Sugarcane

I don't have time for this. If he's in the stocks, then he obviously commited some crime deserving of it. It is not my place to help petty criminals. Elise follows.\n\nAs we continue forward, the crowd thins until all we see are a few figures in gold and black and the iron gates opening up to the Cathedral. Three guards stand at the ready, dressed in armor.\n\nWhen I approach they tense up, but one word from Elise and the gate opens. Opulent does not do the grounds of the Great Cathedral justice. It is a palace worthy of the King himself, possibly above him. Statues dot the sweeping lawns and halls meant to seat thousands during holy days connect and open up to massive balconies.\n\nAs we approach the entrance to the Great Hall, she turns to me.\n\n"Here we are. Are you ready?" she asks.\n\n"Ready as I'll ever be." I reply\n\n[[Enter the Grand Cathedral]]

I hear its call. The book is more than simply a set of codes for the Order. It is a tool, one that can bring even the mightiest demon to its knees and smite the most terrible evil, if wielded in the name of justice. If used by a blackened heart, it bites at the caster and rends the soul in twain. It is a secret known only to the order. \n\nI feel I am pure, and yet for some reason I am filled with trepidation. The book's power is not to be toyed with.\n\n[[Open it]]\n[[Toss it away]]

"Where else can we go?" I ask.\n\n"The Market district is the next closest location. We could reach it within the hour." she says. \n\nAs much as it pains me, she's right. The man is obviously beyond saving, his wounds are too deep. Before we go, I spot something peaking out from under his body.\n\n"Wait." I gently nudge the man aside and take the papers. It's a small report on suspicious activities. Parts of it remain burned, but I can make out a few segments.<<set $ElisePoints = $ElisePoints + 1>>\n\n"A man...William Lutz...suspicious...a man in a red coat. Investigate, immediately"<<set $DemonPoints = $DemonPoints -1>>\nI look up at Elise.\n\n"We have a lead."\n\nWe leave the Office of the Law.\n---\n"So, do we just barge in on Lutz's or what?" Elise asks, checking her blades for stickiness in the scabbards.\n\n"Not yet. This report is a good start, but not enough to base an inquisitorioal visit upon. I don't want a repeat of the situation in Mont Negris last year. The Market probably holds more answers."\n\n"Hmm, if you think so. I say we go over to Lutz's and ask him a few questions."\n\n"And just where might this Lutz be?" I return.\n\nElise thinks for a moment. "Good point." she says. "To the Market then?"\n\n"Let's."\n\n[[To the Market]]

"Take him, we're going upstairs." \n\nIt's all over in a minute. Elise rips the mask from his face and binds his arms. Again, I am surprised by her strength.\n\n[[To the second floor]]

\nI take the seat, of course. It is mine, after all. I struggled after the heretic and burned the witch. This honor is mine. No sacrifice has been too great. \n\nAgain I hear thunderous applause, but I cannot see their faces. They are obscured, as if by fog. Before I can question it, the world shudders. The windows shatter and the walls melt.\n\nThere is a howling scream and I am thrown to the floor.\n\n[[Back to Reality.]]

There's no time. I pull out my dirk and rush at him. He raises his hands as if to defend himself, but it's all for naught. He falls bakc onto the cot, a deep cut in his chest.\n\nHe falls over, not quite dead but beyond saving. I look at my blade and toss it aside. I have to convince myself that this was unavoidable. There was nothing I could have done.\n\nI hear a rasping sound. Frederic is still alive. I roll him onto his back and look into his eyes. I don't see fear, or anger, or even hate. Only a deep, watery sadness. \n\n[[continue]]

<<set $assuage = true>>\n"You're exactly right. There is a demon here in the quarter. That it happened so close to the seat of the Order is almost unthinkable. Do you understand the reasoning behind the extremity of our actions?" I say.\n\n"Of course I do. I was educated on the methods of the Order. I just never expected it would happen here." He says.\n\n"I don't think anybody did." I say. There's a brief moment of silence before Elise clears her throat. I look back up to the Confessor. \n\n[[Now, what can you tell me?]]

"We should get to sleep. It's been a long day. We'll talk when this is all over."\n\nShe starts to say something, but stops herself. She sits silent for a moment before nodding and leaning back onto her bed. \n\nI also lean back. The tallow candle is nearly spent. I start to drift off. I feel myself slipping into sleep. I let go once the last flicker from the candle goes out.\n\n[[Drift off...]]

"Put that down before you hurt yourself." I say.\n\n"Oh, a mouth on this one, eh?" the leader laughs. I rest my hand on my dirk. ELise shifts under her cloak, her hands going to her weapons. The leader's smile fades. The other members of his gang look to each other uneasily. The leader scowls.\n\n"Fine, fine. But if you ever come down this road again, well, I'll let you imagination do the rest." the leader says, and the gang disappears into the alley from whence they came.\n\n"We should have killed them. A gang like that this close to the Grand Cathedral..." Elise says, kicking a clay cup and smashing it against a wall.<<set $ElisePoints = $ElisePoints + 1>>\n\n"It wouldn't have done any good. A new, more vicious gang would rise up to take their place. At least this one was reasonable." I say. <<set $DemonPoints = $DemonPoints - 1>>\n\nShe nods and we contiune on our way to the Grand Cathedral. \n<<set $lived = true>>\n<<if $lived>>\nAs we approach the gates the guards immediately salute and the gate slowly opens. The grounds are empty as we walk.\n<<endif>>\n[[Enter the Grand Cathedral]]

"I do this for you. Men are not infallible. But we are inquisitors. We must be more than men. We must banish the hate within us lest we become the very thing we hunt."\n\nI take his hand. He lifts me up. I look to Giancarlo, in his chair. It's hard to say what I feel.\n\n"But he is guilty." I say, almost to reassure myself.\n\n"Is he?"\n\nI look away. I do not know what think.\n\nHe looks away, to the man in the chair.\n\n"When we return to the Grounds, you will spend a week in penitence. You will read the Gran Codice, and you will think of your actions here today."\n\n[[I Understand.]]

"Did I jog your memory? Are you more willing to spill whatever secrets we need?"\n\nHe chuckles. It's a grim, hacking sound. \n\n"You want to know? Find, I'll bloody tell you, you damned Order. I'll tell you all right..." he says and trails off. He's staring ahead, hard faced and angry. \n\n[["William, speak."]]

"Where to next?" Elise asks.\n\n I think for a moment. There's really only one place left to go. The only question now is to find out where Frederic went. If we can apprehend him and goad a confession, we can end this chaos and be done with it before nightfall.\n\n"The second floor. Meredith, would you lead the way?" I say.\n\n"Oh, of course..." Meredith says. She seems scared and not a little bit shaky. I can see her ribs poking out from her clothes. I feel a terrible surge of pity for her, as though she was living under some terrible shadow that made every waking hour one of pain and suffering.\n\n[[Proceed to the second floor]]

I hold my tongue, keeping my eyes peeled for any change in the surroundings. Elise intensifies her blows. I hear painful, piteous moaning. It hurts me, in a way. I've heard worse, but I feel for her. In truth, she's the first person I've seen to ever summon a demon for the life another. Almost all do it for power, because of an ambition for the crown, or for bloody vengeance over some meaningless slight. \n\nElise pulls out a short, stubby blade. \n\n"Is this what you want? Is it?" she yells, and draws the blade across the top of Meredith's hand. Meredith lets out another pitiable wail. \n\n[[Allow her to continue]]\n[[Stop her]]

<<if $ElisePoints gte 10>>\nShe puts down her weapon.\n\n"Alright Karl, I'll trust you. What do we do?" she says.\n\n"There's nothing much you can do. You need to run, now."\n\n"Run?"\n\n"Yes, you need to get away from here. Get out of the quarter and wait for me."\n\n"What about you?"\n\n"I need to stop this demon. I think I might be the only one who can. Your part in this fight is over. You served the Order well, Elise."\n\nElise looks as though torn by conflicting emotions.\n\n"Thank you, Karl." she says.\n\n"Run." I say again. This time, she does. She's a good girl, deep down. A little confused, yes, but ultimately goodhearted. She'll serve the Order well, no use to die hear on a terrible morning. \n\n<<elseif>>\nElise looks at me. She grips the hilt of her weapon and stares me down.\n\n"You ...traitor!" she yells and thrusts at me with the blade.\n\nI dodge, once, twice, three times. Eventually, I'm forced to draw my own weapon against her. \n\n"Elise, stop!" I say.\n\n"No, just shut up, it's all your fault, you and all the rest you're all traitors against us, against the Order. You'd send us all back to the Old Age-."\n\nShe trips. Or more accurately. I trip her and she goes falls. After a moment, I see she's not getting up. When I go to investigate, I see that she's fallen upon her own blade when I tripped her, a deep cut in one fo the chinks of her armor.\n\n"Faf, curse it all!" I yell. Damn this place and damn all the people in it. \n<<endif>>\nIn the corner of my eye, I detect movement. \n\n[[Observe it]]

"Clever man, always on edge, always sleeping with one eye open. We need more Inquisitors like you." the Pontiff says. "In that case I'll get right to the meat of the issue. One of our augurs detected it ealier last night in one of the walled slums after the local office of the Law burned down. The crown's soldiers raided it a few hours later, but our augurs were unable to find the demon in any of those captured." he leans in close to me.\n\n"We have need of your skills. You are the only full Inquisitor capable of handling this situation. We need you to find this demon and banish back to the hell from whence it came."\n\n"Please, ser, the crown and the Order needs you." the steward interjects. "The war is going badly. If a demon were to be found in the city, it would be anarchy and chaos. Our enemies would see our weakness and strike at us from the shadows."\n\n[[I accept]]\n[[No, I've put those days behind me]]

"What about your girls? Anything to report? I know not a secret gets whispered that doesn't find its way to your ears."\n\nThe man raises his eyebrows.\n\n"You're a smart one. Yeah, my girls get business. It's more unusual when they see a regular who doesn't stop in though."\n\n"I don't catch your meaning." I say\n\n"Oh, every month, they see the same man, they tell me. A tall man, in a red coat with gold trim. Obviously someone with noble money. They call to him, try to goad him to spend some coin, but he only goes into that apothecary down the street. That's what they tell me. He sounds like a right sly bugger, to me." the man says and spits out a black glob.\n\n"Well, thank you, ser. I'm sure your information will prove invaluable." I say. Before I turn to leave, he stops me.\n\n"Say, eh, are you sure you wouldn't mind coming in? I have wine, and girls. Please, as a token of my generosity and faith in the Order's benevolence." he laughs.\n\n[[Thank you for the, eh, generous offer, but we must be going]]

No, I am ready. I open up the book and turn to the last page, the last black page, the page to sacrifice my own essence to drag forth the demon and take it to the netherworld. My soul, forever tainted by demon magic, will reside in a grey limbo. It is the best I can hope for now. \n\nI hope they remember me.\n\n[[Read the page]]

"Oh, not much of cynic are you? Well then, what if I told you there was a demon, here, in the city?" the Pontiff says.\n\n"I'd say you were mad." I say. I could have chosen my words more carefully, but it was a kneejerk response.\n\n"Impudent-"\n\n"This is the capital, and the seat of the Order of Faf, the holiest place on the continent, if not the world. We are also the seat of the Order's training, and our augurs would have detected a demon's presence long in advance. It's impossible."\n\n"I wish to Faf that you were right. But you are wrong." the Pontiff says, and coughs into his sleeve. "One of our augurs detected it ealier last night in one of the walled slums after the local office of the Law burned down. The crown's soldiers raided it a few hours later, but our augurs were unable to find the demon in any of those captured." he leans in close to me.\n\n"We have need of your skills. You are the only full Inquisitor capable of handling this situation. We need you to find this demon and banish back to the hell from whence it came."\n\n[[I accept]]\n[[No, I've put those days behind me]]

No. Bollocks to that. I'll not toss my life away for these people. What have they done for me? I, a servant of the Empire. I knock the book from its pedestal and I am taken back to the real world. Not a trace of the black room remains. I look at the crowd gathered around me. \n\n[[Curse them all]]\n

The Master Bedroom. It looks like no one's slept in it for months. The four poster bed has a layer of dust over it.\n\nFrom the corner of my eye, I notice something. There's an inconsistency in this room. There's a sconce, bare of any dust. No, I think, this can't be it. But something compels me.\n\n[[The sconce]] \n

I take my hand off my dirk and raise my hands.\n\n"Before you do anything, know that my name is Karl Martin. I am an Inquisitor of the Order of Faf. Are you Frederic?" I ask, keeping my voice as level and unthreatening as possible.\n\nFrederic regards me. We are silent and still for a moment. Then, he strikes. He moves swiftly, darting towards me, his arm outstretched as if to strike me. \n\nI retaliate, pulling out my dirk to defend myself. Memories rush in, and instincts take over. \n\nWe struggle briefly. He tries to wrestle the blade from my hand, but I am too strong, and a cut across the chest sends him wheezing on his back. I clean the blood from my dirk and got to Frederic's body. He's still alive, though barely.\n\n[[continue]]

The audience chamber is the size of a ballroom. The floors are marble, and a maginificent chandelier hangs from the ceiling, which has a vibrant fresco painted on it depicting Faf smiting the evil of the world. There is a single throne, upon which a large man dressed in flowing robes sits, The Grand Pontiff.\n\n<<if $late>>\n"Inquisitor Karl Martin," the Pontiff wheezes out. His voice is ragged, wheezing and weak, so unlike the voice of the young orator who was elected Grand Pontiff I was a child. ",you are late. When did you begin to take the needs of the Order so lightly?"\n\nI begin to explain when he cuts me off.\n\n"Enough. We've wasted enough time, there is business to attend to."\n<<else>>\n"Inquisitor Karl Martin," the Pontiff wheezes out. His voice is ragged, wheezing and weak, so unlike the voice of the young orator who was elected Grand Pontiff I was a child. "Right on time." \n\nThe Pontiff addresses Elise. "Thank you for bringing him." he says. Elise bows lightly and steps back to allow us to speak.\n<<endif>>\nStanding beside the Pontiff is a thin man in the silver and blue of the crown.\n\n[[What is this about?]]\n

The foyer of the Law Office is little more than a burnt out husk. I imagine tables and chairs and racks and reams of notes might have been housed here, but now there is only ash and blackened remains.\n\nThere is something unsettling about this place, something in the way that the fire spread. I understand the Grand Pontiff's meaning now. There is a palpable sense here of something having been here, of something having left an indelible mark in the ground. Nothing will ever be built over this land again.\n\nI hear a sound to the north.\n\n[[Draw you weapons]]\n[[Leave them sheathed]]

There are people, in the shop. Not just a few people, but a whole cluster of people. And then, they're not even in the shop. I suddenly see shadows in the alleyway, on the roofs, and through the dark, boarded up windows of other buildings. \n\n"Elise..." I say in a hoarse whisper. She too notices the sudden appearance of the others and stands at the ready. \n\n"Karl..what do we do?" she asks.\n\n[[Threaten them]]\n[[Reason with them]]

I open the book to the last black page. I see the words, written in a special script known only to Inquisitors. I recite the words and know that the demon feels it as well. There is resistance, and struggle.\n\n<<if $DemonPoints gte 10>>\nWe fight. We fight as only two warriors can fight. It is a battle of wills. The demon tempts me with dreams of power, with visions of conquest, glory and riches beyond compare. I shrug these visions aside. He then assualts me with foul insults and vicious lies. He, It, speaks of all the lies my people uphold, of all the tyrany and all the chaos. \n\nAnd then, a funny thing, we stop fighting. I begin to listen. I see that really, we are the same. Two sides of the same coin. We could be great together. We could restore the Order to what it was.\n\nI try to fight, one last time. but there's only so much one man can do. I want it. I do want the power. I always have, really. The boy dies. I am thrown from the black room.\n\nWe live. \n\nWe know of a way to get out of the quarter, a secret way, in the sewers near the plague street. We get up and our wounds are healed. The body was growing old, but it feels young again now. As we run, we hear the sound of war drums, and the panicked cries of citizens as armored boots crash against the stone street. A cloud of smoke is up ahead. We dash into it and away. Yes, this is a glorious beginning, the beginning of the end of one Age and the beginning of a new. It started with Faf, it will end with Us.\n<<else>>\nI feel the demon's power ebb and finally, disappear. I let the words of the book slip from my mind. Everything is very quiet. I never really hated Anders. All I ever really wanted was to live for the Order, and it pains me to see waht it has become. Still, I can only live through my actions and I can only hope...I can only hope it was all worth it. \n\nFaf help them all. I hear the sound of war drums and the clink of armor. May they find me first, and know what has happened. \n<<endif>>\n\nEND

"The man is nobody. A messenger and a courier. His name is Frederic. He is a steward under the employ of Lady Meredith."\n\n"Lady Meredith?" I ask.\n\n"A widow, living in a manse near the center of the block. Frederic came to me and made me swear under Faf to never tell anyone about her."\n\n"What did Frederic ask of you?"\n\n"Herbs, cardamom, eastern cinnamon, cloves-" \n\nElise snorts.\n\n"I do not think she sent a courier to you for cooking spices."\n\nHe pauses. "And a vial of blood upon every moon. Children's blood."\n\n[[By Faf...]]

Faf's blood, I'm not going to die like this. As he raises his blade to bring crashing down on me, i pull out my dirk and thrust into his belly. He falls forward, pinning his weight against me. I kick him off in one powerful motion and get to my feet, ready to meet my other attackers, but they've already fled. Soldiers have moved in to break up the crowd. \n\nI feel Elise grab my arm.\n\n"Ser, are we ready to leave!?" she yells, a dark bloodstain on her shirt and blood on her shortsword. I nod, and together we barrel through the crowd, towards the Grand Cathedral. Before we leave, I look back to the man in the stocks. \n\nHe looks back at me with a mix of gratitude and what I can only describe as the kind of hate cultivated after years torturous living. <<set $DemonPoints = $DemonPoints - 1>>\n\n\n[[Rush through the crowd]]

Much as it pains me, she is right. This is but one man, suffering at the hands of the people. He is not the first and he will certainly not be last. I get up and walk away to jeers from the crowd. The courier and the guards follow. \n\nAs we continue forward, the crowd thins until all we see are a few figures in gold and black and the iron gates opening up to the Cathedral. Three guards stand at the ready, dressed in armor.\n\nWhen I approach they tense up, but one word from the courier and the gate opens. Opulent does not do the grounds of the Great Cathedral justice. It is a palace worthy of the King himself, possibly above him. Statues dot the sweeping lawns and halls meant to seat thousands during holy days connect and open up to massive balconies.\n\nAs we approach the entrance to the Great Hall, she turns to me.\n\n"Well, here we are. Ready?" she asks.\n\nI look up at the heavy brass doors. Before long, I hear a creaking sound as an attendant ushers us in.\n\n[[Enter the Grand Cathedral]]

He looks down to the floor, then up to me.\n\n"I am damned."\n\n"Damned how?"\n\n"I swore to her, I swore under Faf that I wouldn't."\n\n[[Swore to who?]]

