Normal Innistradi

A Natural Respite and Refuge

Spring had come at last. The cold ache of winter receded, letting the new yellow-green growths on the trees finally color the hills and mountains that clove Torrezon in half. The rivers were running high, new life was growing and blooming everywhere, and the sun was shining.

Arturo had received a small bonus stipend a short while back that he had been saving for this trip. They would need a proper arrangement of horses, hearty and trail-tested ones at that, in order to carry everyone and everything through the mountains. He had invited the High Marshal to come join him before he set off back home. Guitirre had been a little surprised at the invitation, but decided to take him up on the offer.

"A few weeks out in nature will do you good," Arturo had said to him. From the look on his face, the older vampire couldn't disagree.

He made sure to stock up on plenty of supplies -- tents, things to sleep on, various tools, a number of maps, all kept either bound to saddlebags or things that would need to be carried. Arturo had planned for at least thirty to accompany them on this trip, just to be safe. It was going to be a long journey.

Lazaro had been a bit hesitant to leave his own duties behind. There was much to be done, much to plan, but Arturo had been incredibly insistent, and so the priest finally caved. The paladin knew he'd be thanking him later. Hopefully. So long as the others didn't get into too much trouble, of course.

The paladin did compromise on stopping in a small village on the eastern side, after they crossed back over, just so he could send out a bit of paperwork that he'd be bringing along with him. He thought that Lazaro might've been granted more leeway now that the bat was gone, even temporarily, but apparently he was wrong in that assumption.

Regardless, he also had made some arrangements to ensure that the animals were being watched. Hibana would be accompanying, but on leash. Otherwise he knew the wolf would simply run off and get too lost on his own. Luckily, getting the leash to be nearly as long as his house was wide wasn't of too much trouble, so he could still run enough. Aster, Guitirre's mastiff, seemed not to like him very much. The High Marshal told her to hush her whining and growling.

He went through one last bit of counting to make sure that everything was ready before he went to go call Vasro to begin grabbing their guests and fellow adventurers.

Swift, despite also being busy as a condemner, was making an active effort to help their brother and brother-in-law by keeping an eye on their two kami kids. Bantenso and Danjikisei had been mildly wrangled by their uncle and told to stay with either the horse that Swift had put them both on, Swift themself, or Koda (who was watching Swift fret like a mother hen and trying desperately to not burst out laughing at the sight; he was losing).

"Okay, I think that's that," Swift muttered, speaking too soon as usual, because Bantenso had mischief and mayhem in his heart and wanted to pet the puppies.

#planar posting #ixalan posting #mtg rp

Valentina was fresh off her ship, a little shorter of a journey than Guitirre's Twilight had been. She missed Adayn, but unfortunately they couldn't be here for this trip, having gone on a journey of their own that could conceivably take them several more months. She had forgotten how long their trip actually was, although the couple kept in contact via communicator.

She kept a watchful eye over Koda's siblings that were accompanying them, although not Koda himself. They were all adults in their own right, but just in case something happened.

The following is an excerpt from the book I am writing on Capennan Folk Magic following my recent visit to the plane.

Chapter Three - Cephalids

The Cephalids of Capenna are similar to the octopuses, squids, and other cephalopods of other planes, lacking in hard bones and instead using pressurized blood and powerful muscles to remain upright.

They are most common among the Obscura family of New Capenna, where their lack of bones, as well as their propensity for illusion and mind magic, make them excellent spies and infiltrators.

However their main source of folk magic, known in Planar Common as "Two-Tides" represents truth and falsehood equally.

Normally here, I'd put the native Cappenan Cephalid name beside the Planar Common name, but there is no decent way to represent Capennan Cephalid with Planar Common Script, and printing presses are not equipped to print Cappenan Cephalid so here's a photograph of a clay tablet, with the name of this branch of folk magic in Capennan Cephalid inscribed upon it.

Two-Tides is a sympathetic folk tradition, where the main way of engaging with it is sculpture, typically of clay. This aids in the ritualistic aspect of associating two or more truths or ideas and forcing an amount to become false while forcing the rest to remain true.

Vasro Hayashi, the interplanar representative of the Obscura describes this mechanism thusly: "A Cephalid can lock in a truth that their hand is touching something they want to steal when they momentarily touch it, and lock in the truth that their hand is in their pocket, then tighten those two truths together and the magic will cause the object to dissolve into sea foam and reappear in the pocket of the Cephalid."

