Kylie had already started to panic when she heard the shrieks.. and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath.

They would be fine. They would be...

"If you can use a weapon, get it. Guards, empty the armory; if anyone can swing a blade, we want them to have it. For those of you who don't know... something has been infecting people with that fungus you just saw peeking out of this gentleman's spine. and Its trying to take over all of you. We were trying to do it safe, but now they know. With secrecy out the window, they'll undoubtedly be trying to infect us all, now."

While Lord Rockson looked barely in a state to do anything but sob on stage, the devil started issuing orders... and the guards obeyed. The uninfected civilians, cowering against the wall furthest from the fight; mostly obeyed. Some just stayed cowering.

As the devil marched on towards the nobleman, Kylie checked the injured guards; she still had some healing left before they were forced to swap to potions; no major injuries, thankfully, though it seemed one of them had a glob of the fungus spat at him and smeared all over his chest; hopefully it couldn't absorb through the skin.

She got to see a significant difference from the last fungus they'd encountered, however; when Terra stepped up and started to burn the still living, squirming fungus from a corpse... it immediately went up like it was soaked in oil, thrashing about before turning to ash. Whatever it was, it burned far more easily than the last ones.

If only her friends hadn't already wasted most of their magic on curing people today.

She watched the devil giving the nobleman a set of stern instructions, Derek and Kylie burning the still-living fungus... this was it, though, wasn't it? Hundreds of infected were going to swarm the keep. They had walls, defensive positions... they'd likely be able to kill them all, eventually. But... even if they couldn't infect others out there, outside the high-magic area... best-case scenario, this town was going to lose a huge amount of its people. It would be devastating.

Was there anything they could do? Any weakness, anything... she looked at the ones who had recently been cured. Most just lay there on the ground in puddles of vomit and fungus; no noise, no movement; just drooling. Maybe a little noise; an absentminded groan or gasp here and there.

There were others, though... stumbling about, hurt, confused, sick... but aware. They had been so busy focusing on this cure, they hadn't really done much questioning of the infected... likely because most of them were just miserable, She gave a firm nod, and looked through them for the one who most seemed to have it together; and walked directly to him, stepping over a few who had been rolling about.

He seemed to be a farmer; simple blue and white pants and shirt that were likely made by dying some other sort of fabric; and from the state of his hair, probably had been wearing a hat until recently. Big, strong, tanned, dark hair; and looking like he was having an absolutely terrible hangover.

Kylie walked up to him, and set a hand on his shoulder... and he jerked with surprise for a moment... before looking down at her, and sighing. "Oh. The new priestess. I don't know if it was your idea... but thank you. I've been suffering for days. It was just.... awful."

She nodded. "I'm sorry to even make you think about it... but the fungus knows we're trying to stop it now. Most of the infected are so broken they can't tell us whats going on, and we have to mess up their memory to even get them in a state to move. Do you remember anything about it that can help us stop it? Anything at all?"

"Well. It all started with feeling really thirsty... and the whispering..."

***

Praxius glowered at the crowd of men with spears, swords, hammers... inexperienced, almost useless, and likely to soon be dead. He could get his charges out, sure. But unless they simply burned the whole town down, including these apparently flammable fungi, everyone, inside the keep or outside, would likely end up infected. He was probably obligated to get the kids a safe distance out of town and make sure the whole thing burned; but these people could serve as a good distraction while they made their escape.

He might need to do that absurd trick of using chains like tentacles and moving across rooftops again; it was always as crowded and ungainly as all hell, but he could get a couple of people out at a time that way.... and if he promised to take some children as well, like the teenagers who had botched the purification, they'd likely go along with it, and probably save that trio and a few dozen others... and of course, he could be tossing a few lit bottles of oil around as he did so to ensure everything wooden inside the walls burned.

He glanced down as the redheaded priestess approached. She'd likely be the hardest one to convince to go along with it. Might need to knock her out and....

Stolen story; please report.

"Sir. There might be a solution. We know the source of the fungus."

All his plans and thoughts dragged to a halt. He had noticed the priestess speaking to the cured... but had assumed she was just making sure they were okay, not gathering information.

"Where is it."

"The accursed tavern. The Laughing Lass that we stopped at when we got here. They hear whispers after the first drink, and feel thirsty, driving them back there to drink more ale...The stuff can't grow there, but the ale they serve there is the source, and that means the distillery where they brew it...."

"..Is where they've been growing it. If we burn down the distillery, and stop them from taking the rock and the rest of the high-magic area, they can't spread the infection any further. And whatever is whispering gets to die, as well."

