Eternal
If Lena’s gone ahead without heeding your warnings, she’s going to have to fend for herself, because there’s no way you’re taking chances with just the word of this asshole.
“If you paid attention to history and old stories like you say you do, then you’d also know that I was never one to show mercy to my enemies. You’re a bigger fool than your friend Brutus if you’re thinking I’m going to let you go for any reason.”
“I had to try.” The eternal says with a resigned sigh. He turns and nods to his cohorts and they scatter in different directions while he advances on you.
Great, now you’ll have to chase them all down.
You dispatch the big talker fairly quickly, you manage to catch another one with your armbow before he gets too far and you finally chase down the third one just as he reaches the front gate. You notice several citizens starting to creep out from their homes and other hiding places. Still helpful as ever.
You head quickly to the “mansion” sized home near the marshlands. You approach cautiously and that’s when you see Lena waiting nearby it. Apparently she decided to listen after all.
“What took you so long? I’d like to get rid of this bastard and change out of these wet clothes.”
“Glad to see you listened for once, but didn’t you think I’d need help?”
“You told me, not to worry about you and to just wait for you.”
“Hmm, I suppose I did. Nevermind, did you have any problems?”
“Other than having to pull leeches off my body? No. There were a couple eternals near the area where I came through, but I killed them while they were still trying to make up their minds on whether or not to leave their posts to investigate the noise you were stirring up at the front gate. Besides that, I investigated the surrounding area outside this house and I haven’t seen any evidence that Brutus has tried to leave it.”
“Let’s just hope he doesn’t have some sort of underground tunnel built. Let’s go.”
After breaking down the door, you cautiously move throughout the house. While certainly bigger than the rest of homes in Sinkhole, it probably doesn’t look much better from the inside. The place is a wreck, you’d think as a leader he’d want to keep his own home in better condition, but then given that you live in an underground hole of a collapsed temple which was already in ruins when you arrived there, maybe you aren’t exactly in a position to make judgments as far as living arrangements are concerned.
“No traps so far.” Lena whispers.
“Considering there’s so much junk and garbage in this place, they could be well hidden. Keep a look out anyway, and stay quiet! No need to give our position away.”
“I’m sure he already knows we’re…”
Before Lena can complete her statement, Brutus appears from around a corner and nearly takes her head off with an axe. Fortunately for her, you block the attack. At last you get a close look at the great leader himself, and once again you’re unimpressed by what you see. Makes this whole endeavor hardly even worth it at this point.
“I’ll make you wish you hadn’t come back from the dead shadow!” Brutus exclaims right before you shut him up with a head-butt and then slicing his belly open. Falling to the floor and desperately attempting to hold in his entrails he starts to scoot back from you.
“You new eternals always talk too much.” You say. “Lena…if you’d like to do the honors.”
Lena wastes no time in taking up your offer. She points her spear at Brutus, who makes a plea for his life through bribery. It doesn’t work and Lena skewers him in the chest with the spear.
Then she does it again… and again… and again… and…
“Sonofabitch! You killed my family! Bastard! Die! Die! Fuck you…” Lena sobs the whole time.
“Lena he’s dead. You can stop now. He can’t order anyone else anymore. None of them can do anything anymore, we killed them all.” You say and grab the spear from her.
She looks at you with tears streaming down from her eyes and for the first time since that first night you saw her assaulted she looks vulnerable again. The hardened exterior has allowed itself to collapse. She hugs tightly you and continues to sob. You aren’t exactly sure how to react except to reciprocate for a moment, but you’re uncomfortable so you gently push her away when you feel enough time has passed. She’s still upset, but begins to compose herself.
“(sniff) So what’s next?” she asks.
“What do you mean?”
“What’s next? I mean we killed all of the eternals here in Delerg. Aren’t we going to go to Quala and continue? Where should we strike first?”
You figured something like this would happen. Lena isn’t going to stop here. Already her desire for more vengeance is taking over. And while you certainly understand it and even agree with it to an extent, you just aren’t sure if this is truly the path for her.
She has talent to be sure, but she’s attempting to take on a task that will far exceed her abilities even with you at her side. That’s the other problem. You fear that you might not even be on your best performance since you’ll always be worrying about her in the back of your mind.
Still part of you would like to continue your partnership with her wherever that may lead. You certainly aren’t moping around like you used to and Lena’s enthusiasm bring a bit of a joy to your life.
