Genesis Locorum

Morning comes, and the light of Stella shines over Hamlin once more. Charlotte sees her mother sleeping in one of the Arions’ guest rooms. She tugs on her mother a little, rousing her from her sleep.

“Charlotte?” Carla says. Her voice is a little groggy. “What’s wrong, sweetie?”

“Mom,” Charlotte takes a deep breath. “I think we should move to the dungeon!”

The shock from that statement was enough to jolt Carla into a more alert state. After last night, they are both aware that Hamlin does not want them, but Carla is still uncertain about moving outside. “Are you sure?” the Alraune mother says.

Charlotte nods. “I’m sure, at least for now.” She feels a tinge of sadness as she utters these words. To her, it means moving away from Stheno and Euryale.

Carla looks into her daughter’s eyes and sees their sorrow and determination. “It’s because of those rumors, isn’t it?”

Charlotte nods.

“Sweetie,” Carla says. “We shouldn't act so rashly.”

“But people have been ignoring us ever since Dad died. Hardly anyone visited us anymore. And you—“

“I know,” Carla says with a heavy sigh as she turns to the window. “I’m not blind to the other villager’s judgments of us. The rumors quick to cast me as a murderer and kidnapper, and how wholeheartedly Hamlin believes them.”

The dawn’s lights slowly seep through the curtains as they stand in silence, each wondering what is the best course of action. The whimsical decor, including mushroom-shaped chairs and painted clouds, does nothing to alleviate the mood. Still, Carla knows that if would not be long before the village decides to act on those rumors before nightmare becomes portent.

Carla looks back at Charlotte. “If we’re gonna do this, then we must act with certainty and haste. I will talk with both Douglas and Heathcliff about this.”

A while later, Carla talks to Heathcliff and Douglas about the matter.

Douglas sighs. “I understand, but darn if it doesn't hurt.”

“Are you certain you want to do this?” Medusa says.

“A part of me wants to say ‘I don’t’,” Carla says. “It screams ‘I want to stay in the land where I once met my love’ but I realize now that it no longer exists. Even if the village finds closure for Samuel, even if the children are returned, I’m not sure if they will ever accept me or my daughter again.”

Heathcliff slowly sips his coffee. He holds a conflicted and bittersweet smile on his face. Silently wondering if he just exploited circumstances to his benefit again. “Glad to have you aboard, chair. I wish it under better circumstances.”

Clara expresses her gratitude. “I’ll still search for the missing children, you have my word.”

Douglas expresses his own gratitude to Carla. “I’m sure we’ll set up something so that the girls can visit you.”

“I appreciate it, Douglas,” Carla says. “I can only hope that they were will be a time when we can return to the village and not have to look over our shoulders.”

The four prepare breakfast for everyone. After which everyone sets off for Carla’s home to gather her belongings.

✦✦✦

“You’re moving away?” Geraldine says in shock.

Carla nods to her sister. “I am. I’m sorry that it has come to this, dear sister, but I want you to use this house as a new shelter.”

Geraldine’s head lowers. A forlorn expression plastered on the Alraune’s face. “You’ll be sure to visit me, right?”

“As often as I can,” Carla says.

Meanwhile. Euryale and Stheno help Charlotte pack her belongings.

“I hoped they’d waited a few days,” Euryale says.

“In all honesty,” Stheno says. “It’s a miracle the mayor didn’t try to arrest them yet.”

Charlotte looks over her items. A stuffed bear plush from the last winter, a diary that she had used to chronicle her life, a stack of books on monster biology, and several vials filled with fluids secreted from her petals. She looks at several of these items with nostalgia as she packs them away.

“Stupid villagers!” Euryale says, her voice laden with frustration. “Why are they like this?”

“I wish I knew,” Charlotte says. “Thank you for being there for me.”

“Look, Lotte,” Euryale says. “No matter what, I’ll be there for you!”

“As will I,” Stheno says. “You have my word!”

Touched, Charlotte looks at her first friends. “Thank you. I’ll always be there for you too!” She then hugs them.

A familiar tune echoes throughout. The sounds of a pipe fill the room whole.

Charlotte senses something is quite amiss. Her mind fills up with fog as her eyes glaze over. Euryale and Stheno could barely move. Instead of hallucinations, they hear. A cacodaemonic force beckons them.

Charlotte is the first to walk outside. Her hand is trembling with conflict. She and the twins resist but are pulled away. “What is happening?” the Alraune lass thinks as she tries to regain control of her body.

“The missing children, they’re waiting for you.”

The three walk outside dazed and struggling. They find little Nina outside the room.

“Hey, you’re done packing?” Nina says. She notices their limp gait and glazed expressions. The three girls do not respond to the spiderling as they walk past. “Hey!” She waves her arms in front of them, but they ignore her. “Stop ignoring me!” They do not respond, instead walking towards the front door. Frustrated, Nina locks her eyes onto Charlotte’s. As she does so, she begins hearing the sound of a pipe and a cackle.

✦✦✦

Meanwhile, In one of the guest rooms of Carla’s home, Emily and Elizabeth talk with Heathcliff about Carla’s desire to move.

