The Quantum Wanderer

The group start to disperse slowly. Adventurers leave the guild. Some of them are going straight into the inns they were in. After some time, they leave with their belongings, out the city.

The word around start spreading. The a group of people on the streets are listening to the adventurers. Some small merchants stop adventurers and ask about what is going on. They spill the beans. There is a small panic.

A small band of soldiers try to control the mob. It doesn’t work. The soldiers are not really high level. More soldiers come.

At some point, a leader in a small group talk to the adventurers. Once he listens, but he does not act on it. He seems to be smiling, nodding at the person speaking. Everyone is getting nervous.

One of the leaders decide to go back to the barracks. Merchants are closing their doors, and putting people on the street. These people have armor and weapons. Probably either adventurer or a soldier in their time of rest.

The number of curious people taking the streets increase the volume of the mob considerably. The big barbarian is no longer leading them. Some people that were in the parties that participated in the cursed quest are. They are marching towards the noble district. Every person they meet receive a slightly different version of the story. Things start to get big.

The first ones receive a longer tale from the adventurers, saying that because of the quest they are about to receive the revenge of a god. They also distribute the information that the god destroyed Angelica just to show that he was speaking serious.

The tale start to change, from the adventurers and soldiers being punished to ‘they angered a god that is going to rain revenge’. The final form was something short, ‘the sins of the church are going to kill us all, like Angelica’.

The initial flock of people that had joined the mob was on the curious side. Now people grow angrier by the second. Some non-adventurers are carrying tools for their professions. Cooks are carrying knives, metal workers have their hammers.

The group that arrives at the noble district is a lot larger than the group that left the guild. Not many unrelated adventurers are there, but when you add 20 adventurers to a mob, demanding to speak with the bishop, things start to get out of control.

Soldiers are the land’s guards. No country has a separate corporation. This is a bad choice in my opinion. I remember someone in a movie saying that army is a sword, police is scalpel. I couldn’t agree more.

The soldiers don’t try to calm the mob down. They tell the mob to go back from whence they came, in Nergal’s name. That strikes a chord, specially with the adventurers that are doomed. The start shouting at the guards.

A rock flies towards the guards. The guard was distracted, pushing a commoner back, and gets hit on the helmet. The helmets, specially for low ranked guards, are not really well padded. The rock hits, it bends the helmet inside. His colleagues look at that and go berserk. They pull out swords. They slash at a commoner. An adventurer kills the guard.

The thing evolves to an all-out battle. Of course, the mob has some adventurers. Although they are not that high a level, they can still hold their own against normal soldiers.

Other adventurers hear about what is going on. Some of them decide to just pack their stuff and skip town. Others join the fray. A lot of the Holy Kingdom’s soldiers are at the front, fighting the demons with Arthuria. Specially after the Empire left. The amount of soldiers is not that great.

The mob is growing. The word of revolution is spreading. All the hatred against the priests and their inquisition tribunal, that kept the commoners under an iron fist, explodes. More and more people leave their houses.

The bells of alarm start playing, the mob invades the noble district. They kill indiscriminately. It is the first time seeing the luxury for all the commoners. The shouts of anger are very diverse. Some people shout that their luxury is against their own rules. The commoners get more and more angry with the display of what they are denied.

Soldiers start pouring from the barracks. They circle the people the in the front, and kill them with spears. People behind them start throwing stones. Then the adventurers enter the battle, and flank the soldiers. When the line breaks, the soldiers are overran by the mob. Now some of the mob is armed. They get the soldiers weapons and shields.

They get more dangerous, the soldiers keep getting out of the barracks. The crowd now is a mass, and the outer portion is armed with spears and shields taken from the fallen guards. They advance towards the cathedral.

The houses on the way that are protected by soldiers get invaded and looted. They are set on fire during the process. They soldiers are overran and killed. While initially the soldiers were killing a lot of people before getting overpowered, the number of insurgents dying starts to go down.

Nobles, or whatever those would be called in a religious state, are dragged to the streets in their casual clothes. They are decapitated in front of the bloodthirsty mob. The houses are looted. And the process is repeating itself all the way to the cathedral.