The clay typically helps in this tradition by making the truths or falsehoods easier to link. Mr. Hayashi went on to say, "Alternatively, a Cephalid can make you just flat-out die by making a clay sculpture of your corpse and taking the false-truth of 'you are dead' and the truth of 'you are alive', linking them, and making the death one true. This is quite hard to do, however, since all replicas used this way have to be mostly size accurate."

Despite the macabre nature of these examples, Cephalids frequently use this magic for day to day workings, as attested to by the Cephalid text "An Outsider's Guide to Cephalid Magic." The following quotation is from a Planar Common translation of the text.

"Cephalid Magic is frequently used to alter the weather, turn inedible objects into edible food and to aid or harm others. Outsiders will frequently only see this magic in big dramatic events, but every pot and sculpture is usually a spell."

I, the author, profess very little skill in this method of magic, although I have done minor workings in this system. I found myself with a glass of polluted water from the canals of the Caldaia, and with no options decided to test out this magic. I held the truth that water is drinkable along with the truth that this water had unsafe particles and used a flow of mana to force the pollution one to stop being true. Lo and behold, before my very eyes the water cleared as if it had never held those things at all.

The Cephalids in addition to their folk magic have a few other sources of traditions and spell work. Being closely associated with the sphinx Raffine and the Obscura, divination is common among them. I interviewed an Obscura agent who did not wish for their name to be recorded here, but told me "Raffine torments all her agents with visions of the future." Unlike other forms of divination on other planes, this is not a voluntary process and many would descibe it as being forced to see past the veil. In addition, while few worship them now, there are the Old Gods of Old Capenna. Many of their names are lost to time and the sealing of the city, but the Old Men of Water and Dirt and their union which makes the clay used for writing and magic were once important to them, as attested to in recently discovered Old Capennan text "Hymn to the Elementals." Some sources, like the Old Capennan text "The Ends of The Land" suggest a tie to the deity known simply as That Which Watches, represented in murals as the night sky, although much less is known about how this god was worshipped, if at all, by any Old Capennan culture.

#planar posting #capenna posting #new capenna posting

Adayn's covered wagon was set up outside the omenpath from Kamigawa to New Capenna. It held various supplies, and also Regalia's bed. The pest himself was currently curled up next to the witch on the driver's bench, waiting for one of the Kami to come out and cleanse them in case of Pestoxy infection.

They looked over the plans for the trip. New Capenna. Thunder Junction. Thyrsus. Theros. (Lots of Th- planes). They started thinking about their time on Kamigawa instead.

It was their second time there although Valentina's first. The wedding of Goldenscar and Greasefang. Adayn had brought a coffee machine. One of those really fancy ones. They had to sell quite a few tinctures and reagents to afford it. But they had managed it. The rest of the money went towards this wagon, elderly work horse, and supplies.

The wedding had been nice, as was their stay in a less than nice hotel in the Undercity with Val. Regalia had feasted on the bugs, which made the room quite comfortable. Some of the shops were nice, and Adayn had met Itachi in his noodle bar, which they hadn't been able to do the last time they were in Kamigawa. Itachi was a very nice man and Adayn very much liked his cooking. They had been there fairly regularly with Val.

Adayn wished Val could come with them on this trip. Unfortunately, the whole continent of Torrezon was on edge from the Xerexians, and the Bat God that was definitely not defeated no matter what the Church said to placate the people. But that did mean a military post for her, and she would have to travel back to receive it. She was a Captain after all.

Adayn was startled out of their reverie by Regalia hissing at a pair of nezumi walking by. The two were fearful and staring.

"Sorry," Adayn said in heavily accented nezumi. "He not friendly."

Despite the poor grammar, the point came across and one went, "Foreigner," and they both hustled off.

Adayn opened their communicator, checking the time in both Kamigawan and New Capennan. They had dinner reservations in about three hours, which should be enough time to figure out the lay of the land and how to get to the restaurant. But where was the Kami who was supposed to cleanse them?

Equinox

Torrezon had a number of various holidays. Some were practiced more locally or regionally than others across the continent, but there were a good number of those which were always celebrated anywhere one could stand. One of these holidays had been the Darkest Night, the meaning of which had been swiftly and terribly co-opted by the coming of the Betrayer. What was observed as a day of deep remembrance and preparation for the turning of the seasons instead was a night of horror and warfare.

That made the following holy day all the more significant.

The equinox had a few different colloquialisms depending on region. Some were more inspired than others -- the Equal-Night, the Turning of Days, the Night of Balance, the Day of the Scales -- and in years before Torrezon had been united under one banner and rule, the significance of this day had varied. Still to its myriad peoples would it, though much of that significance had been removed and replaced with something the Church of Dusk claimed to be newer, better, more pure and more holy.

