"Penance is a punishment undergone willingly to show you are repentant for your actions and are sorry for committing them." Ulfric states, not sure if the man is in right enough mind to actually make the work meaningful. "You would be required to help our group of refugees with menial labour, and whatever tasks you are able to perform. If you cause no more trouble and are earnestly helpful then you will eventually be allowed to go free."
Pausing for a moment, Ulfric lets out a sigh. Refusing will leave me with few options."
Other than be driven mad and serve a tyrant out of fear for his life... what has this man done wrong...
The man looks at Ulfric's weapon, then feels at his throat, where it's still stained with blood. He gulps, then lowers his eyes. Then I will do it...there are many below who are sick of this insanity. I can rally them together...err...maybe.
He seems suddenly quite ambitious...or foolish
"So them cultists is crazy, but ain't evil?"
Cerio winces as he prestidigitates his nose back to its former shape. More or less.
Ulfric nods, "Yes that would be good. Have them be ready to stand up for themselves and help us stop the madness."
If the man seems to speak the truth and is going to give it an honest try, Ulfric will let him set to his task. If not he will execute him.
Ulfric senses that the man is going to give it a go, but suspects that his intention is born out of fear of Ulfric, not of any altruistic motives.
The "reformed" cultist rushes off and heads down the stairs, to what fate...you don't know...yet.
"Let's hope he can convey the message...or at least remember the what and why of it when the it comes down to it." T'eron declares. "How much time do you think he'll need to pass along this 'newfound knowledge'?"
"I'm not sure, but we should hurry onward. The crowd might not like what he has to say." Ulfric says.
Ulfric will head through the next passage way.
Ulfric leads the way through the gap in the northern wall and into an even stranger scene beyond. Cracked pillars bent at broken angles support a sagging ceiling. While most of the walls look ready to fall apart, the northern wall has done so, creating a massive gap open to the strange weather beyond. Opposite it, the wall in the best repair is laden with parchment pages covered in stark lines of coal and chalk. A hall stretches to the west.
Currently, this room looks much like an opium den, as the smokey breaths of weak figures fill the air. Dusty pallets slouch against walls and rock piles, as three figures in robes kneel here, spewing their sickly yellow mist into the open air. They seem oblivious to your presence, so consumed are they by their actions.
Cerio whispers from behind. "If we kill 'em, won't th'fog fade away?"
"Most likely. But it would likely take much of mine and Campus' energy for the day to do so." Ulfric replies.
Is it worth killing them now, or do we go through to confront Zandalus...
"Right. Then maybe we outta head straight fer Zandalus."
Right. And I am always reluctant to kill living beings so clearly under an enchantment. There may be another way. Zandalus is key, or so we've been led to believe.
"Agreed, straight for Zandalus."
As soon as you move to the north, the creatures in this room lower their heads, and their eyes turn, eerily in unison, towards you. Still spewing noxious yellow vapors, they charge at you!
The others won't be able to respond fast enough...
With a growl, Ulfric bursts forward, setting himself up to block the creatures movements.
Once in postion, Ulfric readies a sword blow for the first one to reach him.
Ulfric sets up as the defender, ready to take the brunt of the attacks from these odd creatures. One charges at him, the odd mist spewing out before it. As it approaches, it nearly blinds Ulfric, and the strange mists assail his nostrils with sour smoke that begins to affect his mind.
Ulfric easily resists the affect, and swings at the approaching man, the mist affecting his vision. Still, he fights through it and cuts deeply across the chest of this seemingly unarmed man. Were his mouth not already open and spewing mist, he'd no doubt have screamed out in pain as Ulfric's blade cuts across his sternum.
Still, the man is able to attack, slamming his fist at Ulfric with supernatural strength! Ulfric easily deflects the attack with a snarl.
The other two oneirogens move into place, though they have trouble moving over the rubble in the room. When the southern one gets into the area of Campus, T'eron, and Cerio, the sour mist begins to affect their minds as well.
"THIS IS A TURRIBLE TIME FER NAPPIN!" Cerio screams, looking bewildered, then kicks T'eron.
Hearing two thumps as Campus and T'eron collapse, Ulfric grits his teeth and tries to clear the two he's dealing with. Ulfric strikes the same creature with his longsword.
Ulfric's determination drives his sword arm, and he strikes cleanly through, cutting the man's hand off then expertly spinning his sword to drive it deeply into and through his chest. The man's back arches in agony, and the odd spewing of smoke begins to slow. It comes to a stop as the now lifeless body slides off Ulfric's sword and falls to the ground.
Standing up is a move-equivalent action that provokes an attack of opportunity.
