Things progressed rapidly from that point forward. The town, while possessing a sizable guard force, was not at all prepared to handle an army the size of the one I had brought to its door. A thousand undead soldiers flowed through the city, sweeping away all resistance. The sight of these deathless warriors brought a great deal of panic to those that they faced. Some gave up and tried to run and hide from them, they were captured alive, others fought hard out of fear of some perceived fate that awaited them if they were taken prisoner.
This was all, more or less, what I expected to happen if we managed to get inside the town. The death of those who fought back was regrettable, but it was an inevitable situation and I prepared myself to face it a while ago. The cleanup for this instance, however, was looking to be more than what I had bargained for.
The sheer amount of fear that seemed to take hold of the population prevented me from making any sort of meaningful headway with them through words alone. In fact, I'd hardly even seen a person not of our army emerge from within the relative safety of their homes since we took over. Not that I could blame them. Walking corpses don’t exactly make for great conversationalists.
I would deal with all that later, for now it was time to put an end to the production of poisons in this city. Summoning Malery, Liliana, and several dozen soldiers both living and dead to my side, we marched on the church and kicked down its front door. What few priests were in the main hallway of the church were all stunned by the sudden entrance. Taking advantage of their stupor, I gave the command to round them up and take away their talismans.
There was chaos in the building for a few minutes as bodies scrambled all around in a frenzy. Yelling, struggling, and even the occasional flash of light as a priest attempted to ward off the undead with their magic filled the room. Those priests that used magic were quickly targeted by the living members of our army and subdued before they could cause any permanent harm to someone.
Once they were all under control and tossed into a room that was put under lock and key, we were free to continue to the lower levels of the church. Descending through the main stairwell, we exited out into an underground hallway that stretched far enough to hold four different rooms. Figuring that this is where the keys I had taken from the bishop came in, I removed them from my pack and started trying to find the correct one that went to the first door on the left.
Finally, I managed to get a key that fit into the lock and opened the door. The inside of the room was illuminated by a series of lamps that hung off the walls. Long tables stretched along two of the walls and were covered with many strange objects and glass vials that were filled with substances I couldn’t identify. What was most concerning though were the masked individuals who spun around at our entrance. There were two of them, both huddled around a stove that was currently spitting sparks as it was fed numerous papers.
My eyes went wide as I realized what they were doing. “Stop them!” My command took a moment to register in the minds of my followers before they charged in and dragged the pair away from the flame that had been destroying what was probably evidence. Damn, if they are doing that here, does that mean the other rooms are the same?
I decided it was better to be safe and led everyone in an investigation of the other rooms. My hunch was correct as we discovered more of the masked individuals burning things in two of the three other rooms. The final room of the four was apparently where they had been dragging these papers from as it was stuffed wall to wall with books and scrolls. While I was ecstatic for this plethora of potential evidence, the thought of having to read through all of it to find the juicy bits of information was already wearing on my mind. Perhaps I could get some help with that, but it was a concern for later.
Now, we had a fresh batch of prisoners to interrogate, a lab to destroy, and evidence to gather. I considered for a moment the best way to go about all of that before coming up with a plan of action. “Alright everyone, listen up. Gather up the loose papers and documents that they were trying to destroy and put them back in the archive room. After that, I want everyone who is still living to clear out while the disposal of these poisons is underway. We’ll clear a path to the outside of the town and dig a hole where everything in this room will be burned. That all clear?” Affirmation both verbal and physical went around the room as everyone got to work.
I helped with the cleanup of the papers, getting everything organized and back where it belonged. Afterwards the prisoners were taken and placed with the others before I gave the order for everyone to move out of the building in preparation for the transfer of the poisons. The undead did their best to move things without spilling or breaking any of the glass containers that held the toxic substances, slowly but surely clearing out each of the rooms. I watched it all progress from a healthy distance like the other living members of the army. Soon enough, the smoke from the fire pit that was made about a mile out from the town could be seen as the accursed diseases and the tools that were used to construct them were destroyed.