For it is on the eve of the equinox that the Dawn Era began, when first the Legion set sail to find the object of their salvation. And it was on yet another equinox that the Saint was returned, though that one heralded the cooling of days and the coming of winter rather than the welcomed embrace of spring.

[Continued from here]

Arturo hugs Vasro as best as he can with an arm full of wolf, giving him a kiss on his squidly forehead. Hibana licks at his face and tries to gently bite at him as a form of greeting. Lazaro smiles and also gives Vasro a hug.

"Blessed Equinox," he said. "Koda is still out on his voyage, as far as I am aware."

"I don't know what the full itinerary is," Arturo said, thinking. "They might be half-way to the tip of the continent. I don't think they're trying to move very fast, but I could be wrong."

Swift gives their wiggliest nephew a squeeze around the shoulders. "Good to see you as well, Vasro. I'm pretty sure Koda will be staying with the ship, if only so Haruko doesn't wear herself out. He kept texting me about some kind of...design for something and said it won't be completed by this equinox. Didn't say much more than that."

Valentina dragged Adayn through the celebration, the newlyweds laughing and talking to various celebrants. Valentina was not in official legion clothing for the most part, instead wearing a red jacket over a white collared shirt and dark brown pants. She did have legion symbols on the jacket denoting her as a Captain.

Adayn wore a short, forest green cloak over top of a light grey, sleeveless dress that showed off the arms and chest developed by years of farm work. The couple stopped when they saw their family talking in the street and made their way over.

"Well Met, Uncles! Cousin!" Val said. She had clearly fed recently, and was tipsy.

Adayn simply smiled, waving at the group. They were eschewing drinking for the celebration, but still seemed a little unfocused, although they were clearly trying.

obscura-omenseeker

“I see. I’ll drop off whatever we have for him tomorrow, then.”

He turns to the two lovebirds in greeting. “Val! Adayn! Good to see you again! Having a good time?”

Hibana made a whining noise, wiggling very insistantly to try and get down and greet people. Arturo was still firmly holding him.

"If I put you down, no running or jumping," he said. The wolf whined and yipped, and Arturo put him down. Hibana then immediately went to go give 'proper' wolfy greetings.

"Blessed Equinox to you two," Lazaro said, while his husband was trying to each a wolf manners. "I hope you are enjoying yourselves now that you are wed."

"Blessed Equinox," Cecurro called over to Adayn and Val. He double-counted the wrapped packages that he was holding and was relieved that all of them were still there.

#planar posting #dawn equinox

"Blessed Equinox." Val said. Adayn pet the wolf gently, as Hibana tried his best to knock them over.

"We are enjoying ourselves, although we are to be split in not that much time. I received news of my deployment. Luckily I do have enough time to attend Goldie and Fang's wedding and make it back before I am to go."

Val checked her pocket discreetly. Yes there was still everything she intended on gifting wrapped up in there.

Equinox

Torrezon had a number of various holidays. Some were practiced more locally or regionally than others across the continent, but there were a good number of those which were always celebrated anywhere one could stand. One of these holidays had been the Darkest Night, the meaning of which had been swiftly and terribly co-opted by the coming of the Betrayer. What was observed as a day of deep remembrance and preparation for the turning of the seasons instead was a night of horror and warfare.

That made the following holy day all the more significant.

The equinox had a few different colloquialisms depending on region. Some were more inspired than others -- the Equal-Night, the Turning of Days, the Night of Balance, the Day of the Scales -- and in years before Torrezon had been united under one banner and rule, the significance of this day had varied. Still to its myriad peoples would it, though much of that significance had been removed and replaced with something the Church of Dusk claimed to be newer, better, more pure and more holy.

For it is on the eve of the equinox that the Dawn Era began, when first the Legion set sail to find the object of their salvation. And it was on yet another equinox that the Saint was returned, though that one heralded the cooling of days and the coming of winter rather than the welcomed embrace of spring.

[Continued from here]

Arturo hugs Vasro as best as he can with an arm full of wolf, giving him a kiss on his squidly forehead. Hibana licks at his face and tries to gently bite at him as a form of greeting. Lazaro smiles and also gives Vasro a hug.

"Blessed Equinox," he said. "Koda is still out on his voyage, as far as I am aware."

"I don't know what the full itinerary is," Arturo said, thinking. "They might be half-way to the tip of the continent. I don't think they're trying to move very fast, but I could be wrong."

