General Summary
Keydis going outside at night and discovering that the dead-thought chisel man has made scratches on the wall
Keydis approaching against better judgement to take the chisel from the man and suddenly finding herself chiselled
Keydis fleeing back to wake Inyë, who's now also freaked and wakes Áedán to help tread Keydis (it worked with Kenner after all)
Áedán removing the chisel with Inyë's help, Keydis screaming, Adriel starting awake and rushing in with a drawn sword because he thinks they're being attacked
Old man corpse suddenly being there and seizing hold of Áedán's hand to snatch the chisel back
Adriel hacking old man corpse nearly in half and demanding several times "Are there others???" and no one tells him for a while because they're busy making Keydis not bleed out until Inyë takes pity and tells him they don't know
Adriel dragging old man corpse out of their shelter and dropping him down to the lower levels
Áedán (I think) asking after Inyë explains what happens - since Keydis is in no shape to - whether Adriel dropped the chisel, too, and it's still lying there, so Inyë goes and drops it
All four of them sleeping really badly that night, especially Keydis, who wakes from the sound of a chisel on stone
Them heading out again the next day, Inyë scouting ahead even though he failed pretty badly at it the night before
Them seeing smoke in the distance, Inyë sneaking ahead to look for the cause and finding a place like an amphitheatre that had makeshift defences like Mercy's End, but all the dwellings are burning and there are corpses strewn all over and a red banner with a skeletal wolf's head is flying there and there's a brightly coloured caravan standing there and a richly dressed man walks among the corpses, seemingly putting things he finds into a bag
Inyë sneaks back to the others and reporting, in a rather shaken up state. Áedán recognises Mr Clean from his description and warns the others against him, reminding them that she knows he is "working for him"
They approach cautiously to have a look but remain hidden. Mr Clean seems aware of them anyway and calls out to them and while Keydis and Áedán remain hidden, Adriel and Inyë walk into t he destroyed settlement to speak to him
Adriel's wolf, who has had some issues with being forgotten by players, dislikes the stranger and growls at him. Inyë dislikes him too, but doesn't growl, who'd have thought
Mr Clean tells them that the ones responsible for the attack were those commanded by the new Lord in the East (and that the wolf skull banner is his) and that some of them are lying there. Adriel and Inyë find some among the corpses that look like the Fallen, except that they bear weapons and are armoured
They note also that there are too few bodies for how many people must have lived in this place and are told that the others have been taken away - the men to be recruited and the women and children to be killed in some ritualistic manner at the highest points of the city.
Mr Clean speaks of the people that used to live there - the place was called Hatleigh - as "good people who looked out for each other as people should", but asks Adriel - calling him Lord of Genlith - what concern he has for these people. He refers to Adriel as a man that reeks sickeningly of guilt.
He offers Adriel that he could send them home and asks what Adriel would give in return. Adriel asks why it should be a trade, reminding Mr Clean of what he'd himself said of how people should look out for others. Mr Clean tells him that nothing comes from nothing and points out how he himself is reduced to scavenging among the dead for bits and pieces that can be sold
Adriel then, referring to his previous comment on how he reeks of guilt, offers to rid him of his repugnant presence in exchange for being sent home, but naturally, that doesn't go down well. Instead, Mr Clean offers instead to do it in turn for freedom - Inyë's freedom
Mr Clean points out to them that they will forever be trapped in that place if they die there. Adriel, remembering moving dead people of the night before, finds that very unsettling. Mr Clean offers that he could send Adriel home "and the two beautiful ladies" - who are still in hiding - and, if they wish, even the servant if the other
He turns to Inyë, who is still wearing the Prince's robe and sword, but has taken his mask off a while ago and is wearing it at his belt. He berates him for 'having peeled off his skin and wearing his face at his belt' and tells him that while he is half one thing and half the other and cannot choose to be either, he is nothing
In the same vein, he provokes Inyë until Inyë - hoping that this time, the Prince will respond, puts on his mask - and it works
With the Prince's and Adriel's opinion coinciding on Mr Clean especially after what they've heard from Áedán, they refuse this trade firmly. The Prince tells Mr Clean to leave and he disappears into his brightly painted caravan. While Adriel heads back to tell Áedán and Keydis what exactly happened, the Prince searches the place for anything of importance and finds some more rations
He too returns, very firmly not Inyë, and pretty much orders the others to leave. Keydis at first sees a stranger in him, still only half-aware with her injury, and is then confused about the change in Inyë
The Prince leads them, as if knowing the way or at least understanding the city, to a shelter that is much like a lighthouse, with a roof and only one entrance. Here, at last, they manage to rest properly
The next episode begins as they set out from their resting place, where Keydis has been able to recover a little from the damage that Áedán did while stabilising her.