Once they reach the cathedral, there is a big platoon of soldiers in front of it. The leader is in front of them. I am pretty sure the captain is missing his imposing horse to put out a more authorative figure.

“THIS HAS TO STOP! BY NERGAL, GO BACK TO YOUR HOMES NOW!”

The crowd stops before the demonstration of strength. The front is now composed of either adventurers or fully armed commoners.

The captain himself has a higher level, he is not like the foot soldiers, or lieutenants for that matter. Given the average of levels, the foot soldiers were averaging about level 25, while lieutenants were averaging 35. This captain is around level 45.

But some adventurers are level 45 as well. Not many, just two. But they are also trained in battles. The situation is getting weird again.

“WE WANT TO TALK TO THE BISHOP!” One adventurer demands.

“Who do you think you are to demand anything?”

The soldiers in the platoon number around a hundred. The mob numbers in the several thousands. On average, their levels are lowers than the soldiers, but the crowd is feeling really brave right now. They are brandishing their stolen weapons towards the captain.

“WE ARE THE ONES TIRED OF THIS NERGAL BULLSHIT! YOU KILL US IN HIS NAME, YOU RAPE OUR DAUGHTERS IN HIS NAME, YOU SLAVE US IN HIS NAME!”

I giggle. The funny part was that it was a bard that said those lines. Not a commoner. Meaning that he is neither threatened nor enslaved in Nergal’s name.

But it works. People are brandishing the weapons. They are using words that are against the law to curse the captain and the soldiers. Some soldiers are sweating under the helmets. They are visibly uncomfortable.

One of the higher level adventurers takes out his sword.

“Fuck this shit!”

He charges against the captain. The captain parries it in the last second. The other adventurer does the same and charges the captain before he can say anything. He parries the second adventurer and shouts.

“TO ME!!!”

But then he gets cut on the arm by the first adventurer. He turns his attention, but the second one is also there. His arm become weak, and he dies quite quickly.

The soldiers rally towards the captain, but the mob does the same. The adventurers just step back enough that they are not caught in the first wave of violence. They proceed to start killing the soldiers that are easy target when surrounded.

There is a lot of cutting, blood and pieces flying around. The soldiers try to resist, but even their additional levels are not enough to cover the numbers. The mob squeezes them until they can’t move, and then attack.

The gates to the cathedral are closed and locked. The mob starts hitting other doors. The expressions of the people looking behind the curtains is one for fear. It is funny how it goes. The curtain opens. The person looks. The fearful expression. The curtain closes.

Meanwhile, the barriers on the doors is starting to give signs of exhaustion. The higher level adventurers are really committed to the attack.

“Huginn, are those two adventurers involved?”

“Yes, papa. Not them specifically, but their party participated. They are not in the same party, though.”

“Where are the druids?”

“They are among the crowd. Their strategy is solid, actually. They are helping incite the populace. Once they invade, the people in the cathedral is going to probably die.”

“No more soldiers inside the cathedral?”

“It is harder to judge through the birds, papa, but I think that the remaining guards went with the bishop. He has a private guard of honour.”

“Aren’t you concerned about him escaping?”

“His guards? Perhaps. Him, in particular? No chance. His plans were to spend a day or two in a carriage, covering about a hundred miles by land till he could reach the port. Specially with the big beasts that were attached to the carriage. Now?” She laughs a little. “He has his friend inquisitor with him, and about a dozen soldiers. The soldiers are not going to carry them. The captain would not disgrace himself, the soldiers just can’t. It can wait for tonight.”

“What are your plans for tonight?”

“Well-“

At this point, the door finally breaks. The crowd floods the place. The few guards inside are shaking. The shouts from a mob with killer intent can be scary. With their lower levels, they don’t even stop the flood.

It is like a big wave were taking over the cathedral. They throw the benches to the side. They destroy everything. Statues are brought down. Some priestes are kneeling on the ground, praying. Someone from the crowd throw an arm from a statue at them. It hits, and one of the priests is lying on the floor.