I throw a withering glance in her direction. At least, I think it's withering. She doesn't seem too affected, just wrings her hands and shakes her head.\n\nKids these days.\n\nI turn my attention back to William.\n\n[[Confessor Roald also told me something else.]]\n

"You all!" I yell, pulling out my dirk and pointing it at them. I let my free hand rest on the Gran Codice in my coat. "Stay back! Or by Faf, I'll see you all strung up and left for the fucking rats!" \n\nOne of them steps forward, rock in hand. \n\n"Didn't you hear me!-" I start, but then I see the mop of hair of blonde hair, and eyes blue as bird's eggs. \n\n"You! It's him! It's the demon-child. One of you, seize him!" \n\nThe child throws his stone. It falls short a few feet. Then, more stones begin to rain down.\n\n[[Dodge the stones and fall back]]\n[[Rush at the demon-child]]\n[[Try to convince the people to turn against the demon-child]]

The man raises his blade to strike me down. I whisper a prayer to Faf and accept my fate. A doubt flashes through my mind. I wonder if I will be given entrance into Paradise? Surely I have earned it?\n\nSuddenly the man stops and falls over dead, a dagger in his back. Elise stands over him, blood on her coat and face. She offers me her hand. I take it.\n\n"Thank you." I pant out. She wipes the blood from her cheek with a clean sleeve. <<set $ElisePoints = $ElisePoints + 1>>\n\n"My orders were to get you to Pontiff. I intend to see those orders fulfilled." she says, just as a wave of soldiers breaks up the crowd. The other assailants have already fled.\n\n"Let's move." She says, and together we take off towards the Grand Cathedral. \n\n[[Rush through the crowd]]

"Meredith, please, I understand what this is like. I understand what drove you to this. I would not be an Inquisitor if I didn't. Anders taught me that." I say.\n\nMeredith looks up at me. Tears are welling up.\n\n"Can you help me?" I ask.\n\n"Karl.." Elise says.\n\n"Not now. Meredith, please..."\n\n[[Plead for reason]]\n[[Promise mercy for her]]\n[[Promise mercy for her son]]

"The man is nobody. A messenger and a courier. His name is Josep. He is a steward under the employ of Lady Edna."\n\n"Lady Edna?" I ask.\n\n"A widow, living in a manse near the center of the block. Josep came to me and made me swear under Faf to never tell anyone about her."\n\n"What Josep ask of you?"\n\n"Herbs, cardamom, eastern cinnamon, cloves-" \n\nElise snorts.\n\n"I do not think she sent a courier to you for cooking spices."\n\nHe pauses. "And a vial of blood upon every moon. Children's blood."\n\n[[By Faf...]]

"Elise, you awake?"\n\n"Yes." she says instantly. She sits on her bed and looks at you. "Can't fall asleep?"\n\n"Hmm, old habit. Picked it up from my master." I say.\n\n"You apprenticed under Anders Jovan, right? That must have been amazing." she says. She has the look of curious child, inqusitive and bright. \n\nI nod. It's been a while since anyone's mentioned Anders, but it was bound to come up again eventually. It always comes up.<<set $DemonPoints = $DemonPoints + 1>>\n\n[[Deflect: Ask her about herself.]]\n[[Tell her about Anders]]\n[[Stop talking and force yourself to sleep]]

After an hour of walking, we come upon the manse. It's a multifloored, garish thing whose opulence makes it stand out even more against the shanties and burnt out husks of the rest of the quarter.\n\n"Your move." says Elisa.\n\nThe front door looms, tall and imposing. It has a heavy brass knocker in the shape of an eagle. Something feels off about it. \n\n[[Enter through the front door]]\n[[Search for an alternate route]]

We return to the confessory. Elise ties up Meredith to a chair and we leave her, secluded in one of the empty rooms. \n\nWhen we have a simple dinner with Confessor Roald and his assistant. It is quiet.\n\n"So, tomorrow is the day?" asks the assistant. She has such a meek voice I can barely hear her speak. Roald throws her a withering glance. \n\nI barely even have the heart ot chastise him. She seems like a good girl, and I respond to her question.\n\n"Yes." I say. She nods, and looks back into her soup. Minutes later, I excuse myself.\n\n"I need sleep." I say. Elise nods. \n\n"I think I'll be getting some sleep soon as well." She says, but I'm already walking to the room. \n\n[[sleep]]

Elise comes over and rests a hand on my shoulder.\n\n"Your methods have failed Karl."\n\n"No..."\n\n"They have. Look at this wretched soul. Do you think she has any room in her for compassion or for reason? It's my turn now. Give me a few minutes with her, and you will have your demon-child."\n\n[[Accept Elise's offer]]\n[[Beg Meredith to help you]]

I step in. I level a kick at Meredith's stomach, just hard enough to send her reeling. <<set $ElisePoints = $ElisePoints + 1 >>\n<<set $DemonPoints = $DemonPoints + 1 >>\n\n"Demon! WE know you're out there! We know how much pain you're in from seeing this! Why don't you come stop us? Surely, blessed with the powers of the underworld, you could defeat two small, frail Inquisitors." I say. All I get is echo.\n\nBut then, off to the side, I hear a sound.\n\n[[Observe it]]

I raise my hands to defend myself. Thankfully, the stones are light and I only receive a light bruise on my forehead. I fall back to Meredith.\n\nThen the hail stop, and I am left to look around. A figure approaches, the child.\n\n[[Who are you?]]

"Do you see something?"\n\n"No, I just...really like this painter's work. We had one of his pieces in the cathedral where I was trained. It was always my favorite."\n\nIndeed, it is an impressive painting. Done in the classical illuminated style, it shows a woman and a child, locked in a n embrace, with a tall, stern looking man standing behind them. Another man, thin, tall and bald, stands to the side.\n\n"This is a noble portrait. I mean, wealthy families would contract artists to create family portraits of them. That man must be the deceased Lord, the woman and boy his wife and son." I say.\n\n"What about the bald man?" she says.\n\n"I'm not sure, perhaps an uncle, or friend." I say. Something seems odd about the man, something about the way the painter illuminated his eyes. I shudder, but see the stairs leading up to the first floor.\n\n[[Up the the first floor]]

I fold the letter up and place it in my coat. The dusty air makes it a little harder to breath.\n\n"I'm so sorry, Karl." says Ronald Marlowe, the librarian. He's carrying a stack of books and clearly struggling under the burden. I walk over and take half of the stack. \nWe walk down the hall, stopping every so often to return a book to its rightful place.\n\n"Don't be sorry." I say.\n\n"Well, I don't know what else to say. He was your best friend, we all thought so. This must be painful for you." he says.\n\nIs it though? I've seen grief. Mothers weeping over their children, fathers and brothers suffering silently over the death of their kin. This is a different feeling.\n\n"There's just been so much terrible news lately. Convents falling under attack, rebellion in our neighbors, mass heresies, and now this?" he shakes his head. \n\nFrom the other side of the library hall, I hear the sound of double doors being opened, and of stiff boots clacking against the marble floor. \n\n"Oh, what's this?" says Ronald, putting away his book and brushing the dust off his jacket.\n\nA woman walks into view, quickly and with an assured step. Her hair is cut short, with a thin long braid running from the back of her head and draped over her shoulder. Her face is sharp and pretty, though she bears some of the scars of a childhood pox. I can tell from the fine make of her cloak that she's from the Order.\n\n"Are you Karl Martin?" she asks.\n\n[[Depends on who's asking]]\n[[Yes]]\n[[No]]

"Speak, worm! Or by Faf's wrat you will know the meaning of suffering."<<set $DemonPoints = $DemonPoints + 1>>\n\n"I don't- Please. I'll tell you just- just don't let her use that thing." he says.\n\nI nod to Elise. She slips the clipper back into her belt pouch.\n\n[[Excellent.]]

"Tell me about Field Service." I say.\n\n"Hah, Field Service. You know all about the wars, fought over succession, over ancestral lands, over deposits of coal. Men do terrible things when ordered by their king. Some of them turn to demons and witchcraft to alleviate their suffering. That was where I came in. If a soldier recovered too quickly from infection, or miraculously grew back a few fingers, I'd pay them a visit." Elise says, her eyes galzing over.\n\n"That sounds terrible." I say\n\n"Not really. I liked it. It was better than wearing a frock and learning how to sew." She laughs and I have to admire her. Even hardened inquisitors have trouble on the front. It is a place of violence and destruction. \n\n[[What were the other things you said?]]

I look at the splintered remains of the door. In all honesty, that was the one bit of advice from Anders I ever doubted. Still, I will not be daunted.\n\n"Who are you-? No, don't tell me, I can tell by your clothes. Inquisitors." the Confessor says and turns to his assistant. He whispers something in her ear and she rushes to a room in the back. When he faces us again, he's grim faced. \n\n"I've been waiting for you."\n\n"You've been waiting for us?" Elise asks.\n\n"Yeah. I haven't been able to sleep since they sealed us off." he says, and leans in close with desperate urgency. "There's something here, isn't there? A witch's coven? A demon cult?" \n\n[[Brush aside his concerns]]\n[[Assuage his fears]]

"You're right. We're running out of time. Do what you will, Elise."<<set $ElisePoints = $ElisePoints + 1>>\n\nShe smiles. Her alacrity is...disconcerting. She walks in front of William and looks down at him.<<set $DemonPoints = $DemonPoints + 1 >>\n\n"Who're you-?" he starts to ask, but is cut off by a slap from her mailed glove. I can already see blood trickling from the side of his face where her backhand hit. \n\nShe starts the questioning. \n\n"Confessor Roald says that every few days you are visited by a man in black and red, with gold lining in his cloak. Rather unusual for the plague street, don't you think?"\n\nHe grimaces. She's struck a mark. Brutal, but effective.\n\n[[Stop her.]]\n[[Let her continue.]]

"I've always had my suspicions. There are always other Inquisitors who aren't truly strong enough. They give into temptation and weakness." I say. I don't even know if I really believe that, but it seems like something Elise would like to hear. Sure enough, she smiles and nods.\n\n"I think so too. You know, I had my doubts about you, Karl."\n\n"Banished, I hope."\n\n"Maybe. I've had bad experiences. Partners tend to betray you when things get tough. And in our business, things are always tough."\n\nA somber mood comes over the room. \n\n"I should go to sleep." I say.\n\n"Yes." she says, and lies down and is soon snoring.\n\nI lean back in my own bed and try to force myself to sleep.\n\n<<set $DemonPoints = $DemonPoints + 1 >>\n<<set $ElisePoints = $ElisePoints + 2 >>\n[[Drift off...]]

The door is cheaply made and flies off its hinges with one good kick. It's always important to make an entrance when presenting oneself. \n\nAcross the Church floor, I see the Confessor and his assistant at the altar. <<set $DemonPoints = $DemonPoints + 1>>\n\n\n[[The confessor looks at you, incredulous]]

I can barely look at Elise. Faf, she's right. Is this what everything has come down to? Blood and torture and madness? Then so be it.\n\n"Do what you will, Elise. Just end this nightmare."\n\nElise nods. I'm thankful for her not smiling now.\n\nShe cuts Meredith from her bonds and we walk out of the church to a clearing down the road.\n\n[[To the clearing.]]

"We are of the Order. We commit only those acts which must be done. But do not fret, once one tongue is convinced to move, the others soon follow."\n\nI look into his eyes. There is rage, deep, hateful rage. His fists are curled into balls and his knuckles are white. His breath is held. I know his mind is racing with thoughts, dark thoughts, rash thoughts.\n\nGood.\n\n[[Continue the Questioning]]

"I don't even know why I'm talking about this. It's not really related to anything." Elise says. \n\nShe seems flustered. Given what I've seen of her so far, that makes me uncomfortable.\n\n[[No, I would like to know]]\n[[You're right.]]

I turn the knob on the front door, but meet resistance. I try pressing against the door to force it open, but to no avail. The hinges look well oiled, so it must be locked. I try to assess our options.\n\nIt's pretty heavy looking, but there is evidence of internal rot. One good kick should bring it down.\n\nThe lock itself is pretty simple looking, though my lock-picking skills are a little rusty.\n\n[[Bash it down]]\n[[Attempt to pick the lock]]

The trepan is knocked from my hand. \n\nAnders stands over me, imposing, wrath in his eyes. \n\nBefore I can respond, he slaps me across the face. I fall to the floor, my eyes tearing from pain. \n\n"Enough." he says.\n\n"You have forgotten the words of the Codice. Evil begets Evil. To weed the field is not to burn it. You were weak now. Worse, your weakness blinded you."\n\n"But I did-"\n\n"SILENCE!" \n\nI quail.\n\n"We will leave now. This man is right. And when we return to the colegia, you will spend a week's solitude penitence."\n\nI want to voice an objection, but I cannot. That would only make it worse. I lower my head and agree.\n\n[[He offers his hand to lift me up.]]

"You think me, us, to be heartless? We are nothing like the vile filth that crawls in the earth and stalks the land at night. Your students came to us willingly."\n\nI hear his sigh of relief.\n\nI know it doesn't sit well with Anders, but I think I can afford these little mercies. It is the least I can give them.\n\n[[Continue the Questioning]]

"Oh, there's enough written on Anders to fill up a wing in the Great Library. No, there'll be plenty of time to talk about him when we get back to the Cathedral."\n\nWhen we get back...I sound so confident. Anders would have given me a penance for such arrogance. I try to speed the conversation along.\n\n"What about you? Where are you from. We never really had formal introductions. What branch of the church are you from?" I ask.\n\n"Oh-" she says. She seems a little taken aback, but also hesistant. "I'm from [[Gjornandy]], born and raised, joined the church when I came of age. They were taking in a lot of people back then. All the other girls wanted to be in one of the Cathedrals, become Sisters of the Order or the like. [[Not me]]. Once I was old enough, I volunteered for [[Field Service]]. This is actually my first time in the capital." she says. \n\n[[Oh, What do you think of our city?]]\n\n

We arrive at the church a little past midday. The quarter is eerie in its silence. There's a strange, foreboding feeling in the air. I feel as though I'm being watched by a thousand eyes from the shadows, all ducking back into the darkness as soon as I turn to look for them. \n\nAs we approach the Church a gust of wind carries a few loose sheafs of paper our way. I catch one begin to read.\n\n"By the Grand Pontiff and His Majesty, Son of Faf, it is hereby decreed, by their divine authority..."\n\nI skip past the honorifics\n\n"Every able bodied man and woman is to report for inspection and, if deemed necessary, conscription. Only together, under Faf's wisdom, can we hope to survive our enemies and drive out the evils of our homeland.\n\nAll Vodlavec FORBIDDEN\n\nFaf's Truth be with you." \n\n"What's that?" Elise asks.\n\n"Nothing." I say and crumple it up and throw it away. I have enough things troubling me as it is. \n\n"Well, we're at the church. What's our next course of action?"\n\n[[Knock on the door]]\n[[Kick down the door]]

Anders looks at me, a hint of suspicion in his eyes. I stare back, trying my best to maintain eye contact. After a moment, he turns away.\n\nI can't tell if he believed me or not, but either way, I'm glad to be free. I try to piece together what happened. There are burn and scorch marks on the floor, and a long streak of ash behind the chair where Giancarlo was sitting. It must have all been over in a second.\n\n"It is over." says Anders, redoing the clasp on the Gran Codice. \n\n[[Our duty is done.]]

I let her have her fun. She doesn't seem like she gets to enjoy her work enough. I count the blows. 1, 2, 3, 4, she grabs and pulls at his ear with her mailed hand. She says nothing while she does her work.\n\nEventually she turns to me, sweat on her forehead.\n\n"I think he's ready." she says and paces around.\n\nI start my own questioning.\n\n"Confessor Roald says that every few days you are visited by a man in black and red, with gold lining in his cloak. Those are nobleman's clothes. Who is he?"\n\nThere is a moment of silence before he speaks.\n\n[[Speak!]]

The room is musty. I look haggard and worn. Elise doesn't look much better. Meridith looks even worse. Her hair is a tangled mess and there are deep red marks were she was restrained by her hands. \n\n"Shall we?" she asks grimly, any hint of amusement gone.\n\nI take a deep breath. The sun is still low in the sky. In three hours, the Imperial Army will march in and raze the entire quarter to the ground and put every man, woman and child to the sword. We cannot fail. We must not fail. \n\n[[Let's Begin. And Faf have mercy on us.]]

"To Inquisitor Karl Martin\n\nSalutations, old friend\n\nIf this has reached you, then it means that I am upon my deathbed. I must say that this comes as a shock to me. I have long believed that my end would come swiftly and without warning, perhaps from demonfire, or a cultist's blade. Either way, now, at the end, I am glad I still have the swiftness of mind to recall fondly upon our days together. Together, we made the enemies of humanity and Faf's faith tremble.\n\nBut it pains me to see such trouble in the world upon my passing. We like to think that in life, we made a difference, and that ours was the choice that changed the world. It is not so. If you would indulge a dying man, I would like to impart one last bit of wisdom. \n\nThere are moments of instability in the world, moments when the great pillars upon which we have built our lives cease to give us strength. Those same pillars were built upon a swamp, a mire, and they drag us down into the abyss. Sands eat away at statues until all that is left is a blank pedestal, its very epigraph shorn away. This is what awaits the future. One day, you may understand. \n\nFaf help us all.\n\nSigned, your Friend and Mentor\nAnders"\n\n[[I finish reading the letter]]\n\n<<set $DemonPoints = 0>>\n<<set $ElisePoints = 0>>

I decide to take my chances and try to kill the demon-child. If I can just get to him, I could exorcise the demon and end it all in one swift stroke.\n\nI waste no time. My feet pound against the stone street. I see him, he's just a few feet in front of me. My hand is on my dirk when a crowd of people suddenly rises up in front of me. Their faes are resolute and they are unmoving. \n\n[[Fight through the crowd]]\n[[Back off]]

I suddenly feel very tired. My legs ache and my clothes seem to weigh heavily on my shoulders. I sit in the chair and lean back. Elise raises an eyebrow, as does Meredith.\n\n"Um, why are you sitting in that chair?" she asks.\n\n"Oh, I'm terribly sorry, I'll get up."\n\n"No, no, it's fine, just a little odd. Nobody ever liked sitting in that chair except him."\n\n"Him?"\n\nThen I notice a painting across the library, on one of the walls. It's another portrait, this one of a younger family. Meredith is there, as well as her husband, and another man with a furrowed brow and a badge of the Inqusition...\n\n"Is that Anders?" I ask, getting up from the seat and walking over to the painting. It can't be, it just can't be, the odds are too low, too impossible.\n\n"Why, yes, actually, he was a family friend. Every other night, he'd come over and have dinner with us. He donated most of the books in this library, you see. I was never much one for reading until he convinced me. Now I tend to find solace here, with the books." Meredith says, and she gets a far away look in her eyes, as though remembering the library when it wasn't covered in grime and inhabited by one lonely woman.\n\nI feel something gnawing inside of me. I thought I knew everything about Anders and now this? He was not a man given to secrets and deceptions. Something more is going on here.\n\nThere is a tumbling sound. A pile of books has fallen over her son. "Oh, George, be careful!" she practically screams and runs to his side. I shake my head. What is happening here?\n\n[[Return to the Foyer]]

"Excellent. I knew you would. Duty before self, yes." says the Pontiff and his steward continues.\n\n"You will need a partner. Elise here will assist you." says the Pontiff.\n\n \n\n"I assume you've introduced yourselves to each other, so we'll skip the formalities. We have supplies prepared and ready. If you'll follow me to the armory..." the steward finishes and the three of us exit the room. \n\n"Oh, and Karl." The Pontiff says just before I walk past the double doors. "Do not fail the Order."\n\nI nod.\n\n[[2 hours pass]]

I am no longer in the crypt. The air is fresh, and I feel a breeze blowing. The sun is high in the sky. I am sitting with my back to the trunk of a great oak and grass beneath my feet. \n\nThere is a bottle of wine within arms reach, with an overturned goblet by its side.\n\nI realize that I am in the gardens of the Grand Cathedral.\n\nI hear voices and a clamor coming from the Hall.\n\n\n[[Enter the Hall]]\n

I am silent. Only speak what must be spoken and nothing more. That's what they taught me.\n\nI always thought it was just a way to keep the chattier neophytes from making a ruckus, but I'd prefer not to start conversing with a daemonic host.\n\n[[Continue the Questioning]]

I use the blade. I strain my ears to listen to Anders. This is the most dangerous moment, when blood of apostate and inquisitor boil.\n\nI use it lightly, on the pinkie fingers, around the nail, prying and pushing. This is the first time Anders has let me do it by myself.\n\nScreams are nothing, I have long since stopped hearing them.\n\n"Confess." I ask, my voice calm.\n\nHe babbles unintelligibly, spittle dripping from his mouth. I take it as a no.\n\n[[I begin to grow annoyed.]]