“We got a timer now, at least,” Elizabeth says. While all three are happy that they can now better use the fauna that now inhabits Emily’s body, they all are too aware of the circumstances that led to that.

“I’ll smooth things over with Pauline,” Heathcliff says. “Tell her about the missing village kids and try to get help in that.”

Emily glares at Heathcliff.

“Look, cher,” Heathcliff says. “I prefer fair deals. How was I supposed to know that things would turn out like this?”

Minerva and Tim enter the room. “You do seem to have a recent knack for these kinds of things,” Tim says with a smirk.

“Et tu, Tim?” Heathcliff says.

“Look,” Emily says. “What’s done is done, right now we need to focus on finding the Piper and the kids.”

“Yes,” Minerva says. “Carla would have wanted her departure to be at least ambivalent.”

“She really loved the village,” Emily says.

“Shame it didn’t love her back,” Heathcliff says.

Everyone heard a large scream coming from another room.

“Nina?” Minerva realised the cause of the noise and rushed her to daughter. The others follow suit.

They head to the living room and find Nina has bound Charlotte, Euryale, and Stheno with her webs. Minerva gasps at the sight. Sarah and Richard arrive with Carla, Douglas, Geraldine, and Medusa.

“Nina!” Minerva says. “What is the meaning of this?”

“Something’s wrong with them!” Nina says. “They’re acting like zombies!”

Minerva glares at her daughter.

“It wasn’t m—“ Nina’s protest is interrupted by a splitting headache as the noise of the pipe intensifies inside her head. “Agh!”

Carla, Douglas, and Medusa rush to their daughters. They see that their expressions are listless and unresponsive. The children’s eyes are glazed over as if they are not even aware.

“Euryale, Stheno,” Medusa says. “Wake up!”

“Charlotte, sweetie,” Clara says. “Please!”

Minerva locks her gaze with her daughter’s. Her eyes cast a powerful Bardsong that repels the piper. Nina’s headache is relieved. Minerva then turns to the other three girls. She uses her eyes to free Charlotte from the trance, then Euryale, and lastly Stheno.

The three girls rouse. Charlotte groggily rubs her eyes as her vision clears up. A relieved Carla in her view.

“What is going on?” Emily says.

Minerva turns to the dungeon avatara. “This kidnapper is a brazen one.”

A clamor is heard outside. Everyone heads out and sees a gathering of gendarmerie in the front yard. Leading them is the mayor.

Douglas greets the men. “Hello officers?”

Officer Cyrus greets the man. “Mr. Arion,”

The mayor turns to the man. “I had it on good word that Carla Truce is back?”

“Why do you ask?” Douglas says.

“I merely want to question her,” the mayor claims. “Ask her where the children are.”

Carla looking out the window realizes what is going on. “We must hurry!”

Douglas stalls for time. “Not you too, mayor. I thought you were above such banal gossip.”

“I am,” the mayor says. “But it is my duty to make sure all of my citizens are safe and sound. I must explore all possibilities.”

Douglas sees a peculiar expression in the mayor’s eyes. One that proves his words are genuine, but at the same time bearing a certain malice. “I understand that you didn’t like Samuel back then.”

“Samuel is irrelevant!” the mayor says. “If Carla is innocent, then why did she leave town the other day.”

“Owens told her to take a break from certain events,” Douglas says. “I went with her, I’d know that she didn’t kidnap anyone.”

“So you admit to being an accomplice?” the mayor says with a sneer.

Douglas sighs. “Nothing’s gonna change his mind,” he thinks as he prepares to fight the guards.

“Arrest this man!” the mayor calls “He admits to aiding and abetting a criminal!”

A brawl breaks out. Douglas, with hook and chain, battles a group of ten guardsmen. He dodges the first lunch from the guards and has his chain wrapped around one of their legs. He yanks at the chain and sues it to swing the man around, slamming him into another guard.

“Amateurs,” Doug scoffs. With the hook loosed from the attack he pulls it back towards him and twirls it around.

His daughters look at their father as she fights the gendarmarie. Medusa turns to Emily and Clara and nods. They understand what Medusa’s request is and take the twins with them as they escape. Medusa and Geraldine stay behind to cover the escape.

Emily’s group move to the back yard and through it towards the forests. From they they rush to Revotos’ Valley.

At the same time, Douglas continues fighting the guards. “You really think Carla is to blame?”

The mayor’s expression bares a grimace. “The evidence is clear, that knife was there at the track after all!” He takes out the knife in question.

Doug makes an annoyed face. “What is that supposed to prove?”

“You know this knife was found at the scene of Samuel’s murder.” The mayor says.

“By Carla,” Douglas says. “Are you really that blind? What reason would she have to turn it in herself?”

“The knife carries Highland Viper poison,” the mayor says. “I’m aware that she had taken care of such creatures recently.”

“That dosen’t prove anything!” Douglas has. He knows that the mayor would not be swayed.

“Why are you willing to defense a monster like it!” the mayor says.