He looked at the men, the guards, and the local lord. Considered how flammable the fungus was. Gave a slow nod. "We're going to need to kill any of them between us and the tavern. But they should go up easily from fire. Tell your boyfriend to get a couple of samples of whatever's left, I'd like to study it as well. And get him, and my granddaughter, and meet me at the gate."

Praxius returned to the nobleman, and reached down, gripping Lord Rockson's shoulder. "You. This is your fault. Everyone who dies today, dies because of your mistakes."

The man burst into a sob.

"I need you to be useful. We have a solution. I can stop the spread. But you need to keep them from getting up here and founding a new place to spread out. Once we burn out the distillery, if you keep this place secure... its over. We can go back to curing them. It needs a high-magic area to grow, and we just have to deny it that."

The man gave a slow nod. "That's... easy enough. Is there anything you need from me?"

"A couple of guards with torches and something good for breaking legs to help watch my back. If I get mobbed, I can deal with dozens of them myself... but if I have backup to keep me from getting surrounded, we can handle the lot."

"Of course." There was a sudden loud thunk. Another. Something was beating on one of the side-doors of the keep. It sounded like metal on wood; perhaps axes, or hammers. "...Get it done then. We'll handle it up here."

Praxius nodded... and turned, walking towards one of the other doors for the keep. By the time he reached it, two more men; both feeling fairly strong, on the level of the kids, but not really impressive; were starting the head his way.

"We've got a bit of an elevation advantage, here, so we're heading to the windows facing south. I'm going to swing you out onto the closest rooftop near the tavern I can manage, then join you. I've traveled on quite a few rooftops over the years while trying to get somewhere unseen; just watch your stop. They are meant to handle rain, not to be walked on, and I'd prefer not to have you fall through and get infected before we can get this cleared up."

The kids all seemed fine with the plan, and nodded. The two guards seemed a bit more hesitant... but as a chain, dozens of feet long, sprung from a bag at his waist, seemingly of its own will, they resigned themselves to their fate... as Praxius looked out over the town below, and grabbed the first one; imagining the length as if it were just a giant flail, swinging it back... forward... back.... and release.

It was at least a block from the tavern; but he made it. A nod... and the next guard was grabbed and tossed over the side to start swinging as well.

***

When Terra hit the rooftop, she rolled a few feet, bumping into one of the guards... who was looking down into the street below. He glanced down at her, and made a shushing gesture... and when she rose up beside him, she could see why.

Most of the streets were fairly deserted. A few blocks away, a man was restraining a woman; and a long tendril of blue-green was extending from his mouth into hers as he held her still, quite noisily; but up close... there was a mob surrounding the tavern. Dozens of people, armed with clubs, pitchforks, torches... anything that was handy. Standing behind cover, in doorways, out in the open... they weren't looking up at the roof, but they were watching the streets, clearly ready for someone to move on the distillery.

She focused her senses. She didn't know 'levels', like Derek, but the building next to the Laughing Lass, most likely the distillery, was partway into the high magic area making up the rock; so not only did they know that was the building, but it was the half closest to the north. In theory, they could just burn it down... if they had any of their stronger magic left.

She grimaced.. and looked up when her grandfather arrived on the roof, far more quietly than the others, chains gently setting him down as if he were sliding down a rope. "We're going to need to fight through them. There's a bunch of them, and none of them are as fragile as those zombies were."

He nodded. "Nothing for it but to go through. Come on. There aren't as many as I feared. Derek, Terra. Just toss whatever fire you can manage into the ones holding bladed weapons. I'll make us a path... You two. Help the priestess make sure none come in behind me. We stick together, go in, burn the fungus out of this place... and then see what happens. We may just be boarding ourselves up in the tavern after while Derek and Terra recover enough to purify a few more; if so, getting them to build up and mob the tavern door would be ideal."

Terra looked out over the crowd. "Should we... just start blasting them from up here, before heading down?" It seemed smart to her. Climbing onto rooftops wasn't exactly easy, and they could likely clear out the whole mass with her grandfather crushing any that managed to climb up.

"Good thinking; but there's hundreds more out there, likely trying to get the fungus up onto the high-magic area so it can start more... whatever they are. We take too long cleaning this up, we'll get swarmed. No... we go for it. Fast as possible. We need to be in that distillery burning the fungus out within minutes of them noticing us, or its over."

A nod. "Of course, sir." She perched on the edge of the rooftop... and as a group, they all slid down; a long chain seeming to ease them down fairly quietly... for whatever good it did. The moment they reached the street, the infected spotted them... and a loud shriek went up, as they all started walking towards the party... with answering shrieks coming in from every direction. Hundreds of them.