"Hold your tongue, apothecary, or my partner may be forced to cut it out."\n\nHe seems to cower in his chair. This is good.\n\n"Please forgive me Inquisitor, I spoke out of turn."\n\nI prepare myself. I straighten my shoulders and position myself so I cast a shadow upon him. Finally, I deepen my voice.\n\n"It is not my forgiveness that you should ask for, but Faf's. Witches and their ilk often hide amongst the beggars and other undesireables. Who is to say that one of your many patients was not one of them, a wolf in sheep's clothing, come begging in the dead of night?"\n\nI remember the first time I tried this. My voice cracked. The man could not contain his laughter. Even my master had to supress his chuckle.\n\n"Well? What do you remember?"\n\nHe looks up at me, despondently, I think is the proper word.\n\n"I'm sorry sir, I couldn't say. I- I see so many. It'd be impossible for me to remember just one."\n\nI'm silent for a moment as I think about my next move. He is free of taint, but there is something else. \n\nElise scoffs and walks up next to me.\n\n"He's hiding something. Let me have at him and you will have your answers."\n\nI consider her offer. I look out the window. The sun has long since sunk past the horizon. Time is running out.\n\n[[Allow Elise to question him sharply.]]\n[[Refuse her offer;the man is merely afraid.]]

The second floor opens up to a wide pair of hallways forming a semicircle.\n\n"One goes to the master bedroom. Over there we have a door to one of the terraces. I'm afraid there's not much else. This is one of the smaller manors in the city." says Meredith, as though embarrassed.\n\n"It's no problem." I say. In fact, this makes my job all the easier.\n\n[[Proceed to the Master Bedroom]]\n[[Proceed to the Observation Deck]]\n

<<set $late = true>>\nI walk into the center of the circle to the man in the stocks. His face is cracked and dry. I examine his neck and spot the signature tattoo of the vodlavec; a grey loop that winds into itself. I pull out a small skin of water and pour some into his mouth.\n\nI feel a hand on my shoulder. Elise is next to me, shaking her head.\n\n"We need to go. The crowd is restless and this man is a both a thief and a heretic. Anything we do is pointless and time is of the essence."\n\n[[Go with the courier]]\n[[Stay with the man in the stocks]]

"Excellent. I knew you would. Duty before self, yes." says the Pontiff and his steward continues. <<set $DemonPoints = $DemonPoints + 1>>\n\n"You will need a partner. Luckily, we have arranged one for you." he motions his hand and the woman from the couch steps forward. "This is Elise Staropoli. Do not be fooled by her age, she has the full marks of an Inquisitor of the Order and has firsthand experience in matters such as these. She will be assisting you in your mission."\n\nShe extends a hand to shake. Her hand is like a vicegrip, and for a moment it seems as though her grip is going to snap my hand in two.\n\n"Unfortunately, there is little time for introductions. We have supplies prepared and ready. If you'll follow me to the armory..." the steward finishes and the three of us exit the room. \n\n"Oh, and Karl." The Pontiff says just before I walk past the double doors. "Do not fail."\n\nI nod.\n\n[[2 hours pass]]

"Do you falter?" he asks.\n\n"No. He is not guilty. I know it. I don't know how, but I know it's true." I stutter out.\n\nHe nods.\n\n"Then you have made the Order proud."\n\nSomehow, I remember nothing after that except the feeling of welling in my chest, the lighness in my head, and the feeling of falling backwards.\n\nI woke up an hour later in a bed in the church's servants quarters. When I opened my eyes, I did so to blinding light streaming in from the windows. And a voice calling me, a high, but urgent voice telling me to [[get up]].

"Roald..." he spits out the name. "That sotted old windbag."\n\nElise walks behind him, her every footfall leaving an echo in the room.\n\n"Sotted old fool? Did the old man have that much of a taste for drink?"\n\n"A taste for drink? Feh, the old fool had a taste for just about everything. Ale, women, the dice table, the man wasn'\n\n"Gambling too?" Elise giggles. She looks at me for directions.\n\nI can't really feign suprise. Slums and isolated parishes are breeding grounds for sin. The confessors leave their studies wide-eyed and ready to serve in Faf's name, but a year on the frontier or in some ghetto and you'd hard pressed to find a confessor with an entirely clean record.\n\n[[Mark my words, Confessor Roald will be punished for his transgressions.]]\n[[Please, these are harmless vices.]]

My eyes have fully adjusted to the low light. The crypt is not empty. Nearby, there is a table with instruments laid out on top of it.\n\nBlades, trepans, calipers, a small lathe, a metal brand. Crude, but serviceable. I take the calipers.\n\n"I will ask you once more. I know you are guilty. We know you are guilty. Faf' knows you are guilty. Confess, and you shall be given all the mercies we can give."\n\n"Please, don't do this. You don't have to do this."\n\n"But I do. You force me to. Blame none but yourself."\n\n[[Continue.]]

I knock away her hand at the very last moment. The knife blade goes flying through the air and embeds itself harmlessly in a wooden pillar. \n\n"What are you doing?" she says, practially screaming. The four fallen gang members moan in pain around us."He drew a weapon against us, a crime punishable by death, I had the full authority-."\n\n"ENOUGH!" I say. "If you killed him then there'd be a call for blood and more of the Order would be attacked. Right now he's scared because he knows he should be dead. That fear is enough."\n\nShe breathes heavily, then her face flushes and she turns away. \n\n"We've tarried enough here. Let's be on our way." she says.\n---\nThe rest of our walk is uneventful and we come to gates of the Grand Cathedral. Opulent does not do the grounds of the Great Cathedral justice. It is a palace worthy of the King himself, possibly above him. Statues dot the sweeping lawns and halls meant to seat thousands during holy days connect and open up to massive balconies.\n\nThe guards look at us and grip their weapons. I tense up for a moment until I notice the bloodstains on my coat. Elise raises her hand and the guards relax. After another moment I hear the winch of the gate turning and soon we're walking along the grounds.\n\nAs we approach the entrance to the Great Hall, she turns to me.\n\n"Well, we're here."\n\nI look up at the heavy brass doors. Before long, I hear a creaking sound as an attendant ushers me in.\n\n[[Enter the Grand Cathedral]]

"Have you ever taken ill? You don't seem like the kind to work with the leprous and the infirm." I press.\n\n[[His lips are dry and cracked]]. He licks them.\n\n"Feh, then you don't know me. When I was a child I caught fever so many times they thought I was going to die before my tenth birthday. Now, I barely need the surgeon's mask."\n\nHe puffs up his chest. Fair enough. Not many can say they survived the fever as children.\n\n[[Confessor Roald also told me something else.]]\n

I get on my knees and look into the keyhole. As I thought, it's rusted over, but not as bad as it seemed and it looks like it gets regular use. \n\nI reach into my coat for a lockpick. Elise raises an eyebrow.\n\n"You know hot to pick a lock?" she asks.\n\n"It's just one of those things you pick up along the way." I say. "It's pretty easy." 20 minutes later and three bent picks later I'm swearing at the lock. Elise looks at me, a look of amusement on her face.\n\n"I'm glad you find this funny." I say.\n\n"Well, it is."\n\n"Let me try." she says and I give her a pick, my last pick. She stares at the keyhole.\n\n"If you think you can do it, fine, but I'm guessing we're going to have to break down a window or perhaps find another way in-" I hear a click and the door creaks open, letting a sliver of light into the darkness beyond. I feel my mouth agape.\n\n"You knew how to pick it all along?" I ask.\n\n"Yeah, like you said, it's just one of those things you pick up along the way." she says with a wry smile forming at the edge of her mouth.\n\n"Oh, you are cruel."\n\n"That's what my drill sergeant said." she says, and walks into the mansion pleased with her victory. \n\n[[Proceed to the foyer]]

I slap her across the face. Not a truly hard slap, just one light enough to put a mark on her cheek. Still no reaction.\n\n"You shame every person who calls themself a follower of Faf. You shame our kingdom, and you shame your family name. Your actions have cast an indelible mark upon you and your son."\n\nThe mention of her son finally gets a reaction from her.\n\n"Don't talk to me like that. I prayed to Faf. What did he give me? He took my husband and then he wanted to take my son. I don't care what you do to me, my son is cured and free, and none of your soldiers or your walls will be able to stop him." she spits out. Her hair is a tangled mess, but her eyes are lucid. The catatonia was a trick, the fire still burns. \n\nVery well then.\n\n[[Play upon her fear]]\n[[Shame her]]\n[[Goad her to anger]]

"We need to go to the Library." I say.\n\n"The Library?" Meredith says.\n\n"You do have one, I assume?" I say. Nearly every noble family has a personal library. Servants are usually forbidden from reading any of the books, lest they be heirlooms from the Old Age before the Inquisitorial Order. More than one House has been brought down thanks to a bookish maid with dreams of wealth.\n\n"Of course, just follow me." she says.\n\nShe leads us into a rather expansive and beautifully furnished library. Much like the foyer, a thin layer of dust clings to everything. Meredith quickly lights some of the wall sconces with her candle and a warm glow soon fills the room. I pace around. A large, curved, high back chair sits in one corner of the room, right next to a pair of towering bookshelfs. Next to it is a nightstand with a few loose sheafs of paper. \n\n[[Scan the bookshelf]]\n[[Go over the papers]]\n[[Rest]]

"She is right, though, Confessor. If we do not find the demon, then the guard will raze the quarter to the ground. You and everyone else in here will be killed. I understand your vows, but please, if there was ever a time to break them, now is that time." I say.\n\nThe confessor looks away, conflicted. I hear the door to the back creak open. The assistant walks out and up the confessor. She takes his hand. He looks back to me. \n\n"There's a man, he works on the plague street. His name is William Lutz. He works as an apothecary giving out mercy treatments and selling unguents. On the surface he's a reputable man, but he has some shady dealings, specifically with a man in a red coat."\n\n"A red coat?"\n\n"Yes, crimson, and with a thin gold lining. Every month he comes looking for ingredients. He wouldn't say what exactly, but he sounded distressed. That's all he told me." Confessor Roald says and takes a seat on one of the pews.\n\n"Thank you, confessor." I say and motion to Elise. "We move." She nods, and we're out of the Church.\n---\n"So, do we just barge in on Lutz's or what?" Elise asks, checking her blades for stickiness in the scabbards.\n\n"Not yet. Roald seems like an honourable man, but even a confessor's word is heresay. I don't want a repeat of the situation in Mont Negris last year. The plague street probably holds more answers."\n\n"Seems." Elise says.\n\n"What?" I ask.\n\n"You said he seems like an honourable man. Seeming and actually being are two different things." she says.\n\n"You think his story was off?" I ask\n\n"No, he's still a confessor. He wouldn't lie in something liek this. Call it a hunch, but I don't think his person is quite as you think it to be."\n\n[[Nonsense]]\n[[Possibly...]]

\n"I will not leave. This man is in the stocks, that is enough. He roasts in the sun, is spat upon by the people and listens to the words of our confessors. He does not deserve to be pelted with rocks and tormented by an unruly mob-"\n\n"Oy, ya Order shit! You're the king's dogs!" someone shouts out and a hail of rocks comes down upon us. Three men and a woman rush forward with blades in their hands. Elise meets the men and the woman, but one man dashes past her up to me.\n\nHe's a large man, brutish and tough, with a vicious scar along his neck. In his hand he wields a jagged looking shiv with a bandaged handle.\n\n[[Shield yourself]]\n[[Attack him]]

I chuckle. If this is a deflection, it's a poor one.\n\n"Gambling, wine, women. What man hasn't fallen prey to their temptations?" I say. I catch a smirk from Elise. \n\nMaybe I could have phrased that better. I continue.\n\n"Either way, these are mild indisgressions compared to the sin of consorting with demons and engaging in witchcraft."\n\n"Demons and witchcraft? Ser, do I look like the kind of man to consort with demons? I care for the sick, the abandoned, and this is the thanks I receive from Faf's Order? A pox on you."\n\nElise springs to action. Her hand immediately goes to the blade. Our eyes meet and she stays her hand.\n\n[[Watch your tongue, apothecary]].\n[[Please forgive me, I did not mean to slight your labor]].\n

I turn and make to walk out of the crypt, following Anders' steps. I hear a door opening and the shuffling of feet as they rush down. I hang my head as we exit the cold crypt into the warmth of the upper levels.\n\nThere is still much I do not know, still much I must learn. \n\n[[Into the light]]

"Confessor there are nearly 500 people still in this quarter by census reports. My mission is to save those people, no matter the cost. Now you can choose to cooperate with me, or I can force you to by my power as an inquisitor." I say.\n\nThe confessor looks away, as if masking impotent rage. I hear the door to the back creak open. The assistant walks out and up the confessor. She takes his hand. He looks back to me. \n\n"There's a man, he works on the plague street. His name is William Lutz. He works as an apothecary giving out mercy treatments and selling unguents. On the surface he's a reputable man, but he has some shady dealings, specifically with a man in a red coat."\n\n"A red coat?"\n\n"Yes, crimson, and with a thin gold lining. Every month he comes looking for ingredients. He wouldn't say what exactly, but he sounded distressed. That's all he told me." Confessor Roald says and takes a seat on one of the pews, as if spent by the effort of telling me.\n\n"Thank you, confessor." I say and motion to Elise. "We move." She nods, and we're out of the Church.\n---\n"So, do we just barge in on Lutz's or what?" Elise asks, checking her blades for stickiness in the scabbards.\n\n"Not yet. Roald seems like an honourable man, but even a confessor's word is heresay. I don't want a repeat of the situation in Mont Negris last year. The plague street probably holds more answers."\n\n"TO save those people." Elise says.\n\n"What?" I ask.\n\n"You said your mission was to save those people. That's not what the Pontiff said. Our mission is to keep this contained and, if possible, save the quarter." she says.\n\n"Semantics." I say.\n\nShe shrugs and walks on ahead. I call to her to wait for me to catch up, but my words are lost on a gust of wind. I shake myhead and run after her.\n\n[[Go to the Plague Street]]

The Crypt comes crashing back into reality. I'm on the floor, lookign up at the ceiling. I hear the sound of heavy breathing and burning. Anders is standing over the chair, his coat open.\n\nI try to get to my feet, but my legs are wobbly and I fall back onto the stone floor. \n\nAnders turns around. I can see the body of Giancarlo, warped and twisted, a holy iron blade driven between his ribs.\n\nAnders looks down at me. In one hand he has the Gran Codice opened and turned to a page.\n\n"Do not lie. I heard the demon call out to you. Tell me, what did you do?"\n\n[[I resisted its temptation.]]\n[[Forgive me, I gave in to its promises.]]

She peers around, as if looking for a set of eyes watching from a hole in the wall before leaning in close. \n\n"There are times when I suspect traitors inside the Order itself." she says. I am taken aback. Traitors in the Order is one of the gravest accusations one can make. "I fear that not everyone in the Order is truly dedicated to the cause. There are some who believe we are in the wrong, that we have overstepped our bounds and that we are little more than the King's dogs. Fools, all." she finishes with spite.\n\nHer words fill me with unease. She is a true believer, one of the newer Inquisitors. \n\n"What do you think?" she suddenly asks me.\n\nFaf, what do I say?\n\n<<set $ElisePoints = $ElisePoints - 2>>\n\n[[I've always had my suspicions]]\n[[I'll not listen to this foolishness]]\n

"No...of course not. That's a myth." I say and decide to munch on some fruit. The Gran Codice does speak of transmogrification, and of strange, shapeshifting beings attuned to the primal forces of nature. Anders often spoke of them and their trickery.\n\nI finish my fruit in silece. \n\n"Well, shall we depart?" ask Elisa, tying her sword to her waist. I look out the window. The sun is shining and we have all the time in the world.\n\n"Let's." I say.\n\n[[Move out]]

<<if $DemonPoints gte 10>>\nI get up to the gate, shouting my name and waving my arms. I laugh out loud. They must think I'm a madman, stark raving.\n\n"Hello! Faf's name, does no one recognize me?"\n\nSomeone does, a lower level Confessor blessed with the sight.\n\n"Inquisitor Marten?" he calls out out. He can't be more than 16 and he's still wearing the garb of a neonate. \n\n"Aye!" I yell back. "Aye."\n\nThe Confessor presses his hand to his temple, as if suffering from a migraine. A look of worry flashes across the faces of the nearby guardsmen.\n\n"He is...unclean." The neonate chokes out. "Kill him." \n\nThe soldiers do not hesistate. One swings at me with a club. I dodge and slash with my dirk, but his armor deflects my attack. Another swings a mailed glove into my back and knocks me down. They swing, and swing and keep swinging. My arm becomes feeble. The dirk is knocked from my hand. \n\n"What-!? No, no, no, no!" I yell, I cry, but no one listens, no one cries out for me. One soldier just raises his club as if to bash my head in. I close my eyes.\n\n<<else>>\nI get up to the gate, shouting my name and waving my arms. I laugh out loud. They must think I'm a madman, stark raving.\n\n"Hello! Faf's name, does no one recognize me?"\n\nSomeone does, a lower level Confessor blessed with the sight.\n\n"Inquisitor Marten?" he calls out out. He can't be more than 16 and he's still wearing the garb of a neonate. \n\n"Aye!" I yell back. "Aye."\n\n"Ser, what happened?"\n\n"Everything failed. This place is beyond saving." I say, walking past the guards. \n\n"The demon?" he asks.\n\n"Still on the loose, in the body of a child."\n\n"Faf's mercy...What shall we do?"\n\n"The only thing we can do. Burn the whole thing down." \n\nHe pauses for a moment, then nods and waves his hand. There is the sound of war drums and armor pounding on stone. When I start to smell smoke, I don't look back. I instead make the long trek back to the Grand Cathedral, to report and to \n<<endif>>\nEND

