At the fields of the Highgrove Vineyard…
Grapevines form palisades of green and brown as far as the eye can see. It’s still springtime, so no grapes are ripe for harvesting yet. Oh well.
There are various cottage-sized buildings all over the compound. One leads to the cellars, most likely the one with all those casks left astray and broken, a shipment gone awry. Within, there should be a way into the Highgrove Warrens. It may or may not involve descending through shit, into a literal world of shit. Can’t say I’m too excited about it.
Anna and I have a plan of action. Kinda. It’s not very complicated because it doesn’t go much farther than going down into the Warrens and killing everything in that hellhole. Killing the Shadow Fiend, on the other hand… not so simple. They wield the shadows like swords and shields, bending the very darkness to their evil will.
Good grief. It’s eerily quiet out here. We head through the field, and there’s still nobody. We’re probably walking right into a trap of some kind. And if I understand the nature of Shadow Fiends well enough, it’s probably what I think it’s gonna be.
“Look out, Arisa!” Anna exclaims as she unsheathes Ascalon in the face of an oncoming mob of Vineyard workers, each and every one of them reduced to thralls armed to attack and kill with their gardening tools. “Those people! Their eyes… their movements…”
“YOU… MUST… DIE…”
Boy, oh boy. It is indeed. With eyes wide open to an unnatural extent, pupils dilated and milky, the thralls slowly shuffle forward like dolls pulled by the same accursed string, a living wall of Human and Elf shields for their dark lord. They’re coming at us like we’re the enemy, an entire workforce converging upon us from all corners of the Vineyard. It’s a suicidal charge on a Demon’s command, just to scout us out.
“YOU DIE…”
“Yup. They’re under the Shadow Fiend’s Mind Control,” I tell Anna as I snap my fingers, applying Mage Armour to myself in a brief flash of teal light upon my body. “You can see it in their eyes and the way they walk. There’s a Shadow Parasite in each of them, amplifying that Demon bastard’s Mind Control spell.”
“So what do we do?”
“Don’t hurt them too much,” I say as I ready Elizabeth, gaze fixated on the shambling mob of thralls. “Keep them at bay while I work my magic. It’s gonna be just like what we did for Roderic. Kinda.”
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“Okay. Stay close to me, Arisa. I’ll keep you safe.”
“Of course.”
With a wave of my hand, I bestow my Divine Blessing upon Anna. The silver light of her Sanctuary appears beneath our feet, safeguarding us with its protective aura. It’s all the preparation we’ll get, and it’s more than enough for what needs to be done.
“Blessed is Rinnah, for she is my courage in my hour of need…” Anna whispers, her breath hot with Mana as she steels her nerves. “May she forgive me for what I must do.”
Mindlessly, the thralls fall upon us with their gardening tools. Rakes, hoes, sickles, and pliers to slice and maim. They’re frenzied but clumsy to all hell and back, and Anna easily parries their wildly uncoordinated attacks with Ascalon, using her claymore’s hilt to bash them back quickly before too many of them gang up on us. With my Divine Blessing, she’s blindingly fast in pushing them away, one after another without skipping a beat.
On my end, I do what I gotta do to put an end to this – I plant Elizabeth into the ground and cast Dispel Magic, drawing out the Shadow Parasites from their mortal hosts, one by one. The little spider Demon bastards hiding in each worker aren’t too happy about this, but Anna quickly puts them down, one after another, as soon as they emerge and attack.
With each Shadow Parasite slain, the Demonic Thrall under their sway collapses lifelessly onto the dirt. And soon enough, we’re in the clear! The last ones standing.
“Nicely done, Anna,” I say as I put away Elizabeth while eyeing the unconscious Vineyard workers sprawled all around us. “You did good.”
“You too, Arisa…” Anna answers, panting heavily as she returns Ascalon to its sheathe on her back, before joining me in looking upon the unconscious workers. “Umm… will they be okay?”
“Yeah. We gotta attend to these workers, though. Help me out.”
“Okay!”
We get to work together, casting Heal on each Vineyard worker. Takes a bit of time with so many of them, but a Healer’s gotta do what a Healer’s gotta do. And with Anna helping me with her Heal spell, it’s not too taxing on my Mana.
These workers… they’ll be okay. Maybe they’ll wake up with one mother of a headache, but they’ll live, their souls free from the Shadow Fiend’s demonic grip. For now, anyway. So long as the Shadow Fiend's around, it can always make more of those stupid Shadow Parasites.
“Umm… Arisa?” Anna asks me, hand pressed upon her cheek as we finish up with our healing. “All these Shadow Parasites we had to kill got me thinking…”
“Yeah?”
“Mister Sinclair – was he under the Shadow Fiend’s Mind Control too?”
“Yup. He was sent to the Guild for a reason. To lure us here, I reckon. His cries for help were… not his.”
“You don’t think it was a coincidence that he showed up when we were there?”
“With demons? Never. Especially not when a Shadow Fiend is involved. They’re devious bastards.”
“I see…” Anna remarks dejectedly. “But is Mister Sinclair… umm… is he himself again?”
“Yes. That’s also why he thought he was still fighting in the Warrens. Anyway…”
I look at the building across the field with all the broken and unattended casks strewn outside, and then at Anna, and she nods. It’s where we gotta go to put an end to all this fucked-up fuckery, and I hope that Shadow Fiend is shitting itself in fear right now, knowing what’s coming. It better be!