Swift gives their wiggliest nephew a squeeze around the shoulders. "Good to see you as well, Vasro. I'm pretty sure Koda will be staying with the ship, if only so Haruko doesn't wear herself out. He kept texting me about some kind of...design for something and said it won't be completed by this equinox. Didn't say much more than that."

Valentina dragged Adayn through the celebration, the newlyweds laughing and talking to various celebrants. Valentina was not in official legion clothing for the most part, instead wearing a red jacket over a white collared shirt and dark brown pants. She did have legion symbols on the jacket denoting her as a Captain.

Adayn wore a short, forest green cloak over top of a light grey, sleeveless dress that showed off the arms and chest developed by years of farm work. The couple stopped when they saw their family talking in the street and made their way over.

"Well Met, Uncles! Cousin!" Val said. She had clearly fed recently, and was tipsy.

Adayn simply smiled, waving at the group. They were eschewing drinking for the celebration, but still seemed a little unfocused, although they were clearly trying.

A Spring Marriage

The wedding was held outside, in the Innistradi tradition. Spring flowers were woven into a trellis set up for this purpose, mostly Torrezone, but a few early flowers imported at a cost from Innistrad through various omenpaths. The priest of the small church stood under the trellis, and Valentina Vazante stood beside him, dressed in Legion finery, all flayed muscle designs and expensive cloth.

Adayn Sorackle walked proudly down the aisle, across the grass and past the guests, which included Val's Uncles, Arturo and Lazaro, and as many of their children as could attend, Lazaro's brother Cecurro, Val's grandfather and the entourage he brought with him, and Adayn's youngest half-sibling, the planeswalker Marlene. Despite a wedding expected to be a quite large event by Torrezone customs, these were the only family members in attendance, with the excuse given that the church they had settled on being too small to accommodate more guests.

Adayn reached the trellis. They were dressed in a fine gown, the green of new growth. The priest smiled and said his first part, a long and winding speech, about the joining of family and the love shared between two, as sanctified by the church.

Then it was Valentina's turn. She presented her name and lineages, and a coin, stamped with a beautiful rose and the Innistradi symbol of the New Moon.

Adayn's turn was shorter, and he presented his name, lineage, and his coin, stamped with the Torrezone word for family and the Innistradi word for safety.

And then there was something that wasn't part of the traditions of the church. The exchanging of vows. Adayn went first this time, and said her vows in Torrezone, clearly practiced and practiced well.

"Valentina. You are my love, my light, a shining beacon of hope for a better future for us all. Pious and kind, mighty and glorious, many should strive to your example. A whirlwind romance turned into a love to last all the ages of this world. Through trials and tribulations I will love you. Through sickness I will love you. And on my deathbed, I will love you."

Valentina had tears in her eyes. She had not expected Adayn to learn Torrezone to say their vows and she was touched. And she chuckled a little as she delivered her vows in Innistradi.

"Adayn. You are beautiful. From a humble beginning to now a figure of importance and wonder. My love for you grows everyday into a beautiful flowerbush, laid heavy with petals and thorns to protect us from that which threatens us. I promise to love you for all my time on this mortal coil, and when I finally pass I will sing your praises on my tongue as I forever rest."

The priest stepped forward and, using a thin red cord, tied Valentina's right to Adayn's left, pronouncing them wed in the eyes of the church.

[A sparkling pink invitation! The glitter doesn't transfer, somehow]

Dear ADAYN -

Come to my birthday party! It's the first of March, 4pm at the Darling's Pearl. It's my favourite little place for a casual get-together.

Yours,

The Superstar In Your Future!

PS - That's not meant to be read in a flirty manner.

Apologies, I won't be able to make it to New Capenna in time. Preparations for a... specific event here are well underway.

#innistrad posting #planar posting

Memories

Adayn couldn't sleep. As the days in Torrezon began to creep longer, he was supposedly going to feel better.

Supposedly.

Right now, he was looking through the cabinets for the third time that night. The same things were there, various unopened jars of pickled vegetables, a few bags of dried beans.

Valentina had a meeting. She was always having meetings, leaving Adayn alone.

Alone.

They were alone. They would always be left alone.

No. No, that was wrong!

Wasn't it?

Adayn's mind was already drifting, having trouble grasping reason. Their breathing quickened. Vision began to fade.

Their 23rd birthday. A party in a small hamlet they were currently living near, out in the Moorland. Whiskey and sodas all around. A pleasant night.