As they ride, Keydis asks Áedán about the change in Inyë. Áedán tells her that someone else appears to be residing inside Inyë and that she's not sure who he is, only that he seems to come from another world that in some way encompasses theirs. She admits she doesn't really understand, but tells Keydis also that this other Inyë has warned her at some point that understanding would likely lead to negative consequences. What she knows for certain is that this stranger has appeared sometimes and helped them in need. Keydis asks, worried, whether Inyë will come back. Áedán can only tell her that so far, he always has.
They travel along straight, wide roads until they spot, looking down from a rise, a barricade that appears to wall off an entire part of the city. They hesitate to approach, not wanting to be spotted, aware that they are four people on horseback. They look, but cannot see the wolf skill banner from where they are.
They decide that they need to know who is behind the barricade and whether they might find shelter or enemies there. Adriel is no good at sneaking, Keydis is hurt. The Prince points out that he might be spotted in other ways than by sight and asks Áedán, if she feels at all capable, to sneak closer and take a look
Áedán manages to come close enough to raise herself to peek over the palisade - and finds herself staring right into the empty eye sockets of one of the Fallen. She tries to shoot it, but instead strikes the palisade with a clatter and it utters a loud, rattling warning cry.
Áedán turns and runs as Fallen begin to pour over the palisade behind her. The Prince, seeing this and reasoning that since he sent her into this mess, it's his duty to get her out, and that secrecy has now been lost anyway, sets off towards her at a gallop
Adriel and Keydis ride after him, Keydis the slowest due to her injury. The Prince manages to help Áedán scramble up onto his horse and fend off the Fallen that are already reaching out for them, before turning his horse to escape. The other two, still at a distance, do the same - none of them wants to risk a fight against this many armed and armoured enemies. As they get further away from the city, they notice that the Fallen abandon the chase
Their next plan is to circle the barricade and find a way in through or around it. After another few hours they find a crack, an unobserved entrance...
Before entering through the barricade, the four travellers decide to take a rest again and the Prince finds them a suitable spot in what seems similar to a church tower. The horses are by now used to being up high and are beyond that calmed by the presence of the Prince's horse. Adriel's wolf is happy to go wherever Adriel goes
The Prince tells Keydis that she will not be taking a watch shift because she needs rest the most. Keydis is uncertain whether that really is the reason she's being excluded or whether it is because she messed up during her last shift in letting herself be stabbed by Old Man Corpse. This bothers her a great deal
Nevertheless they all manage to rest enough that they can recover a little from their various aches and injuries. The next morning, as the sun rises in the West, they debate on how to move on. They note that their rations are running scarce and Adriel wants to know of Inyë - which slightly offends the Prince - where he found the rations he brought and where one might look for more. The Prince responds "In case we find another raided settlement?"
