The Quantum Wanderer

“Haven’t you heard the news? Didn’t you investigate?”

“EVERYONE, CALM DOWN! BACK TO YOUR TABLES!”

“We have the right to listen.”

“I AM TAKING CARE OF IT!” The female guild master says.

The guy approaches the woman, with his hands up, in sign of surrender.

“Listen to me, guild master. Angelica is no more. Gods walk the land, and I am talking about the offended ones. I have seen Wrax’s messenger up close, and believe me, it is not something you want to think about. They are after blood. It is BAD. There is only one way the adventures in the list you provided can live.”

“What do you mean, the adventurers in the list?”

“I know about the list. It is the list of the adventurers that participated in the quest that ended with the crows’ death. It is the list of adventurers that are to be sacrificed so that the rest can live.”

She looks at him, suspiciously.

“Do you have any proof?”

“I was in the other city’s list. I survived, but now I have carry this. It is my reminder that I am marked. That I am to take penance for my actions.”

He points to the small bird on his shoulder. She makes a face, pulling her lip on one side.

“Let’s say I believe you. How can those on the list be saved?”

“Just like the Holy Kingdom sacrificed the crows, we sacrifice the priests and soldiers.”

She takes a step back, lowers her head, and holds the bridge of her nose.

“Do you realize that what you’re saying amounts to treason around these parts? You could get executed for this.”

“I saw things that should not be. Believe me. I offer my life if I am lying.”

She goes back up the stairs and locks herself in the office. The guy turns back to the people that are standing, looking at the exchange. The moment is gone.

“Get closer, I am going to tell you what happened yesterday. I am coming from Esther, the city is 40 miles from here. Yesterday close to sunset, a couple of adventurers arrived in the city.

“They came with a report. Several adventurers, all the ones whose parties participated in the crows murder quest were burned to death. The places they were locked, and the places caught fire.

A fire that could not be erased. A fire that burned them to death.

“I am part of the party that participated in the quest. We are not in a good place. We start questioning the guild master. He tells us about the list.”

“What is this list?”

“At the moment, we thought that the guild master had sentenced us to death. On the previous city, all parties that participated in the crows sacrifice were burned down. The buildings they were in were sealed and burned.

“The soldiers died with fire in the barracks. The bishop and priests died with fire in the cathedral. Every house guarded by soldiers, burned. I was cleansed by fire.

“We raided the guild master. He had betrayed us. He… he is gone. Then we contacted the upper echelon directly, and he explained.

“The crows sacrifice woke something up. Something ancient. Something that should never be here. The list was given to this messenger, so that the adventurers that did not participate could be spared, as opposed to killing every one.

“Their first fit of rage erased Angelica. His description is that it became a lake. The city is no more.”

“THAT IS IMPOSSIBLE! EVERYONE KNOWS THAT NOT EVEN A HERO COULD DO THAT!”

“I wish I could believe that.

“But that made us angry. Like you, we didn’t know about the quest. We didn’t know what was going to happen to the crows. We didn’t care about the hatchlings. Our lament after their death was but a sigh. The priests fooled us. They threw us, all of us, in a cursed quest. There is no living after this quest.

“We raided the priests. We burned them ourselves. We fought the soldiers, and burned them. We sacrificed them.

“Them Death itself descended. Big as a Fenrir. Four eyes, in red, that burn inside your soul. A crown of feathers on her head. She plucked the bishop, his assistants and guards from where they had already escaped to. She chose a crow queen, and fed the clergy soul to her.

“The crow queen, picked amongst the lower, gained 30 levels by consuming those souls. No cycle for them. No rebirth. Only the death of all deaths.

“But she was clement. She told us that we would be given a second chance. We were told that we were to keep these alive, for our lives depend on it. And I believe her. She told us to spread the word. Here I am.”

“How do you know it is a she?”

“Her voice. Needless to say, she speaks.”

There is this big moment of silence. Most of them are scared on what they might find. The ones that had participated in the quest were particularly uncomfortable.

The guild master comes down the stairs, only a couple of step.

“ALRIGHT! I talked to the upper echelon. Angelica… Became a lake.”

The people on the floor are slack jawed.

“What happened?”

“The upper echelon said it was divine punishment.”

There is a contemplative silent in the room. He continues.

“After what I saw, I completely believe him.”

“FUCK THIS SHIT! I’M JUST GONNA GO!”

One adventurer in the back shouts. He stops on his tracks when our traveler starts laughing maniacally.

“GO? GO WHERE?”

The runner turns around, looking at our direction. Our traveler continues his talk.

“Do you have any preparations? How prepared to run do you think the bishop from my town was? Did you fucking listen? He was ripped from where he was! He had his soul fed into another, IN FRONT OF US!”

