Unwilling Eldritch Horror of Fortune

Noe made a mental map of the palace and the surrounding area as I followed Mark to the Council. Thankfully, that meant that I didn’t have to worry about getting lost and looking like an idiot trying to navigate this new environment going forward. It was a good thing that Noe was doing all of the heavy lifting because the area that I was taken to was somewhere deep indoors.

The walls were windowless and seemed to be made with security and sturdiness in mind rather than aesthetics, which meant that the white walls and dull concrete flooring made it nearly impossible for me to remember where I was. The only indicators were the numbers above the metal doors and the occasional soldier or two stationed at key choke points.

Speaking about my lovely system, Noe informed me that there were a lot of spatial distortions underground in our location. These distortions were not too dissimilar to the type we’d see Origin use to transfer Aspirants through the various trials down in the dungeons of this place, and they got worse the further down it went. It was so much so that Noe wasn’t able to perceive anything past a certain distance, at least using my limited senses this far away from the source. Looks like that’s the first thing I’d have to check out once I was done with the formalities.

I’ve found that my mind worked a lot better when I had clear goals in mind. I’ve survived three trials, and that’s not counting all the bullshit that I’ve had to deal with thanks to the Overseer’s meddling, so having things to work toward was key to keeping me focused and working in optimal condition. With the trials, I had a clear end condition to reach most of the time, and even in situations where I didn’t have that, the Regressor usually helped keep me on track. I had feared that this impromptu infiltration would be different since what I was trying to find was so nebulous, and just “surviving until Origin decided to do something” never sat well with me.

Thankfully, there was an avenue of attack that I could approach. I’d just have to disentangle myself from the Order gods and their lackeys and see what juicy information I could find in that strange basement. I was feeling almost giddy from the thought of doing something proactive for once. I had to stop a smile from forming from the thought of stretching my brain muscles after all this time.

The physician paused at the end of the hallway and took a long look at me, worry clear on his face. I could barely hear the chattering of people coming from the other side of the door, and from the tense looks of the two guards stationed there, this was the threshold to the outside world. The door, almost three or four times larger than the plain metal ones I’ve passed, was the only ornate structure that I had seen so far, with intricately carved mosaics that must have some kind of historical or religious significance given the amount of time it must have taken to make.

“Ashwin,” Mark said, shaking me out of my intersections, “Do you need a few minutes to compose yourself? I know you’re worse off than you let on, but we’re about to enter a public area, and you can’t show weakness, not now. I apologize, lord Chosen, I can’t imagine how hard it is on you right now.”

I gave the old man an uneasy smile and nodded. I needed him to continue to think that I was worse off than I was so that any inconsistencies seen could be excused. The only problem was that I still didn’t have a full picture of what Ashwin was like in his private life, and unlike this physician, I’d inevitably meet people he was close to soon.

“I’ll be fine,” I answered as he moved to open the large gate, “Please lead on.”

Right, time to put on my hero face again.

Noe, amp up the Emotional Redux skill, it’s my first heroic speech, and I have to make a lasting impression.

“Acknowledged, my Host.”

I walked to the front and opened the door. What greeted me outside those corridors was intense, to say the least. The area that we were at before seemed to be a separate area from the main castle structure, and the exit took us to a raised bridge-like connection corridor that overlooked the castle square. We were only about two or three stories above the masses and a quick glance past the railings made me appreciate just how many people there were, all of whom were waiting for any news of their hero.

Hordes of people in their thousands were packed to the brim and the poor sentries were overwhelmed trying to keep the order. Things went into overdrive when the first people saw me; some of the more devoted individuals shouted in joy, but the overwhelming majority of the masses gathered were less than pleased with the state of affairs, and were not afraid to shout out their doubts.

“We spent ten years, all of our resources, and what do we get in return?” one of them shouted, “Nothing but death!”

“You failed us!”

“My son died for you, and for what?”

“Give us back the time and money we spent!”

“We were promised deliverance!”

More and more shouts assaulted my ears, and it wasn’t hard to see why morale was so low. Off in the distance, the golden shimmering barrier that protected the last city was already showing its cracks. There were dark spots clearly visible, and some of those beautiful runes had already started to fade. The ever-looming chaos just outside this fragile barrier was a constant reminder of the consequences of failure, and to many of the people here, we had already failed.

“I apologize for the citizens,” Mark said quickly as he saw me stop, I could tell that he was concerned about how I would react to the situation. I’m guessing that such a scene never happened to the original Ashwin, I wasn’t even sure if he’s ever known failure, to be honest.

“It’s fine,” I said, making sure to infuse a bit of bitterness into my voice, “It is to be expected, and they are not completely wrong.”

The old man quickly shook his head. “No, lord Chosen. No one could have predicted what happened back there, the vile fiends had the Enemy helping them out, and the Evil gods went all out as well.”