He tells them then that he doesn't know where to look better than any of them, but also that he believes it would be a waste of time. They do not mean, he points out, to leave the city on foot, retracing their steps to where they began. It would avail them nothing. He is, in turn, convinced that they are very near to their goal, to facing the Lord in the East, who they believe is in some way Adriel's brother. If, the Prince tells them, they still need rations after this confrontation - one way or another - they can look for food then. He convinces the others, though he arguably has less concern for earthly needs than he ought to have making such decisions
Once that is settled, they approach the crack in the wall and peek through. They find that beyond it, a large area is currently being cleared by deconstructing buildings, while closer to the centre of the walled-off part of the city new buildings have been erected, ugly and square. A fair few of them are smithies, as evidenced by the constant ringing of hammers. At least there's no need to be quiet
No one's looking their way right now, so they attempt to be as inconspicuous as possible. They don't do great and encounter a small troop of the Fallen, but manage to evade into what is almost and alleyway between two large piles of rubble without being seen. They find that the Fallen stop to look at the place where they've just stood but then, apparently not finding anything, turn about and walk off. That seems rather strange to them
They contemplate then where to go and when the air is clear, they move cautiously closer to the centre of this place. They can look more closely at the Fallen now. They look like walking corpses; those obviously moving in military units are wearing hauberks and are armed, whereas the ones working in the smithies are wearing little more than rags. All of them, without exception, have a combination of numbers and letters branded onto their forehead, some looking recent, some quite old. In the smithies, arms and armour are being produced in masses, every worker doing the same small task again and again and again
They catch sight of a large plaza where several units of the Fallen, of considerable size, parade and exercise as if preparing for meeting an enemy later. The entire place, full of walking dead, is unsettling to the extreme
Adriel muses whether it might be possible to locate the armouries among the identical-looking square buildings. Stealing armour, he muses, might make them less noticeable at least at first sight, even though a close look would surely reveal that they are not Fallen.
Note: They left the horses outside the walled off part of the city
They discuss what to do. The square buildings all look the same from the outside and they don't want to risk stumbling into barracks rather than an armoury.
Keydis suggests they could still pass as Fallen, since these don't form a uniformed army, at a casual glance if they move and behave like them. Áedán notes they're missing the brands on their foreheads. To be as safe as possible, they decide to remain hidden as long as they can.
Now they're approaching the plaza that the Fallen seem to be gathering on for doing manoeuvres. There they find another squat, square buildings, only that this one is composed of several high steps, like the bottom part of a step pyramid. This seems to be the enemy's headquarters, but they find themselves behind the building now and there are a lot of Fallen on the square in front of it.
The Prince, contrary to his nature, sneaks around the building to take a look. On a platform that extends from a higher step of the pyramid, he finds Fendrel.
Or a figure that looks like Fendrel, anyway. He's wearing armour, but of a square and chunky sort that looks as if had been designed as a thing in itself, not to hold a person. His head is enclosed between two large metal plates that appear to hold in in place, but the face is unmistakably Fendrel's. It's impassive. He doesn't speak, but with gestures commands the Fallen that are marching up in front of him to turn about and march out through the gate to leave the walled off area.
At some distance, near the edge of the plaza, the Prince also spots a familiar, brightly painted caravan.
He returns to tell the others of his findings. The description of the Fendrel-like figure pains Adriel, who decides he will have to go and confront him. Keydis tells him that she will come with him and he smiles, telling her that he was just about to ask.
They decide that Áedán had best find a high vantage point and the Prince offers to guide her to one before he means to seek a position for himself. As they attempt to sneak around the large building, though, they are noticed by two of the Fallen, who - without a sign of hesitation or thought - come running towards them. Áedán is ready to turn and flee, but the Prince orders her to stand her ground, and to shoot if she can.
She shoots - and strikes one of the attackers right in the middle of the forehead. It drops, unmoving.
The Prince has drawn his sword, but he doesn't use it - well aware that Inyë has no such skills. Instead, he faces the remaining Fallen with a command: "You should be dead. Be dead." That one, too, drops and Áedán stares at the Prince in shock.
To his own judgement, he has righted a wrong - the dead man walking was unnatural, and he has restored the order of how things should be.
Now unhindered, they proceed, finding a spot on a roof from which Áedán has a clear shot at Fendrel. The Prince finds himself another one, from which it will be easy to leave if he wishes to get involved.
Adriel and Keydis climb onto a higher step of the building to circle it. They know they won't be unseen there - it takes an immense amount of will and bravery to force themselves to walk there, without hesitation, as if they belonged there. They are certain that hesitation would alert the Fallen. Once a squad passes below and looks up at them and they almost flinch, but manage to keep their composure.
Now, as they approach this confrontation, how do they all feel about it?
Keydis feels as if she's walking on very thin ice, as if the moment she stops believing that it will carry her it will crack and she will drown. She focuses all her attention on the task at hand, and on believing that no one will see her.