“If you paid attention to history and old stories like you say you do, then you’d also know that I was never one to show mercy to my enemies. You’re a bigger fool than your friend Brutus if you’re thinking I’m going to let you go for any reason.”
“I had to try.” The eternal says with a resigned sigh. He turns and nods to his cohorts and they scatter in different directions while he advances on you.
Great, now you’ll have to chase them all down.
You dispatch the big talker fairly quickly, you manage to catch another one with your armbow before he gets too far and you finally chase down the third one just as he reaches the front gate. You notice several citizens starting to creep out from their homes and other hiding places. Still helpful as ever.
You head quickly to the “mansion” sized home near the marshlands. You approach cautiously and that’s when you see Lena waiting nearby it. Apparently she decided to listen after all.
“What took you so long? I’d like to get rid of this bastard and change out of these wet clothes.”
“Glad to see you listened for once, but didn’t you think I’d need help?”
“You told me, not to worry about you and to just wait for you.”
“Hmm, I suppose I did. Nevermind, did you have any problems?”
“Other than having to pull leeches off my body? No. There were a couple eternals near the area where I came through, but I killed them while they were still trying to make up their minds on whether or not to leave their posts to investigate the noise you were stirring up at the front gate. Besides that, I investigated the surrounding area outside this house and I haven’t seen any evidence that Brutus has tried to leave it.”
“Let’s just hope he doesn’t have some sort of underground tunnel built. Let’s go.”
After breaking down the door, you cautiously move throughout the house. While certainly bigger than the rest of homes in Sinkhole, it probably doesn’t look much better from the inside. The place is a wreck, you’d think as a leader he’d want to keep his own home in better condition, but then given that you live in an underground hole of a collapsed temple which was already in ruins when you arrived there, maybe you aren’t exactly in a position to make judgments as far as living arrangements are concerned.
“No traps so far.” Lena whispers.
“Considering there’s so much junk and garbage in this place, they could be well hidden. Keep a look out anyway, and stay quiet! No need to give our position away.”
“I’m sure he already knows we’re…”
Before Lena can complete her statement, Brutus appears from around a corner and nearly takes her head off with an axe. Fortunately for her, you block the attack. At last you get a close look at the great leader himself, and once again you’re unimpressed by what you see. Makes this whole endeavor hardly even worth it at this point.
“I’ll make you wish you hadn’t come back from the dead shadow!” Brutus exclaims right before you shut him up with a head-butt and then slicing his belly open. Falling to the floor and desperately attempting to hold in his entrails he starts to scoot back from you.
“You new eternals always talk too much.” You say. “Lena…if you’d like to do the honors.”
Lena wastes no time in taking up your offer. She points her spear at Brutus, who makes a plea for his life through bribery. It doesn’t work and Lena skewers him in the chest with the spear.
Then she does it again… and again… and again… and…
“Sonofabitch! You killed my family! Bastard! Die! Die! Fuck you…” Lena sobs the whole time.
“Lena he’s dead. You can stop now. He can’t order anyone else anymore. None of them can do anything anymore, we killed them all.” You say and grab the spear from her.
She looks at you with tears streaming down from her eyes and for the first time since that first night you saw her assaulted she looks vulnerable again. The hardened exterior has allowed itself to collapse. She hugs tightly you and continues to sob. You aren’t exactly sure how to react except to reciprocate for a moment, but you’re uncomfortable so you gently push her away when you feel enough time has passed. She’s still upset, but begins to compose herself.
“(sniff) So what’s next?” she asks.
“What do you mean?”
“What’s next? I mean we killed all of the eternals here in Delerg. Aren’t we going to go to Quala and continue? Where should we strike first?”
You figured something like this would happen. Lena isn’t going to stop here. Already her desire for more vengeance is taking over. And while you certainly understand it and even agree with it to an extent, you just aren’t sure if this is truly the path for her.
She has talent to be sure, but she’s attempting to take on a task that will far exceed her abilities even with you at her side. That’s the other problem. You fear that you might not even be on your best performance since you’ll always be worrying about her in the back of your mind.
Still part of you would like to continue your partnership with her wherever that may lead. You certainly aren’t moping around like you used to and Lena’s enthusiasm bring a bit of a joy to your life.