The guy’s face start to shift, from determination to fear. Our traveler continues.

“Good luck. I don’t know how much luck you would need to survive, but good luck.”

An adventurer that is at the bottom of the stairs comes up until he is one step below us and grabs the traveler by the armor.

“HOW DO WE REPENT?”

“We bring penitence to those that started it. To the source of your troubles. To the responsibles for the exit of the beasts. For the guilty that made Angelica be undone. The church must go!”

The adventurer in front of us  turn around.

“FRIENDS! WE SHARED BREAD! WE SHARED ALE! WE WERE LIED TO, LED, WITH INTENT, TO A CURSED QUEST!”

There is a pause, possibly for dramatic effect.

“LET’S GO KILL THOSE MOTHER FUCKERS!”

He raises his axe up in the air. The adventurers that are in the guild look past him, at the guild master. She sighs and pays attention to the scene. She nods. The room erupts. Everyone joins a war cry. We see a hand in front of us.

The traveler is protecting the frail bird. He goes around the corner, trying to run from the amount of magic in the war cry.

He waits in the corridor for some time, still protecting the bird. After a moment, the cry is gone. He looks at us, carefully. He offers a seed from his pocket, the fake screen hanging on the air moves quickly back and forth.

I realize what just happened. I start laughing. Then Muninn and Cecilia. Edward turns to us.

“What?”

Still laughing, I answer him.

“Huginn told him that if that bird died, so would he. The bird is not that strong, just an average small bird. He was afraid the bird would be affected by the war cry. Wouldn’t you run as well?”

He laughed as well. Right now the whole thing on our side looked more like a movie session with treats than a serious information gathering. We reach for the refreshments and have a sip. Time is passing faster than we realized.

Our traveler goes back slowly to the stairs, and meets the guild master on her way to her office.

“Hey! What happened?”

“Didn’t you listen the part where my friends and I were given a second chance?”

“Nope. Was it around the time where I left to talk to the upper echelon?”

“Oh, maybe. Basically the deal is that if this bird dies, I follow. If you had seen the one that cast that penance on us, you would believe that.”

She looks at the adventurer. It looks like she is looking for signs of deception. Of course, she finds nothing.

“A drink?”

“How strong is your strongest?”

“I have some stuff from the time the dwarves were around…”

He laughs. She tilts her head. He raises his hands.

“Races that left. Cathedrals burn. Dragons amidst humans. A country undone. Gods on the land. I feel like I am the footnote of some holy book.”

She starts laughing. She pours two glasses, offers one to him. They cheer and sit down on the sofa. She finishes her cup in one shot, and go to a wardrobe. She has her back to him.

“What are your plans now, herald?”

“Herald?  I hadn’t thought about that. It doesn’t sound bad, though. I was told to spread the word…” He takes another sip. “I will continue doing that, spreading the word.”

She starts undressing. He looks at her. She has a strong body, but her muscles are more elegant than they seemed underneath the more noble clothes she was wearing.

She puts on her armor slowly. It is a simple armor for an amazon. She puts a sword in her back, a quiver on her waist and she has a bow in her hand. She turns around. He is staring at her.

“Are you intending on fighting?”

“If I have to. The city is going to burn. I intend on keeping the fire away.”

“A very wise choice.” He raises his cup and takes another sip.

She looks at his hard on. She smiles and shakes her head.

“You men are fucking idiots.”

The screen changes abruptly. We are taken to the back of a mob. They are walking away from the guild, away from the main square.

This mob had a different format. There were two different groups, it was not just a big mix like the previous one. The adventurers were a lot more cool-headed than the other city. They had the front lines, while also calling on the population to help them fight the injustices from the church.

While they walk slowly towards the noble district, the information starts to spread. Angelica gone. God’s fury. Remember the inquisition. Bring the church down.

The amount of people in the mob is a little smaller than the other city as well. I don’t know how it compares because I don’t really have any idea on how many people are in each city.

The soldiers start coming down from the noble district where the barracks are located. The adventurers step back. When faced with normal citizens, the soldiers hesitate, and the adventurers attack.

Some soldiers are killed, some of them tied up and taken by the adventurers to the central plaza. The word starts to spread. The populace start pressuring the gates to the noble district. The gates go down, a barrier is placed up.

People start hitting against the barrier.

Soldiers start pouring down from the wall, to try to free their friends in the square. Some adventurers laid down magical traps. Once they are trapped, the mob advance. Temporarily incapacitated, they don’t resist the peasants, in spite of the difference of level. Some of them just have their throats sliced by daggers by adventurers that are lurking close, hiding in shades.