A guard tackled Douglas, but he anticipated it and dodges. “She isn’t a monster!”

“You let Samuel blind you!” the mayor says.

“Samuel is irrelevant!” Douglas says.

“You think yourself clever, Mr Arion?” the mayor says. “He is relevant in that he is another of its victims!”

Before he knew it, Douglas finds himself restrained by two of the ten guardsmen. The mayor slowly walks up to him “The truth will come out, Douglas.”

“Oh I’m betting on it!” Doug says.

The mayor sneers. “Take him away, boys!” the guards carry the adventurer to the village. “He has help steal Hamlin’s future, so he shall offer his in pennace!”

Medusa and Geraldine had ensure that Carla and the others won’t be followed in time to see Douglas get carried away by the mayor’s guards. Upon seeing that, they realize that they have to find Officer Owens and hope he can get the mayor, and the town, to see reason.

✦✦✦

Emily’s group rushes through the Dungeon of Revotos’ Valley. They encounter the skeletal Ophidian again, determined to bar their paths.

“What in the—“ Richard says.

“Ready for round two?” Sarah says, she takes out her hammer and prepares to fight.

The Ophidian floods the lakebed with toxic water as the sky turns red. Carla is confused as to why the dungeon is attacking them now. They hear several villagers behind them.

“The kidnapper is getting away, get it!” one yells.

“To think Samuel saw any good in that thing!” another shouts.

“Burn it, burn that waste of space!” a third clamors.

Carla looks down, knowing that the villagers are referring to her.

The Ophidian creates a wave enlarging the lake and blocking the path behind them. Yet it also lands on the surface in a straight line.

A voice calls out to Emily in a language unfamiliar to her, yet one that she understands. “I think the dungeon’s helping us.” She says. “They want us to get on the sentinel.”

The party mounts the skeletal serpent. Following it to the other end of the lake. They can hear the angry mob at their heels.

“Allons!” Heathcliff says. “They catching up!”

Upon reaching the lake’s edge they leap from the Ophidian’s head and head towards the cavern. The monster then prepares to battle the angry villagers.

They make their way to the caverns as they enter, the wind rises, howling like the dire wolves with Carla.

They soon find a group of ten people already in the caverns, in a familial gave with holes in the ceiling—five men and women each, bearing hateful gazes and mournful frowns.

“Release our children!” one of them says, brandishing a spear. “Or else!”

“I do not have the children!” Carla says.

“It was the Piper!” Charlotte says.

“Heh,” one of the opponents sneers. “Look at it, blaming an incompetent ratcatcher. Nice try.” The ten adversaries prepare a fighting stance.

Tim closes his eyes and smirks. “Go, I’ll handle these idiots!”

“Tim,” Emily says. “Are you—“

“Just do it!” Tim uses his wind arts to cleave a path through the opponents, followed by earth spells to create walls to bar the villagers’ passage. The rest of the group makes it through while Tim stays behind.

“You think you can take on all of us?” one of the opponents says.

“You’re way too early to match the likes of me!” Tim says.

One of the men lunges forward, but Tim sidesteps him and uses a shoulder lean to knock him to the ground. Tim then takes out his Qiang. One of the women clashes with him. “You heartless dastard!” she yells. Tim parries her sword with his spear. His longer weapon grants him an advantage as he uses it to fight her.

Another woman attempts to ensnare Tim with her whip, but the lash misses and is heard by Tim. He then sees a man fire arrows at him and dodges backward.

“Sword, whip, bow, spear,” Tim thinks as he looks over his opponents. “Knives,” as he looks at the butcher among the group. “Axe,” as he sights the female lumberjack. “Another bow,” as he sights the crier. “Staff,” as she sees the cleric.

He suddenly finds himself grabbed by a large man, poised to lift and throw him over himself. The heavyset man jumps and curves back, releasing Tim in mid-air and causing him to crash into the ground, separated from his Qiang.

Tim stands up, a little bruised by the attack. He looks at the overweight man. “Unarmed,” he thinks, “or so it seems.” A pair of twin women flank him “Halberd and lyre,”

Tim catches his breath, outnumbered ten to one, but he is aware of what weapons his adversaries wield. The swordswoman rushed towards him “Die!” she says, but Tim counters with a stomp, causing the ground to rise and create a wall. The swordswoman turns around and circumvents it, but Tim leaps to dodge her flurry of slashes. The spearman prepares to strike but is suddenly knocked by a swing of a hammer.

Behind the fallen spearman is Sarah, smirking with her hammer on her shoulders. “Save some for me!”

Tim lands on the ground. “Thanks, but I could—“

“Handle it,” Sarah says. “I know, but brother and I wanted to speed things up a bit.”

The bowman and crier aim their bows, but they are suddenly sniped by Richard and his crossbow. The bolts zap them just enough to knock them unconscious as Richard moves from behind the debris.