Looking at everything else there was to do, I concluded that delegating tasks would be a necessity if I was going to get any of this done in a reasonable amount of time. The prisoners who were confirmed to be a part of the plot to experiment on us were handed over to the captains of the army who knew how to interrogate. I also selected a few volunteers who knew how to read and set them to work sifting through the mountains of papers in search of anything incriminating. Then there was the need to keep the terrified population of the city fed while they cowered in their homes. The solution I came up with was to have food left outside of their homes at specific intervals in the day to make sure they wouldn’t starve due to our occupation.
There were a few other needs that could be met now that we had control of the town. The blacksmith, once it was discovered, had been fired up and was running practically non-stop doing what it could to repair the weapons and armor of the soldiers. What little there was in the way of armaments that were stored in the town were also handed out to those with the worst quality equipment.
My job, for now, was to continue to question bishop Corvin who was still seated in his office following my last command. Despite his obvious hatred of me, he was forced to give up information on the forces under control of the followers of light, what he knew of the champion of their order, and any details about the dealings between the different churches that he was privy to.
The followers had a few hundred knights, or paladins as they were called, that served their order. It was a time of peace, so these numbers might increase a bit after the fighting really starts. Corvin had not had many interactions with the champion, so his insight was little more than eyerolling levels of praise for the way he perceived the bastard. The interactions between the different churches though were interesting. The orcs and the elves were closely linked together, sharing a sense of valor and a love of life, though for different reasons. The goblin’s church didn’t have any solid connections to the other churches, though they gamed the system to allow them to take advantage of any of them for their own benefit. Lastly, the dwarves maintained a steady neutral interaction, keeping things friendly, professional, and devoid of personal liability.
All of that wasn’t a lot to work on, but it was better than nothing. That was the last of the questions I had for him, so I just left him to sit in idle contemplation while I moved on to sorting through the notes left in the cellar. The people who had been assigned to help with that had already sorted many papers into different piles. One thing that I noticed when I looked at these volunteers was that their faces all had the same flavor of distaste upon them. What they were reading here apparently wasn’t in line with the stated goals of the church as they knew them.
After familiarizing myself with the sorting order that they had established, I grabbed a pile of papers and started to read through them as well. It quickly became clear why they were looking at these papers with such disdain. Many of them were detailed accounts of the exact effects of the diseases they spread, going into very gruesome detail that sometimes included what the inside of the body looked like during dissection. The thought of them tearing apart those people that they murdered set my blood aflame as I adopted the same look on my face as everyone else.
These reports were good for sparking anger at the followers, but as far as evidence was concerned, they didn’t meet the mark. We needed something more explicit, something that named their crimes if we could find it. Little pieces could make a whole though, and even planting a seed of doubt in a skeptic's mind would be good enough.
I feared that perhaps they had managed to burn most of the damning documents, but then someone encountered a requisition form that was exactly what we were looking for. It was an order to produce a new batch of poisons, naming the type, the person signing the order, and where it was to be used. Such a piece of evidence would be immensely helpful, now it was just a matter of finding out if there was more of it.
The dozen of us who had been reading took the next several hours to make it through all the papers that they had stored in that room. By the time we finished with the last page I wanted to strangle every last one of the bastards to death with my bare hands, but we had more than enough evidence. We sorted them into piles based on severity of the evidence from useless, to clear murderous intent.
While I would have liked to present all of it to the people of the town as soon as possible, when I finally emerged from the basement of the church it was discovered that night had already fallen. Waking people up, particularly scared people who saw you as the enemy, was a quick way to make sure that no one listened to you. In the end, it was decided to allow everyone a chance to rest and recover before things were revealed. A part of me hoped that this would also give those who had been in the throes of panic a chance to calm down as well.
The undead soldiers had no need for sleep, so most of them chose to wander the streets on patrol throughout the night. Those of us who still had bodily needs went to a local inn that was turned into a temporary barracks to house our forces. The locals that were staying there weren’t too pleased about the sudden intrusion, but they were largely ignored out of need.
Sleep wasn’t easy due to how much was on my mind, but it did come eventually. The restfulness that came with it always seemed to end too quickly, almost feeling like I closed my eyes just to open them again. The waking world was always so insistent on calling me back.
