Riverside 20: Another day, another disaster

[Rebonack]

[Buffet Dungeon]

A manifestation of the Emerald Dream, maybe? Isn't that how Warcraft nature magic works?

Regardless!

A cultist is entangled!

He fights and struggles against the vines, but he isn't having much luck.

Oh hey look here comes Magdalene no doubt she's going to do something friendly to this poor tied up cultist.

...

Let's see how Anika is doing!

Now the thing about bears is that they're fast. Most people look at a bear and think 'hey that animal is big and awkward it can't be that fast right?'

No way.

Totally wrong.

You aren't going to out-run a bear. It just isn't happening. And knowing that he isn't going to get away, the tiefling cultist grabs a rifle that just happened to be hanging on one of the cubical walls (why not?) takes aim, and fires at Anika! The round is infused with chaos magic and a great deal of unpleasantness, so the wound it would cause is quite a bit more serious than a simple rifle round. Notwithstanding the fact that getting shot with a rifle isn't much fun to begin with.

The other upside to shooting at Anika?

It's really loud!

Really really loud.

That's probably going to alert the other cultists that something is up.

[Hattish Thing]

[Alley - Westside]

Larza narrows her eyes, still somewhat upset.

This one was quite foul, needed to learn proper hygiene, she did - gross.

"Ick, a'm sure ye cuid. Lucky fur ye, ah knou a place. Wilnae be haerd tae sneak in thro' a windae." The colorful goblin had never been to Bloodsong's before, but had always been interested. Great, big orc men and good food. "Nou, gimme back mah buckles ye wee jobby."

She presents an outstretched hand, clearly eager for her shiny baubles.

[Shadowcaller]

[Buffet Dungeon]

Something like that. Anika didn't think about it too much as long as it worked.
She did know the emerald dream though, she even visited sometimes when she was asleep.

But back to reality! Someone was shooting a gun at her and if there was something Anika didn't like it was being shot. However, unlike most people she knew this from experience of being hit by them. So the question was if this bullet either could penetrate a relatively thick layer of iron or find a weak spot in Anika's fur. Otherwise one bullet wouldn't be enough to draw blood which presumably would negate the blood magic that was infused into it.

Either way, Anika isn't stopping and getting fired at made her angry enough to start mauling the poor tiefling once she catches up with him.

[Alley - Westside]

Hekta reaches into a pocket of her slightly oversized clothes and retrieves the buckles which she hands over to Larza. "Deal. Now show mea the food!" She insists eagerly.

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

[Westside Rakdosbucks]

"No? Has her entire life been that busy?" Wanessa asks. "At least I have an excuse... but then, I can imagine simply never having occasion to go. It's not as though there's always one nearby, or anyone to take her there."

The punch bottle is empty.

"Well, if I need help with my art project, perhaps she'd be willing to come along?"

[Zefir]

[=> Finding Rattatas]

Fade is not sure how he can help here. He just notice the force that crushes the rats. if he would know more about it he may be of help, but right now it seems Holly is on her own.

"What exactly is that." Fade asks looking at Jaahlyn for answers.

[Recaiden]

So in summary, Holly is stuck in the water, which has come alive as some sort of giant hydra-water-spirit and crushed all the rats.
Crushed all the rats.
Well.
The path to the other side is clear, and it would be a shame to miss such an opportunity.

Ruby leaves Holly there in the water and starts to cross.

[Rebonack]

[Buffet Dungeon]

Oh no, see, this is way worse than just blood magic.

It's chaos magic.

As in perverting the most fundamental parts of reality. In this case perverting said parts by treating hard things as if they were instead very soft things. Like a pillow or a bowl of jiggly jello. Effectively the bullet pierces armor far better than it should be able to. That's not great for Anika, but thankfully the cultist didn't have time to really line up his aim well. Just point and shoot and then get plowed into by an angry bear. Even then, one bullet is typically not going to be sufficient to take down a large bear unless that is silly big, which this one isn't.

So!

Bear.

Depending on how mauly Anika decides to be this cultist is either dead or very not happy with life right now.

Anika may or may not hear an awful scream from somewhere behind her, followed by a gurgly crunchy noise.

Everything is probably fine.

[Gullara]

[Tracking Rats]
Archera, Flicker, and the other one

"Okay, so which direction are we going? The way the homeless went or the rats? I saw them all running in the direction of you guys and unless you killed them all I'm guessing they kept running." The stranger inquires.

