*****
- Earlier, you said we don’t “seem like one of them”, Séliss remarked. Are there other survivors from the surface?
The leader of the trio of hybrids, Lann, hesitated for a time.
- I’m not really allowed to tell you more for now, he finally answered. You’ll have to as Chief Sull once we’ve arrived.
This answer evidently did not satiate Séliss’s curiosity. She was about to ask the mutant another question when she got interrupted by the sound of Elemiah’s armor while he was approaching them. Behind him, Celia and Konrad had built a stretcher in order to move Crel who was still unconscious.
- We’re ready, he simply said.
The group was crawling through the undergrounds for a while now, the hybrids leading, scouting ahead in turn. These tunnels were home to dangerous creatures: they had to make sure to not go through their territory, especially because of the number of wounded people they had in their ranks. Nevertheless, the more they were going forward in the caves, the more they stumbled upon rock slides. Indeed, the undergrounds suffered multiple earthquakes the day prior - something that had never happened before as far as Lann could remember. They probably were linked to the attack on Kenabres.
They had to make a lot of detours on not-so-safe paths. Their route forced them to go through a cave inhabited by a colony of intelligent and very dangerous fungus that the scouts usually avoid. Half of the group was unable to run, they had to kill the creatures, or at least make them flee - something the undergrounds’ inhabitant have never managed to do until then.
After Lann’s warning, the group chose to stop some tunnels before their destination to prepare for battle. Armors’ straps got re-tightened, weapons got checked, bandages got replaced. It was time to get on the move.
Séliss, Lann, Mali and Ashtor went first, taking advantage of their ability to see in the dark as if they were in the sunlight to explore the route without being spotted because of Elemiah’s halo. As planned, the rest of the group waited some moments, tense, then set off, guided by the silent Dyra, the woman with the tumors.
After a while walking, Dyra furrowed her brows and signaled to the others to stop. Something was wrong. Lann told her that they would wait their arrival at the last turn before the mushrooms’ cave. And her eyes used to total darkness allowed her to see until said turn, but he was not there. Where was he? Worried, she waved at the rest of the group so they would stay put, and went alone, readying an arrow. She moved forward step by step, making sure to not make a single noise. Then, she cast a glance at the cave…
If her misshapen face did not prevent her from opening her mouth, she would have let out a long sigh. Relaxing and storing away her arrow, she signaled to the others to approach and they complied. Contrarily to their expectations, the room was not full of monstrous mushrooms. Well, yes, it was. But said mushrooms were dead. Some kind of giant purple morels, with tentacles coming out of holes in their hat, were scattered across the room, still. The scouts were waiting for them in the middle of the scene. Konrad’s eyes lit up in front of this carnage.
- Wow, you did that!? he exclaimed.
Séliss looked at him with an irritated face.
- Yes, of course, she answered, sarcastic. We exterminated a whole fungus colony big enough to make a whole village afraid with just the four of us.
- We found them like that, Lann explained. Most of them look like they’ve been crushed by rocks, but some…
He pointed at two corpses that were nothing like the others: two humanoids wearing Kenabres’s crusaders’ armor. After a quick examination, Celia concluded that they died pretty recently.
- Other survivors? Elemiah asked.
- They look like they were less lucky than us…, Anevia remarked.
- We should search them, Séliss suggested. Maybe they have some useful stuff we can use.
Celia furrowed her eyebrows, but stayed silent. The others were looking at each other, hesitating. Sure, all equipment was good to take… but searching the corpses of crusaders…?
Finally, they let themselves be convinced by the tiefling. The armors marked with the Iomedae’s symbol were too damaged to be worn. One of the crusaders was carrying on his belt a flask containing a liquid smelling like carrots that they identified as a healing potion. Additionally, they had around a hundred of gold pieces on them. This was a hefty amount of gold to be found on soldiers that were supposed to be on duty. But the strangest was their weapons. Most iomedians bore swords, their goddess’s sacred weapon, and often shields to complete their panoply. But these crusaders both had a glaive - a weapon more often assigned to Shelyn, goddess of beauty - and a gauntlet covered in spikes.
- What the…!
Anevia’s voice attracted the others’ attention. The scout had crouched next to one of the corpses and was holding something she managed to get out of the crusaders’ grasp: a pendant the size of a finger and large like three, looking like a golden bull’s head with red eyes which forehead’s was marked with some kind of T. Anevia and Séliss froze at the sight of the idol, visibly worried. Sensing something was amiss, Konrad asked:
- Uh… This rings any bell?
Séliss tighten her grip on her staff, her ears slightly pointing down.
- Baphomet…, she mumbled.
The scout nodded silently. Upon hearing this name, a big smile appeared on Aravashnial’s lips. He was ostensibly hopping up and down. Seeing the lost stares from Celia, Konrad and the hybrids, Anevia developed:
- Baphomet is a demon lord, a very powerful and dangerous type of demon. You could say they’re like demonic half-gods. We don’t know much about him though… He’s a really secretive demon, and that’s the first time his cult takes interest in this conflict…
The intervention of a new demon lord in this war was at the top of the heap of the worst news possible. The Crusade already had enough on its plate with Deskari’s cult. So adding another demon lord to the mix…
- Horgus? Elemiah called.
Horgus jumped, surprised. He accidentally let go of the glaive he was examining.
- W-what? he stuttered.