The ones that are not dead are incapacitated, and tied against the others in the main square. Some of the soldiers are moaning, beaten, tied under the sun. Some are even asking for water.

The gates to the noble district is still under pressure. The walls around it are half as high as the outer walls, but still imposing at its 15 feet. They were designed mainly for crowd control, but they probably didn’t expect something like this.

The barrier start suffering pressure. On top of the wall, soldiers, paladins, archers, mages.

Some spell casters on top of the wall to the noble district start casting. Four of them take arrows on their necks and faces. Another 5 archers get hit. Arrows fly towards the mob, and hit the populace. The adventurers are mixed in, they used the mob as a flesh shield.

The casters don’t have a second chance. They receive more arrows, and thrown knives, while the adventurer mages, in larger numbers, target the archer soldiers.

Some more hits from this very large amount of people, and the gates start to flex, then break. The huge mob pours in. The adventurers position themselves on strategic places, knowing where the soldiers are going to come from.

When the soldiers come after the populace, they are slain by the adventurers. Several platoons are dead or dominated before the soldiers start to realize that there are stronger units amongst the populace.

With the soldiers reduced, their actions become a lot more aggressive. Soldiers taking out swords, and going at the mob, killing a lot of people. The mob also gets more aggressive. It becomes an all out war. No soldiers are kept alive.

The looting start taking place. Houses broken in. Families go to the gardens on the outside. Very families in the area are spared. Some merchants have their house hold beg for them, but a small amount of the total.

The now enraged mob start their way towards the barracks. The adventurers play with a guerrilla strategy. They direct the mob to take the front, and then flank the soldiers. The casualties on both are terrible, but only half a dozen adventurers die.

There are toasted berries on the table. They have a very tasty crunch. I eat some of them and sip some of the juice. I turn my attention back to the revolution happening in front of us.

The mob speeds up towards the cathedral. This time, there are no soldiers in front of it. They slowly wear the barrier down, and then the doors.

Once the doors break, the war cries motivate everyone. The battle is brutal. The soldiers fight inside the cathedral. Peasant after peasant enter it, their rage going up. At some point, the bodies are piling up. Still people throw themselves at the guards.

When it starts to get more stable, the adventurers come around, and attack as well. The guards are dominated in a very little amount of time. The mob is too enraged to take guards prisoners now.

They invade the cathedral, looting. They go after priests and nuns in the place. Everyone there gets a beating.

The bishop is not found. One bird, in the top of the cafeteria, starts singing loudly. People turn to it, it flies down the corridor. Adventurers pursue the bird, running after it. They end up at one of the ends of the corridor.

The bird lands on one of the torch supports. It sings even louder. Some adventurers get close, it flies up to a beam above. Among the adventurers, there is one in a leather armor. He looks like the typical thief.

He moves the torch support in several ways, until he turns it, and the wall next to it clicks. A hidden door opens and retreats an inch back.

They push it back, there is a secret passage, dig in the dirt. A long tunnel, the dark doesn’t allow them to see how far it goes. The adventurers look around themselves. There 4 adventurers other than the one that has ‘us’ on his shoulders. They all look at each other. They nod.

It is really hard to evaluate the distance and the speed. Everything shakes now and again. They leave the cave, the sun blinds them.

“Get them!”

There a single platoon of soldiers, one lieutenant and the commander. The commander himself is the higher level, but his level is around the adventurers.

Three soldiers throw their weapons on the ground and leave. The commander is trying to protect a group of four people, the bishop among them.

The bishop starts praying, some golden energy goes through him, and a barrier is set. A couple of archers from the soldiers place an arrow, but the lieutenant lowers their arms, and shakes his head.

I have heard about the barriers and healing magic in the guild. It is supposed to be holy magic. It is fueled by belief, like all magic, but a different kind, it vibrates a different way. It is an external belief, it has to have an external target.

Two adventurers face the front. They are front line fighters. One has a shield and sword, while the other carries this massive short handed axe. It is almost a circle, three feet in diameter.

The other two flank the hemisphere. One of them has a leather armor, one dagger in each hand. He is walking from one side to the other. The other one is a sharp shooter, but his bow is now across his body. He has two short swords out.

The captain and the lieutenant are putting on a brave face, the others not so much. A couple of soldiers are looking at the weapons on the ground, and then at the direction the guards ran to.

 The adventurer in the back starts talking to the party inside the shield. His voice is almost musical. There is an underlying tone of care, a smell of forgiveness in his voice.

“Come with us… We just want them… Why won’t they offer their lives, if you have to sacrifice yours?”

“YOU FUCKING MORONS! DON’T LISTEN TO THEM!”

He turns back and whispers something to the bishop. The bishop does a gesture to which I am familiar.