For clarification, there are now three directions they could go. Either following the little river down in the chasm (which would require them to go down in it), the tunnel the rats fled into after they disarmed the bomb which seemed to lead further into the depths, or the tunnel to the left of the hole which presumably the mutants fled into. It seemed to turn to the left but otherwise be relatively straight. Neither going up or down.

To make this easier, if they try to follow the river passage, they will find that it will eventually be too small for them to walk through so unless they like to crawl through an underground river they will likely have to pick another one. It's possible Archera could do something with the water to widen the passage but what would be down there?

Tracking Rats Flicker, Archera & Somebody Unimportant

"We beat the mutants once, if we catch up to them again it's likely in their homes. They'd not have anything more to lose, and won't give up as easily. We'd have to kill or disable all of them." Flicker also can't get back up once she falls, so she's not considering that path. "We should follow the rats. There's a bounty on their tails, that's how I'm getting paid." Although... some of the mutants have rat-like tails. They might be worth more...

[Tracking Rats]
Archera, Flicker, and the other one

Archera nods. "I agree. The rats are the core of this. The people are likely just pawns, and maybe now they've snapped out of it and are fleeing the area. I expect better results from the rats."

Moth Park

Eliseo doesn’t have to wait long before the kitsune makes her appearance, the familiar sight of red hair likely to catch his eye as soon as she turns the corner. She’ll look about the same as he remembers - although if Eliseo is the type to let his eyes linger, he might notice that certain aspects of her attire seem a little more snug than before. Anastasia always was a bit of a late bloomer.

Hopefully way more noticeable is the massive sword strapped to her back in a sheath, the metal of its hilt glinting in the sun - and the overjoyed little smile that breaks out across Ana’s face as she spots Eliseo, pace picking up into a jog for the final stretch.
”Hey! It’s been a while!”

[Moth Park]

Eliseo's head pops up when Ana speaks. He missed her arrival, so she's caught him off guard. "Oh, hey." He scrambles to his feet, his cheeks flushing slightly. "I'm out on bail now, so we can hang out more." He grins playfully. His eyes lock onto her sword. That's odd. He doesn't comment just yet, though.

[Arkhosia]

Moth Park

”Heh, I’m glad you’re free,” Ana responds, her own cheeks flushing slightly when she notices it in Eliseo. “I’ve got some tricks up my sleeve, but uh, I don’t think your moms would be very happy with me sneaking through your window.” Although they probably wouldn’t expect it - they’re too busy with making sure Eliseo doesn’t get out, Anastasia imagines. Not that it would make sneaking back out any easier for her.

“So, uh, I brought a sword!” Right. He can probably see that. Should probably elaborate. “I thought you might, like, find it neat?” Jeez, this is dumb now that she says it out loud. Why did she think this was a good plan? There are way better ways to impress cute boys. She’s not sure what they are but she’s pretty sure they exist.

[Gullara]

[Moth Park]

"Just don't get caught, that's the trick." Eliseo grins and winks.

As for the sword, Eliseo eyes it again. "I noticed. Can you even lift that thing?" He teases.

[Arkhosia]

Moth Park

”...noted.” There’s a touch of a vulpine little smirk on her face. It may be in jest, but that also sounds like a challenge.

But there’s more important matters than silly plots to show off a little in the future. ”Of course I can lift it! It’s uh, not that heavy, actually.” Anastasia protests. There’s a beat as she realizes she’s implying her own level of strength there. “N-not that I couldn’t if it was heavier. I’m not, like, that weak.” Hell, Eliseo doesn’t look so heavy himself. She bets she could totally carry him if she had to. Not for very long, but still!

[Shadowcaller]

[Tracking Rats]
Archera, Flicker, and the other one

"Alright, I guess we're going down into the abyss then. Not as far as I expected to go when I started this, but here we are." The armored stranger shrugs and so, once they dismantled the bomb even further, they descend down into the same tunnel the rats took.
Like the passages they've walked through so far these also seem completely untouched by civilized hands. The only living thing they find are colonies of fungi that's growing among the stalactites hanging above their heads.

Yet despite being so untouched, these tunnels aren't hard to go through. Just gentle slops all the way down without any thigh gaps or walls they need to use spelunking techniques to circumvent. Archera might have wished that she brought pants instead of a skirt though as its easy to get scratches in environments like this. The stone holds no mercy even for the most hardened of skin.

