2020-07-19: Hepatizon

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  • Cutscene: Hepatizon
  • Cast: Various NPCs
  • Where: A mysterious place; Claiborne
  • Date: July 19th, 2020
  • Summary: Something has gone terribly awry, and Claiborne suffers for it.

BGM: (Darkest Dungeon ~ Stuart Chatwood - House of Ruin (Trailer)) https://stuartchatwood.bandcamp.com/track/house-of-ruin-trailer


"So, who wants to be the one who tells him?"

The hole in the wall is enormous, as if something -- or somethings -- had clawed their way through with significant force. One of the armored soldiers gingerly prods at one of the jagged edges which promptly gives way to clang against the floor. He winces.

"Well, I'm not telling him. Not after the last time one of 'em got out. If you thought he was pissed /then/--"
"He can't do anything to us really," interjects a woman's voice. She's crouched by the floor, running an analysis on a silvery smear there. "The Colonel will eat him alive, you know."

"Yeah, but in the meantime, we're still dead," groans the soldier by the gaping tear in the wall. "How the hell did they tear through six inches of steel?"

"Nothing for it," says a third, by the doorway. "We're gonna have to tell him, and we're gonna have to get them back. Luckily for us, they're tagged..."

-----

(Meanwhile, in Claiborne...)

There's never been much need for overzealous security measures on Kasutho. The Veruni presence to the south has a particular dampening effect on banditry and the like, though never enough to make it not a threat. Outside the control zone, the settlements have always tended to do the bare minimum necessary to keep them and theirs safe.

For Claiborne in particular, its affiliation with Sylvaland means that they've never precisely been wanting for a little muscle when it has been needed to keep banditry around here in check -- or the Veruni, for that matter.

But all that changed after Odessa destroyed the teleporter.

There had been a scramble to bring their militia up to something resembling 'code' in the months following. Not just because of the bandits -- who had immediately turned a gimlet eye towards Claiborne's horses, but there was a decided tension as regarded the Veruni.

Or, for that matter, the monsters.

And that's precisely why on this dark summer night, Everly Bradshaw, new recruit, finds themselves stuck with the night shift patrol. There's supposed to be at least two of them, but with Paul sick, and Victoria helping out her wife now that the baby's born, they've really drawn the short end of it.

Something's out there. They can hear it, snuffling about in the dark. It doesn't sound like a dog, or, really, like any of the usual monsters that sometimes harass the town. They hesitate for a long moment, trying to decide if this is worth raising the alert over. But if it's nothing, they'll really be in for it.

And so, heart pounding in their chest, they advance slowly towards the sound, keeping their lantern hooded.

Until the sound is close enough that they might well be right on top of it--
It's metal. Or, most of it is metal--! It turns its terrible head towards them, and Everly realizes what it must be.

It lunges for them even as Everly shoots at it with their rifle, the sound of the ARM punctuating the silence of the night.