Seven foes remain. The overweight man charges at them with a surprising degree of speed and grapples with Tim. Tim stands his ground as the man tries to push him down. The opponent tries to crush the martial artist’s hands, but his strength is found to be inefficient for the task. Sarah attacks the heavy man with her hammer. He lets go of one of Tim’s hands to try to block it, but it only gives Tim an opening to exploit. He moves towards his free hand and uses a knee and elbow strike, aided by centrifugal forces to push the man backward and topple him.

The woman with a whip lashes at Tim. “Do you take pleasure in kidnapping innocent children!”

“No,” Tim says. “But I don’t take pleasure in seeing people be wrongly accused either.”

The whip master fumes as she lashes again after a few moments. Tim grabs the scourge and stops it. “You let anger and grief cloud your mind,” as he tugs on the whip, disarming it from its wielder. Before she can try to reclaim it, she is wounded by a crossbow shot to the leg and collapses.

The cleric uses her staff to channel an incantation. “O holy Prometheus, great sage. Grant us your benediction!”

Light fills the room as the fallen have healed and are ready to fight once more. Tim, Sarah, and Richard find themselves outmatched now. Everyone then hears the sound of flapping wings.

The gigantic bat monster has returned to its home and finds it intruded upon. Tim sees an opportunity and makes some movements with his legs. The ground breaks beneath the three, getting them away from the villagers as they are distracted by the monster.

Tim takes the opportunity to catch his breath. A chest containing some weapons right besides him.

“You really like biting off more then you can chew,” Sarah says.

Tim ignores her as he walks forward. “We need to catch up to the others.”

✦✦✦

Meanwhile. The rest of Emily’s group maneuvers the caverns. Emily and Heathcliff noticed that they had grown deeper and wider than the last time they were there. The howling wind now blows through them more fiercely than before and blows through a large hole above. The Dire Wolves separate from the group, unable to keep close to Clara with the wind bearing down on them.

“This wind is fierce!” Heathcliff says.

The gales push back on the party with a force that hinders their passage and makes the higher paths unusual. They are forced to cling to the walls, lest the wind sends them tumbling to their demise.

They make their way to the lower paths, but the caverns are now infested with smaller bat monsters. The winds carried the noise of of the villagers’ grievings, and the sounds of a pipe.

Carla sees the caverns distort before her eyes. The disorienting sight causes her to let go of the wall.

“Mom!” Charlotte cries out as the wind prepares to blow her to the depths.

Carla plummets towards the ground, but someone grabs her hand. She sees a crimson-furred lycanthrope is the one that holds on to it.

“H..d .., c..,” the werewolf growls.

Carla makes a freighted expression as she struggles to release herself from the monster’s grasp. It pulls her up as more ominous figures surround her. She closes her eyes and the hallucination ends. When she opens them again, she sees Heathcliff instead of the werewolf, his other arm grabbing a spike from the cavern. “I gots you, hold on tight!” He finishes pulling her up.

Carla is relieved to find it was a hallucination, but she is unaware that something real lurks beneath them. “Thank you,” she says.

“That was a close one!” Charlotte says.

Minerva notices something in Carla’s eyes. “Seems someone is fond of trickery.”

The wind recedes enough for them to move normally and the group takes the opportunity to rush along the path. They soon chanced upon a tunnel where the wind does not blow and enter it.

Elizabeth ponders on what had just happened. “This does feel like a Demon’s work,” she mutters.

Emily hears the fairy. “You say something, Elizabeth?”

“Nothing,” Elizabeth says.

A while later, Euryale and Stheno worry about their parents. “Do you think they are safe?” Euryale asks Stheno.

“I’m certain,” Stheno says. “They have to be, Hamlin wouldn’t dare harm Daddy.”

✦✦✦

At the same time in Hamlin. The gendarmerie parade Douglas around. “Look at this collaborateur! He who had helped in the larceny of Hamlin’s futures!”

The villagers murmur and whisper about Douglas.

“He helped kidnap the kids?” a villager asks.

“Hang the traitor!” one furiously bellows.

“Why would he do that? The fiend I get, but Douglas?” a woman says.

“Okay, the show’s over, now let him go.” A villager laughs, deep in denial about the accusation.

Medusa and Geraldine are among the crowd, donning cloaks.

“Citizens of Hamlin,” the mayor says. “We had been deceived not once but twice. I had shown mercy to the first deceiver, but I will not show any to the second, I will find it and its allies and slay them. Starting here with this one!” He takes a large executioner’s ax and makes a wicked smile.

Medusa is about to make a move, but Geraldine stops her, not wanting any attention on them.

The mayor turns to Douglas. “Any last words, scum?”

Douglas says. “I want a lawyer. I’m entitled to one.”

One of the crowd jeers at him. “Only a scoundrel would demand a lawyer. If you were really innocent—“

“Shut up!” his wife says, retaining some modicum of sense. “Or do you want to represent yourself the next time you get caught with ale in Noir?”

The mayor calms the pair down before turning back to Douglas. “A lawyer heh? You think an attorney can save you?”

“Does it matter?” Douglas says. “Chop off my head if you wish, but when word got out that people killed an innocent man in misguided vigilante justice, well then, support for Backbreaker might dry up.”