T'eron opens his eyes, staring at the mist above him that with a distant feeling of regret that he didn't do...something...
Turning his head to the side, he sees Ulfric finishing off one of the creatures...
"...The ones I should have shot with my bow!", he thinks, snapping back to the reality of his surroundings and reaching for his sword.
Seeing the creature next to him ready to attack, T'eron grabs his greatsword and with two hands swings at its legs, removing them both if possible.
T'eron cuts across and does, indeed, nearly sever the leg of the oneirogen standing over him. The man lets out no sound other than the roaring spill of sour smoke, as he falls to the ground.
The man still, even on the ground, reaches out to slam his heavy fists down at T'eron, seemingly unconcerned with his new, now legless, situation.
The other oneirogen, seemingly oblivious to everything happening around him, wades into battle with the much-better armed and armored Ulfric. His fists fly in a mist spewing rage. Ulfric easily dodges the first strike, but the second lands on his armor, bruising his chest with unreal strength.
ZZZZ ZZZZZ ZZZZ
"Atta boy!" Cerio cheers Teron, then kicks Campus too. "Wake up!"
Ulfric feels the blow of his chest, and leans into it to keep his balance. In close, Ulfric pulls his blade back then tries to thrust the blade up under the creatures ribs.
Campus rolls at the strange man, sending armored spikes at his leg.
Ulfric draws the man in even closer, and nearly chokes on the sour mist that he blows into his face. Eyes tearing up and nose burning, Ulfric fights through it and drives his sword up and into the man, seeking his heart. Amazingly, the superhuman strength of this man keeps him standing, and reaching towards Ulfric!
Campus rolls and jams spikes deep into the man's thigh, skewering it through. Nicking a vital artery, Campus pulls the spikes out, and immediately a flow of blood comes out like a river whose dam just broke. The man seems unaffected by the pain, but its obvious that his leg will no longer function properly. He drops down to his knees.
T'eron rises from the floor, brings his greatsword back, and attempts to end this once and for all.
T'eron's swing is mighty, but at the last second the man turns towards him and the sour smoke invades T'eron's eyes, momentarily blinding him and his swing goes wide.
The man near Ulfric once again brings his fists at Ulfric, attempting to batter him with no finesse or technique at all. It seems as if he's not even seeing the enemy before him, but attempting to end a threat with overwhelming force. In fact, the man's own spewing mists cloud his vision, and his fists both glance off of Ulfric's armor, harmlessly.
The man on the floor near T'eron lifts up his torso and drops it down at T'eron, attempting to batter the prone victim. T'eron, ready for the blow, expertly rolls away, and the man's fists pound the floor, leaving bloody stains.
Campus, still too close to use her spear, tries to shove her spiked chest into grisly flesh, but her knee slips in the blood. Frustrated, Campus stands, bracing for the blow.
Ulfric slices away with his blade.
T'eron tries to end this once-and-for-all a second time.
Cerio conjures a dark cloud that rains down dark motes on the cultist.
Ulfric slashes across in a quick arc, and his attack takes off both of the man's hands at the wrist. He stares, unseeing, at the hands, while Ulfric turns the blade and once again sheathes it into the man's ribcage. He falls away, the mists from him beginning to ebb.
Campus slips around on the bloody floor, still trying to find traction. T'eron, however, merely rolls back, greatsword flying in a high arc. He slams it down upon the man, cutting through the clavicle and into the man's throat, esophagus, then all the way to lungs. The man collapses, and his mists, too, begin to slow.
Now that the mists are lessening in this room, you can see the actual land outside - something you haven't seen for some time now. The northern wall shows a land under the strange cover of yellow mists, but some sun does filter through, illuminating what look like chalk drawings on the wall to the south. The open hall beckons to the west.
Ulfric goes over and looks at the chalk drawings more closely.
This wall of pages bears pictures of scenes with chalky mist filled with impossible, ominous shapes. As soon as Ulfric gets closer, he's overcome with an odd sensation, as the mists seem to swirl in the strange drawings.
"Cerio, come close and look at this. But steel your mind and keep your wits about you." Ulfric asks of Cerio.
Cerio, who had been trying to appear busy, looks glum as he's called to action. He shuffles toward Ulfric, half glancing at the drawings, which he knows he's going to regret.
Cerio approaches the drawings, and the ominous shapes in them seem to shift and undulate under the swirling smoke. They flutter as if in a light breeze, though there's no breeze in the chamber. Cerio stops, steps away, staring lifelessly at the drawings.
Hey. What are you guys doing there? She begins to wander over.