The adventurer continues his tirade, but now the guards don’t listen anymore.

The two adventurers on the front synchronize a single attack on the barrier. It flashes, the bishop grab one of the others in his group, almost as if he were drunk. The soldiers are sweating profusely. They know they don’t have nearly the numbers to cover for the level gap.

The sharp shooters once again raise their arms, pointing their arrows to the adventurers on the outside. The two adventurers have cruel expressions. The captain and the lieutenant are a little smug.

When the adventurers are getting ready to strike the barrier again, it opens up. The sharpshooters let their arrows fly, and the adventurers in the front protect themselves, behind the shield and behind the axe, respectively.

The captain receives two arrows in the neck, from the back. He turns slowly, looking at the bowmen. They are looking at the floor. He falls to his knees, then lays flat on the ground.

The lieutenant looks back. He receives an axe on his shoulder. It goes deep in the diagonal. He doesn’t even react. His eyes are still in shock.

The soldiers throw their weapons on the ground. They look around, and kneel down, their hands on the back of their heads. One of the guards, looking down, asks.

“What is going to be of us?”

The adventurers look at us. At the bird on the shoulders of the adventurer. The scene goes up and down as the adventurer shrugs. The thief in the group clears his voice, looking at us.

“Since there are colleagues that already escaped… Why not just letting these go?” He points with the dagger towards the bishop and his friends. “These are the guys that had it ordered, we are already taking bishop, right? And the god can take the runners if he wants to.”

Again the adventurer shrugs. We hear a chirp. Huginn laughs. Edward turns to her.

“What is that supposed to mean?”

She shrugs her wings.

“Nothing really. Just something for them to interpret however they want.”

Edward laughs, while shaking his head. He faces the screen back.

The soldiers reach for their weapons, but the frontline adventurers shake their heads. The one with the axe, now dripping in blood, shouts.

“GO!”

The soldiers abandon the people. One of the nobles with the bishop try to run, but the archer adventurer holds him by the shirt collar.

“Alright everyone, back to the cathedral!”

“THIS IS PREPOSTEROUS! I AM GOING TO HAVE YOUR HEADS! THE CHURCH WILL KNOW ABOUT THIS!”

The adventurer with the bird on his shoulder approaches the bishop. The bishop’s breathing is ragged. The adventurer approaches him, holding him by the collar. He lifts the bishop from the ground. The fat bishop is now some 6 inches in the air. Then half a dozen bitch slaps take place.

When the adventurer lets go, the bishop I on his butt on the ground.

“Church? What fucking church, you mother fucking idiot? You guys woke up nightmares that were not supposed to wander the land.”

“YOU ARE NOT GOING TO SCARE ME WITH CHILDREN’S TALES!”

“CHILDREN’S TALES? YOU FUCKING MORON! I WAS THERE!”

The adventurer start lauging.

“Don’t you want to know what happened to you friends? To Angelica? To your friend bishop in the city I was in when they shot down your church like a rabid dog?”

Now the bishop’s face is changing. It is not entitlement anymore. Fear is setting in.

“How many times did you try to reach Angelica in the past few days?”

The bishop and his group shakes a little when they hear about the capital. The adventurers laughs a little.

“And you just couldn’t. BECAUSE ANGELICA IS GONE, MOTHERFUCKER!”

The group exchanges looks. They probably had considered this as a possibility, but it is not something thought of as possible. The bishop looks at the adventurer from the ground, and covers his mouth with the back of his hand.

“One fucking  spell, I was told. The city was judged, now it is a lake.”

The people around the bishop fall on their knees. There is a moment of silence.

“Yes, motherfucker. Your god, if it exists, didn’t lift a finger. I wonder if your soul is going to get consumed like it did with the other bishop I saw.”

One person with also some very rich clothing and jewelry, stutters.

“Ttthe ss-oul?”

“Yes. It consumed the soul. It used the soul to power up the crow queen.”

The adventurers tie up the new prisioners, they drag the group of escapees towards the passage, back to the cathedral.

The mob actually respects the group, they open to let the people pass. They go through the corridors, ending up in on the front door.

The statues are down, the wood benches were taken. Some other paintings and curtains were taken as well.

They are taken, very slowly, through the streets. The city is not small, they take their time walking. The prisoners look at the devastation that happened in the city. Houses still on fire. Bodies of soldiers, peasants and nobles on the streets. They are all taken to the main square.

Wood, curtains and other flammable material is set in a pile in the main square. There is a central pole. The soldiers are tied by their feet to this central pole, their hands behind their backs. They followed the structure that the crow queen had used.

Soldiers and now the bishop and his friends are begging for mercy. Oil and flammable liquids are being added at the center of the place.

The screen goes dark.