, of course. Before we go another step further, I want to know what's in there.

We can't open it. That's a military seal, and breaking it would be a treasonable offense! If it warrants a seal, it must be important. It's our duty as citizens to deliver it to its destination with its contents intact.

Not good enough. I hardly count as a citizen anyway, so before we take another step I want to know exactly what's in this thing, and whether it's worth risking my neck for. All in favor, say 'aye'.

Aye! Ionae's right. It would help if we knew what the case held.

Nay! Once the seal is broken, the contents of the case are considered compromised. We'll be in grave trouble!

We're already in trouble. Sorry, Denever, the popular vote is against you.
For all you know it's a shopping list for the castle's canteen, and I'm certainly not laying my life on the line until I know otherwise. Hand it over.

I thought you didn't want to know.

Well now that the case is open, the damage is done anyway. What is it?

It looks like a message. There's a whole load of rather severe looking military stamps across the front cover. It looks fairly official, and it's very neatly written. It reads:
"For the attention of... blah blah blah... most urgent that you... mumble mumble." Heaven's it's as if the man was being paid by the letter. Ah, here we are:
"It is my duty to forward intelligence brought to my station in an operation which has reportedly claimed the lives of a large number of our agents within Yaegara, and has retrieved a number of sensitive documents from within the Yaegaran devence Offices. These papers outline plans of their intention to launch an unconventional, pre-emptive strike simultaneously against the cities of Porto Vale and Kelstarin with enough force, of an as-of-yet unknown nature, to ensure the widespread devastation of both.

With the country in chaos and the people in despair, they project that they can break whatever forces our armies can muster on the Western Front, and push as far East as the Leilan Flats within three weeks, occupying most major cities therein.

In an optimistic assessment of such an attack, they believe we would have no choice but to sue for peace, and I would be inclined to agree. We could lose everything west of Tolkesworth. The timeline for this action is apparently close at hand, with simultaneous unconfirmed reports of troop redeployments across the Western Plains and the recent breakdown of the Malmara peace accords. I am as taken aback as I imagine you are, sir, but coming from a previously reliable source and with so much at stake, I believe it is imperative that you take this warning into account and act accordingly.
Yours faithfully, Station-Captain Eric Tylan Hardcastle."

Good Lord. I'm not sure I believe it.

I've changed my mind now. I think we should have left it in the briefcase!

Shut up, it doesn't matter what you think. This is bad. That briefcase is not safe for us to hold on to. Maybe we could give it to someone else? Someone who's feeling a little more heroic than I am right now?

have you looked around here? There's not a single person in this place that I would trust to hold onto that case for ten seconds. We're the closest things to heroes here, Ionae.

Well, that's not close enough. I don't see why I should go a step further. These last two days have been nothing but sheer terror. I shouldn't even be here!
I came with you because you're supposed to be protecting me. We should be trying to survive this seige, not risking our necks trying to deliver this piece of paper.

This isn't about us, Ionae. Life is inherently unfair, and probability dictates that hardship will cluster around certain people and certain times. Those people are us, and that time is now. We must step up to the task.

We'll get ourselves killed trying. What does this all matter to you, anyway, PyanPau? This isn't your country and these aren't your people.

Nationality should be an irrelevance in matters of life and death. My faith teaches me to accept the inevitability of suffering. But never on this scale, and never when I know I can act to stop it.
I came to this country to watch the world in motion. But there are times even in Sakeidan tradition when action is more important than observation. If you had any ounce of humanity in you, you would feel the same.

All of my humanity is on the outside, little man. You have no business telling me what I should be thinking. If I don't want to help, then I shan't.
I am just one tiny, insignificant person. What can I do? If the army can't protect that case, then I'm not going to throw my life away trying in vain to do the same!

Enough, both of you! Just stop it!

...

Ionae, you can choose. You can stay here if you want. Alone. And wait for this plague of demons to swell and for the town's defenses to crumble.
Or we can stick together and and we can try to fight our way out of this mountain and deliver this case to Porto Vale in time to save a great many lives.
You can risk your life trying to do something, or die doing nothing. Which will it be?

Alright. But I'm only coming along because you're not leaving me much choice. And because for some annoying reason I'm worried about you two fools wandering off into the tunnels by yourselves.
You're bound to get yourselves killd and leave me here by myself, anyway. You are most inconsiderate.

You're the most cold hearted woman I've ever met, Ionae, but I'm glad you're coming with us. We can't do this without you.

Alright. This message goes back in the briefcase and stays there, do you two understand? Not a word about this to anyone. We must get this to Porto Vale as soon as possible, heaven help us all.

This is really not turning out to be a good week. At least things can't get much worse...

And now PyanPau has all of his skills!

And Denever, as well!

We're fully skilled.

Next time: Demons!

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