“What are you talking about?” The mayor suddenly realizes something and makes a shocked face.

“The Eligere and Empyrean have very high standards,” Douglas says. “I heard people claim that one Eligo went on a rampage over a proposed highway being built right next to his fancy neighborhood. Project Backbreaker is pretty controversial back at Noir. You know that right?”

The mayor realizes as such, it is part of the reason why he has saved so much money. He knew from his negotiations that the housing administrations, guilds, and even some wealthy households themselves opposed the project on principle. He scowls at Douglas and puts down the ax. “Very well,” he says. “You’ll have your attorney and a fair trial. Release him.”

The guards liberate Douglas from his bindings. Medusa is relieved to see her husband spared from the village’s wrath for now.

“Thank you, kind mayor,” Douglas says with a smirk.

The mayor scowls again as he leaves fuming. The guards disperse the crowd.

✦✦✦

In the depths of the caverns, Emily’s group finds a tunnel and enters it. They find several crystals within the tunnel, each glowing with a fiery hue. The wind from outside grows colder. The party can hear echoes of the vengeful villagers’ murmurs from outside.

Carla passes by one of the crystals and sees the visage of a werewolf in their reflection. As the group moves through the dark tunnel, they hear noises that feel like growls and snarls.

“Be on your guard,” Elizabeth says as she takes one of the crystals. The crimson hue of the carnelian reflects a burning aura.

“Jewel, shine so bright,” Elizabeth sings. “Illuminate with light!”

A light shines within the red gemstone, illuminating the dark cave. Emily realizes that she hasn’t had time to practice Bardsong since her match with Tim the other day.

The party continues down the dark tunnel. Euryale sees something move in the twisting shadows behind them and clings to her sister’s arm. Charlotte looks at her friend with both fear and relief. She knows neither she nor her mother would be welcome in the village again for a while.

Emily notices Euryale’s discomfort. “There’s no one here,” she says gently to the twins.

“Are you sure?” Euryale says.

“Positive!” she says, she walks a few steps towards the back and looks around for dangerous entities, not finding any for several seconds. “See?”

“You’ll have to forgive Eurie,” Stheno says. “She gets easily terrified of dark places.”

“Am not!” Euryale says with a huff. Stheno and Charlotte giggle.

Heathcliff and Minerva meanwhile look out for any threats ahead of them. Minerva takes a look at Heathcliff. “You’re single right?” she says.

“Oui,” the knight says. “And staying that way, why do you ask?”

“You do seem a little fond of the widow,” Minerva says.

“Who? Carla?” Heathcliff says.

“Then again,” Minerva says “You do seem overly fond with everyone, always using ‘cher’ all the time,” Minerva teases.

“I already have my hands full,” Heathcliff says. “Don’t gots time for a lover, especially not now.”

“If you say so,” Minerva says with a chuckle. “But the heart tends to make its desires known eventually.”

Heathcliff is about to respond, but then he notices something. “Do you hear that?”

“Hear what?” Minerva says.

Heathcliff keeps an ear out. He noticed the echoes had stopped, and so had the ambient sounds of water dripping from the ceiling and of the cold wind blowing through. Aside from some chatter from the party, he hears nothing but silence.

“Something is wrong, cher,” Heathcliff says.

The party soon exits the dark tunnel and arrives in a circular chamber. Dotted by rocks that seem like they are one draft away from crumbling. They see several other caves leading to the same place, each dark enough to feel like the light is being drained from them. More carnelians decorate the chamber, flickering like sparks.

A cold draft suddenly blows from the cave behind them, carrying the tune of a pipe. The carnelians suddenly glow like stars, coating the room and caves in a reddish ambient glow. Specters emerge from the shadows. Emily slashes at one of the phantasmal entities and sees it fade away. Heathcliff strikes at one with his sword and it also dissipates. Minerva’s fists, Nina’s armed legs, Elizabeth’s spells, Carla’s vines. Each attack a specter and each fades as the attacks connect. Yet more of these phantoms emerge soon afterward.

After several moments the shadows converge in the center. The light from the eerily bright gemstones is altered such that Heathcliff’s shadow aligns with the mass. An arm juts out from the ground, from the puddle of pitch that the shades had formed. The arm is coated in red fur, with claws that jut out from its paw like spikes. It climbs from the dark mass, revealing a form akin to what Carla hallucinated. The lycanthrope emerges bearing features similar to Heathcliff’s armor. The refraction of a Crimson Hound, the Warwolf.

The warwolf strikes at Carla, but Heathcliff Ford intercepts it. His shield blocks the claw. “Lovely,” Heathclfif says.

Elizabeth uses wind spells against the warwolf, while Minerva moves behind it and uses webbing to bind its legs. The warwolf manifests a large sword, made of of bone and tooth and uses it to cut its fetters.

Emily clashes with the beast, but the ferocious warwolf repels her with little effort and knocks her towards a rock formation. The collusion destroyed it and she is buried in the rubble.

“Emily!” Elizabeth cries out as she rushes to free her from the rubble. Carla uses her arms to lift some of the rocks and get her up.