We had big plans for today, but it also required a gentle touch. The local populace needed to accept what we were showing them, which means we couldn’t just force them into it. My idea sort of relied on the natural curiosity that must have been building over the night. With all the stories and warning about undead, to have them invade your city and then act, relatively, civil probably confused a great many people.
The call went out, an open invitation to the town to hear why we had invaded delivered by the living members of our army. It would take place an hour from now in the town square, which would give us enough time to set up security and establish a general sense of order. Despite everything I had done before, I felt more nervous about the idea of speaking in front of so many people. I did my best to equate this with talking in front of the villagers, but my mind just couldn’t process the difference in numbers. Eventually I did manage to settle myself enough to gain the confidence to get at least a few words out.
The time arrived when people should have been showing up. At first, I thought our announcement had been ignored, but then I saw the nervous forms of people slowly making their way through the streets. They trickled in a handful at a time, eyeing the guards that were around the square while shuffling up to where I was waiting. The crowd began to grow before finally the last of the stragglers appeared to have arrived. Those that stood before me were obviously not the entirety of the town, maybe two hundred faces at most. It didn’t escape me that a majority of those who showed up were humans as well, though an occasional member of the other races made an appearance.
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There was a lot of murmuring going around as everyone settled into place. I took a deep breath before stepping up to face down the crowd. All eyes slowly turned to me, spiking my anxiety. After shaking it off once more, I started to speak to them.
I went through the process of explaining our presence, why we were here, what we were trying to accomplish, and last, but not least, informing them about the true nature of the undead. This flood of knowledge washed through the crowd with various reactions. Some were struck silent, others started to talk amongst themselves, and a few who apparently had stronger emotions, started to yell various curses or insults.
This was the time for the evidence to come out. Just reading it out to the crowd probably wouldn’t be as effective as letting them see it with their own eyes. I knew not everyone could read, but the few in the crowd that could read can tell the others as it would be more believable from a more familiar person. The papers were brought out after a brief explanation that they were found within the church itself, then presented in such a way that anyone who wished it could read them.
A few people made their way up to see what I had offered. There was a mix of people who came to read, though it was a majority of the other races. I watched closely for their reactions to these documents. The more they read, the more their faces slowly changed from the skeptical looks they had given me to disbelief. Some of them even began talking about how they heard about the villages mentioned in the reports falling to disease a long time ago. They quickly put it together that this was the cause.
The knowledge started to spread. Families and friends were told first, and from there they told their acquaintances, so on so forth. Not everyone believed, but there were many who did, even from the members of the other races who sympathized with our treatment.
The human population, predictably, was enraged. They quickly turned into a mob that continued to grow as news spread to those who had been hiding. There was talk about marching on the church with intent to destroy. I thought about trying to stop them, but the hundreds of humans that were currently storming through the streets would be difficult to quell. Everything and everyone had already been removed from the church, so letting them destroy a mostly empty building seemed easier than trying to rein in the crowd.
It was somewhat cathartic watching them destroy the place. They burned the altar place, shattered windows, broke furniture, and generally caused chaos in the building. Those in our army simply watched it happen at a safe distance, just making sure that their destructive rampage remained targeted on the church. Eventually they tired of destruction, or perhaps simply ran out of things to destroy, and ambled back to their homes to cool off. The building still stood at the end of it, being made of stone and all, but it looked like a particularly fierce storm had blown through it and left its mark.
We expected a few more volunteers to emerge, adding to our growing numbers. For now, we would wait here, capitalizing on our new access to industry to fix what we could of our existing equipment and perhaps fashion a few more weapons. I was also spending a lot of time answering questions, talking about the Lord of Twilight, and doing my best to expand our influence.
My prediction about the volunteers came true. Over the next few days, a number of men came forward with the desire to contribute to the war effort. They were accepted and given tasks that they could do to aid us while we rallied here. Buildings were filled with men and women who had the jobs of creating shields, patchwork armor, and simple weapons. Day in and day out everyone worked tirelessly to prepare for the fight ahead.