Finally, they come to section where the tunnel intersects with another and in the middle of this y-shaped tunnel they find both the rats and the mutants they've been fighting waiting.
But it doesn't seem like they're waiting for them. Indeed, they don't even seem to have noticed the group yet as they're turning around a corner.
The rats and the mutants seem skittish and uneasy. Aggressive. It doesn't appear like they would retreat any further now if it came to the push so whatever they're waiting for must be important.

[=> Finding Rattatas - Ruby]

With he rats gone crossing will be relatively easy as the giant water creature is ignoring Ruby.
Indeed, the only thing that might be in this way at this point is her own fire at the other side of the lake. But as she's likely to be immune or at least resistant to it either way it won't cause her much trouble.

The remaining rats and rat mutants that were here seem to have fled deeper inside and here the rat-creatures have made their mark upon the way forward. The cave floor is caked with a thick layer dirt mixed in with various forms of biological matter such as blood and excrement. It seems awful and it has even spread upon the cave walls for reasons unknown. Further inside the smell gets even worse and she can see a number of rat mutants that seems to have partly joined with the biological matter on the walls. Though the bodies of these mutants can scarcely be seen due to their overly bloated pregnant bellies with seem to pulse and quiver as they breath. Small gasps of breath can be heard on occasion as it seems it difficult for these creatures to even handle their own monstrously expanded bodies. In the center of this cave room is a white throne with nine seats that is brilliantly white and clean in sharp contrast with everything else within the room.

Here Ruby might also find Amalungak and the King of Rags puppet if they choose to stay behind.

[=> Finding Rattatas (Fade, Jaahlyn and Holly]

Jaahlyn raises an eyebrow when Fade approaches her and makes a quick bow as to greet him for the first time. "Sir..." She answers in a low voice. "I believe that's a leviathan. They're immensely powerful water fey which lay claim to huge stretches of territory within the ocean. I've never seen one existing in a cave though. This must be seawater which have somehow ended up in here. As they in a way are water they can manifest any territory they lay claim to." She quietly explains.

Meanwhile, Holly continues to discuss things with the fey. "Who else lay claim to you, child?" The leviathan(?) inquires softly. "Who considers themselves worthy of owning you?"

[Buffet Dungeon]

Anika internally curses, why did this random rifle have to be enchanted?
Now she was hurt by something unknown. Might be poisoned for all she knew!
But regardless, the cultist will be left alive though not since Anika was feeling particularly merciful. There were dangers involved with giving into the bestial side of the forms she used and as she had already seen blood act in strange ways in here she didn't want any of the tiefling's blood in her mouth. Demons were the worst when it came to that.

As for the sound she heard, that's probably just what Magda's hugs sound like.
So once she knows for sure this demon cultist wasn't going to get up any time soon she turns to see how Magdalena is doing. Maybe she knew something about that wound she just got?

[Rebonack]

[Buffet Dungeon]

Strictly speaking the rifle wasn't enchanted.

The person using the rifle just channeled fell magic into it!

Which honestly doesn't make the situation much better. The strangest thing about the wound is the fact that it seems to make Anika's blood want to escape from her body. Which is probably disconcerting.

Regardless! Anika knocks the heck outta the cultist! Having been bearslapped, he's out like a light. Or at least dazed for a little while.

Magdalene is shortly running over, "Oh sweet, you got 'em!"

Then she spots the wound.

"Oh (flower) you got shot. Hang on a sec," she says as she slings her backpack off and begins rifling through it. Shortly she comes up with a bottle of alcohol and a long pair of tweezers. "Gotta get that bullet out this is gunna suck."

And if Anika lets her dig the bullet out she's going to discover that yes, this really sucks.

"(Flowering) Chthonian cultists and their (flowering) chaos magic is the pain in the ass," she grumbles as she pulls the bullet out and discards it before quickly ripping open a tampon package and stuffing the highly absorbent material into the wound before wrapping it with bandages to keep it in place. It all goes quick. Pretty clear that Magdalene has done this before.

[Morty]

[Finding Rats - Ruby]

Amalungak is fleeing the same way the rat king has fled. The King in Rags remained behind. This might seem strange, but Amalungak really isn't much good in a direct fight. And while he'd be difficult to replace, the King in Rags puts little value in the body he created here. The fey lord is staring Ruby down impassively, standing amidst the filth.