- Do you per chance have something you want to tell us? the aasimar asked.
An awkward silence settled in, during which everyone’s stare went form one man to the other. Ashtor’s mental voice resounded in Séliss’s mind:
“Elemiah spotted it. Horgus seems agitated since you found the symbol. More than the others.”
Until then, Horgus looked like he was not interested in the discussion, studying with utmost attention one of the dead crusaders’ glaive. Yet, he had cast what he fought were discreet glares in the direction of the impious symbol from time to time. He indeed looked really suspicious.
- Uh… No, not really, the merchant finally responded.
Elemiah was hesitant. He was afraid of pressing him too much and start a new confrontation. Nonetheless, Séliss did not care about such tactful ways:
- Seems like you’re hiding something from us, though, she added.
Horgus tensed once more. He thought he was out of this mess…
Now that two people had voiced their suspicion, the others stared at the merchant with a questioning look. This time, he was done for. After a resigned sigh, Horgus spilled the beans:
- Okay, okay, you don’t need to look at me like that… I’ll tell everything.
He got close to the corpses and crouched next to them, examining them for a few seconds. Then, he took the pendant from Anevia’s hand with a disgusted pout.
- No doubt, that’s a symbol of Baphomet, he confirmed.
He scrutinized each face that was now focused on him. He got back up and dusted his clothes, trying to get some extra time to find his words.
- Some assholes tried to make me look like a traitor some months ago, he explained, so I decided to investigate.
“As you said, he’s a demon lord. And not a weak one. His cult is really organized, unlike usual demonic cults. Instead of just creating as much chaos as possible to make their boss happy, they coordinate their attack to key moments and places. And with cunning and cruel methods. From what I learned, they’re able to corrupt animals to turn them into bloodthirsty beasts.
Celia straightened up, dumbstruck.
- They… they corrupt… animals…? she asked.
Horgus nodded. The huntress tightened her grip, trembling with a silent fury. She then understood why she kept running into crazed and disfigured animals that she had to regretfully take down around Kenabres. Until then, she thought they mutated because of the impious energies surrounding the place. But it seemed like it was not the case: someone was voluntarily corrupting these poor beasts and sending them to their grave. Such a disdain for life… Disgusting.
- It is true that this tactic is cunning, Elemiah remarked, crossing his arms with a thoughtful expression. It is feasible to anticipate and then counter an intelligent troop’s movements. Nevertheless, those of a pack of enraged beasts…
- Woaaaah, that Baphomet dude is super freaky, put that way, Konrad noted.
- And yet, if that was it…, Horgus continued. I gathered a lot of proofs. And now, I’m almost certain: the cult has infiltrated the Crusade’s chain of command.
In a play, this kind of scene would be accompanied by a cortege of worried whispers from the public. Instead, a dead silence fell on the group. Each one was weighing Horgus’s accusations.
History was fuzzy on the details. However, everyone, including Konrad, knew that the previous crusade was almost lost, not because some demons launched a particularly daring attack, but because of traitors that had infiltrated the crusaders’ ranks soldiers who converted to the demonic “cause”. The deception had finally been discovered by a loyal paladin, thus saving Golarion.
This event nonetheless left the door open for the paranoia that crept in the crusaders’ mind and was still making itself felt. It was a new threat, one coming from inside, taking the shape of their compatriots and comrades. Multiple purges happened, Iomedae’s army focusing particularly on shapeshifting demons that could more easily pass for one of them and pervert their troops. In this period of time still, being accused of treason was a very serious matter that could lead to a public execution. Even more for the most helpless or those that were already the victim of discrimination from their peers, like war orphans, Asmodeus’s cult, the god prince of Hell, contracts and devils - many mixing them with demons despite being something completely different -, and tieflings, half-human descendants of evil creatures, whose blood pushed them to become evil in a lot of people’s mind.
- And that’s when, learning you were on their tail, the traitors alerted the demons and attacked Kenabres! Aravashnial exclaimed.
The wizard clapped his hands like a kid applauding a show, his ears lightly twitching from the emotion. His sudden happiness took the others by surprise, them being horrified by what Horgus was telling them until then.
- I knew it! Aravashnial continued, ecstatic. I told them that there were demons among us!
Despite the loss of his sight, the elf could sense Horgus’s dark stare on him. It was so full of disdain that Aravashnial shivered and immediately shut up, his ears slightly falling. Lann, him, seemed like he was thinking while examining the corpses.
- I know these faces, he finally said.
- The much talked about guys that you can’t talk about? Konrad questioned him, one of his eyebrows raised.
The hybrid nodded.
- Welp, Horgus said, this settles the other survivors’ stuff.
- I wouldn’t be so sure, interjected Anevia.
She poked the mushy flesh of one of the fungus with the tip of her crutch.
- Since none of them is attacking us, she continued, it means that they’re all dead. So someone had to kill them.
- Other cultists survived, Elemiah concluded.
Anevia nodded.
- The situation is worse than I thought, Lann then said. We have to take you to chief Sull as soon as possible. Let’s get moving.
While the group was setting off, Celia stopped, realizing someone was not following the others. She turned over to see Séliss staring at the corpses, lost in her thoughts.
- Uhm… Séliss? she called.
Séliss blinked multiple times, as if she was waking up from a dream. Becoming aware that everyone had already left, she caught up to the others, Celia following on her heels with a worried and full of questions look.
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