Problems emerged during this time. Tensions between the dead and living had snapped at a few points. Fearful attacks, whether purposeful or accidental, had happened. These attacks had resulted in broken bones, which wasn’t a huge problem considering that they were little more than bones, but it was the idea behind the attack that was causing issues. Being assaulted by those who should be your allies is devastating for one's morale. The people responsible were punished, though we kept it mild to prevent even more demoralization.
Things went steadily from that point forward. There were only small incidents and arguments that needed to be resolved, but in a little over a week of planning and preparation, things were going remarkably well. That is until the bells started ringing.
The sound of the town alarm suddenly starting to ring nearly made me jump in surprise. Everything went crazy for a minute. People scattered around like ants from a kicked hill trying to figure out what was happening. I made a straight shot for the wall, grabbing any stray soldiers I saw on the way.
Scrambling up the wall I burst into the lookout tower to get a view of why the alarm was sounding. That question was quickly answered as I stared out into the field around the town. There were soldiers outside the town, though, not enough of them to be considered an army. A quick count of the bodies placed the number at around a hundred. What’s more, they also appeared to consist entirely of dwarves, squat and layered in heavy armor that looked near impenetrable.
At the front of their group was a rider on a pony. I could not make out the details of this dwarf from the distance I was at, but they must have been talking to some of the soldiers as a small group of them broke off from the main force and started to approach the gates.
Are they going to make demands, or just threaten us? I idly wondered. My thoughts were answered when my pocket god spoke up.
You won’t know from up here. We should hear them out, but be cautious.
I took their words to heart as I descended from the tower and made my way along the wall towards the gate. The undead guards stationed above the gates gave me a curt salute before returning their attention to the approaching messengers. It was a trio that approached the gate, stopping at a distance where their voices could be heard without too much yelling.
One stepped forth and began to call out to us. “To the army of undeath that has taken this city, we demand an audience with your leader. Such an audience will be afforded the protection of negotiations and will not come under harm lest our honor be forever tainted. Know that if we do not receive word from you within the hour, we will take your silence as refusal and return in force to liberate this city. We await your answer.” With the message delivered, the dwarves turned on their heels and quickly marched back towards their group.
Well, I was right on both accounts. That was both a demand and a threat all wrapped up in a single message. My mind started to blast through a dozen different thoughts.
How are we going to defend against this? Are they bluffing about the larger force? What if this is a trap? When did they even find out we were here? My rampant questions were interrupted before I fell too far down into that swirling pit of uncertainty.
Calm yourself, panic will only make things worse. It is obvious they meant you when they referred to a leader, and I think we should meet with them.
You’re not concerned that they would try to kill me as soon as I showed myself?
If dwarves haven’t changed all that much since I was imprisoned, I say that it is likely they will keep their promise. Honor is an important part of their society. Still, bring some of the soldiers with you. There is a difference between trust and stupidity.
What if we send someone else in my place?
You could, but if they figure out that they are not the leader they asked for, it may be taken as an insult which could lead to an attack.
So, I’m stuck with meeting them, great. I sighed to myself. Let’s get ready then.
I still had a few reservations about this situation but could see no other path to take given the circumstances. If I didn’t talk to them then it would certainly lead to a siege that I wasn’t confident we could win. Perhaps there was a path out of this that didn’t involve fighting, however slim it may have been.
The next few minutes were spent gathering the soldiers who had had their armor repaired or replaced. If this was to be a negotiation, we needed to present our best first impression to gain any amount of leverage we could. Even I donned a breastplate for the first time in my life. The unfamiliar weight of the protective gear felt strange, and I struggled a bit to get all the straps sinched down properly.
Eventually, we were suitably ready for the meeting with time to spare. I had about forty well-armed soldiers with me as well as a significant following of wisps. Not enough to outright win a fight with the dwarves if it came down to it, but enough that we could make a somewhat safe retreat if need be.
The gate parted before us as we stepped out into the open. I immediately felt extremely vulnerable without the safety of the walls, but this had to be done. Putting on an air of confidence, I strode forth with a steady gait.