"And so the heroes come crashing down on the villain's lair. But only one, and rather too late. Would you care to make a speech before you try to get past me? Your type likes such displays, I remember."

[Gullara]

[Tracking Rats]
Archera, Flicker, and the other one

Archera signals for the others to lie low and wait. She tucks in close so she can speak extremely quietly. "They're waiting for something. We'll wait too and see what's going on. Maybe we follow."

[Moth Park]

"Okay sure you can lift it, but can you use it? It's taller than you are." Eliseo points out. She smiles wider when she gets a bit flustered.

[Arkhosia]

Moth Park

Anastasia stutters. "I-I mean, kinda? It's a little difficult, but I- but I'm not hopeless with it," she protests, trying not to let him have this one too.

[Recaiden]

This place is horrible. Disgusting. Primitive. Really disgusting. And every squelch of her boots through the carpet of filth underscores the extreme extent of the rat infestation.
And when she arrives at the 'throne room', Ruby would completely fail to describe how utterly loathsome the place is.

But more importantly, she's found someone. An unfamiliar face, but not a strange voice.
Well, the rats have, in a sense, been terrorizing the city. But is that really enough to explain why he's here?

Of course, the faerie king is treating this all like a work of theater.
Ruby sneers. "No." So if he's the villain - or the villain's champion? And she the hero - a first time for everything? Well then this is only supposed to go one way.
She lifts her blaster gun - it's done a tolerable job burning rats, now for a rat king - towards the King's puppet and pulls the trigger.

[5a Violista]

[Finding Rattatas (Holly in the lake)]

Holly half-laughs.
To be honest, she doesn't like this situation.
But laughing helps disguise her displeasure of it. She just wants it to get over so that she can go up and find Amalungak and then ensure he's safe like that hellhound or whoever that was asked her to.
"Who hasn't?" she answers.

She starts counting out on her fingers: "The Obsidian Empress, the Thing in the Walls, Orisanla of the Sky, Janaina of the Sea, Oxum of the Moon..." that's five so far.
That's enough, right?
Some of them obviously have stronger claims on different aspects than others. "Oh, right, I guess you too now."
She looks up out of the water. She really hopes this can be taken care of soon, so she can go back up there.

[Shadowcaller]

[Buffet Dungeon]

Strictly speaking the rifle wasn't enchanted.

The person using the rifle just channeled fell magic into it!

Which honestly doesn't make the situation much better. The strangest thing about the wound is the fact that it seems to make Anika's blood want to escape from her body. Which is probably disconcerting.

Regardless! Anika knocks the heck outta the cultist! Having been bearslapped, he's out like a light. Or at least dazed for a little while.

Magdalene is shortly running over, "Oh sweet, you got 'em!"

Then she spots the wound.

"Oh (flower) you got shot. Hang on a sec," she says as she slings her backpack off and begins rifling through it. Shortly she comes up with a bottle of alcohol and a long pair of tweezers. "Gotta get that bullet out this is gunna suck."

And if Anika lets her dig the bullet out she's going to discover that yes, this really sucks.

"(Flowering) Chthonian cultists and their (flowering) chaos magic is the pain in the ass," she grumbles as she pulls the bullet out and discards it before quickly ripping open a tampon package and stuffing the highly absorbent material into the wound before wrapping it with bandages to keep it in place. It all goes quick. Pretty clear that Magdalene has done this before.

[Buffet Dungeon]

The bear groans, not liking this one bit. She wasn't supposed to get shot like this! Stupid magical bullets.

Then the groans get a lot louder once the bullet is pulled out. But like Magda, Anika have also done this before so it doesn't turn into more than just groans.
Once its out, she shapeshifts back to her humanoid form and gestures into the air, causing green healing energy to swirl around her for a few seconds. "Elune's tits that hurt." She exclaims after a loud grunt. "You know who these jerks are? You keep mentioning that weird word." She was pretty sure it was the name of some weird demon lord. Or maybe even one of those old snarks.

[Rebonack]

[Buffet Dungeon]

Oh hey green swirls! Magdalene can guess what that is.

"Cool healing magic, yeah? I got, uh, something kinda like that but it needs to have (anises) nearby who want to kill you for it to work," Magdalene says.

It eats people.

And feeds their vitality to other people.

All of Magdalene's magic is pretty spooky.