The apothecary's hospice is a filthy place. There are signs of surgery and treatment of actual plague victims. Piles of herbs are spread out along the floor and windows to keep the foul humours from spreading between patients.\n\nA man in a white surgeon's mask comes over to us. \n\n"Hello strangers. Might I be of service to you? Do you come for treatment, or perhaps on the behalf of another?"\n\n"Are you William Lutz?" asks Elise.\n\n"Yes, I am he." the man says.\n\n"Alright, your move, what do we do?" she asks me.\n\n[[Ask him to cooperate]]\n[[Forcibly restrain him]]

There is a slight crunching sound, followed by high pitched screaming that quickly ascends to a higher pitch until it's just the squeaky rasp of air escaping.<<set $ElisePoints = $ElisePoints + 1>>\n\nSome Inquisitors shirk at this part of their duty. I have never understood them.<<set $DemonPoints = $DemonPoints + 1>>\n\nElise finishes and looks up at me. \n\n"More?" she asks, matter-of-factly.\n\nI look at William. His hand is bleeding profusely. it drips down from the stump of his finger down the leg of the chair and onto the floor.\n\n[[Ask him to tell you what you need to know.]]\n

I nod my head. He is the Inquisitor here, I am his apprentice. \n\n[[Leave the crypt]]

The air in the passage is redolent of the smell of rotting wood and soot. Rats chitter in the nooks and crannies up above and I can see a thin blade of sunlight peeking through a hole in the wall. This passage must run through the entirety of the house, at points becoming so close that I can barely sidle through. \n\nEventually my thoughts turn to Anders. What was he doing here, with these people? Why did he come here? Meredith said most of those books had been donated by Anders, books I'd seen him burn countless times. \n\nA dark thought crosses my mind. This is it, this is my chance. Forget living under the shadow of a legend, it could be my name they speak of in a hundred years, in a thousand years-\n\nI hit my head on a low hanging sconce and nearly fall over. My hands reach out for the wall and I'm able to steady myself in time to keep from tumbling down the passage. I feel a bead of sweat running down the side of my face and I'm suddenly very aware fo my surroundings, of the shadows, of the fact that the candle in front of me has just gone out.\n\nI hold my breath and wait for a moment, listening, before continuing. Luckily, it's only a few seconds before I come up to a door that's been left ajar.\n\n[[peek in]]

"How do you plead?" I ask him.\n\n"How do I plead? I'm innocent, I swear. I know nothing of Demons or witchcraft."\n\n"How do you explain the late nights in the study? The symbols, the old tomes? Do you deny at the very least, that you have dabbled in the knowledge of the Old Age?"\n\n"I-, I- I am a tutor. I serve the nobles. Understand, what I do, I do for them, for their children.\n\n"Then how in Faf's name do you think you can-" My mouth keeps moving, keeps uttering words, but my mind has long since moved on. This is recitation, regurgitation. I must watch, note his reactions. \n\n[[His eyes dart away]] His hands flex and his breath quickens.\n\n[[I notice a pendant around his neck]]. Why hadn't I seen it before? It's small, but shiny, even in the dark.\n\nI again think back to Anders teaching me, making me recite the basic principles the Inquisitor.\n\nI hear his voice in my head.\n\n"Look for the small things, and press them hard, for they will not resurface. The followers of Demons and Devils are crafty, but even they cannot foresee every question, or measure their every response." \n\n[[Yes, about those nobles...]]\n

"Why did you do this?" I ask. There's no reason for brutality or violence. The man is on the verge of being judged by Faf, anyhting I could do pales in comparison. \n\n"You wouldn't understand." he mutters out through a thin gout of blood.\n\n"Wouldn't I?" I ask. I don't think I'm cruel. They always assume the worst of us. Not that I can blame them, really. "I'm going to make a guess and say that you aren't the one behind all this."\n\nHe says nothing. I continue.\n\n"It's Lady Meredith. Or, to be more specific, her son. In the town I overheard that her son was cursed with some sort of affliction, a kind of rot that ate away at his flesh and left him bedridden and feeble-minded." I lean in close.\n\n"And yet, I saw him walking on two feet, healthy as any child I've ever seen. How exactly do you explain that? Well, Frederic, know you've been speaking with demons. I know you've been working at the behest of Lady Meredith. There is nothing to be ashamed of. You are forgiven." As I say this, he closes his eyes, and dies. For some time, I sit by his side. Then, after a moment's prayer for his passing, I set to spilling the oil lamps on the floor. I carry one behind me as I walk back through the passage up to Elise and Meredith, leaving a greasy green trail as again I feel sunlight on my skin and dust in my lungs. \n\n[[Exit the manor]]

"Fine, your life is forfeit, but what of your son?"\n\n"You will not find him?"\n\n"Oh no? What makes you so sure? If this were any other city maybe, but this is the capital. The Great Cathedral itself is within walking distance. After we burn this city to the ground, all the might of the Inquisitorial Order will come crashing down over your son's head."\n\nShe fidgets. I have her.<<set $DemonPoints = $DemonPoints + 1 >>\n\n\n"Listen, I want to help your son. I don't want unnecessary bloodshed."\n\nElise looks stunned. Tears well up in Meredith's eyes.\n\n"Will you help him?"\n\n"I'll try."\n\n[[She starts weeping]]

"What?" the Pontiff chokes out. \n\n"You have my answer." I say. The Steward is red-faced and sputtering. Even Elise is shocked.\n\n"You are a servant of the Order. You carry the Gran Codice, you-"\n\n"True, but I am an Inquisitor now in name only. I tend to the Library with Marlowe and assist the neophytes in their training."\n\n"Are you really going to just abandon the Order then?" asks Elise. \n\n"Please, Karl. Your city asks this of you. Take up the cause once more, and save us from this evil. You are our only hope." The Pontiff says. I can see true desperation in his eyes, as well as in the eyes of the steward. Elise looks at me expectantly.\n\n[[Fine]]\n[[No, and that is my final answer]]

[[Our duty is done.]]

We exit the library and into the bright noon day sun.\n\nThe streets of the city are filled with people. It's market day and every monger and his wife are out. People call out the price of their wares, slander their competitors and haggle loudly over the price of a loaf of bread. The only people getting through the crowd are the soldiers dressed in the blue and silver of the Crown and the few dressed in the gold and black of the Church.\n\nEvery so often, I hear the distant boom of artillery practice.\n\nEventually, we come to fork in the road. One leads to a shortcut to the Grand Cathedral. It's a little out of the way, and through a bad part of the city, but it'll take us straight to the Cathedral.\n\nThe Main street looks crowded and is the most common route. It's a straight walk to the basilica of the Grand Cathedral. \n\n[[Take the Main Street]]\n[[Take the shortcut]]

I slow my breathing. Be calm, I tell myself. Drawn weapons and twitchy nerves rarely make for a pleasant outcome.\n\n"Just keep your wits about you. And stay on point." I rasp out. Elise nods wordlessly and continues on, carefully avoiding treading on loose or splintered remains. \n\nI do the same.\n\n[[Into the Office.]]

I can hear stone mechanisms inside the wall turning and activating before the walls sinks into the floor, revealing a spiraling staircase leading downwards. \n\nThe walls are lined with wax candles, each one on the verge of dying. Someone has passed through recently. I turn to Meredith.\n\n"What is this?" I ask.\n\n"I don'- I don't know." she says, without even a hint of surprise before she breaks down weeping. She practicaly throws herself into Elise's arms. "Don't go down there! Please, I beg of you, don't go down there! George, run!" she yells. George doesn't even stop. He takes off running before I can even react. I go out to the foyer, but it's as if he's vanished into thin air.\n\n"Why not?! What are you hiding?" Elise asks, but she gets no response from Meredith. \n\n"Elise, restrain her." I say.\n\n"Aye." she says, and pulls out a length of rope. Meredith doesn't even resist.\n\n"Now what do we do?" she asks.\n\nI look down the tunnel.\n\n"I'm going in. You stay here with Meredith."\n\n"That's insane, what if you \n\n"I can handle myself."\n\n---conditional--\n\nElise gives a snarky comment.\n---\nI hold my breath and say a prayer to Faf.\n\n[[Enter the passage alone]]

This feels wrong. I set the trepan back down on the table with a thud. I cannot do this. I remember when Anders did it, the way he described it, the way the drill bit bites into the skull and into the delicate matter of the brain. I want to retch.\n\nI breath in deeply. Thoughts run through my head, thoughts of failure. \n\nWhy did I ever think I could do this? The other neophytes were right. I am weak. I do not truly beleive, and for that I have been forsaken of Faf's blessing. Anders will look down on me, he will want a new apprentice, one who will not shirk in the face of duty...\n\nI feel hot. My clothes feel itchy and suffocating.\n\nI want to turn to Anders and face my failure, but I am afraid.\n\n[[Turn and face your master]]\n[[Keep looking away]]

<<set $killed = true>>\n"Elise!" I yell, but she's one step ahead of me. She has her dagger and her sword out and we catch the gang by surprise. I have my own dirk out and two of the thugs in my sight.\n\nThe fight escalates quickly. I see two men fall to Elise minus a few fingers and a third goes down with a thin cut across the chest. I parry my first opponent's dagger and knock him out with a blow from the hilt of my dirk. \n\nThe leader takes one look at his fallen comrades before turning around and running. \n\n"Oh, no you don't." I hear Elise say and she pulls out a thin, curved throwing knife. She takes aim.\n\n[[Stop her from killing]]\n[[Let her kill him]]

\nI push open the double doors of the hall to thunderous applause. Inquisitors and Confessors clasp my hand and offer me congratulations.\n\nI see the High Pontif up ahead beckoning me forward. He speaks to me.\n\n"Inquisitor Karl Martin, you have done well. You bring honor to the Order and fear into the hearts of devils and witches. You have earned a seat of honor at our table."\n\nI feel something caught in my throat. Of course. I deserve this. I fought for this. This is mine. And yet, something nags in the back of my mind, a faint feeling of unease. \n\n[[Take the seat]]\n[[Turn Away]]

I tire of this pointlessness. The man is guilty, I can see it on his face, I can sense it in his being. I feel sweat beading on my forehead. His right hand is dripping blood onto the stone floor.\n\n"Confess. End this." I say, putting as much bite into it as possible. \n\n"Piss off." he says between ragged breaths. I feel my face flush. He emberasses me before my mentor. I turn and go back to the table of instruments.\n\nI am not working sharply enough. [[The trepan gleams]]. I take it in my hand, feel its curved, jagged drill tip. I imagine the slight rotation of the handle, how almost no pressure must be applied, how those who experience it long enough drift off to a restful sleep...\n\nI stop. I try to remember Anders' words, the words of the Codice. My mind feels addled. There is something wrong in all this, something I have missed. I look at the knife in my hand. [[I want to put it down.]]

"Now, now. No need for all that." I say, pulling out a bag of coins. "A tariff. For passing through your territory." I toss the bag in the leaders direction. He opens it and takes out a coin. Elise looks disgusted.\n\nA moment later, the leader pockets the coin purse bows. "A pleasure doing business with you, heheheh." he says, and the gang disappears back into the alley from whence they came.\n\nI catch Elise's glare.\n\n"That's just how the city is. They outnumbered us 5 to 2."\n\n"WE could have taken them." she says, kicking at a discarded clay cup and smashing it against a wall.\n\n"Maybe, but I don't want to meet the Pontiff with blood on my cheek."<<set $DemonPoints = $DemonPoints - 1>>\n\n"Hmph." she says and we say nothing until we reach the gates of the Grand Cathedral.<<set $ElisePoints = $ElisePoints - 1>>\n<<set $lived = true>>\n<<if $killed>>\nThe guards look at us and grip their weapons. I tense up for a moment until I notice the bloodstains on my coat. Elise raises her hand and the guards relax. After another moment I hear the winch of the gate turning and soon we're walking along the grounds.\n<<endif>>\n\n<<if $lived>>\nAs we approach the gates the guards immediately salute and the gate slowly opens. The grounds are empty as we walk.\n<<endif>>\n\nAs we approach the entrance to the Great Hall, she turns to me.\n\n"Well, we're here."\n\nI look up at the heavy brass doors. Before long, I hear a creaking sound as an attendant ushers me in.\n[[Enter the Grand Cathedral]]

I take the trepan in my hands. Yes, there is no mercy for the wicked. He has refused us. I will have the truth. I press the drill bit to his head.\n\n"I don't want you to think about how painful this is for you." I say. "I want you to think about how painful this will be for the others."\n\n"The others?" he asks, the bravado gone.\n\n"I know you are fond of a woman who lives in the Blood Quarter, a pretty, delicate thing. And your friends, their children, everyone you have ever known." I let that hang in the air for a moment.\n\n"I just wanted you to know that." I begin to rotate the trepan. His hair curls around the drill bit.\n\n"Wait, wait-"\n\n"You have forsaken mercy." The trepan encounters pressure. I apply more force.\n\n"Please, wait, WAIT-!" he loses breath.\n\n[[The thinnest trickle of blood rolls down the side of his head.]]

I lean in to listen. Not too close, of course, and I keep a hand on my blade. Fortune favors the cautious.\n\n"I don't- Please. I'll tell you just- just don't let her use that thing."\n\nI nod to Elise. She slips the clipper back into her belt pouch.\n\n[[Excellent.]]

We enter the foyer. As I thought, it's a luxurious entrance, made to impress visitors more than anything, though it looks like visitors haven't been hosted in quite some time. A thin film of dust clings to the wall, and the tapestries are all a faded gray from not having been beaten of their lamp soot.\n\nI hear shuffling off to the side. I snap around just in time to see Elise toss a knife through the air. I see the blade fly through the air before embedding itself in the wall, just a few inches over the head of a figure with a low burning candle. I see large, watery eyes reflecting back at me, blue as bird's eggs.\n\n"Elise, hold!" I say. I approach the figure. She's a frail looking thing, with hair that looks like it hasn't been combed in weeks. If not for her clothes, which are clean, though faded, I'd have mistaken her for a servant. "What are you doing?"\n\n"She's armed." Elise says.\n\n"Who, wha- what's going on?" the woman sputters out. "Who are you?" I prepare to move forward, but see that she is indeed armed with a small, thin dagger. A noble's weapon.\n\n"My name is Karl Martin. This is my partner, Elise. We're from the Inquisitorial order, sent here to excise a demon." I say. \n\n"A demon? What is this talk of a demon?" she says, blanching.\n\n"What demon? Are you daft? Didn't you see the raid and gates of the quarter close?" Elise barks out.\n\n"Elise! Enough." I say. "This is the Lady of this house. Show her respect." My outburst silences Elise. She bites her tongue and bows her head.\n\n"Pardon me, Lady." she says.\n\n"What are you doing in my house?" she says, this time more firmly, straightening her back and holding her head up high. She tucks her dagger back into her belt.\n\n"Pardon me, Lady, but we have reason to believe your manservant is a demon-worshipper, engaged in dark rituals." I say.\n\n"Frederic? No, not him, he's been a friend, my husband's servant since long before I met him." she says.\n\n"I understand, but now is not the time to doubt. We need your help. The Order, and myself, and the people of this quarter, would be eternalyl grateful."\n\nShe looks down. "Do I have a choice?"\n\n"I hoped you wouldn't ask me that, but no." I say.\n\n"Very well then, I give you permission to search my home." she says after a moment's consideration. "And you may address me by my name. I'm Meredith."\n\nI regard her. Nothing seems too off about her, but I need to remain wary. Still, who am I to turn down help, now of all times?\n\n[[Go to the Library]]\n[[Proceed to the second floor]]

In all honesty, I'm pretty tired. I sit on the couch and feel the weight of the day on my shoulders. Then I remember that's it's not that late and I feel like an old man. No, I tell myself, I'm not that old. A little worn, with a scar here or there, but I'm still young, I can still run with the best of them. \n\nI look at my hands and all those thoughts go away. When did my hands get like this? My hands used to be smooth, nimble. Now they look like jaggy protrusions of bone and skin, the kind of hands belonging to some rapacious imp. I try to lean back and catch a few moments worth of sleep before the doors to the audience chamber open and an attendant comes out.\n\n"The Pontiff will see you now." he says. Elise jumps to attention, then looks around as if dazed.\n\n"I was resting." she says, straightening her cloak before entering the audience chamber.\n\nI sigh and follow.\n\n[[Meet his holiness]]

"What do you think of the methods we use?" I ask\n\n"What do you mean?"\n\n"You said were a Field Inquisitor, you understand what it's like. These are trying times. When men suffer, they listen to any voice that offers them relief."\n\nI must be careful now. My words could be seen as heresy, even if I am an Inquisitor.\n\n[[Do you ever wonder if what we do is right?]]\n[[Never mind. It was nothing.]]

