Lorelei
Getting the out of the under-city was arduous, but uneventful. The former captives showed no more emotion towards the ratkin than they had towards the undying cultists or the idea of freedom. Lore had talked to them about what monsters might be lurking in the complex, and Selena had used the last of her explosives to collapse the tunnel to the laboratory. The main gate seemed to have stayed closed, and they fashioned wedges to jam the door closed. The trek through the darkness back up to surface seemed simple, almost laughably so, after what they had experienced in the cultists' lair.
It was night by the time they left the tunnels, and tenth toll sounded while they watched the freed captives disburse, each blankly wandering off to the place he or she called home.
Was this a victory? Lore wondered about it, as the group walked towards the Temple of the Life Aspect. They had all survived, miraculously unharmed. And they had rescued all the surviving captives... but... there were so few of them – Lore remembered the large crowd of people in Rae's hall, so many faces given hope.
And then there was that bloody hallway. Whatever they had unleashed had no doubt destroyed most of the operation down there, if not all of it. They had rid the world of evil, as Sunder would have put it. Still, she did not relish the thought of all those people dying to the... the living corpses, the living dead.
And what if they escaped? Hopefully, the tunnel and the gate were the only entrances to the cultists' lair, and the rest were still bricked up like the wall they had destroyed. But if even one got loose? What would that wreak upon the ratkin?
As they walked along the empty thoroughfare, Lore saw a blank-faced young woman, no older than herself, knocking on a door. The door opened, and there were cries of surprise and of joy. Soon, the windows of that building were little, and sounds of merriment drifted down to the street.
This was a victory, Lore decided. Maybe they hadn't saved everyone, and for every family gladdened by the return of a loved one, perhaps there were four who were left, but that was still twenty families made happy. And at least the families who had lost loved ones would have their answers, in time.
But for now? Now she could rest. It had been an insane day, with sneaking, with corpses that would not stay dead... and... she had killed a person. Lore's step faltered as she relived the memory. She had aimed the thunderstick, and pulled the trigger. The jerk as the device recoiled into her shoulder, the back of the woman cultist shredding with a dozen impacts... she would never forget that. Which is as it should be, Sunder had told her. That it wasn't about forgetting the killing, but rather understanding. understanding why she had killed that woman.
Sunder and Associates past up through the levels of the city, into the upper ward. Walking around the lowest circle-road, along an arc Lore believed was Hallow's Row, they past the temple of the War Aspect and, a few roads later, the temple of Knowledge Aspect. Lore noticed Selena doing a small obeisance to the temple.
A few minutes later, they stood before the pale majesty of the Life Temple. Sunder and Maureen went in to talk with the attendant and priests while Lore stayed hidden with the rest of the group, hiding her lack of wounds.
A few minutes after that, Sunder and Maureen returned.
“Those... those idiots! They don't take anything seriously. One of them is going to go down there, open that gate, and the whole temple is going to get slaughtered!” Sunder rounded the corner, coming into view of the rest of the group. “I hope someone has the least bit of sense in their heads. 'Oh, I'm sure it won't be a problem' indeed!” Sunder shook his head. “Okay, let's get back to the Manor Varnya.”
They trekked up to Manor Varnya in what was swiftly becoming the coldest part of the night, and woke the gatekeeper. After a short discussion Sunder turned to the rest of the group. “Okay, the Lady is sleeping at the moment, and we are going to let that be. I've arranged for the servants to provide clean linens while our clothes are cleaned, and we will be staying the same rooms as last time. I know some of you don't have much... of a mess on you, but clean off what you can. Whatever they were brewing down there can't be good. Let's get to bed.”
Lore vaguely remembered undressing, and the embrace of the softest cushions she had ever felt.
End of FZAAP: The Conspiracy.
The next story is FZAAP: The Fall of Archimeridies.