Emily stands up, bruised but not out. The warwolf locks eyes on Carla. “Monster!” it utters with a guttural growl. “Murderer!” it lunges at her, but Emily uses a light spell to create a barrier.

“Heathcliff!” Emily calls. The knight looks and sees Carla, Charlotte, Euryale and Stheno hiding behind her. He then looks back at the wolf and tackles It.

“Hey Fido!” the knight calls. “Your fight’s with me!” He grapples with his counterpart while turning his head to Emily. Emily gets Carla and the three children and heads towards the nearest cave.

“Nina!” Minerva calls for her daughter. “Go with with Emily! Now!”

“But mom!” Nina says. She wants to test her mettle against a boss again.

“No buts! Its not safe here,” Minerva says. She casts a cold state at her daughter, her eyes working their magic. “Go!”

Nina, entranced, is compelled to obey and follow Emily into the cave.

Upon arriving at the cave, Emily lets Carla, Charlotte and the twins enter first. Before entering with Nina in tow.

Elizabeth sees all six enter the cave and prepares an earth spell to seal it before helping Minerva and Heathcliff handle the warwolf.

✦✦✦

A while later, Nina’s trance faces. Nina looks around and sees that the warwolf isn’t there. “Aw man!” she yells.

“Nina,” Emily says. “You know Minerva wanted you safe.”

“I could’ve handled it,” the spiderling says, crossing her arms as she turns her head away in a huff.

Emily looks back towards the sealed maw of the cave, hoping that her friends are okay. She then turns back towards the group. “We need to get out of here.”

“Agreed,” Carla says.

The group follows the cave towards the other end, leading outside towards another forest populated by ashen trees. Emily and Nina recognize them as potential ashwoods. Nina moves towards one of the trees and hits it a few times. “It’s safe,” she says with a tinge of disappointment.

Stheno looks at the spiderling. “By any chance is she—?”

“She wants to be an adventurer,” Emily says.

“Ah,” Stheno began to recall hearing about that before.

Emily looks around, trying to gather her bearings. It is the first time she has been separated from her friends since Tarantulaopolus. She sees that aside from the ashen trees, there are few indications of where they are in the dungeon. She soon sees a path laid out among the charred trees. “This way!” she says.

The group of six walks along the path. Emily and Carla are keeping an eye out for villagers. Their current goal is to escape the valley before the villagers can get to them.

The trees remain inert, to Nina’s displeasure. As they travel down the path beneath the blood-drenched sky. Charlotte starts making some conversation with everyone.

“So what do you do?” Charlotte says to Emily.

“Umm,” Emily hadn’t given thought to the idea. As a dungeon, she usually just sits around, only coming out when adventuring with Heathcliff or visiting the guild. Her silence confounds Charlotte.

Clara asks Emily, “I take it that the knight is the master of the dungeon you’re from?”

“He is,” Emily says. “Why do you ask?”

“He seemed like he traveled to many places before,” Euryale says.

“Daddy did think they’ve met before for some reason,” Stheno says.

Emily recalls Heathcliff mentioning he doesn’t want other people to know he’s the Crimson Knight. She asks the twins a question. “How was Samuel like, to Hamlin?”

Carla is surprised by Emily’s question.

“Village wouldn’t shut up about the guy that’s for sure,” Euryale mutters.

“He was one of the town’s best adventurers, Eury,” Stheno says.

“I want to know about Dad too,” Charlotte says.

“I said before, he was a good husband and a loving father,” Carla says. She begins to recall the day they first met. “He had a strong bow arm as well.”

The group comes across a small clearing in the ashwoods. At the center lies a place that brings memories flooding back to Carla. She sees torn leather and pieces of wooden wheels. Remnants of a past battle.

Carla stops to examine the scene. “It was seven years ago,” she says as she picks up a small piece of a crate. “I was captured from my original home, separated from my brothers and sisters by bandits.”

Carla turns her eyes toward the remains of a wagon train. “They wanted to sell me to someone from Gardenia’s underbelly, but they turned the wrong direction and we ended up lost in the valley.”

Emily and the kids stop to listen to Carla’s tale. “It was this mistake of theirs,” Carla says “that I owe my freedom. Samuel and a few friends of his had chanced upon the bandits they were looking for an exit. They soon found out I was among their ‘wares’ and had freed me from their grasp.”

Carla turns towards the carcass of a horse, that was killed in the battle. “Once the bandits were dispatched Sam had offered me a place to stay in Hamlin. How could I refuse, when I was so hungry and on the verge of wilting.”

Charlotte realizes she has never heard the story of how they met before.

“After I was hale and hearty,” Carla says. “I prepared to leave Hamlin to find my way home, yet every time I tried to set foot something always kept me from leaving. Perhaps it was that charming smile or the way he seemed to carry on without a care for what happened to him. Maybe it was his noble heart. It was because of him that I stayed in Hamlin.” She sighs. “Until today.”