Elise and I are walking through the streets of the city while the steward guides us. After a few hours, we finally come to the walls of the slum. Quarters, they're called, after an old tradition of quartering soldiers and laborers in them until more permanent housing could be found. The walls are remnants of a time when the city was just a disparate group of villages, seperate and feuding.\n\nWhen we come to the gates, we see pens filled with men and women, presided over by soldiers in blue and silver and confessors of the Order. Every person in the pens is bruised and bloodied. Many lie on the ground, barely moving.\n\n"You must be quick. You have the full authorization to do whatever you feel is necessary. If you fail, the army will raze the quarter to the ground in order to contain the demon. Every single person will die."\n\n"I understand." I say. I understand all too well.\n\nI hear heavy winches pull against the heavy iron gates leading into the walled quarter. It's a terrible grinding sound, liek the doors are resisting the pull of the chains every inch of the way. At last, they finish opening, and the steward waves us in.\n\n"Good Luck, and Faf lend you his strength. You will need it."\n\n[[Enter the Quarter]]

"Mark my words, Confessor Roald will be punished for his transgressions, but that is not the issue here. The issue is of witchcraft and demon-summoning."\n\n"Feh, you Order-folk are all the same. Bloodthirsty wolves. Demon summoning, I know of no such things." He spits at my feet for emphasis.\n\n[[Watch your tongue, apothecary]]

I don't have time for this and move on. Elise follows. As we continue forward, the crowd thins until all we see are a few figures in gold and black and the iron gates opening up to the Cathedral. Three guards stand at the ready, dressed in armor.\n\nAs I approach they tense up, but one word from Elise and the gate opens. Opulent does not do the grounds of the Great Cathedral justice. It is a palace worthy of the King himself, possibly above him. Statues dot the sweeping lawns and halls meant to seat thousands during holy days connect and open up to massive balconies.\n\nAs we approach the entrance to the Great Hall, she turns to me.\n\n"Well, we're here. You ready?"\n\nI look up at the heavy brass doors. Before long, I hear a creaking sound as an attendant ushers me in.\n\n[[Enter the Grand Cathedral]]

I do what I can. I pull out a small leather pouch of water and pour some for him. \n\n"Elise, help me hold his mouth open." I say. She does and for the next few seconds we let the man have his fill. \n\n"Thank you." he mutters. His body looks severely burned. It's a wonder that he hasn't succumbed to his wounds already. \n\n"Do you know how this happened?" I ask the man.\n\n"Inquisitors?" the man looks up, his eyes wide.\n\n"Yes-" I start, but with a burst of speed he grabs my coat and whispers in my ear.\n\n"Lutz. Find Lutz, and the man in the red coat." he whispers hoarsely. \n\n"A red coat? Who is he, who is this man?" I ask, but its too late. The man's body quickly grows cold and I set him down.\n\nElise and I say a quick prayer for him before leaving.\n\n---\n"So, do we just barge in on Lutz's or what?" Elise asks, checking her blades for stickiness in the scabbards.\n\n"Not yet. We have to believe the officer was an honourable, but even the police's word is hearsay. I don't want a repeat of the situation in Mont Negris last year. The Market probably holds more answers."\n\n"Hmm, if you think so. I say we go over to Lutz's and ask him a few questions."\n\n"And just where might this Lutz be?" I return.\n\nElise thinks for a moment. "Good point." she says. "To the Market then?"\n\n"Let's."\n\n[[To the Market]]

I jump out of bed and land on the floor with a hard thug. I hear Elisa titter ever so quietly. As I pull myself up, I see a drip of blood from my nose to the floor. Not a pleasant way to start the day. \n\nI'm still wearing my clothes from before, so there's no need to change. A small plate of fruit and bread is on my bedstand. I see a weevil crawl out of the bread and I lose my appetite. Elisa is happily munchign away at her plate.\n\n"Say, I meant to ask you. You know how he said the man in red only appears at the full moon?" she asks.\n\n"Yeah, what about it?" \n\nShe pauses for a moment. "You don't think it's werewolves do you?"\n\n\n[[No...of course not.]]\n[[Werewolves!?]]\n[[(Laugh)]]

I jump out of bed and land on teh floor with a hard thug. I hear Elisa titter ever so quietly. As I pull myself up, I see a drip of blood from my nose to the floor. Not a pleasant way to start the day. \n\nI'm still wearing my clothes from before, so there's no need to change. A small plate of fruit and bread is on my bedstand. I see a weevil crawl out of the bread and I lose my appetite. Elisa is happily munchign away at her plate.\n\n"Say, I meant to ask you. You know how he said the man in red only appears at the full moon?" she asks.\n\n"Yeah, what about it?" \n\nShe pauses for a moment. "You don't think it's werewolves do you?"\n\n\n[[No...of course not.]]\n[[Werewolves!?]]\n[[(Laugh)]]

I hear the heavy iron doors close shut behind me. The sound of the crowd dies down, and all Elise are left with is the sound of our breathing and the wind blowing along the abandoned street.\n\nI look up. The clouds are low and grey. It might rain soon.\n\nI look over to Elise. She's already rummaging through her pack for something. She pulls out a slip of paper and unfolds it; a map.\n\n"Alright, Inquisitor, where shall we go? This block is pretty small, mostly decrepit old alleys and open sewage drains."\n\n"Any major locations?"\n\n"Nothing unusual. The way the Quarter is designed leaves us only a few feasable options in a day. At most we can follow the path that leads to the Law Office, or the path that leads to the Church.\n\n[[To the Church.]]\n\n[[To the law offices]]

We head back to the church. Confessor Roald is there to greet us with food and water. I decline. All I want right now is a warm cot.\n\n[[Go to my quarters]]

We enter the foyer. As I thought, it's a luxurious entrance, made to impress visitors more than anything, though it looks like visitors haven't been hosted in quite some time. A thin film of dust clings to the wall, and the tapestries are all a faded gray from not having been beaten of their lamp soot.\n\nI hear shuffling off to the side. I snap around just in time to see Elise toss a knife through the air. I see the blade fly through the air before embedding itself in the wall, just a few inches over the head of a figure with a low burning candle. I see large, watery eyes reflecting back at me, blue as bird's eggs.\n\n"Elise, hold!" I say. I approach the figure. She's a frail looking thing, with hair that looks like it hasn't been combed in weeks. If not for her clothes, which are clean, though faded, I'd have mistaken her for a servant. "What are you doing?"\n\n"She's armed. And not alone." Elise says.\n\n"Who, wha- what's going on?" the woman sputters out. "Who are you?" I prepare to move forward, but see that she is indeed armed with a small, thin dagger. A noble's weapon. Her other arm is wrapped around the arm of a small boy, perhaps no more than 13, bearing her features.\n\n"My name is Karl Martin. This is my partner, Elise. We're from the Inquisitorial order, sent here to excise a demon." I say. \n\n"A demon? What is this talk of a demon?" she says, blanching. She grips her son tightly.\n\n"What demon? Are you daft? Didn't you see the raid and gates of the quarter close?" Elise barks out.\n"Elise! Enough." I say. "This is the Lady of this house. Show her respect." My outburst silences Elise. She bites her tongue and bows her head.\n\n"Pardon me, Lady." she says.\n\n"What are you doing in my house?" the woman says, this time more firmly, straightening her back and holding her head up high. She tucks her dagger back into her belt.\n\n"Pardon me, Lady, but we have reason to believe your manservant is a demon-worshipper, engaged in dark rituals." I say.\n\n"Frederic? No, not him, he's been a friend, my husband's servant since long before I met him." she says.\n\n"I understand, but now is not the time to doubt. We need your help. The Order, and myself, and the people of this quarter, would be eternalyl grateful."\n\nShe looks down. "Do I have a choice?"\n\n"I hoped you wouldn't ask me that, but no." I say.\n\n"Very well then, I give you permission to search my home." she says after a moment's consideration. "And you may address me by my name. I'm Meredith."\n\nI regard her. Nothing seems too off about her, but I need to remain wary. Still, who am I to turn down help, now of all times?\n\n[[Go to the Library]]\n[[Proceed to the second floor]]\n

I decide to go to the observation deck. The air of the manse is stifling and some fresh air might do me good.\n\nMeredith leads the way and opens up the doors to the balcony. I immediately regret my decision. Black clouds of smoke rise up lazily in the distance, obscuring the sun and casting a pall on the quarter. I feel a pain in my chest. \n\nThis used to be a beautiful city.\n\n"Back inside. This was a mistake." I say. Neither Meredith nor Elise say anything. George is still silent.\n\n[[Back to the second floor]]

No, something is wrong. I have not earned this honor. I'm just Karl Martin. I'm not an Inquisitor. I'm just an apprentice, a sickly, scrawny little child. and this is not right.\n\n"No." I say.\n\nFor the a moment, the High Pontiff's face contorts with rage before letting out a high pitched scream. The world starts to shift. The windows shatter and the roof breaks off the great cathedral, revealing a roiling mass of sky. A strong gust picks me up and I feel myself flung to the ground.\n\nI smell ash.\n\n[[Back to Reality.]]

"I don't know, ser. I've just been ordered to take you to him. It's a matter of teh utmost secrecy. But even if I knew, I wouldn't be allowed to tell you." she says. She has a hard look about her, as though she's seen or perhaps done things that no one walks away from unchanged.\n\nI grab my jacket off a nearby rack.\n\n"Oh, and I almost forgot. What's your name." I say, trying to put a smile on and start us off on the right foot. The faintest smile appears.\n\n"My name's Elise."\n\n"Ah, Elise. Well then, shall we?" I ask, and she leads me out of the Library and into the city daylight.\n\n[[To the Grand Cathedral]]

I feel so warm, and so ashamed. My face is burning. I can hear voices. They mock me, the chide me. \n\nI am no longer in the crypt, but the yard of the Great Cathedral where I was trained. It is the holiest place in the world, where Faf rose from \n\n\n[[The world warps]]

"Still nothing?" Elise yells. She slaps Meredith with a fierce backhand. Her mailed hand does more damge than my slap and she falls over with a cracked and bleeding nose. Elise picks her up by her hair. Meredith shrieks in pain. "You can end this now, if you wanted, demon-child. I know you want to save her. For all the evil and godlessness that makes up your form, you still care for this woman, you must!"\n\n"Don't come near!" Meredith whimpers. Elise slaps her again across the face, causing her to bleed now from the forehead in rivulets that drip down and chin and fall softly on the stone street.\n\n[[Let her continue]]\n[[Stop her]]\n

I rest a hand on the dirk at my waist. I stare him down. The only sound is the sound of me drumming my fingers on the heavy pommel.\n\n"O-Okay. Fine, no need for that, ser." The leper says, a tremor in his voice. I see Elise's smirk from the corner of my eye. \n\n"I don't know much, but I see everything that goes on around here. It's all regulars come to the Ruddy Sow." he nods to the brothel. "But, every so often, a man comes down, dressed in fine cloth, red and gold, and comes to the apothecary. I don't know what he does, or who he is, but he's been coming on every full moon for the past year."<<set $DemonPoints = $DemonPoints + 1>>\n\nI look to Elise. She shrugs. "That's two voices against his name."<<set $ElisePoints = $ElisePoints + 1>>\n\nThat's good enough for me.\n\n[[Pay the Apothecary a visit.]]

\n"Are we really going in there?" Elise asks, contempt in her voice. \n\n"Brothels are a key source of information. Granted, this one might be a little run-down, but still, there is a reason we allow these sorts of institutions to remain in effect." I say.\n\n"By appealing to their weakness?" \n\n"How else?" \n\nThe brothel keeper is a small, portly man with a ruddy complexion. In one hand he has an oblong, mishapen bottle that he takes a large swig from. Upn seeing us, he gets to his feet and lets out a bellowing laugh. \n\n"Well, well, well. If it isn't a pair o' the Order's finest? What can I do for you? Drink, or perhaps, some company?" he laughs and takes another swig.\n\n[[Ask him if his girls have heard anything]]\n[[Threaten him for information]]

I spread my arms out and let the stones fall. What do I care? They are small stones, none large enough to truly wound. I feel bruises welling up on my arms, chest and legs. One stone strikes my forehead and I am brought to my knees. \n\nThen the hail stop, and I am left to look around. A figure approaches, the child.\n\n[[Who are you?]]

"Oh, you didn't want to be a sister of the Order?" I ask. "Nearly every girl in the country hopes to be a member of the sisters."\n\n"Yes, well, most girls in this country are stupid." she Elise with no slight hint of detestation.\n\n"Ouch." \n\n"It's the truth. Who wants to sit around and learn to sew an sing hymns to Faf and flay myself whenever I feel a moment's enjoyment? I told them they could take their sisterly robes and shove them."\n\n[[What were the other things you said?]]

I spot the seal of the Order on the clasp of her cloak. Whatever it is, it must be dire if they've sent for me like this.\n\n"I am he." I say. "What business do I have with you?"\n\n"The Grand Pontiff requests your immediate presence. He asked me to give you this." the courier says and hands me a slip of paper with the wax seal of the Grand Pontiff's office. I swear silently. \n\n"Shall we go?" she asks.\n\n[[By all means]]\n[[Wait, why does the Pontiff need me?]]

"Listen to me. No one could be worth defending this much. To assist the witch and the devil is as terrible a sin against Faf as speaking the incantations themselves."\n\nI lean in close. I dab a little blood from his forehead.\n\n"Please, just tell me what I must know."\n\n[["William, speak."]]

I pull back.\n\n"Giancarlo. Do you have any enemies?"\n\nHe looks up at me, surprised, and laughs.\n\n"The crown. Who else? They always find us, and they send their dogs, you, to come and remove us."\n\n[[Remove? Who is this 'Us'?]]\n[[No. He's guilty.]]

I fall back to Meredith. The stones stop raining down and I feel the eyes of the demon-child on me. I feel as lost as I have ever felt. There is nothing I can do. There is nothing to be done. The Order has failed. I close my eyes.\n\n"Sorry Meredith, Elise, Anders..." I say, and close my eyes. I try to drown out the world, and to my amazement, it does. I forget the bruises and the cuts and the deaths and the torture and all the rest, and instead, I find myself in a black room.\n\nI look around and realize that this is not merely an illusion, but that I am no longer in the quarter. Though the room is dark, I see a single pedestal under a spotlight and bearing a large, leather bound book: the Gran Codice. I can hear its whispering, one of its many powers.\n\n[[Listen to the Gran Codice]]

"William Lutz, my name is Karl Martin, an Inquisitor of the Order of Faf. You satand accused of consorting with possible practitioners of black magicks. Will you come quietly?"\n\n"What? But I've done nothing wrong-"\n\n"That is for us to decide. Now, if you'll come with us to the second floor. I'd rather not ask Elise to use force."\n\nHe looks at Elise and then wrings his hands. He takes off his mask and the three of us proceed to the second floor.\n\n[[To the second floor]]

"Ser, I have been granted authority to take you to the Grand Pontiff, by any means." she says. She lifts up her cloak to reveal weapons at either side. A parrying dagger at her right, a sword at her left."\n\n"I suppose I don't have much of a choice in the matter?"\n\n"No, no you don't, ser." the courier says.\n\nI sigh and take my jacket from a nearby rack. No respect, these younger members.\n\n"After you." I say.\n\n[[To the Grand Cathedral]]

"Be quick." I say. "The man in the red and black. Who is he?"\n\nHe breathes in deep for a moment, glad that he still has all of his fingers. He speaks slowly, and hoarsely.\n\n"He is nobody. A messenger and a courier. His name is Josep. He is a steward under the employ of Lady Edna."\n\n"Lady Edna?" I ask.\n\n"A widow, living in a manse near the center of the block. Josep came to me and made me swear under Faf to never tell anyone about her."\n\n"What Josep ask of you?"\n\n"Herbs, cardamom, eastern cinnamon, cloves-" \n\nElise snorts.\n\n"I do not think she sent a courier to you for cooking spices."\n\nHe pauses. "And a vial of blood upon every moon. Children's blood."\n\n[[By Faf...]]\n\n

"Very well." says the Pontiff and he nods to his steward. \n\nI'm escorted out of the doors by armed guards. They take me to the gates of the Cathedral, salute me, and uncermoniously throw me out onto the street.\n\nI don't care. Let them tilt their noses up and look down on me. I don't care. The Order isn't what it once was. The people are right, we're no better than dogs of the crown. It's past nightfall and there's a chill in the air. I raise my hood and start the walk back to the Library. I wonder if Marlowe found that book...\n\nEnd

Elise takes out her blade and swings it over her head. The chain tassel makes a whistling sound that echoes throughout the quarter. \n\n"Hear me, Demon! We have your mother. You're the son of a whore! Do you hear me!?" Elise yells.\n\nSilence.\n\n"No? You don't know this woman? Very well." Elise yells. She cuts out a chunk of Meredith's hair and tosses it in the air. The wind picks it up and blows it away, into the quarter. "Come out and face me!" she yells.\n\n[[Stop her]]\n[[Help Her]]\n[[Do nothing]]

"Please, be reasonable now. Nobody wants to hurt you, or your son. We can excise demons without killing the host. All you need to do to save your son, the quarter, everyone, is tell me where he's hiding."\n\nShe says nothing.\n\n"Did you not hear me?! Everyone is going to die unless you tell me where your son is. Everyone. Faf's mercy, why won't you listen to reason?" I fall to my knees in front of her. If this doesn't do anything for her, nothing will.<<set $DemonPoints = $DemonPoints + 1 >>\n\n\n[[She does not respond]]

"Maybe I have, maybe I haven't. Depends on what you call unusual. Many things pass through my shop. If you have coin, and I what you wish to know then maybe we can work out a deal." finishes and blows out a thin cloud of smoke in my face.\n\n"You want to do that again?" Elise says.\n\nThe merchant chuckles lightly.\n\n[[Bash his head against the counter]]\n[[Pay his price]]\n

I can't help but burst out in laughter. Elisa's face turns red. I try to stifle my laughter, but to no avail. by the time I quiet, she has turned her back to me, leaving me to pick at my breakfast in silence. \n\nA few minutes later, she walks out the door, leaving me alone in the room. I shake my head. \n\nIt's going to be a long day.\n\n[[Move out]]

"Stay your hand." I say.\n<<set $ElisePoints = $ElisePoints - 1 >>\n\nElise looks a little displeased, but submits. Even a little blood is enough to sate her, it seems.\n\n"That was a taste of my associate's methods. Tell me what I need to know, you and will not have a second."\n\nThis is insulting, I know, but it must be done. I have my orders.\n\n[[Speak!]]

"It's not me that's asking, but the Grand Pontiff. He demands your presence and doesn't take kindly to being denied his wishes."\n\n"Is that a threat?" I ask. She shifts. I can see her hand instrinctively reach under her cloak. I raise my hands up in surrender.\n\n"Forgive me, I didn't realize the Pontiff's concerns were so pressing." I say, grabbing my jacket off a neaby rack. "Now that I've agreed to come with you, might I know your name."\n\nShe takes her hands off her weapons. \n\n"I am Elise Staropoli, Full, Inquisitor of the Order of Faf."\n\nFull Inquisitor. So she's my equal in rank, and so young. Faf, either she's crazy or she's a damned prodigy.\n\n"Well then, Elise, lead the way." I say and take a moment to grab my jacket before she leads me out of the Library and into the city daylight.\n\n[[To the Grand Cathedral]]

"Meredith, listen to me." I say. I lean in close so Elise can't hear. "I swear, on the Order's name, on the Tomb of Faf himself, that if you help me, I will do everything in my power to your son. Please. Fine, forget the people of this terrible quarter. Think your son, his future. Isn't there anything, anything at all that could make you fight for it? Isn't that what you did all this for?" I say.\n\nShe looks up at me, tears in her eyes, wahtever spark of love for her child keeping her alive stull burns.\n\n[["Alright"]]

\n"Silence. I need information. Your's is the only house of its kind in the whole quarter. If anything suspicious happens, your girls have probably heard about it."\n\nHe regards me. My back is straight, my eyes low. I hear Elise mailed glove flex. He takes another swig and then spits it out.\n\n"Yeah, they've seen something."\n\n"Mind telling me what?" I ask. \n\nHe looks at me, then at Elise, then back to me. After a moment's pause, he starts.\n\n"I get a lot of customers. And I do hear a fair bit of gossip. The usual stuff, cheating partners, illicit business dealings, but there's one thing that they keep telling me about. A man who walks by but never stops, dressed in red with gold trim. He visits the apothecary every month ont he dot. That's all they know."\n\nI nod and turn away. I hear him grumble.\n\n"Oy, what my compensation. I have an agreement with the Order."\n\n[[You are lucky I don't burn this place down]]\n[[Of course, how could I have forgotten?]]

I don't care about anything anymore. All that matters is that I stop the demon and save the quarter. I try to push through, swinging my dirk in a wide arc to disperse the crowd. I swing like a madman, cutting one, and then another, and then another.\n\nThen, I feel a sharp pain in my side. I fall to my knees and the crowd thins around me. I feel a thin warm pool spreading out underneath me. I don't have the heart to look at the wound. \n\nI force myself to stay up. Lying down will only make it worse. I close my eyes for a moment and when I open them again I find myself in a black room.\n\nI realize that this is not merely an illusion, but that I am no longer in the quarter. Though the room is dark, I see a single pedestal under a spotlight and bearing a large, leather bound book: the Gran Codice. I can hear its whispering, one of its many powers. \n\n[[Listen to the Gran Codice]]

We proceed until we come to a large door, seemingly untouched by the fire. I crouch down. I can see the flicker of a candle underneath the door.\n\n"There're no windows in there, it's the judge's office." Elise whispers. Her hand rests on her sword. A bead of sweat rolls down her forehead. I feel the tremendous urge to cough. \n\nInstead, I hold my breath.\n\n[[Kick it down]]\n[[Open it calmly]]\n

I begin to walk around the chair. He doesn't to crane his head to follow my path.\n\n"Confessor Roald says that every few days you are visited by a man in black and red, with gold lining in his cloak. Rather unusual for the plague street, don't you think?"\n\nHe twitches. [[I see a a spark of life]] run through him for but a moment before he supresses it. \n\n[["Who is he?"]]

