(Chapter VII.II) Millersrock

“Ho! Who goes there?” the guard, dressed in a much shoddier set of armor than yours, calls down from the city wall.

“I’m a Holy Paladin,” you call back. “Open up the gate! I’m here to kill the Vampyres!”

“You know, it’s considered bad form to request entry to a city for the stated reasons of murdering its inhabitants,” the guard says.

“Bad form? I have to fill out paperwork?” you ask in horror. As an illiterate man, paperwork is one of the great fears in your life.

“Yes, bad form. No, no paperwork,” the city guard says. He turns around and looks down the other side of the wall. “Hey! What are you trying to get out for?”

“I’m running away from the Vampyres!” the voice screeches. “Let me out! They’re right there!”

The city guard turns back to look at you.

“The nerve of some people,” he scoffs.

“Yeah, running away from the Vampyres? Don’t they know they’re letting good exp go to waste? They should just kill them,” you say. “Hey, you know what? Why don’t you let me in? I can kill them if your citizens won’t!”

“There you go again, promoting violent ideals in our peaceful city,” the guard sighs. “We really don’t like your type, you know.”

“Help! The Vampyre’s going to sink its fangs in me!” the voice from the other side of the gate yells.

“We do not condone **** here in Millersrock,” the guard calls back. “Our zero-tolerance policy dictates that, should you get bitten by that Vampyre, you will be punished just as severely as the Vampyre will be.”

“But I’ll die!” the voice screams.

“That is the punishment for engaging in violent conduct, yes,” the guard says. He turns back to face you, saying: “There are some in these parts that don’t support the capital punishment. You can imagine what happens to them.” He draws a line across his neck.

“Can I speak to your manager?” you call up. This is a truly **** time. You need to get to that Vampyre before it finishes killing that man on the other side and runs away, its exp forever lost to you.

“Nope, I’m the last guard left,” the guard says. “The Vampyres kind of killed all the other ones while they were out on patrol. Very shameful. I thought my brothers would be better than that, but they succumbed to the **** in the end.”

You hear a strangled yell from the other side of the gate.

“And there he goes. Serves him right for propping up ****,” the guard sighs.

This is outrageous. The Vampyre must be getting away any second now, and this guard won’t open up the gate!

You decide to take matters into your own hands, and with a great cleaving motion, you saw through the wooden gate with your sword.

“Hey! Stop that!” the guard yells. “You are committing **** against dead trees! That is only slightly better than **** against living trees, which is only slightly better than **** against dead animals, which is only slightly better than **** against…”

You ignore the slippery slope by walking straight into the city, where you come face to face with the Vampyre.

She bares her fangs at you.

“You smell tasty. Except for that single fly that you snacked on. You shouldn’t have done that. Bad for the blood,” the Vampyre says.

“Fight! Fight! Fight!” the old man cries out.

“Where did you come from?” you ask, noticing him along the sidelines for the first time.

“Fight! Fight! Fight!” the old man continues to shout. He’s clapping along with his chants, and then, noticing the guard up on the wall, he waves over to him, urging him to join in.

“Pa-ci-fy! Pa-ci-fy! Pa-ci-fy!”

The guard on the wall has his own chant, though it is somewhat less inspiring.

You look at the Vampyre.

She looks at you.

You decide to fight her.