“Mom,” Charlotte says. She had no idea that her mother had kidnapped herself. “Did they…”

“I do not know,” Carla says. “We Alraunes tend to move around the forests and the jungles. Even if some of us put down roots as I had, they would not know where the others had gone. Only your aunt Geraldine was aware that something had happened to me and came to the town, and like me, she too put down roots there as well.”

Emily senses something ominous in the air. She soon hears a voice. “Little dungeon, are you looking for me?” She senses a reverberation in the cacodaemonic voice.

“Show yourself!” Emily yells, to the confusion of everyone else.

“Mark my words, my performance will begin. But not right now, for it is unfinished.”

Everyone soon hears the noise of the Pipe. One that brought Carla nightmares.

“But until then, do keep them entertained.”

A dark pillar emerges from the ground to the east of the site. A sense of dread looms over them as the dark pillar fades. Emily prepares her weapons for the inevitable encounter. “Get somewhere safe!” she tells the others.

✦✦✦

Meanwhile, Heathcliff, Minerva, and Elizabeth clash with the warwolf.

“Tremors, quake, and rise,” Elizabeth sings. The room shakes as her Bardsong calls down pillars of fragile rock formations from the sealing. The warwolf charges at Heathcliff but he dodges and the lycanthrope collides with one of the pillars.

“Light that blinds and cures, succor it shall bring,” Elizabeth sings to enchant her and her allies’ weapons in a nacreous glow. The warwolf breaks free from the rubble, one of its legs limp in injury as the twisted reflection of Heathcliff stares at the three with a hateful gaze.

The beast tries to lunge, but Minerva trips the werewolf and punches it. She then uses her spinneret to cocoon it and throw it towards another pillar. The warwolf is stunned, but still not out.

Shadows erupt from the warwolf and grab Minerva. The Arachne is rooted to the ground by the shades. She tries to free herself as they drag her under. Heathcliff rushes to his ally and uses his enchanted blade to stab the shadows.

By this point, Tim and the dwarven siblings arrive and see the warwolf break free from its rocky prison again.

“Thunder roars,” Elizabeth sings, “to shock and awe.” Tim’s Qiang and Sarah’s hammer are wreathed in an electric glow as they help their friends. Sarah jolts the entity with a swing of her electrified hammer while Richard fires his crossbow at the beast.

Tim makes a charging step, using his wind spells in tandem with his Qiang to leap toward the warwolf and impale it. The weapon embeds itself into the apparition and shocks its heart. The warwolf is left weakened by this attack and vulnerable to Tim’s flurry of attacks. The dark reflection of Heathcliff collapses onto the ground and fades into an army of phantasmal rats. The swarm of vermin scurries off, leaving behind a treasure chest.

Elizabeth opens the coffer, finding carnelians, a microphone, and a suit of armor. Heathcliff takes the armor. “It’s about time I get these duds upgraded,”

Richard scoffs. “I could make a suit of armor more durable than that,” as Heathcliff replaces his armor with the skeletal one. “And more fashionable as well!”

“You wanna start something?” Heathcliff says.

“Hey!” Sarah says. “Forgetting something?”

The two men realize that Emily and her group might be in danger and put aside their argument for now. The group heads off to find Emily.

Elizabeth looks back at the place where the warwolf once stood, finding no trace of the phantasmal monster. It was like they were fighting a mirage. Her eyes cast an intense gaze at the scene, the previous battle now serving as proof to her that a demonic force is in play. She then flies off to catch up to the others.

✦✦✦

Emily, Carla, Nina, Charlotte, Euryale, and Stheno prepare for the force coming their way. A large winged creature flies over them, its large wings creating a gust of wind that knocks Emily to the ground.

A large winged moth descends. Its wings are decorated in a reflective, nacreous pattern of colors that shift and swirl. Its body grotesquely pulsates as its eyes radiate the hostile intelligence of its master. Its antennae react to the fear of its adversaries, coiling into a twisted shape. Its mouth is lined with large incisorus needles. The buzzing of its rapidly moving and iridescent wings matches the melody of the piper’s instrument.

The scene where Samuel once rescued Carla from bandits shifts into a nightmarish version of itself as she, Emily, and the others begin having vivid hallucinations. Emily tries to attack the monster with her blades, but the nimble moth evades her attack with great ease, hovering over her as it secrets scales that cause her to see the ashwoods as trees that melt before her eyes.

Nina attempts to fight off the wicked creature, but the mesmeric wings of the moth cause her to see it as a swarm. Her silk misses and her weaponed legs attack only thin air.

The tune of the pipe emitted from the monster causes Charlotte, Euryale, and Stheno to stand still, locked into a dread trance. Carla tries to get them to safety, but the disorienting powers of the insect cause her to lose her bearings and trap her inside the arena.

Emily struggles to connect with the boss, Her spells are dodged, as are her slashes. The moth meanwhile flies overhead, safe from her attacks.

“Come on,” she says under her breath. She tries to find a way to destroy the beast, but her mind is too overwhelmed by the hallucinations to even think of any possible answers. She suddenly finds herself launched several feet into the air. A result of the moth tacking her in her daze. Emily tries to recover in the air but lands on the ground with a heavy thud. The scales make it difficult for her to stay awake.