And then questions! "What, Chthonians? Yeah these dudes are cultists of Chthon. All about collecting blood to wake up their god or something. They're a bunch of (flowering) crazies. Chthon is like... a god? And also a place. All the gods are like that, I guess? I dunno I'm not a godologist or whatever. Here-"

She pulls out a little bottle filled with silver powder from her backpack. Subtle flashes of soft white light flicker through it as it shifts within the container. She hands the charm to Anika.

"-purified silver. It'll cut their chaos magic so it doesn't go right through your armor. Helps with the bleeding, too. Damn, wish I had more than just two of 'em. Ah well," Magdalene sighs as she pops the cork on a second bottle and pours the metal all over her shield, giving it a lustrous sheen. "You got a weapon or anything you carry? You just sorta pour the stuff out on it and the ward'll do its thing. But you, like turn into a bear. So maybe we can douse your claws in it?"

Magdalene isn't sure if that'll work. Probably? This is uncharted territory for her. Back where she's from magic users always carry some kind of focus.

"Ugh..." groans the tiefling. Sounds like he's coming around.

[Shadowcaller]

[Buffet Dungeon]

"You can heal too? Never guessed you were such a badass." Anika grins and gives a friendly punch to Magda's shoulder.
"Oh, so they're like those snark worshippers then. Probably also turn into horrible monsters too after a while, ain't that right?" Anika points at the tiefling. "I mean, this dude looked like he got this path cut out for him. He's already bloodred." Pretty sure that's racist or something, Anika.

She stares at the offered silver. "Uhh... afraid you gotta apply that if I turn into something. If I shift, all my gear goes away and I can't operate things as a bear." A beat. "I mean, not that well at least." Her gaze shifts back to the slowly wakening tiefling. "Guess we gotta have one of those cultist talks, so whose the good and who's the bad adventurer? She whispers to Magda.

[Rebonack]

[Buffet Dungeon]

"I mean, sorta? Mostly I heal me. More like keep people standing in a fight. Can't really do much once the fighting's done," Magdalene clarifies as she gets punched. Anika might be kind of surprised how sturdy Magdalene is for how tiny she is. It's like she just punched a tree for how much the girl moved. "Neh, that bear thing sounds like it'll be a pain. I guess maybe we can sneak up on the next batch of cultists and I can dose your claws before you charge in?"

An eyebrow is quirked at Anika's terminology.

"Snark worshipers?" she asks. That isn't a term she's familiar with. But she gets the impression that Anika is talking about the various slumbering gods maybe? "Sometimes, yeah. Or, I think so? Mostly they summon stuff. Sometimes after you beat one up they'll (flowering) explode and then you're fighting a big angry chthonian. I dunno if they turn into one or if they're using their own blood to summon it or what. I never really asked 'em about it."

It's true!

Usually her interactions with blood cultists involve very little dialog and significantly more violence. Aside from screaming 'Blood for Chthon!' they usually don't have a whole bunch to say.

Speaking of speaking!

"Ugh..." the cultist groans before starting when he realizes he's got a pair of adventurers looming over him. He begins making some arcane gestures only to have Magdalene stomp on his hand.

Ouch.

"What's what the deal down, here?" Magdalene asks once the cultist is done wriggling in pain.

"I won't tell you anything, unbeliever!" he spits back.

[Morty]

[Finding Rats - Ruby]

The King in Rags doesn't move. Instead, a thorny vine erupts from the ground, taking the blaster shot and being seared in half. Around Ruby, the filth rises up and forms some hideous, multi-legged shapes with gaping mouths that drip with venom. They don't seem particularly quick to attack, however. They lurch towards her clumsily.

"Brevity, then. Very well."

[Gullara]

Moth Park

Anastasia stutters. "I-I mean, kinda? It's a little difficult, but I- but I'm not hopeless with it," she protests, trying not to let him have this one too.

[Moth Park]

"Oh yeah? So you can show me then, right?" Ah hah, the true test. Can Ana avoid being shamed?

[Hattish Thing]

[Westside Rakdosbucks]

The orc simply frowns, shoving her hands into her pockets.

It wasn't a matter of being busy, that's true. Nor did she have any particular fear of the ocean.

Billie had never had any reason not to go, and now that the facts were plainly arranged before her, she felt a sense of melancholy. Why had she missed out on something that, at the very least, somewhat piqued her interest? "You know, I think I'd like that," she murmurs with a sigh. "I don't really have anything to wear, though."