What can I do but run. I run and I run, through twisted streets and corridors. The smell of smoke is overpowering. I don't know how long I run, perhaps minutes, perhaps an hour, but eventually I reach the iron gate. It's been opened, and a wave of armored shocktroopers stand ready to march in. I can't see their faces for the visors they wear. \n\nI thank Faf, I'm saved. \n\n[[To the Gate]]

Elise is right. How could I have forgotten what it's like to be an Inquisitor? She needs my help. Only together can we hope to defeat this monstrosity. I take a hold of Meredith's hand. As I thought, the ring of her family house is there, a great, gaudy thing of gold set with an emerald. I rip it off, hearing one of the smaller finger bones break in the process.\n\n"Demon-child, we know you're out there. I know what you want. You want your mother, don't you? Well, know this. You could save her now, if only you were to reveal yourself. Do this thing, and she shall be spared." I say.\n\nI hear a sound in one of the shops.\n\n[[Observe it]]

I push open the door. Its hinges let out a long squeal that makes me cringe. So much for stealth. \n\nBut these thoughts are pushed away when I lay eyes upon the sight before me. \n\nThere is man sitting in the judge's seat. He is wearing the uniform of an officer of the law, though it is stained and torn. His hair is a mess and covered in soot, constrasting sharply with the ruddy complexion of his face and features. \n\nElise immediately springs to action, checking his pulse and breathing.\n\n"His forehead's burning. This man has a fever, looks like he's had it for a while. What should we do?"\n\n[[Aid the man]]\n[[Leave him. Time is short.]]

"All right, I get your meaning." I say and toss the man a small purse of coins. In one smooth motion the purse disappears into his sleeves.\n\n"Why, I suddenly remember. A man, yes, in a red coat, stopped by every few months, looking for some specific ingredients."\n\n"Any idea what?" I ask, tossing him another purse of coins.\n\n"Blood."\n\n"Come Again?"\n\n"Leeched blood, to be specific, drawn from sickly children. For what, I cannot say. Recently, he found a new supplier, a man named William in the plague street. He runs a mercy hospital as an apothecary. That's all I know."\n\nI turn to Elise. \n\n"How fast can we get to the plague street?"\n\n"Minutes if we run."\n\n"Then what are we waiting for?" \n\n[[Pay the Apothecary a visit.]]

We exit the Law Office and take off towards the market. Before we leave, we say a prayer to Faf to look after the souls who perished in the fire. \n\n"What's the market like in this quarter?" I ask after we've resumed our trek.\n\n"The market square is pretty average by all accounts. There's a few stands and shops arranged in a circle with a stocks and podium in the center for heretics and pontifs, respectively. It's far emptier thanks to the raid, but there's probably still a beggar and few hard old wives peddling their wares. I'm not sure what we'll find here, though."\n\n"Hmm, sounds like the perfect place to find information." I say\n\n"If you say so." she retorts, and sprints on ahead, prompting me to increase my pace.\n---\n\nI am pleased to hear normal sound for one of the first times since we arrived. I hear the loud, raucous calling of vendors and the long, mournful droning of a beggar. It's not much, but it's enough to remind me that peoples till live here and need to be saved.\n\n<<if $late>>\nI see the stocks and podium in the middle of the square. The memory of earlier in the week is still fresh. I shudder and shrug aside the feeling.\n<<endif>>\n\n"Well, we're here" she says. "Shall ask some questions, or did we just come here to pick up some rotten looking cabbage?"\n\n[[Approach the open stall]]\n[[Go into the import shop]]

"Fine! You all want to die here, defending this monstrosity, do it! Faf take you all to the deepest, blackest pit and be done with you!" I yell, spittle flying in their direction. "And don't you dare look at me with that disgust. I'm better than all the lot of you. I know I am!"\n\nI look around. The sun is high. Meredith is on her back, having fainted. The crowd in the shadows begins to move forward. I panic when I hear the sound of war drums.\n\n[[Run away]]

"You're Inquisitors, aren't you? No, no need to tell me, I can tell by your clothes." the confesoor says. He's a tall man, stern looking, the kind of confessor who'd probably volunteered to serve in the slums. "I know what this is. Locking down a quarter like this can only mean one thing. Demon-summoning, or a witch's coven."\n\n"Rather curious for someone presiding over a confessory in the slums, aren't you?" Elise says. \n\n"Please, I just want to know what's going on. it would put my fears to rest, at the very least." he says. I can see his assistant, the mousey-eyed girl, peaking out from the door.\n\n[[Brush aside his concerns]]\n[[Assuage his fears]]

I laugh along with him.\n\nThen, in one swift motion, I take handful of his hair and smash his head into the counter. It's a wood counter, so there's only a dull, deep thud. His pipe snaps into two and spills its ashes, burning a hole into the counter. I pull his head back up.\n\n"NOW have you heard or seen anything unusual. Hmm? Maybe a man in a red coat? Does the name William Lutz ring any bells." I yell.\n\nThe man speaks with a slight whistle. Apparently I chipped one of his teeth.\n\n"Yes, yes. A man in a red coat. He came awhile ago. He was asking for things." <<set $ElisePoints = $ElisePoints + 1>>\n\n"What kind of things?" I ask, pressing his head further down onto the counter.<<set $DemonPoints = $DemonPoints + 1>>\n\n"Blood! Leeched blood. Every month, but he stopped, said he'd found a new supplier, named William, that's all I know." he whimpers out and I let him go. I flex my hand.\n\n"Impressive." Elise says. "Didn't know you had it in you."\n\n"I don't know. Maybe some of the old spark is coming back."\n\n"Hmm. Well then, that's two for Mr. William Lutz. Think we should pay him a visit?"\n\n"I think that would be wise."\n\n[[Pay the Apothecary a visit.]]

We exit the manor an hour later. Meredith is in fetters and I'm still carrying the jar of oil.\n\n"Do you want to, or shall I?" Elise asks.\n\n"I'll do it." I say. Might as well, I've already got the flint in hand. I set a spark and watch it run into the building. \n\nWe watch the manor burn to the ground and the whole world is black smoke and crackling. As we walk back to the confessory, I feel oddly at ease. \n\n[[Ruminate]]

The spices are nothing, but children's blood every full moon can only mean one thing:ritual.\n\nI turn to Elise. She nods.\n\n"I'll go to the confessor, get some information. When do we leave?"\n\n"Tomorrow, at dawn. We only have two days left. This witchcraft will be excised, one way or another."\n\nShe salutes and exits the room, leaving me alone with William He is a sorry figure in his chair. This is always the odd part. He has served his purpose. \n\nI look out the window one last time. The moon is peaking through the clouds, fat and low. I try to think about the past three days, but it makes my head spin. I wish I was back there, under the shadow of the oak in the yard of the Great Cathedral.\n\n[[Go back to the beginning...]]

"Ho, fishwife." I say. "Might I trouble you for a moment of your time.\n\n"Of course, Inquisitors, I am at your disposal." the woman starts.\n\n"We're looking for a man in a red coat, or a man who goes by the name of William Lutz. Have you seen such a man?" Elise asks.\n\n"Any information at all would help." I add.\n\n"No..No, I can't say I have." the woman stammers. The child at her leg starts drooling and she has to pick him up to stop.\n\n"I have." we hear a voice, the younger girl at the stall. The mother looks like she's about to faint. \n\n"You, how?" I ask.\n\n"I went to the mercy hospice. It's run by the man, William Lutz. He gave me herbs and a poultice. Once I saw a man in a red coat leaving there, with a small bundle in his arms. That's what I saw." \n\n"Why were you there?" Elise asks.\n\n"It doesn't matter, Elise." I look at the girl and give her a purse of coins. "For the next time you need aid." The girl blushes and bows low. The mother is agape.\n\n"Elise, I think our time here is done, what say we make to the apothecary?"\n\n[[Pay the Apothecary a visit.]]

We arrive at the Law office a little past midday. The quarter is eerie in its silence. There's a strange, foreboding feeling in the air. The walls of this part of the quarter are stained black from soot and the street is a mess of soot, water and waste. \n\nI notice a large mural across the street. It seems to be a remnant of when the Church endorsed public. It's a terribly gaudy thing, depicting Faf at a podium in a church, attending to his congregation. It is covered in graffiti, with one phrase repeated over and over again:\n\n"Burn it Down." \n\n"Well, we're here-" Elise starts, before she holds back instinctively and nods towards the ruin of the law office. It takes me a moment to notice, but I see it on the ground.\n\nFootprints in the soot, leading into the building. Not an hour old, by the look of them.\n\nElise looks to me for our next move.\n\nThere is litle we can do.\n\n[[Enter the open door]]

"Meredith, listen to me." I say. I lean in close so Elise can't hear. "I swear, on the Order's name, on the Tomb of Faf himself, that if you help me, I will do everything in my power to save you. Please. Fine, forget the people of this terrible quarter. Think about yourself, your future. Isn't there anything, anything at all that could make you fight for it? There is still hope for you. You could start anew, found a new life, a new hope." I say.\n\n[[She does not respond]]

"Mercy does not come freely. Faf is entirely benevolent. I am not. I will expect answers to my questions. If you comply, then I may find it in my heart to grant you freedom."\n\nHe nods his head in understanding. I continue.\n\n"Confessor Roald says that every few days you are visited by a man in black and red, with gold lining in his cloak. Rather unusual for the plague street, don't you think?"\n\nHe grimaces. I've struck a mark. \n\n[[Who is he?]]

"Those Nobles, was it perhaps one of them who introduced you to the study of witchcraft?"\n\nBored, impious, nobles often dabbled in the knowledge of the Old Age. It was usually minor, almost always as part of the ritual for the formation of a pleasure cult. A public lashing of the founding culprits was enough to dissuade most others from following in their footsteps.\n\n"No, my masters are all pious, penintent men. They would not do such a thing." \n\n"Hmm. No matter. We will know soon enough."\n\nI hear him mutter something in a different language. I think for a moment that he is attempting an incantation. My hand goes to the dagger in my coat, but I release my grip when I recongize the words.\n\nHe is reciting the prayer to the pantheon of the Vodlavec.\n\n[[Ah. A Vodlavec.]]

I take one last look at the smouldering body of Giancarlo. I can only shake my head as Anders leads me out of the cold crypt and into the warmth of the surface.\n\n[[Into the light]]

"It is nothing. We will not resort to barbarism unless we absolutely have to. Our goal is to save people, not bring them suffering."\n\nHe nods his head in understanding. I continue.\n\n"Confessor Roald says that every few days you are visited by a man in black and red, with gold lining in his cloak. Rather unusual for the plague street, don't you think?"\n\nHe grimaces. I've struck a mark. \n\n[[Who is he?]]

She's right, it was probably nothing. A late night after a hard day will often cloud the mind and give birth to malformed thoughts.\n\nIt's best not to press the issue right now.\n\nStill, I need to know more...\n\n[[I actually wanted to ask you a question about today.]]

I approach one of the lepers. He's a pitiful creature, covered in bandages and carrying a plaque with a plea for alms scrawled on it. He inches back as we approach, putting his back to the wall.\n\n"You there." I say, keeping my voice level and dry. He glances up, surprised.\n\n"Ah, oh, Yes- You sir, you're with the church, aren't you?"\n\n"That's right. And I need information. Your kind are the eyes and ears in these kinds of place. Have you seen anything unusual? Anything that people might not want to have known?"\n\n"Oh, eh. Of course. I mean- maybe. I'm very hungry, and very thirsty. I haven't had wine in ages."\n\nI hear Elise sigh and roll here eyes.\n\n[[Give the man a coin]]\n[[Threaten him]]

"An Inquisitor is always ready. Remember that." I say.\n\nShe mumbles out soemthing and steps aside, again taking her place against the wall.\n\nI approach the man. He is nervous, that much is obvious. [[His lips are dry and cracked]] and what little hair on his head is parted and mussed. His clothes are oddly clean given his occupation.\n\n"William Lutz." I say\n\nHe twitches in my direction. If I had to judge, I would say he's in his mid-forties. Quite the ripe old age for a man who spends his time in the presence of lepers and the diseased. [[Perhaps too lucky]].\n\n"Confessor Roald spoke very highly of you. You cleanse the sick and give out unctions. Very noble." I say.\n\n"I try my best. It's all Faf's will."\n\nI hear [[Elise snicker]].\n\n[[Confessor Roald also told me something else.]]\n[[Hit him.]]

No. I shake my head. Now is not the time to dwell on the past. All that matters is the here and the now. There is a demon out there, somewhere. I recall only that which I need. \n\nI remember my training. \n\nThe mind is a weapon all its own. It's easy to hone a sword arm, or a develop a propensity for the bow and arrow, just as one can sharpen one's mind and wit. Still, the flesh grows weak. Arms and bones fail. Swords rust and bows break. But the mind, and the will, will serve you until your dying day. I must be strong now. \n\nI walk out of the room. I am an Inquisitor, dauntless in my duties to church and country. As I walk out, I tell one of the assistants to untie William. \n\n[[Back to the church]]

"I don't think I understand your meaning. What do you mean, our methods?"\n\nI sigh. Of course she wouldn't understand. She can't be more than 22. The older Inquisitors would understand. Anders would understand. He was the one who taught me. \n\n"Nothing, a slip of the tongue. In truth I don't know what I meant to ask."\n\n"Hmph. Well, we should get to sleep. We have a long day ahead of us. I don't want to be caught off guard by any demon's trick." she says and flops back onto her bed.\n\nI can't say no. I feel pretty tired myself. No, more than tired. I can't really put my finger on it. The tallow candle burns. I start to drift off. I feel myself slipping into sleep. I let go once the last flicker from the candle goes out.\n\n[[Drift off...]]

"Werewolves!?" I exclaim, coughing in the process. The thought of it...ludicrous. s\n\n"It's a legitimate concern!" she snaps back. "The pontiffs spoke of them from time to time, of shape-shifters and skinchangers. It's a necessary precaution." \n\n"Sure." I say. She turns away in a huff and digs into her breakfast. I hear her grumble.\n\nA few minutes later, we're packing up our things and preparing to go. She straps her sword to her waist and gives me a thumbs up.\n\n[[Move out]]

I grab my jacket off a nearby rack.\n\n"Marlowe, save that book for me when we get the next shipment, right?"\n\n"Will do." he says. I turn to the woman. "And I almost forgot to ask, what's your name?"\n\nShe seems a little surprised by my question, as if her own name were foreign to her.\n\n"Eise. Elise Staropoli."\n\n"Well then, Elise, shall we?" I ask, and she leads me out of the Library and into the city day.\n\n[[To the Grand Cathedral]]

"Still no reaction? Where are you!?" Elise yells. There is no answer. She breaths in sharply and starts shearing away chunks of Meredith's hair. Her locks fall to the street and mingle with the soot-infused water. "Listen to me, whoreson! Nothing you do can stop us. In fact, don't appear. Stay there. Stay there and rot for all I care. In a few hours the city guardsmen and a legion of Order confessors will roll in and put you all to the torch. You have no choice." \n\nI see movement in the corner of my eye.\n\n"Elise, get ready." I say. I see shadows shifting inside a nearby building, flickers of movement.\n\n[[Observe it]]

"Forgive me. I know the service you provide. Do not take my words as a slight."\n\nHe nods. Even here, strapped to a chair, the man still takes pride in his labor. Anders would be proud. \n\n\n[[Allow Elise to question him sharply.]]\n[[Refuse her offer;the man is merely afraid.]]

He dared to threaten Inquisitors of the Library, an offense punishable by death. Elise takes aim and throws the dagger. It whirls through the air and lands with a deep thud in the leader's back. I look at Elise and give her a nod of approval. She nods back and we continue on our way.\n\nThe rest of our walk is uneventful and we come to gates of the Grand Cathedral. Opulent does not do the grounds of the Great Cathedral justice. It is a palace worthy of the King himself, possibly above him. Statues dot the sweeping lawns and halls meant to seat thousands during holy days connect and open up to massive balconies.\n\nThe guards look at us and grip their weapons. I tense up for a moment until I notice the bloodstains on my coat. Elise raises her hand and the guards relax. After another moment I hear the winch of the gate turning and soon we're walking along the grounds.\n\nAs we approach the entrance to the Great Hall, she turns to me.\n\n"Well, we're here." she says.\n\nI look up at the heavy brass doors. Before long I hear a creaking sound and an attendant ushers us in.\n\n[[Enter the Grand Cathedral]]

I wave my hand and Elise walks over. She pulls the clipper from her belt in one motion and smoothly fits one of William's fingers into it. She holds his hand down and he cannot resist. \n\n"Wait! What are you doing? Wait- Faf! STOP."\n\nI look at Elise as she continues. She will not act until I give the order, that is her training. There is something pitiful in William's bleating, in the way he cries out to Faf for mercy, for forgiveness. \n\nThe room is nearly dark now. In a few minutes we will have to light the candles and whisper the prayers to Faf. Time is of the essence.<<set $ElisePoints = $ElisePoints + 1>>\n\n[["Elise, do it."]]\n[["William, speak."]]\n\n

We can probably kick the door down. Sure, it looks heavy, but we're a pair of Inquisitors, trained on the fields of the Grand Cathderal. What is a door to our power?\n\n"On three." I say, getting ready to put my full weight behind the kick.\n\nElise takes a look at the door as if pondering whether or not the two of us can bring it down. After a moment she shrugs and prepares to kick.\n\n"Let me state for the record that this seems like a terrible idea." she says.\n\n"Noted." I say.\n\n"One..Two...Three." I say and we slam into the door. I think I hear a crack in my leg. The door doesn't budge, but I feel the full force of the impact in my shin. I fall hard on my back clutching at my leg. Elise isn't much better.\n\n"Great plan." she says. I glower at her until I hear the door creak open. We weren't able to break down the door, but hinges were delicate enough to snap from our hit.\n\nLight pours into the foyer from the now open doorway.\n\n"After you" I say.\n\n[[Proceed to the foyer]]

"So, Elise." I say, trying to strike up a conversation. Making smalltalk with other Inquisitors has always been difficult.\n\n"Hmm?" she says, clearly having been lost in her own thought. \n<<if $killed>>\n"Sorry, I was just thinking about the alley. In all honesty I didn't expect you to be able to defend yourself." she says.\n\n"Really? I'll have you know I was once known for my martial prowess. I could beat anybody down in the training ring." I say. I puff out my chest a little and straighten my posture.\n\n"True, I heard that. But I also heard that was 15 years ago, and you've spent most of your time since then drinking wine under the oak in the yard and falling asleep in Marlowe's Library." she says, putting special emphasis on the drinking and falling asleep.\n\nI turn away sheepishly. "Faf's mercy, you have a biting tongue."\n\nShe laughs at that and I laugh with her. Deep down I sense that this is all going to spiral into madness, so why not laugh away?\n<<else>>\n"Sorry, I was just thinking about what the Pontiff might want with you. <<set $ElisePoints = $ElisePoints + 1>>\n\n<<endif>>\n\nAn attendant finally comes out.\n\n"His Holiness will see you now." she says.\n\n[[Meet his holiness]]

\nI reach for my flask and give him some water. I must pour it down his throat. He drinks it down in long gulps.\n\n"Thank you." he says. He looks grateful. Hopefully that will get me an answer or two.\n\n[[Confessor Roald also told me something else.]]\n

"It's an interesting place. Very different from the rest of the country, and yet, quite similar. There's an atmosphere here unlike any I've ever felt. I can't tell if I like it or not though." she says, looking around as though the proper words to express herself were floating in the air above.\n\n[[How so?]]