Breaking heavily and exerting great effort just to stand, Emily realizes something. She realizes the sound of the pipe as it bangs on her ears. “Is this…” Emily thinks before having a sudden moment of clarity.

Nina also attempts to attack the moth, but the illusory swarm makes it impossible to find the real one. She soon sees one just hovering in eh ground, away from the swarm. “Gotcha!” the spiderling says as she turns her back towards it and fires a thread of silt at it.

Emily racks her mind for the right notes. She suddenly finds her leg is covered in sticky fiber of spider silk. “Wha—“

Nina tackles Emily, having mistaken her for the moth. Her bladed legs dig deep into her avatara’s body. “Nina! It’s me!” she tried to call out to her, but Nina could not hear her over the buzzing of the moth. She soon breaks herself free from the child’s grasp.

Carla meanwhile tries to wake up the three girls, while hearing sounds of angry villagers haranguing her for her alleged misdeeds. Cries of “monster”, “kidnapper”, and “traitor” assault her eardrums.

She curls up in shame, tears streaming down her face as she laments her failure to save her daughter or herself. She lets out a wail of sorrow. Meanwhile, Emily is forced to get a delirious and hallucinating Nina to stop attacking her.

The moth descends slowly, eager to finish off its prey, but before it could. It was attacked. A piece of its wings was severed by the claws of a dire wolf as it led to Carla’s aid and comforted her.

The howl of the wolf gives Emily an idea. “The moon.” She has a patrol to invoke, she has the goal, and now she just needs an element.

Nina tries to chase Emily, and Emily thinks of which of the elements she has is most suited.

“There you are!” Nina says to the illusion of the moth cast over Emily. She moves closer but as she does…

An aria fills the area. Emily harmonizes a motif of three notes. One to channel the thunderous power, one to channel the moonlit clarity, one to dispel the hallucinations. “Oh gentle moonlight, shining over us all…” she sings and lightning strikes the ground.

A bolt of levin hits the cacodaemonic moth with a mighty blow, chipping away another piece of its nauseatingly nacreous wings. It was at this point that Nina didn’t see her enemy, but Emily instead.

“What?” Nina says befuddled. She grasps her head in pain as the illusion tries to take hold once more.

“Free us from these dreams, with your gentle gleams,” Emily continues her Bardsong.

The lone dire wolf is joined by the rest of its pack, each of them helping Carla rouse the three children from their trace. They howl at the moon to join Emily’s song.

Carla is surprised to find the dire wolves in front of her. Charlotte is the first to rouse from her torpor.

As Emily harmonizes, the lightning grows more rapid and frequent. More bolts strike the moth down as Euryale and Stheno groggily awaken.

“Let us see the truth, eyes clouded with deceit and lies,”

Storm clouds gather at the edge of the arena, as rain falls to the ground. The moon kept visible, shining down on them.

“Let the storm flash with clarity…” Emily invokes her song’s lightning element. The moth tries to escape, but its swirling prismatic wings are clipped by the fire dire wolf, and the storm, and as it tries to ascend, it catches another both and is ignited by the skyfire.

Emily, still singing, glimpses the burning moth and leaps into the air.

“Oh moonlight, tranquil and lucid,” Emily sings as she impales her blades onto the ignited moth. Blazing rodents emerge from the monster to flee, causing the moth to lose much of its form.

Emily holds a note as she grabs her weapons, slashing with a dance, her feet move in synch with her words as she overpowers the pipe with her own Bardsong. The moth attempts to move, but all of its wings are clipped, severed clean off by the assault of lightning and a dire wolf. The form of the moth gives way to that of a swarm of scurrying ashen rats. The charred rodents scatter far away.

“So you overpowered the illusions?” a cacodaemonic voice calls out to Emily. “A futile work, but entertaining!”

“Who are you?” Emily calls out to the voice.

“A piper, a giver, benefactor. You may call me the Piper Pruflas, miss.” The voice says with an affable but sinister tone. “We should meet again. I got a gift for you…” The voice fades with a cackle.

“Emily!” Heathcliff’s voice calls out to her. The rest of the group arrives.

Emily is glad to see everyone else is unharmed. She turns to Carla, tending to the three girls now in her care, and then to Nina.

“My head…” Nina says. “Huh where’s the moths?”

“They’re gone,” Emily says.

Nina makes an apologetic face at Emily.

A treasure chest emerges where the moth had fallen. Emily opens it and finds a pair of swords with blades resembling stained glass and a butterfly design on their guards. She also finds some carnelians and a whip in the coffer alongside another tablet.

“Fellow dungeon, beware the piper’s gifts. The children’s fates now lie on your shoulders.”

Emily takes the plaque with her alongside the rest of the contents. “We have to go!” she says.

The group soon follows the ashwoods’ trail to the entrance of the valley. Through it, they escaped the vengeful village of Hamlin. They make their way back to the Black Box to prepare a plan for encountering the Piper Pruflas and for finding his connections to the missing children of Hamlin.