Abruptly it turned cold. The party went quiet. A mob of ghouls shuffled out of the mist. The farmers gathered up together, but the alcohol was playing against them.

It was a slaughter.

Adayn had only lived by playing dead underneath the tent that collapsed overtop of the party.

They couldn't stay.

It was the Travails. Adayn lived on a small farm out towards the Geier Reaches. The whisperings were in the back of their mind. "Join Us."

They grabbed their pitchfork, and carefully made their way outside, greeted by a horrifying sight. Amalgams of farmer and animal, screaming shrilly, incomprehensibly. "Join Us."

It was a slaughter.

Their community destroyed by their own hand.

They couldn't stay.

It was less than a year prior. They lived on the farm they would come to call their own.

The moth door was opened.

They were begging, pleading with the party about to investigate the door. "Don't go. Don't leave me."

"We'll be back in a jiffy," their most recent partner had said. The door closed.

There was a scream.

It was a slaughter.

Everyone they knew consumed by the House.

They couldn't stay.

Valentina came home from the barracks in the wee hours of the morning. Adayn was collapsed on a heap on the kitchen floor, a broken jar of pickled radish next to them.

Only The Good Die Young

Adayn was calm. The Darkest Night was over, technically speaking. All the readings they were doing were pointing to the conflict not being over yet, but they were keeping that close.

Their bone throwing kit lay out in the open, although tidily wrapped. Now that the Inquisitiors weren't so bloodthirsty, they felt as if they could keep it out.

Valentina had gone to the local barracks. A priest was discussing with the Legionairres which of their allies had died and which survived and what the newly reminted Pontifex was decreeing.

Adayn had decided not to come with, and asked Val only to tell them if someone they knew closely had died. Mostly out of concern that if they heard a full death count they'd burst into flame, scaring the Legionairres.

A grandfather clock ticked away the minutes.

There was a soft knock at the door, a rhythm used to identify the couple to eachother. Adayn answered the door.

Val's cheeks were tearstreaked, and her eyes were deadened.

"Who?" Was all Adayn asked.

The flames would've blinded a human. As it stood, they still hurt Valentina's eyes. Adayn was the brightest point in the room, although nothing else was catching ablaze.

"Leta." They whispered. "It can't be."

"Adayn, my love-"

"No. It cannot be!"

Every plant in the room, of which there were many, began moving of their own volition.

It took a while to calm Adayn again, but calmed they were. But they had to check something.

They crossed the room and opened their bone throwing kit, setting it up in the proper way and passing the five bones between their hands, before throwing them.

"What do you see, my love?" Val asked.

"Very confusing. The Humerus is in the direct middle and links the Vertebra in the New Moon to the Wishbone and Knuckle in the Hunter's Moon."

"Which means?"

"Her fate is a time for us to forge ahead but confusing matters something terrible happened of course in the past and will happen in the future. All of this is linked somehow. And yet the Tooth lies in the Hunter's Moon. Fear of what comes next and the flame of warding?"

"What does it all mean then?"

"I may never know. I just hope she... I hope she took those bastards out with her."

#planar posting #ixalan posting #ultima nocte

How Petty is a Man?

Valentina Vazante awoke abruptly. She attempted to sit up, but pressure on various points held her back, kept her laying. As her vision adjusted to the brightness of the room she was contained within, faces swam into view. A glorifier, the same one she had seen on the wall. And a condemner.

Feeling slowly came to her. Her chest was bandaged. Her arms, legs and head all restrained. She knew what this meant.

A condemnation of a dangerous individual.

"Why?" Was the first word out of her mouth. The glorifier rushed to her side.

"Cap- Uh... Vazante! There has been much afoot. You need your rest." The glorifier attempted to exert a calming aura, which fell onto a furious Val.

"I may not have the authority anymore from what you said. But I demand to know. Why?"

The condemner stood tall as he came into Valentina's view.

"Everyone saw you, using unholy magics of other planes to nefarious purposes. Cardinal Ayere himself has ordered your condemnation. And demotion."

"He will not have that authority for much longer." Val spat.

"Silence, heretic." The magic seeped into her. Even if she wanted to disobey, she could not.

"You will be investigated for ties to the Betrayer. And the new threat he brought with him. I will leave you for now Vazante, to reflect upon your sins."

The condemner strode out of the room, leaving it significantly darker.

The glorifier shook his head. "The Cardinal insists you used that magic of yours to aid the Betrayer. Any fool with eyes can see it was anything but. However petty of a squabble you have with him, I'd recommend you hold your tongue while you're condemned for it."