The crowd advances. The priests have different reactions. Some of them pray to Nergal, some of them kneel before the crowd, asking for forgiveness. Some of them try to run. Some of them try to attack the crowd.

From outside, two priests jump from a high window. The fall must be over 30 feet. They lie broken on the ground while the mob takes over the place. The priests found are tied up and taken outside by their hair.

The adventurer parties keep inciting the group. One of them had the weirdest jobs among. A frontliner, a shaman, a bard and a mage. The bard is playing the populace like a lute. They even think that they are the ones coming up with the ideas.

He keeps reminding the populace about the inquisition that is ever going on inside the Holy Kingdom. How they are tortured until admitting a guilt that was not the case. All so that the church could take over their lands and belongings.

That resonates a lot with the people. A lot of them seem to remember someone they knew getting taken by the inquisition to never be seen again. And they were swearing the person to be hard working and a bless to the community.

The nuns are also tied up and taken outside. Their hair is cut with knives. There are several acts of cruelty. Healing is expensive, even though it involves mostly spells. The poorer commoners do not have access to it, and the church currently has the monopoly on it.

The priests are taught the magic, and nuns organize the operation. They are the ones that receive the money and end up being the face of it. They are also the ones that turn people away when they don’t have money.

The mob is specially cruel with them. They try to plead, but the hair cutting is only the start. They get fingers, noses, ears, cut off. And the cruelest among the crowd are women. They are the ones demanding their pound of flesh from the nuns.

The cruelty of some is amazing. Taunting. They put in profound horror in the women. One of them has the idea to bring a priest to keep healing a specific nun. There are lots of women that hate that nun in particular. Each take out a piece of the woman, and make the priest heal her. They keep repeating the process.

The priest runs out of mana. These women then stab him on the leg. He still has no mana, they stab him on the other leg, twisting the knife.

Priests are begging them. Several are offering start providing healing for free. Others are offering to switch to Wrax’s church. It’s funny that they think that Wrax has something to do with the mob.

The idea starts spreading around the mob. Perhaps if they burn the priests like it was done to the crows, they might be forgiven for the trespass.

They start collecting wood from the cathedral itself to do the immolation. The men starting piling it up, trying to balance a vertical bean in the middle. I am surprise by the woman that was having a particular interest in torturing the nuns.

She tells them to make a circular pyre. Smaller wood, cloth, paper in the very center, bigger pieces on the outside. Instead of standing up, they place the priests lying down, heads outside, feet to the inside. This woman is collecting something pretty bad, apparently. She would not be affected by Huginn’s wrath, though.

Edward’s torturer would probably learn a lot from her.

They walk to the center of the pyre, torchs in hands, and set the fire at the center. The cloth and paper catch fire pretty quickly. They leave, and watch the priests. It is ugly.

After the mob takes over all the rooms they can find in the cathedral, they slowly realize they caught everyone. The parties involved in the crow sacrifices give out a war cry, celebrating that their little vengeance on the guys that place them in the cursed quest.

We watched enough. Right now I am even a little tired of so much gore.

“Huginn, I am good. You can stop for me.”

“Me too.” Cecilia says.

“It is also enough for us all.” Opal says.

Huginn lifts the spell. I take a look out the window, we are already advanced into the afternoon. The whole thing took a lot of time from the day. I stretch my neck. There is some silence.

“Are you going to visit that city tonight?” I ask Huginn.

“Well, they are deserving. After all this show, why not? Besides, I have to get the soldiers and the top guys on the run, right?”

“What about those guys that helped with the revolution? They certainly made your job that much easier… Why not throw them a treat? Perhaps something less… Permanent?” Cecilia asks.

Huginn tilts her head to the side.

“I will think about that, mama.”

“If you throw them a bone, then the news that rebelling against the priests is going to spread. You are going to set the country in another kind of fire…” I comment.

“Yes, papa, I realize there is some merit to this… I will think about it.”

Our moment of reflection on what happened in that city is broken by Rudolph, announcing that dinner is going to be ready soon. He asked me if we didn’t want to wash up before. We do as he suggests.

We have a calm dinner. We are basically silent, contemplating the whole thing that happened in that city.