I grab his head by the side, a handful of hair and pull.\n\n"Why do you turn away? Does the name of your God offend you so? Does it hurt you, hurt the blackness of your soul?"\n\nHe spits in my face. There's barely any spit though, he hasn't had any water in hours.\n\n"I spit on you and your damned Faf'."\n\nI release his hair and he jerks his head back in a futile gesture of resistance.\n\n"You spit on Faf'. Then you renounce his works, his divine power, and admit to your apostasy?"\n\nHe starts chuckling. It's a dry, raspy sound.\n\n"I never believed in your damned Faf'." he says and shrugs. "I was raised Vodlavec, and I'll die Vodlavec."\n\n[[Ah. A Vodlavec.]]

I walk up to Elise.\n\n"Even if she goes along with this plan, it won't work. There will be doubt in her mind." Elise says.\n\n"I know. That's why I need you to act the part. We're Inquisitors. We do what we must." I say, and Elise gives me a curt nod. She slings unties Meredith and takes her by the hand and hair.\n\n"Struggle, m'Lady." Elise says, and she drags Meredith out of the Confessory.\n\n[[Follow]]

"Don't you care about survival!? Don't you care about your lives, your futures? Do you forsake Faf?! Why?! Of all the reasons on this Earth, why would do this? Please. Help me, help yourselves." I yell. All I can do is hope that my words have stirred something in them.\n\nRocks begin to rain down. They've started throwing rocks. Faf, but can I blame them? I think of all the things I've done\n--conditional text--\n\n--conditional text--\n\n"Sorry Meredith, Elise, Anders..." I say, and close my eyes. I try to drown out the world, and to my amazement, it does. I forget the bruises and the cuts and the deaths and the torture and all the rest, and instead, I find myself in a black room.\n\nI look around and realize that this is not merely an illusion, but that I am no longer in the quarter. Though the room is dark, I see a single pedestal under a spotlight and bearing a large, leather bound book: the Gran Codice. I can hear its whispering, one of its many powers.\n\n[[Listen to the Gran Codice]]

We directed to a secretary, who directs us to an attendant, who then directs us to the chamber master, who then asks us to wait in a room until the Grand Pontiff is ready to see me.\n\n"Beyond these doors is the audience chamber. The both of you wait here until you are called."\n\nI snort. Typical, they need you as quickly as possible and then they make you wait in some stupid show of dominance. Elise seems to think the same.\n\n[[Wait in the reception room]]

"Anders was...well he is difficult man to describe. He was the model Inquisitor, dauntless, peerless in the examination room and a brilliant orator when the moment called for it. But most of all, he understood people, what made them tick. He once said that he saw everyone as a kind of clockwork, that he could see the gears turning inside peoples' minds." I say.\n\nI reach for a small leather bottle of water on the bedside. I take a swig while Elise sat, quiet and still, pondering my description of Anders.\n\n[[Deflect: Ask her about herself.]]

<<set $brushedaside = true>>\n"What the Order and its Inquisitors do is of no concern to lower level confessors. You will assist us as necessary, is that clear?" I say more as a statement than a question.<<set $DemonPoints = $DemonPoints + 1>>\n\n"Of course." the confessor says, though he sounds strange. A vein in his forehead throbs slightly. He's probably not used to being bossed around in his own church. It's good then, he deserves to be taken down a peg or two.\n\n[[Now, what can you tell me?]]

I don't know where Elise is from, but in the Capital things are handled differently. When a confessor takes the vow of chastity, he means it. It is an honor to Faf, and one that is not broken easily. Perhaps she must lern the meaning of trust.\n\n[[Go to the Plague Street]]

I creep up to the door and look through. I'd guess that I'm at least three stories below ground, far below the basement. \n\nThe door opens up to a small hallway leading up to a circular stone formation. Newly lit sconces line the wall, and wall scrolls hang from crudely hammered nails. The scrolls are written in the script of the Old Age, before Faf, all forbidden. I lay a hand on my dirk. \n\nAs I approach the end of the stone formation, I see a man in a cot, a man dressed in simple brown cloth clothes. Nearby, folded up into a neat square, is a red coat with gold lining. \n\nI take step forward and kock aside a loose stone. The man, Frederic, leaps to his feet and looks at me and for a moment our eyes meet. Neither of us move as we try to process the situation.\n\n[[Attack Him]]\n[[Talk to Him]]

Of course he's guilty. He has to be. It is a devil that stills his tongue in some ploy to escape detection.\n\nUnless...\n\nSomething's wrong here. He is Vodlavec, true, but that alone is no crime. And the texts, while forbidden, were no worse than that of a simple pleasure cult...\n\nYou look at Giancarlo. He stares at, his face locked in a grimace. Then again, demons and witches can be clever.\n\n[[Ask him a few more questions. There's something here, I can sense it.]]\n\n[[No. He's guilty.]]

A woman is tending the stall. She is gaunt faced and sallow. Her apron is smeared with red and yellow stains and, Faf help her, green stains. I prefer not to think about what could have possibly stained it such a color. \n\nAs we approach, she grips at her neck and swallows hard. She nearly trips over herself courtesying.\n\n"In-Inquisitors." she stammers out. A younger looking girl at the stall glances up at us before looking away. A small child clings to her leg and looks up at me, perplexed.\n\n[[Have you seen anything unusual?]]\n[[I need answers. You will give them to me.]]

"You may begin." says Anders.\n\nThe room is dark. Three candles flicker on tall iron poles and cast their dim light on the center of the stone floor. There is a chair in the center.\n\nA man sits in the chair, his hands and feet bound to the rests and legs. I can see sweat beading on his forehead.\n\nOdd. It's so cold down here int he crypt beneath the church.\n\nI am in the shadows.\n\n[[Begin]]

"Oh, don't insult me, sir, don't insult me."\n\nI can't mask the look of confusion on my face. He looks surprised as well.\n\n"You mean you don't know? Heh heh, ask your master over there. I'm sure he has a few stories to tell you."\n\nI hear Anders clear his throat loudly. I look back at him and he glares at me. \n\nI almost slap my forehead. Of course, this is one of the first tactics they teach you to guard against. They say the demon will attempt to divide, to plant the seeds of doubt in the minds of the weak.\n\nThis is diversion, and I almost fell for it.\n\n[[No. He's guilty.]]

"It's no use Karl. Don't bother. Only violence speaks to her."\n\nIn one motion she cuts Meredith from her binds and picks her up in her arms. She walks out of the church without even looking back.<<set $DemonPoints = $DemonPoints + 1 >>\n\n\n[[Follow]]

It could be worse.\n\n"Stay near Elise, if anything's down here, we need to be ready for it."\n\n"On it." she says. I hear the click of a dagger leaving its sheath.\n\nAs we go down, however, my fears recede. Once my eyes have adjusted, it's actually a simple, plain basement. There isn't much down here except a few old relics and maybe a couple of chests of clothes. \n\nI spy the cellar as well as what looks like a wall of drums and kegs.\n\n"Well, they certainly have an impressive stock-" I say, but when I look around, Elisa is away, on the other side of the room. She's looking at something, a painting by the looks of it. \n\n[[I notice her eyeing a painting]]

I walk out to see that Elise has dragged Meredith out by her hair and to a clearing in the middle of the road.\n\nI up. Black smoke clouds are beginning to fill the air. It's the guard, stoking the fires for the burning pitch and tar they will use to burn the quarter down. Then, the shocktroopers will move in and by then it will be too late for everyone.\n\nOne way or another, this ends now.\n\n[[To the clearing.]]

I have to pull back. There are simply too many of them. They could over power me in a moment, and it would do nothing to die here, foolishly. I fall back to Meredith and collapse to my knees.\n\nI feel as lost as I have ever felt. There is nothing I can do. There is nothing to be done. The Order has failed. I close my eyes.\n\n"Sorry Meredith, Elise, Anders..." I say, and close my eyes. I try to drown out the world, and to my amazement, it does. I forget the bruises and the cuts and the deaths and the torture and all the rest, and instead, I find myself in a black room.\n\nI look around and realize that this is not merely an illusion, but that I am no longer in the quarter. Though the room is dark, I see a single pedestal under a spotlight and bearing a large, leather bound book: the Gran Codice. I can hear its whispering, one of its many powers.\n\n[[Listen to the Gran Codice]]

Why did I want to start talking? It's past midnight and we have a long day ahead. \n\n"There will be plenty of time to talk later. Right now we msut sleep, and be well rested for the day ahead." I say.\n\nShe nods.\n\n"You're right." she says, and lies back down. I detect the faintest hint of dejection. Maybe I could have handled that better. Working with partners was never my strong suit. It was the same with Anders, really.\n\nAnders...\n\n[[Drift off...]]\n

I scan the bookshelf. Most of the tomes seem dry and untouched. Mostly old commentaries and meditations by the great thinkers of the Order, including Anders's book.\n\n"Anders..." I mutter. Why do I bother? It's true, the was probably the greatest hero the Inquisition has ever seen, or possibly will see, but he's dead now and I have to live with that. It's bad enough that I have to hear his name whenever I'm spoken to, but now to see his name..\n\n"Oh, yes, that was a gift from him."\n\n"From whom?"\n\n"Anders. He gave us that book. He was a friend of my late husband. We often shared dinner together."\n\nI never knew that. How didn't I know that? Anders had friends, but I'd know if he was spending nights at dinner in some noble's house in one of the dingiest quarters of the city.\n\n"Yes, actually, he donated many of these books."\n\n"Now, I know that's impossible."\n\n"Why?"\n\n"Well, how do I put this...many of these books are illegal." \n\n"Illegal?"\n\n"Yes. It's shocking." I go down to a low whisper. "By command of the Order I could strip you of your title and leave you with nothing."\n\nShe pales, but holds her head up high. "Well then, I insist you ask Anders himself about these books. He will vouch for them." \n\nThere is a tumbling sound. A pile of books has fallen over her son. "Oh, George, be careful!" she practically screams and runs to his side. I shake my head. What is happening here?\n\n[[Return to the Foyer]]

After a moment, the door opens to a small, mousey looking woman. The assistant of the Confessor, no doubt. She bows as we enter and then disappears into one of the back rooms. \n\nAcross the church hall, I see the confessorat his podium, peering over a book. He doesn't seem to notice us. I cough loudly. \n\n[[The confessor looks at you]]

She might be right. He was oddly close to his assistant. And the way they held hands...\n\nAll confessors are bound to chastity as an honor to Faf. He would not be the first confessor to break his oath, but small deceptions tend to build into a rolling wave. When this is over I might send a lesser inquisitor to teach him a lesson.\n\nWhen this is over...why do I sound so sure of msyelf. Isn't that what Anders taught me, we can never be sure until all is done? Questions for another time and another place.\n\n[[Go to the Plague Street]]

Vodlavec. Witches and thieves, their holy relics are the bones of apostates. \n\n"It is not a crime to be Vodlavec. No, that's not what matters here." I lean in closer. "There is a force here, a malevolent spirit. And my purpose is to root it out, wherever it may be, whether the people are aware of it or not. You have allowed this evil to take hold of you. Will you renounce your ways, confess, and beg for absolution?"\n\nHe waits a moment before responding.\n\n"You are a dog." he says mournfully. "Demons? Witches? They are out there. I believe the stories and the tomes. But you? You're nothing but a hound, set to sic us. No, I will not give your greaters the satisfaction they desire. They will not see me beg."\n\n"I only wish for the truth." I say.\n\nI can almost admire his resolve. Still, he is Vodlavec. His guilt is assured.\n\n[[As you wish.]]

We draw our weapons. Better to be safe than sorry after all. \n\nI pull out my dirk. It's an older blade, used more as an honorific than anything. I received it upon my ascension to full Inquisitor. Elise has her own blade out, a one-handed blade with a slight curve and a basket hilt, a dueling sword. I point forward and we proceed, cautiously, our ears alert to any sound. \n\n[[Into the Office.]]

"What did you think was going to happen? Did you think we weren't going to find you, in the very shadow of the Order itself?! You are as blind and stupid as every other demon-summonig scum I've ever rooted out. Did you think that because you did it for your son that you would somehow be exempt, free from us? Did you!?" I say. I feel my face flush. \n\nWe stare each other down.\n\n[[She spits on me]]

I hit him again, harder this time. His head snaps in the other direction. A small cut has opened up on his cheek from where my hand struck him. I pull back and crack my knuckles.\n\n"I find it easier to ask questions when the subjects understand my methods. You will tell me what I must know-"\n\nI glance over to Elise and nod. She unsheathes a small metal clipper from her belt and clicks it a few times.\n\n"Or you will truly understand the Order's Wrath."<<set $DemonPoints = $DemonPoints + 1>>\n\nHe nods feebly and mumbles something inaudible.\n\n[[Lean in to listen to what he has to say]].\n[[Command him to speak louder.]]\n\n

"I will try, by Faf, I will TRY! But you need to tell me where he is." I yell.\n\n"I can't." she says.<<set $DemonPoints = $DemonPoints - 1 >>\n\n\n"Karl!" I hear Elise yell. I turn just in time to see her walking forward, weapon drawn. "Out of my way!" she yells. \n\nI try to stop her, but in one motion she cuts Meredith from her binds and picks her up in her arms.\n\n"Elise, stop!" I cry, but she's already walking out of the church. \n\n[[Follow]]

"No, he is frightened. We are Inquisitors. Cut from the same cloth as Faf himself. We will not stoop to barbarism."\n\nShe quiets. Her face looks flushed and her off hand is gripped around the pommel of the blade at her side. \n\nI sigh.\n\n"Never presume to know what it best. I am the Inquisitor here. You are my Justice, should I need you."\n\nShe bows her head and turns away from me. It tugs at my heart. There is so much she is ignorant of, so much she has yet to experience. In time, maybe she will come to understand my reasoning. For now, I have more pressing matters.\n\nWilliam has been watching me and Elise for the past few seconds, more confused than anything else. He lets out a sigh of relief when Elise walks past and away from him.\n\n"Thank you" he says.\n\n[[It is nothing.]]\n[[Do not expect my mercy to come without a price.]]

"Monger, we need information." Elise leads.\n\n"Of course, Inquisitors, I am at your disposal." the woman starts.<<set $DemonPoints = $DemonPoints + 1>>\n\n"A man in a red coat, have you seen such a man? Or a man named William Lutz?" Elise says.\n\n"No..No, I can't say I have." the woman stammers. The child at her leg starts crying. \n\n"I have." we hear a voice, the younger girl at the stall. The mother looks like she's about to faint. \n\n"You, how?" I ask.\n\n"I went to the mercy hospice. It's run by the man, William Lutz. He gave me herbs and a poultice. Once I saw a man in a red coat leaving there, with a small bundle in his arms. That's what I saw." \n\n"Why were you there?" Elise asks.\n\n"It doesn't matter, Elise." I look at the girl and give her a purse of coins. "For the next time you need aid." The girl blushes and bows low. The mother is agape.\n\n"Elise, I think our time here is done, what say we make to the apothecary?"\n\n[[Pay the Apothecary a visit.]]

"Enough. I'll not hear talk of heresy in the walls of the Order. Never have I seen or served under more people exemplary of duty and jsutice." I say.\n\nThis humbles her, I can tell. She seems saddened, as though she were exepcting me to say something different. She leans over and sleeps without saying another word.<<set $ElisePoints = $ElisePoints - 1 >>\n\nI too lean back and try to force myself to sleep. Faf, sometimes I wonder how Anders ever made this work.\n\nMy eyes feel heavy.\n\n[[Drift off...]]

"C'mon, I know a faster way. Just try and keep up."\n\nShe looks down the dark alleyway.\n\n"You sure this is a shortcut?"\n\n"Entirely."\n\nShe rolls her eyes. "Alright, if it'll save some time."\n\nI take the lead and we run down the alley. Though it's technically a longer route, the lack of people makes travel time substantially faster. We rush past refuse and discarded piles of trash. I can see the spires of the Grand Cathedral when something makes me trip.\n\nLuckily, I land facefirst in a pile of garbage. I get up on my feet to see a small, five man gang standing in a circle around us. Elise is surprisingly calm. I man I assume is the leader begins to speak.\n\n"Wot have we here, fellows? Fine coats. Nobles? No, Inquisitors." he says and spits out a black glob. He flashes a yellow smile in my direction. "You should have stuck to the Main Road." Him and the rest of his crew pull out their weapons, a mix of clubs and knives.\n\n[[Convince the leader to you past]]\n[[Intimidate him into letting you past]]\n[[(Attack Him)]]

I slap him across the face. His head snaps to one side. I catch a look of surprise and approval on Elise's face.\n\nHe looks up at me, surprised.\n\n"Why-? Why in Faf's name did you hit me?"\n\n[[Hit him again]]

I walk forward, into the light.\n\nThe man seems to notice me for the first time. He starts to speak.\n\n"Who are you?" he asks. "I have done nothing, just please, let me go. I'm innocent."\n\nI almost turn back to roll my eyes at Anders, but resist the urge. He would not approve.\n\n"Giancarlo Turilli." I begin, suddenly and sharply. He looks at me, a grimace on his face. "You stand accused of the following:Apostasy, witchcraft, of practicing the alchemical arts, of consorting with demons of various means, and of proselytizing the youth to accultism and demon worship."\n\nHe blanches. I turn ever so slightly towards Anders.\n\nHe nods his head and pulls out a thick, leather bound book from his pack.\n\n[[Continue]]

"We should go." Elise says. "The day looks cloudy and I don't think either of us can afford to catch cold." She's dusting off a pair of wide brimmed hats.\n\n"Nonsense. We're both healthy as the day we were born. I doubt a little rain and cloud-." I sneeze.\n\nShe gives me a look that just screams 'I told you so'. I button up my jacket and take one of the hats.\n---\nWe exit hastily, taking a small packet of bread and cheese from Confessor Roald. Once we're out of the Church, I look up. Elise was right. The sky is a dirty looking gray and a thin mist lies over the quarter. I already feel a little dizzy.\n\n"You okay?" Elise asks, noticing my slight swaying.\n\n"Yeah, fine." I say. I don't have time to feel dizzy. We have one day to save the quarter. If we don't exorcise the demona, the quarter will be razed and every man, woman and child put to the sword. "Let's go."\n\n[[To the Manse]]

I reach out and pluck the pendant from around his neck. It's a simple thing, wrought from interlocking tin cicles.\n\n"You are Vodlavec."\n\n"I never beleived in your Faf' to begin with."\n\n[[Ah. A Vodlavec.]]

I take out a pouch of coins and toss to the man.\n\n"A pleasure doing business with you." he chortles, counting weighing the pouch and stuffing it into one of his pockets. \n\nWe walk away quickly, not missing a beat.\n\n"Sorry for doubting you." Elise says.\n\nI look back, a little taken aback. \n\n"There's nothing to be sorry about. We simply have different instincts. I don't doubt that there were other ways we could have acquired the same information. I was right this time, next time might be different."\n\n"Thank you, ser." she says.\n\nSer. I think that's the first time she's called me ser. \n\n[[Pay the Apothecary a visit.]]