The glorifier left too, plunging the room into total darkness.

bovineblogger

can you guys watch my squab for me im gonna go on my smoko

kcrossvine

baby need smoko

bovineblogger

BABY DOES NOT NEED SMOKO

#ooc #koda hayashi

Over Darkened Lands

"Is the horse ready for him?" High Marshal Guitirre had the reins of his own steed wrapped around his hand, and his eyes were kept to the slow, sweeping shadow that was beginning to pass over Torrezon. The sun had sunk beneath the horizon, and its last fading rays were fading fast.

"Yes, High Marshal."

"Vazante?" Guitirre looked over at his Marshal. "Ready?"

"Yes, sir," Arturo said. A bit of cosmium had done him well, but he still looked like a stiff breeze might knock him over. Guitirre would recommend him for a high commendation when this was over.

If they both survived, naturally.

"You can get us all the way to Alta Torrezon, yes?"

"Yes, High Marshal. One way or another, we'll get there," Arturo answered. He held his moonsilver spear in one hand, looking back to the omenpath. A few of the Champions were warily watching Koda-Haruko. Arturo had told them to stop being stupid, that he wasn't a demon, that this was an oni-kami bond, yes they are different, he was from a different plane, and for them to focus on what was more important.

Cardinal Sirocco had given each of them blessings in the hour before dusk, and she was now situated on her own steed. She was not going to accompany them all the way back to Alta Torrezon, just far enough to dive back towards Austello once the pontifex was safely retrieved.

[Continued from here/here]

More demons and traitors began to flock to them once they began to break clear, now on the straight to the heartcity. The Champions closed in tighter, slashing and keeping away their flying pursants while Guitirre stabbed at them with his dancing blade. He didn't realize what Koda was doing, believing, somehow, that Arturo was keeping up the tether.

He owed much to that man. He'd have to make sure he most certainly got proper distinctions after this.

The frozen walls of Alta Torrezon were alight with fighting, and Guitirre signaled for the Champions to keep a tight formation as they rode to the gate. Mavren rose up his spear with its shining head as a beacon, signalling to the defenders that he was arriving. A number of defenders saw the sign and cries started going up, loud enough to be heard over the wind rushing past the escort.

#ultima nocte #planar posting #ixalan posting

The cries that Mavren was coming swept through the city. Valentina heard them, in her furious state. All around her, demons and traitors alike were torn apart by nature's fury. She had been wandering aimlessly before this, but now with inexorable purpose, she made her way back to the outer wall.

Val had to see the Pontifex for herself.

A bloodletter stood tall in her way, growling. The wounds on her chest leaked blood, blood the demon wanted to taste. Valentina snarled.

A massive fist made of the stones of the road punched from underneath sending the bloodletter into the air. A series of clotheslines strung over the street, currently empty, entangled the demon, and in one final blow the wood siding of a nearby store splintered off the facade and pierced the bloodletter thousands upon thousands of times.

And Valentina never stopped walking.

"Captain Vazante!" Said a glorifier, meeting her on the stairs and looking with worry at the wounds on her chest. "We must get you to the field hospital!"

"No. I must see the Pontifex." She pushed the glorifier out of the way and when he protested, a single, golden glare was enough to silence him.

She made her way to the top of the wall.

"Captain! Captain look!"

Look she did at the glorious spearhead, shining with a holy light.

"We are saved." She said simply, before collapsing of exhaustion.

Inter Arma

"I want every last member of the clergy to be out here! There will be no cowering this night! We face this bastard head-on!" Theodors roared. His voice was being amplified through some carefully woven magics, and his orders were being dispersed accordingly. His words were being echoed by practically all of the conclave -- including Macario, whom he would be working alongside.

"To every condemner, a glorifier! To every inquisitor, a cleric! Pair each with as many paladins as we can!" he continued. The Legion were handling their own scurrying of forces as night fell.

All of the humans were being sheltered within the cathedrals closest to the center of the city. Gold-armored paladins formed protective rings around them, a handful of clergy among them. Some human guard were with them too, but the vast majority of the humans who were more martially trained were elsewhere.

The walls were alive with activity. Ballistae were being loaded for the larger demons sure to appear, almost every single defender was holding at least a crossbow or a polearm, everyone was getting as prepared as they could. In anticipation for the coming of the Betrayer, the inquisitors and condemners had received more specialized training on how to quickly subdue and neutralize anyone who may be succumbing to madness. It was techniques being pioneered by Lazaro that would help them see the light of day, if all went well.

If. What an ugly word.