No guards reinforcements is expected, almost all of the communication to other cities is broken. We go to bed, to have some hours of rest. We sleep easy.

Huginn again wakes us. It is around midnight, she opens the portal to the city that we have watched from afar. We are high up in the sky.

***

Huginn’s POV

This is going to give me a little trouble, but I think it is going to be worth it. It is going to right some wrongs, and mama is going to be happy about it. Sometimes we have to compromise a little.

After I leave papa and the others in the sky, I dive towards a specific bedroom. I need very little to conceal my presence.

The house is poor. Two bedrooms. One with several children, the other with a woman and her infant son. Even while sleeping, she is whispering words, begging for clemency. Tears roll down her face and she doesn’t realize.

I invade her dreams. She is talking to a nun, she is on her knees. The nun is in a place high above, arms crossed. Then she is not alone anymore. Several of her are around, begging to the nun. They are all crying. They are all talking one over the other. It is her voice, but a multitude of them.

At some point, she gives up, a terrible male shout in the air. She starts screaming. Then they all start screaming, all of them are her. They destroy the stand the nun is on, now the nun is begging on her kneeds, and she/them all drag the nun to fire.

She/They are all watching the nun burn.

I position myself behind the group, this time with my real, grand shape.

“Child! Your cries have been heard, just like the cries of my children. Go to the main square now. Place a table in the middle of it, and a chair on top. You are to sit on the chair, and wait for me. I cannot undo the past, but I can definitely affect your future. NOW WAKE UP!”

The woman wakes up startled. She sees me in my crow shape. I blink at her and leave through the window. I fly away in an angle she cannot see.

The woman goes to a neighbor. She is frantic. She hits the door very hard, the neighbor, another woman, answers. She is obviously very drowsy. They talk a little bit. After some time talking to the other woman’s husband, he joins them.

They pick a dining table. It is not big. The woman I contacted and the husband are carrying the table on the streets, the other woman is carrying a chair. They are walking several blocks. I fly over to stay near papa, hubby and the others.

“What are you planning to do?” Papa asks.

“It is a surprise, papa. For now, we have to wait a little longer.”

The group is carrying the stuff to the main square. Even if the city is not that big, it still takes 10 minutes. They position the chair on top of the table, and the woman sits on it. I can see that they are doing some exchanges, but the woman on the chair just shrugs.

I get closer to the alarm bell. I shoot it three times with earth bullets. The sound is loud enough to make corpses wake up. I fly up, I assume my natural shape. It feels good to be in this bigger shape. I feel better. Empowered.

I fly around the city, low and slow enough for people to see me. I throw a war cry, so that I cannot be ignored.

“WAKE UP! TIME FOR YOUR JUDGEMENT HAS COME! GO TO THE MAIN SQUARE! NOW!”

I repeat this three times, while encircling the city. The whole city is jump starting in the middle of the night. I decide to get back to my crow shape and land on the back of the chair in the main square. The woman looks at me but says nothing.

People look out their windows. The majority is hiding behind their walls. The image they see in the square is not what they expect. A couple of a dozen people come, but most just get back inside their houses. Oh well.

I fly up in the sky, and this time I inject more mana in the war cry.

“FUCKING MOVE! NOW!”

I create a fireball using hydrogen and oxygen and fire it at the empty cathedral. It is enough to blow it to pieces. Several blocks in the noble district are caught in the explosion. Windows of the homes break. The shock wave reaches the main square a strong and hot wind. Not enough to hurt, though.

I give a moment, so that they can recover from the shock of the big explosion, way bigger than anything a normal mage would be able to cast. The current mages would be able to bring it down, but a building this big would take several spells, and it would not be obliterated like this.

I again put mana on a war cry.

“NOW!”

The expression of the people that look through the windows is changed. It is no longer one of fleeing, but one of complying. The square starts filling up really quick.

The crowd is composed of commoners and adventurers. The nobles that did not get killed were the ones that had fled the city. Either a secret passage like the bishop, or before the whole thing.

After some moments, the crowd is present. I again land on the back of the chair.

The crowd is in front of us, time for the show.