"You have betrayed us. You have betrayed the kingdom, and the Order. Do you not remember the Old Age? When men were enslaved and our lives were the playthings of demons and witches and the rest of the host of the night? Have you no shame, no honor?" I say.\n\nShe looks up at me. I never noticed it before, but she has clear eyes, blue as birds' eggs.\n\n[[She spits on me]]

"What's the plague street like in this quarter?" I ask her.\n\n"The report from the Pontiff says the plague street is...well, a plague street. It's mostly a bunch of run down old buildings where the lepers and all the others live. This street also has an William Lutz's hospice. Finally, there's a-ugh."\n\nShe sighs in disgust.\n\n"There's also a brothel. Faf help whoever thought a brothel surrounded by lepers was a good idea." she says.\n\nI concur.\n\n---\nBy the time we arrive at the plague street the sun is nearly setting. We have maybe an hour of daylight left. Lepers lounge in alleyways, looking at us with hungry eyes, their faces obscured by bandages. I see the torch sconces of the brothel up ahead, as well as the symbol of the apothecary's hospice, twin snakes entwined about a staff. \n\nAs we get closer, I see the walls of every building are covered in flyers and written edicts. I stop to read one of the newer ones. It simply reads\n\n"Obey Faf's will, and the will of his Children. Upon the bulwark of your faith, we will grasp Victory. There are-"\n\nThe rest is elligible, but I think I get the picture. I wonder what Anders would have to say about all this.\n\nFinally, we stop walking.\n\n"Well, we're here. What's our next course of action?"\n\n[[Ask one of the lepers]]\n[[Go into the brothel]] \n

"I am George." the child says. I realize this is the first time I've heard him speak. He was quiet all through the mansion.\n\n"You know my meaning. Who are you, Demon?" I ask again.\n\nGeorge furrows his brow and looks away, as if I had wounded him with some terrible insult. "Does it matter? I'm just like every other of my kind you've ever banished back."\n\n"You are a liar and a deceiver." I say.\n\n"That well may be, but does it really matter anymore? Even if you were to take your blade and cut my throat, I'd simply move on to a new host."\n\n"Then why don't you?" I ask.\n\n"Oh, I've grown fond of this body. Repairing it was easy, and now, I intend to live in it. The boy very much agrees, he's glad enough to have his legs back." He says.\n\n"Do those people know? Did you bewitch them to your cause?"\n\n"Me?" he laughs a deep, spiteful sounding laugh. "Your people did that all on your own."\n\nThat stings far more than I thought. Shame is not a feeling common to Inquisitors. When we feel it, it cuts deeply. \n\nLash out\nContinue listening\n

I lead.\n\n"Meredith Landsby, you are accused of engaging in witchcraft, performing forbidden rites of the Old Age, and consorting with demon-kind. Of these three things, we have substantial evidence." I say the words bluntly and with candor.\n\n"One year ago, you entered a covenant to save your son from the consumption. TO save him, you channeled the essence of a demon for one year while offering the leeched blood of children. The Inquisitorial Order of Faf has discovered your sins and we have come to cleanse the evil from this quarter. What have you to say?"\n\nShe says nothing.\n\n[[Push her harder]]\n[[Nudge her gently]]

As we continue forward, the crowd thins until all we see are a few figures in gold and black and the iron gates opening up to the Cathedral. Three guards stand at the ready, dressed in armor.\n\nWhen I approach they tense up, but one word from the courier and the gate opens. Opulent does not do the grounds of the Great Cathedral justice. It is a palace worthy of the King himself, possibly above him. Statues dot the sweeping lawns and halls meant to seat thousands during holy days connect and open up to massive balconies. We come to the entrance of the Great Hall.\n\n"Well, we're here." she says.\n\nI look up at the heavy brass doors. Before long, I hear a creaking sound as an attendant ushers us in. Se raises an eyebrow at our bloodstained coats. I can only shrug. Elise just walks past her.\n\n[[Enter the Grand Cathedral]]

There is no shame in this. I will not be the first neophyte to fail, nor the last. I will be put to a week's penitence, set to reread the Gran Codice and made to sweep the floors after congregation.\n\nThe others will laugh at me, but I do not care.\n\nNext time I will not fail.\n\nMy master walks over to me. \n\n[[He puts his hand on my shoulder.]]

"All right, I get your meaning." I say and toss the man a coin. \n\nIt slips through his fingers, sending him scrabbling for it on the street. When he finally gets ahold of it, he clutches it to his breast, mumbling incoherently. \n\n"And now...that information you promised?" I say.\n\n"Ah!" says the leper and looks around suspiciously. I also look around, but only see other lepers. I turn to Elise, who shrugs and takes a step back. \n\n"Sorry, I'm not that much of a fan of crazies." she says. I shrug back.\n\n"Fair Enough." I say.\n\nAfter a brief moment, the leper stops peering around and starts speaking.\n\n"I don't know much, but I see everything that goes on around here. It's all regulars come to the Ruddy Sow." he nods to the brothel. "But, every so often, a man comes down, dressed in fine cloth, red and gold, and comes to the apothecary. I don't know what he does, or who he is, but he's been coming on every full moon for the past year."\n\nI look to Elise. She shrugs. "That's two voices against his name."\n\nThat's good enough for me.\n\n[[Pay the Apothecary a visit.]]\n

"GO!" I yell. Elise kicks down the door and it practically explodes in a shower of splinters. We rush in together, weapons drawn, but the excitement quickly fades when we see the state of the room and its sole inhabitant. \n\nThere is man sitting in the judge's seat. He is wearing the uniform of an officer of the law, though it is stained and torn. His hair is a mess and covered in soot, constrasting sharply with the ruddy complexion of his face and features. \n\nElise immediately springs to action, checking his pulse and breathing.\n\n"His forehead's burning. This man has a fever, looks like he's had it for a while. What should we do?"\n\n[[Aid the man]]\n[[Leave him. Time is short.]]

The imports shop is redolent with the smell of foreign spices and ointments. There are jars on the wall, and cured produce hangs from the ceiling. In the corner, illuminated by candles, I see the wrought iron symbol of the Vodlavec.\n\nThe shopkeeper appears from the gloom, a long smoking pipe in his hand. He has a tattoo across his face and one of his hands is wrapped in an odd looking metal contraption.\n\nI can almost feel Elise fidgeting.\n\n[[Ask him if he's heard anything unusual]]

The exterior of the hospice is filthy and ramshackle. Shutters are boarded up and the walls are a grimy, soot colored mess. A foul smelling smoke drifts out of the chimney.\n\n"If there was ever a place where witchcraft was being performed, I'd wager this as it." Elise says.\n\nI chuckle. \n\n"I wouldn't challenge that bet." I say. <<set $ElisePoints = $ElisePoints + 1>>\n\n[[Enter the apothecary's hospice]]

I open up the Gran Codice and turn to a random page. The Codice is a puzzle in an dof itself, to prevent those not of the Order from discovering its secrets. The truths within are contained as riddles to be decoded in time by the members of the Order.\n\nThough I haven't opened up the codice in years, I still remember the words by heart, and the answers come naturally. I close the book not long after I open it, bored and tired. \n\nAfter a few more minutes, the doors to the audience chamber open and an attendant comes out.\n\n"The Pontiff will see you now." he says. When he sees the woman sleeping on the couch, he clears his throat loudly and she jumps up to attention before sidling past the attendant and into the audience chamber.\n\nI sigh.\n\n[[Meet his holiness]]

"...but it's still better to not tempt fate." I say. \n\nWe return to the front door. Again, the brass knockers seem to look down at me. I didn't notice it before, but they are in the shape of suns with faces, their eyes looking down at us in almost in judgement. \n\nI turn the knob to the great door, but find it unmoving. The hinges look well oiled, so it must be locked. I try to assess my options. It's a tough looking door, but one good kick should be enough to bring it down. At the same time, I could try to pick the lock, though my skills are somewhat rusty...\n\n"Well, what are we doing?" asks Elise, annoyed.\n\n[[Bash it down]]\n[[Attempt to pick the lock]]

It is the third night. A candle burns on my bedside beside the Gran Codice. I close my eyes and try to slee, but sleep won't come. I look over to the other bed. Elise is lying, straight as a board. In the low candle light I can't tell if she's asleep or awake.\n\n[[Ask her if she's awake.]]\n[[Let her rest]]

I fall on the straw cot, and thankfully, I have no dreams, only uneasy sleep where I wish the morning would never come. \n\nBut it does come, and soon enough the sun is shining overhead and my whole body feels itchy in the cot. I don't know why I even bother sometimes. There was a time when I could go for days without sleep, and then ignore the sun's light until past noon. Now, I tire early in the night and in the morning I feel every ache in my back. I'm old.\n\nLooking at myself in the mirror, I think about shaving, about cleaning myself up for the day, and laugh about even thinking of my morning routine. Now is not th time for that. Now is not the time for anything except duty. \n\nI put on my coat, and walk past Confessor Roald and his assistant.\n\n"Elise is already inside." he tells me.\n\nI nod, and enter the room.\n\n[[The Final Day]]

"We have heard strange things about you. Especially from your students."\n\n"My students?" He looks up at me, his face red and puffy. \n\n"Yes, they claim you often spend nights in your study, poring over dusty tomes from the Old Age, tracing out symbols in the sand in the courtyard. I wonder, did one of the older faculty provide you with the books? So many of them come from noble houses-"\n\n"Have you hurt them?"\n\n"Hmm?" \n\n"I just- Please, tell me. My students. Otto, and Cristiano, and-, and Andrea. Have they been hurt?" he asks. There is a sob in his voice and his face is ruddy.\n\nI'm taken aback by the question. Usually their first response is to save themsleves, not think of others. My first instinct is to turn around, to ask Anders for guidance, to open the Gran Codice Hexis and find some parable to help me. \n\nI stop myself. No. I am Karl Martin, neophyte, practically a full Inquisitor. I will not shame my master by asking for help now. I think back to my training and Anders' words\n\n"Truth and deception are tools towards an end. Use them wisely"\n\nTruth and deception...\n\n\n[[Of course not.]]\n[[Our methods are none of your concern]]\n[[Say Nothing]]

I wave away his offer and we walk off the brothel porch. \n\n"Sorry for doubting you." Elise says.\n\nI look back, a little taken aback. \n\n"There's nothing to be sorry about. We simply have different instincts. I don't doubt that there were other ways we could have acquired the same information. I was right this time, next time might be different."\n\n"Thank you, ser." she says.\n\nSer. I think that's the first time she's called me ser. \n\n"Either way, two disparate voices pointing to the same man is enough of a lead for me. WHat say we pay William a visit?"\n\n[[Pay the Apothecary a visit.]]

I push through the gathered crowd. I get a few dirty looks but brush them aside to get to the inner circle. \n\nI see, in the center of the circle, a man locked in the stocks. His hair is mussed, and his body is covered in welts and bruises. Stones lie scattered about and I see a few in the crowd grasping pebbles. I notice the man next to me is mumbling something to himself. Elise moves up beside me.\n\n"We really need to be going. The Pontiff-"\n\n"What has this man done to deserve this?" I ask the man next to me. He spits out a large, black glob on the pavement before looking at me.\n\n"Faf bugger the shit. He's a vodlavec, stole a goat. Doesn't matter though, his mother probably whored for demons. That's enough for me."\n\nA rock flies through the air and hits the man square in the face. Blood drips from his eye and his nose looks broken.\n\n[[He probably deserved it, move on]]\n[[Help him]]

The door looks tall and imposing, with a heavy brass knocker. It's too obvious. If there was anybody waiting for us, they'd expect us to use the front entrance.\n\nI begin to circle around, looking for another route. In a corner I see the glint of hinges forming the outline of a door. I tear off the mossy covering and pull open the door.\n\nI'm greeted by a faint, musty smell, and the howl of wind escaping the basement. \n\n"Are you sure you want to go in there?"\n\n"Why? It's just a basement-" I start, but stop myself. She's right. The air in the basement is cold, and it seems to go down deeper into the ground. "Fortune favors the bold, they say... "\n\n[[Go into the basement]]\n[[Go back to the front door]]

"Gjornandy, that's a beautiful province." I say.\n\n"From the angles the painters use it is. The part of Gjornandy I'm from is a shithole. It's a rancid little place, full of hateful people. I hated it. Nothing but sheep and rich Confessors come to spend the church's coffers. I knew I had to get out someday." She looks to the side with a pained look on her face. I understand her pain. <<set $ElisePoints = $ElisePoints + 1 >>\n\n\n[[What were the other things you said?]]

I'm wiping the spit from my eye when Elise springs into action.\n\n"Karl!" I hear Elise yell. I turn just in time to see her walking forward, weapon drawn. "Out of my way!"\n\nIn one motion she cuts Meredith from her binds and picks her up in her arms.\n\n"Elise, stop!" I cry, but she's already walking out of the church. \n\n[[Follow]]

"Now, we need information. What can you tell us about your congregation. You're the only church in the quarter and the only confessor. You must know everything that goes on here."\n\n"I do." he says.\n\nI wait a moment. He says nothing. \n\n"Can you tell me?" I ask.\n<<if $brushedaside>>\n"Well that depends. I don't like being treated like some menial at the Pontiff's feet. If my church going to be used as a base for investigations, I wish to be a part of them and that includes knowing what you know." he says.\n\n"This is rich." says Elise\n\n"Elise, quiet."\n<<else>>\n"Sir, the people come to me, but I am bound to secrecy. It is in Faf's own words that men might come to me to absolve themselves. I cannot break that trust." he says.\n\n"Trust? Are you blind, the city guard is about to burn down the quarter and you're worried about trust?" Elise says.\n\n"Elise, quiet."\n<<endif>> \n\n[[Persuade the confessor]]\n[[Beseech his aid]]

"Well, I'm from [[Gjornandy]], born and raised and joined the church when I came of age. They were taking in a lot of people back then. All the other girls wanted to be in one of the Cathedrals, become Sisters of the Order or the like. [[Not me]]. Once I was old enough, I volunteered for [[Field Service]]. This is actually my first time in the capital." she says.

"Let's take the Main Way." I say. No use in running through alleyways and getting robbed." I say.\n\nThat actually gets a laugh out of her.\n\n"Robbers..." she says and shakes her head. An odd response, but I shrug it off.\n\nThe Main Street is especially crowded today. Everywhere I look I see people, soldiers, clergy, nobles, and beggars. A man bumps into one of the soldiers and is kicked aside so violently that I hear one of the bones of his arm break. There's a crier nearby on a podium proselytizing upon the virtues of this and that, our victories in the war and urging me to spend my ducats at Flint Connington's Winery.\n\nSomething up ahead catches my eye. A group of people have gathered around something. It seems as though someone's speaking to them, but I can't see who.\n\n[[Approach the crowd]]\n[[Ignore them]]

He looks down to the floor. He doesn't seem to want to answer. Very well, he tried my hand.\n<<set $DemonPoints = $DemonPoints + 1>>\n\n[[Motion for Elise.]]

Th\n\nI look out through the window to the streets below.\n\nThe sun is setting and from the shadows I can see eyes looking at me. Scared eyes on gaunt faces.\n\nI sigh and turn away. Elise is leaning against a wall, picking at a nail. She looks terribly bored.\n\nIn the middle of the room, William Lutz is in a chair, bound with straps at his hands and feet.\n\nElise comes up to me, fastening one of her mail gloves as she does. I can hear the chink of mail underneath her Inquisitor's coat.\n\n"Ready?"\n\n[[An Inquisitor is always ready.]]\n\n

No, better to let her sleep. Today was hard, tomorrow will be harder. I toss and try to get into some sort of comfortable position, but the straw mat and wooden frame aren't helping. I think for a moment of blowing out the candle, but I strike the thought from my mind.\n\nIt's best to keep some light. It keeps the dark things away. It will burn for a few more hours, until the tallow is just a melted pool seeping across the bedside table.\n\nI look at the tallow and let my mind drift. It's been so long, a few years at least, since I last performed an interrogation, even longer since I perfomred one with a partner. \n\nI see a spider dangling from web in the corner of the room. I realize how very cold I am and pull the thin sheets closer over myself. I try to remember the last time I felt so cold\n\n[[Drift off...]]

"I should save this quarter the trouble of going to the apothecary's and burn this place down."\n\n"Hey now, that's a little much-" the brothel owner starts.\n\n"Shut up. I'll expect a generous donation to the local church once Confesor Roald begins service again."\n\n"I- you...!" he sighs. "As you command, Inquisitor." he says through gritted teeth.\n\nWith that we take our leave.\n\n"Sorry for doubting you." Elise says after we're back on the street.\n\nI look at her, a little taken aback. \n\n"There's nothing to be sorry about. We simply have different instincts. I don't doubt that there were other ways we could have acquired the same information. I was right this time, next time might be different."\n\n"Thank you, ser." she says.<<set $ElisePoints = $ElisePoints + 1>>\n\nSer. I think that's the first time she's called me ser. \n\n"Either way, two disparate voices pointing to the same man is enough of a lead for me. WHat say we pay William a visit?"\n\n[[Pay the Apothecary a visit.]]

"Elise, enough!" I say. She looks at me, incredulous.\n\n"What? Why? We're so close. We have no time for this." She says.\n\n"It doesn't matter. Look at her. She doesn't want to be saved. Anymore than any of the people I put to the torch. They fear us. They hate us. Elise, we're the problem. We're the ones who did this. All she wanted to do was save her son. Can you trust me? Just this this once?" I say.\n\nElise looks down.\n\n[[I wait for her response...]]

"Straight to the point. I like that." he says and lets out a wheezing cough. He reaches for his cup and takes a swig, a bit of wine dribbling down his chin. "You know of demons, Inquisitor."\n\n"I've had run ins with them before, as all Inquisitors have. Some say that we stamped the last remnants of demon-worship out of existence nearly a decade ago." I say. That gets a laugh out of the Pontiff.\n\n"You don't believe that do you?"\n\n[[Actually, yes]]\n[[I never said I did]]

"Faf's mercy, thank you. Now listen to me, there is a bond between you and your son, one sealed when you amde your pact with the demon. He calls to you jsut as you call to him. If you help us, you can draw him out and we can exorcise the evil." I say.\n\n"And rest assured, we have methods of ensuring that the demon comes." Elise says.\n\n[[Glower at Elise]]

The reception room is a large, gilded thing with a wide stained glass window overlooking a courtyard. Below, I see a group of neophytes training under their master, stopping only for him to gesticulate wildly, recounting some impassioned parable on the virtues of labour and duty.\n\nElise is swinging her feet on a padded couch. She has a handkerchief out and she's wiping as much of the blood of her clothes as she can.\n\nI turn a little too quickly and feel the lump in my pocket. Every Inquisitor of the Order has a miniature copy of the Gran Codice, for reference. It is our bible, our codex. it prescribes our very philosophy of life.\n\nIt has been too long since I have last opened it.\n\n[[Talk to Elise]]\n[[Open up the Gran Codice]]\n[[Wait and rest]]

We walk back into the manor.\n\n"Where to now?" Elise asks.\n\n"Well, there's only one room left." I say.\n\n"The Master bedroom..." Elise says. "Do you actually think we're going to find anything?"\n\n"Yes, do you really have to search my bedroom."\n\n"Yes."\n\n[[Proceed to the Master Bedroom]]