A path through the streets of a village that was attacked by forest monsters...

You and a group of peasants are moving through the streets of the village following the priest Bernard. The priest, slightly staggering, walks towards the inn. His hands raise his staff high, the top of which emits silvery rays of light that are so powerful that the light illuminates a space within a radius of about several tens of meters.

This silvery light causes you and other humans in your group to squint your eyes slightly. But there is no harm from this light to humans. The touch of silvery rays of light on your skin only makes you feel a slight chill and goosebumps.

However, what you see on the streets of the village as you walk towards the inn clearly indicates that the effect of the silvery light may be different...

For someone who is not human...

On the ground covered with snow lie the bodies of satyrs who did not manage to escape in time.

As you walk, you see about a dozen similar bodies of satyrs.

Silvery rays of light come into contact with these bodies.

The satyrs' bodies shake due to violent convulsions. Their eyes roll back, only the whites of their eyes are visible. Their skin becomes covered with small bleeding ulcers.

These satyrs...

As you pass by, you notice that these creatures are experiencing severe pain due to the silvery light. However, these creatures have not died yet - they are still alive.

You think: “The priest cast a powerful spell. But... how long will he be able to maintain concentration on the spell? Does he have enough energy? As a precaution... any enemy that is currently immobilized should be killed."

Continuing to quickly follow the priest, you fire several quick shots from your war bow.

Result: The three satyrs who were lying on the ground moaning are now dead. One arrow in the eye. Two arrows to the throat.

You shout to the militiamens who are following you (they move around the group of civilians you are escorting): "Kill every enemy that is within the range of your weapons! Take advantage of the moment while your enemies are immobilized and incapacitated! Act quickly!"

Militiamens carry out your orders. Long spears pierce the flesh of five more satyrs who were lying on the ground.

Finishing off immobilized and incapacitated enemies is much easier than fighting opponents who can fight back.

To some, such behavior may seem dishonest and vile. But you are not an enthusiastic young knight who naively believes that you can observe a noble code of honor all your life. You are a hunter. You are a human who knows that the real world is cruel and merciless. You think that the main thing is to defeat the enemy and survive. Any means adequate to the situation are good for this.

Your group continues towards the inn.

You've been walking for more than ten minutes.

Soon you will reach your goal.

However, you notice an alarming fact...

The power of the silvery glow that emanates from the top of Priest Bernard’s staff begins to gradually weaken. The silvery rays gradually become less bright.

The consequences of this quickly became apparent.

On several occasions, satyr archers attacked your group from afar. The bastards climbed onto the roofs of houses. A dozen arrows with bone tips, which were poisoned with some kind of vile greenish liquid.

Fortunately, there were not many enemy archers and the shooting distance was quite far.

And, probably, even the weakened silvery light interfered with the satyr archers...

Only five arrows hit the target...

Some persons in your group are unlucky.

Two militiamens and three civilians (an old man with a long beard and a bald head, a girl about 10 years old; a beautiful young woman with a full chestnut hairstyle).

Poisoned arrows pierced their bodies. These could have been minor wounds (one arrow pierced the left arm of an old man; another arrow, passing along a tangential trajectory, caused a cut in the neck of a young woman; the third arrow pierced the right leg of a ten-year-old girl).

However, these persons were not destined to be saved.

Poison.

A vile greenish liquid that smears the arrowheads of satyrs.

All injured persons experience severe trembling, they are unable to walk and fall to the ground. The spasms of their bodies intensify and foam begins to flow from their mouths...

One of the militiamens addresses you: “Sir, we can raise the bodies of the wounded and carry the bodies of the wounded to the inn... Perhaps in the inn there will be an opportunity to find a medicine or antipoison...”

You decisively interrupt his words: “No! Our group must move quickly! If we slow down and lose time, we will all die! I order you to leave the wounded in place and move on as quickly as possible!”

A cruel order. You are dooming wounded humans to ****. But you see that the silvery light emitted by Priest Bernard’s staff is becoming weaker every minute. It is unclear whether your group will be able to reach the inn in time. Any delay may cost the lives of all persons in your group.

The peasants' views reflect a mixture of fear, oppression and hope for salvation. You see that some of the peasants, because of your cruel order, even look at you with some... disgust.

Priest Bernard could voice objections... If he were adequate now. But his condition is not like that. He is completely focused on his staff and moving forward. He doesn't seem to notice anyone around. He constantly mutters prayers. Probably, his mental trauma, a super-stressful situation and your... “specific” impact - all this led to his current state, which is far from the concept of “adequacy”. However, you were lucky that you were able to get at least some help from him...

What is the reaction of the peasants?

Probably some of them would like to object to you...

But these people are too afraid to dare to resist your will.

They carry out your order.

Wounded humans remain lying on the ground.

Your group quickly walks away.

You are getting closer to the inn.

Ten minutes later you reach your goal.

On the streets in front of the inn you see the corpses of wolves, satyrs and militiamens. These are probably the consequences of several assaults on a fortified building.

You quickly look around, still following Priest Bernard, who mutters prayers.

You realize the alarming fact: “Damn! These shit-faced forest scums have already attacked the fortified inn building several times! Judging by the location of the corpses... The attack on the village came from several directions at once! The second group of enemies was coming from the east - from Old Ditmar's Gorge! Damn! There are simply too many of these vile monsters..."

You and your group approach the doors of the inn. There are a lot of corpses near these doors. A cadaverous stench... Severed limbs and crushed skulls... A lot of blood... Some of the corpses are so mutilated that it is difficult to understand... who it was during life...

You knock on the door with the hilt of your sword.

You scream at the top of your lungs: “Open these fucking doors, you assholes! It's me, Raul the Wolfkiller! Open faster! I brought everyone who managed to survive the storming of the temple! Durlen! Can you hear me, you stupid idiot!”

At first there is no reaction to your knock.

You watch with increasing alarm as the silvery light emanating from Priest Bernard's staff becomes weaker and weaker...

You furiously continue to knock on the door.

A minute later you hear some movements inside the inn.

You are relieved to realize that the militiamen inside the inn are removing the barricades near the door so you and your group can get inside.

Indeed, the door soon opens.

You see a pair of militiamens who are armed with short swords and shields. These guys look extremely tired: one of them has his head bandaged with a cloth, dried blood is visible on his forehead; the second militiamen is simply disfigured... his face is covered with small ugly bleeding scars (as if a wolf tried to devour his face...).

The peasants and militiamens from your group begin to enter the building.

You and Priest Bernard are standing on the street, waiting for the last human from your group to go inside the inn building.

So, you managed to remove many people from the temple building and save them, despite the superior number of enemies. Of course, you didn't save everyone. Some died. But real life is such that it is simply impossible to save everyone.

You look into the face of Priest Bernard. The gaze of his clouded eyes is distracted - he looks in your direction, but does not seem to notice you. His lower jaw shakes slightly. Saliva drips from the side of his mouth as he mutters something. You listen. These mutterings are no longer words about one’s own doom and darkness (as happened when you watched Bernard in the temple). Now he mutters words of prayer. Again and again. Prayers to the deity Orlan. Bernard's hands clutch the staff's shaft.

However, despite the prayers, the silvery light emanating from the staff is becoming weaker.

You think: “Bernard is still mad... He looks like a man who has little awareness of what is happening around him... But I managed to at least temporarily change his behavior pattern of madness... His current idee fixe seems more useful than the last one...”

You were about to enter the inn building, along with Priest Bernard, and order the militiamen to quickly barricade the entrance to the building.

But you didn’t have time...

The next second something happened that you didn’t expect...