Great, more terms I didn’t quite understand, although I could guess the context easily enough.

“But that doesn’t excuse what happened,” I continued, gesturing to the gathered mob below, “Especially not to the people who suffered the most.”

The physician winced but didn’t offer a rebuttal. He knew the truth behind my words well enough.

“Let me address the people,” I continued, “They need to hear something from the man they put so much faith in before.”

The old doctor paused for a moment before frowning. “Are you sure that’s wise? I’m not sure that anything you say at the moment could placate the citizens, not after what just happened.”

“Then do you suppose I just walk by and say nothing?”

Another pause. “No, I suppose not. I… I’m sorry that we have to burden you so much, but we’ll have to rely on you again.”

I nodded and walked toward the raised dais in the middle of the walkway and stood above the masses. Instead of the people quieting down, they started to shout even louder now that I was clearly visible, and to make things worse, some of the braver individuals had started to throw rocks and other debris in my direction. None of the pellets hit me, but it was the action that mattered; I can’t imagine how the actual Ashwin would feel looking at the current situation. He must have given up quite a lot for the sake of these people, not to mention risk his life for their well-being, but to see that this was their response?

Would he have persevered, or would this have broken him? A small, slumbering part of my brain wondered about that and wished I could see that situation play out. I shook my head and focused on the people instead. I guess I’ll have to get used to those stray thoughts that entered my mind every now and then, although it made me more curious about what I was like with all of my memories intact.

“Citizens of Ordas,” I shouted, doing my best to sound majestic and in control, “I understand that you have worries about the current situation.”

Luck Charges: 801/1557

I almost winced seeing how many charges were just used to soothe such a large crowd with Noe’s skill. I was honestly having second thoughts about doing this stupid speech in the first place, but it’s too late now. Well, given using almost 300 whole charges, the crowd did seem to calm down visibly as I spoke. It wasn’t a complete 360 change like when I used the skill on individuals - I don’t think I’d have enough charges for that kind of stunt anytime soon - but it was noticeable nonetheless. Or maybe it was a bit too good since the old doctor and a few of the guards stationed near me looked at me with raised eyebrows. Shit, was the old Ashwin not a good orator or something?

I forced the distracting thoughts out of my head and continued to address the crowd. “I know that many of you have lost loved ones from the war, and many more have suffered in ways that I can not hope to imagine, but we are in dire times right now. Unprecedented times.”

I paused for a moment and gestured to the looming darkness just outside the city walls. “Look at the state of the world we are in now, this is a time where inaction would doom us all. Your loved ones gave up their lives in the hopes that you can continue to live. They fought so that you might have hope for a brighter future, but if you give up now, if you choose to ignore the sacrifices of the brave men and women that fought for you, then it is no better than joining the vile cultists that started all this.”

Mummers of agreement started to fill the air. No longer were the people shouting, but some started to think, at least in part, on what I just said. Good, that was a start.

“I am doing my utmost to ensure that we will not falter. I will continue to fight for our survival, and I am not afraid to stand against the looming darkness. You may no longer have faith in me or my abilities, and I do not fault you for thinking so. However, if you can no longer place your faith in me, then please use that time to pray to the gods above, for it is your faith that is keeping the End at bay. If we lose even that, then the enemy would have already won.”

More mutters of agreement and understanding permeated the square below. I even saw some individuals kneel down to pray.

“But for those that have not given up hope in me,” I continued, “Know that I will remain steadfast in the face of these obstacles. I will not allow anything to stop me from doing what I must do, and I hope that you do the same. I am only mortal, I will fail, but each failure makes me stronger. I learn from the mistakes that I make, and I improve upon them. I will stop this disaster, and I will do so regardless of what people think of me.”

With that, I walked away from the now-silent crowd. The old physician gave me a pensive look, almost as if he wanted to ask some serious questions, and I think I knew what those would be. If my guesses were right, then the original Ashwin was more of the stoic silent type of hero, and my little performance just then wasn’t something that the real man would ever do. Then again, it wasn’t like I could just leave the people in a hopeless state, not if I didn’t want to hasten the demise of the barrier. I had places to check out now, and that meant the relative stability of this city for the time being.

I had to expend over 50 additional charges just to ensure that the old man didn’t grow even more suspicious of me as I did my best to explain the change in attitude.

“I suppose that makes sense…” he muttered in a Noe-induced daze, “Yes… these are trying times, and the hero must adapt to the situation…”

“Exactly,” I continued, “I had a duty to perform, and even though I never spoke like that before, it was something that I forced myself to do for the sake of the people. You know that I can’t just allow them to lose out on all hope, the state of the barrier depended on that.”

“Right…”

“Now forget those worries,” I said quickly, “And let’s head to the Council chambers.”

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