Adriel is enormously worried about being seen by the thousands of Fallen below and that the Fendrel-like creature will send them after him and Keydis, but even more than that he's afraid of seeing their enemy. Inyë said that he doesn't look right; the idea of seeing and having to fight something that does and yet doesn't look like his brother unsettles Adriel deeply.
The Prince cannot fail to notice the presence of Inyë at the back of his mind. This is too personal for Inyë to not be there, small and scared and really wishing for something to end that has been overshadowing a great part of his life. The Prince himself, in turn, is worried. He sees everything happening here as a part of something bigger that is ultimately directed at him more than at any of the others. This leaves him determined to set right what needs to be set right in this place by any means necessary, especially if Adriel fails to do his part when faced with this unnatural image of his brother. But even once this is over, the Prince is sure it will only be a small part of something bigger yet to come.
Áedán feels afloat on a sort of gloomy cloud. Everything seems surreal, like at the edge of a dream, and it reminds her of a certain play. She sees in the event the kind of point in time at which either everything turns to hell or something remarkable happens. Honouring this, she chooses to put on her best performance, takes out an arrow and kisses it. She tells it, as she draws the bow, to swiftly find its home, because she doesn't know if she ever will.
At last, Adriel and Keydis have approached the corner of the building before which the platform lies. Adriel peeks around that corner and the Fendrel turns his head and looks straight at him. He clearly recognises him; his eyes narrow in anger and he speaks, with a voice that sounds like the grinding of gears: "829645. Death."
His gaze wanders on to Keydis, and she draws a similar response, but not the same: "829640. Resource."
Before they can attack him, however, Áedán's first arrow flies. It flies true, too, striking one of the Fendrel's eyes. It clearly bothers him, but not nearly as much as one would expect: When Keydis attacks a moment later and her sword glances off the massive armour, he strikes her down with an unconcerned backhanded blow.
Adriel fares little better. He has no more success and is struck hard with the pommel of the Fendrel's sword.
Keydis picks herself up and catches his eye to coordinate the next attack. They move at once, encircling their enemy. Adriel attacks to distract him, making Áedán hold an arrow that she has been meaning to shoot for fear of striking him instead. He manages to wound the Fendrel, but Keydis' attack fails, and before Adriel can strike again the Fendrel has seized her and pulled her into the way. - Adriel's sword bites into her side instead.
The grinding voice says: "829646. Shield."
At this point, the Prince steps forward, heedless of the Fallen gathered around him. Without their commander's leadership, the Fallen that have marched up to the platform simply stand there, unmoving, with no will of their own now that they are not receiving any commands. The Prince walks through their lines and calls out. "Fendrel! If you are the tool of the king, it is me you should be facing. Face me!"
Fendrel, with his one eye and still holding Keydis by the throat, turns towards the Prince and speaks again:
"000001. Destruction."
Finding him distracted, Adriel attacks him in an attempt to free Keydis who, having lost her sword, now tries to injure the Fendrel's arm with her knife. Áedán kisses another arrow and sends it flying. It strikes the Fendrel's other eye. Adriel manages to land a blow. Keydis runs her dagger through the Fendrel's arm and he drops her.
The Prince, meanwhile, has turned his attention elsewhere - a distasteful solution, but with such a powerful enemy, it might be necessary. He raises his voice in command again, but this time orders half a dozen of the Fallen to fulfill their purpose - killing - and destroy their erstwhile commander. They move up onto the platform to join the fray, quite unsettling the others, who believe that they come to attack them.
Mr Clean, however, has emerged from his caravan and is staring at the Prince in shock from across the plaza.
Keydis is on her last legs by now, but she jumps at Fendrel, a desperate last attack after seeing the Fallen coming up the platform. Adriel, too, takes a swing. They both find their mark, as does Áedán's next arrow, which lodges right in the Fendrel's forehead. Their opponent's sword, however, still strikes both Adriel and Keydis and Keydis falls. The half dozen moving dead that have been so commanded now fall upon their commander and at last he collapses under the onslaught of the combined attacks.
Keydis, however, is in a precarious situation, aware still, but unable to move herself away from underneath the feet of the Fallen, which threaten to trample her. The Prince notices her predicament and speaks another command: "You have fulfilled your duty. Now rest."
The Fallen collapse around Keydis.
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