Was this just an excuse? Even she didn't know. "Haven't bought new clothes in... ages."

---

[Alley - Westside]

The colorful goblin sneers as she swipes the buckles back.

Stupid, ugly gray thing. Smelly too, now. Nasty creature! With a dissatisfied expression upon her face, she'll lead Hekta elsewhere.

[Zefir]

[=> Finding Rattatas (Fade, Jaahlyn and Holly]

"Fey?" Fade just replies. Then out of the ground another Fade will appear, it looks much like a copy, but it will miss all colors, just a mix of black and grey.
"I am not suited for this kind of enemy." he says. "So I go up front helping the dragonborn. Part of me will stay here and observe how holly is doing." He then turns around and leaves not even waiting for a nod or anythign else. He takes the path ruby took and should arrive next turn.

The shadow Fade turns to the water creature, when he speaks his voice echos like he is in a big empty cave.
"What is it doing to her? It's not crushing her like it did with the rats."

[Arkhosia]

Moth Park

"Um, of course," Ana replies, fumbling slightly with the buckle of the sashlike belt and loosening it so she could slide the harness off and undo the fastening around the hilt. The leather of the sheath only extends over the tip of the blade and the first few inches, but she does not remove the protective cloth wrapped tightly around the length beneath it all.

"See? I've-I've got this," she assures, raising the weapon vertically in a two-handed grip with a mostly-confident little smile as she shifts her footing into a stance.

[Shadowcaller]

[Buffet Dungeon]

"Yeah... I heard they were into blood sacrifices too. The snarks I mean. Most people do call them gods but they're not god-like at all so I dunno why that is." Anika shrugs. "They're just monsters really. No different than any other."

She looks down at the cultist and judging by what Magda was doing, she would be stuck being the 'good' adventurer. Typical.
"If you tell us, I'll tell her to back off. I'll even heal you, dude. Dying for some stupid snark ain't worth it. Do you really want die a virgin for a snark? That's dumb, dude. Snarks can't hook you up with anyone since they're gross and smelly." That's... quite an assumption to be made about the cultists relationship status.

[=> Finding Rattatas (Fade, Jaahlyn and Holly]

"Claims they might have made, my child, but by ancient laws you will be mine if you enter my realm again. The laws offer a chance, an opportunity. I will set you free, but you will carry my mark meaning that if you ever enter my domain again I will put my claim into effect. Do you understand?" The voices echoes in reply.

Jaahlyn raises an eyebrow, not really understand what Fade is doing, but she nonetheless answers his question. "It wants something from her. They live by an ancient code, which I'm sadly not that familiar with, and subject any mortal they came across to it. I heard they destroy other fey like me, just like the poor rats."

[Watching Suncrest Manor]

Hekta points out the big building from their position on top of a nearby building. "Oh, ai know that place. They got grub, and shinies." A pause as she scratches her head. "But ai got like a friend in there too. Maikes stuff complicated."

[Dr.Gunsforhands]

[Westside Rakdosbucks]

"Billie must know a very good dry cleaner," says Wanessa. "I don't think we'd be obliged to wear anything special. People wear regular clothes to the beach, especially in the fall and at night. Though, I suppose a suit like this one could grant the impression that she's on duty." She takes a moment to look Billie up and down. "I suppose I could offer something of my own to wear instead. It might even miraculously fit. I doubt that it would be what she's looking for, though."

[Rebonack]

[Buffet Dungeon]

"I mean, there were lots of gods before the world ended I guess but they did (flower)-all when zombies cropped up everywhere and ate everyone so who knows if they were real or not?" Magdalene replies with a shrug. "The Old Gods are real but they all suck, too. Can't catch a break."

Magdalene is, at this point, quite sure that 'snark' refers to the Old Gods but she isn't sure what the connection is.

Doesn't snark mean a sassy comeback?

Because the Old Gods DID come back but they never struck Magdalene as terribly sassy.

Anywho!

The cultist's face twists into a face of rage.

"All blood belongs to Chthon! It was from his blood that all life was fashioned! He feels all our pain and suffering and longs for it to end! We will join ourselves to him and all will be one in Chthon!" the cultist howls back. "You've seen the violence and discord of the world! There's no reason for it! Why fight each other when we are all share the same blood! Give yourselves to Chthon and know peace!"

Magdalene crosses her arms and looks unimpressed. "Pretty sure that (rose) isn't true."