Down the road from us, the dwarves recognized that we had accepted their meeting request. The rider dismounted and started to walk forward to meet us. The small contingent of dwarves at their back followed for a little while before stopping while the leader continued to come closer.
Not knowing the exact procedure for a meeting like this, I paused for a second. Am I supposed to approach them alone? I asked my pocket god.
Decorum dictates that if they forego their escort, then it is only proper that you do as well.
Another layer of stress to add upon the growing pile. I did a half turn and made a quick hand signal to the soldiers to tell them to wait here. A lot of them looked unsure but obeyed the silent command and stood ready to rush in at a moment's notice.
I continued towards them, and as I got closer, I could make out more details about this person. My eyes were slowly widening as recognition started to creep in. Richly adorned armor over chainmail and gambeson, beard neatly braided, and hair tied back into a ponytail. Minus the armor, she was almost exactly the same as when I saw her back in the capital. The champion of the Earth Mother was approaching me.
I could feel my heart start to beat a little faster. Not even my god was expecting this as a feeling of surprise started to come from them. My mind started to race, thinking of all the reasons why she would be here. It was difficult to keep the shock off my face, and I reassured myself that she shouldn’t have known who I was, at least not at that moment.
We stopped a half dozen paces away from one another, close enough to talk properly, but far enough away that no one could attack without the other being more than capable of reacting. I thought about whether I should be the first one to speak or not, but she ended up beating me to the punch.
“Greetings. I assume you are the leader of this... army?”
“In a way, I suppose I am.” A partial truth. While I certainly held a lot of influence over the actions of the army, I generally left the maintenance of the forces as well as command during battles in the hands of the captains. Honestly it felt like I had very little to do with the army at all.
A slight smile came to the champion's face. “I can feel that you believe that, but that’s not the whole truth, is it?”
“What does it matter? I’m here as you requested, so why don’t we get to the reason for this meeting?”
She chuckled a little. “How very direct of you. If it wasn’t for the obvious height difference, I'd say you’d make a decent dwarf. Very well, but first, let us lay the earth bare so there are no secrets. As I’m sure you already know, I am the champion of the Earth Mother, here at the personal behest of my goddess.”
“I take it there’s a message involved here? Probably something along the lines of ‘surrender and be judged favorably’.”
She shook her head. “There would be little point in delivering such a message when we could simply show up in force and take the town.” There was such surety in her words that it left no room for doubt that they were perfectly capable of doing that. “No, this is a personal request for a meeting, one my goddess feels has been long overdue.” She moved a step forward and I threw up a hand to halt her.
“I think we would both be more comfortable keeping a respectful distance from each other.”
The look she gave me after I said that was like a parent whose child just said something stupid yet adorable. “It’s cute that you think these few meters are enough to keep you safe, champion of twilight.”
My mind nearly missed the fact that she just called me out on my identity. It took everything in me not to react to that after it sank in, which seemed to only make her laugh. “You’re pretty good at keeping a stoic face.” She offhandedly complimented me. “But you’re not the best liar I’ve ever encountered.” Throwing a glance over her shoulder at the rest of her forces, she seemed to consider something for a moment before returning her attention to me. “I think a more private setting would be best for this.”
She picked up her foot until it was about at her chest height before slamming it down into the ground again. As her heel struck the dirt the earth started to rumble before walls of rock peeled away from the ground like one would peel a potato. Panic set in as the walls started to curve down around us, slowly entombing the both of us as the sky disappeared and we were cast into darkness.
For a moment the only thing I could hear was my own heavy breathing in the blackness that enveloped us. After what felt like an eternity, a soft glow began to emanate from the other side of this earthen bubble before it erupted into a bright light that was recognizable as a sunstone. The dwarven champion held the stone as she lifted her leg once more to slam into the ground.
I braced myself for an attack but was surprised when all that happened was a rough likeness of two chairs and a table sprang forth from the ground. She took a seat at the table, placing the sunstone upon it before gesturing to the empty chair. “Now, let us have a more candid conversation.”