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Chapter 646 - Culprits everywhere
🕑 Added 2023-04-22 13:00:04 +0000 UTCOn that first day, when they started working their jobs, everyone found out one thing or another that could lead them to the curse. Helena and Alex discovered that a few people in the village were very secretive about something they were doing. By themselves, those people didn't seem to match anything that the curse could do. But when they were all together, it felt a bit odd. Two of them were oracles. They were able to predict the future to a certain extent, things that were happening far away, and even discover secrets by using certain spells. However, their abilities weren't very precise and, more often than not, would be wrong or have important pieces of information missing. Another of the sketchy individuals was someone who worked with enchantments and ways to amplify magic. In essence, he could only improve the city's defenses since everything required a stationary target. The fourth person was a very angry man who had a lot of hatred for a specific kind of monster. Apparently, the Cherry Mantises attacked his family and killed everyone but him. He then vowed to destroy all of them and was actively searching for ways to wipe them out.
As Helena mentioned, they did not seem to be the culprits by themselves, but when their abilities were grouped together, it became a possibility. Plus, the way all of them were acting was very suspicious. They would hide around, sneak to each other's houses, try to hide certain parts of their house when the cleaners were there, and overall, they seemed sketchy.
On the other hand, Shane and Mylo figured out something a bit different. The guards constantly mentioned a few odd events they saw around the city. There was a monster leaving some sort of purple trail that was viscous and could consume the roots around it, but it seemed to be harmless to any living organisms that were not plant-based. Again, by itself, that wouldn't be very worrisome, but when thinking about how Alex described the painting that cursed her, it would match very well with what was being depicted.
Adriel and Blue found out that the hunters' leader, Reynara, was talking with the trap maker about how they could find a way to kill various monsters at once. She was discussing the idea of creating a trap so big that it would cover most of the room, and any beast that could prove to be a danger would be killed by it instead of having people hunt for the creature. Considering her job, it makes sense that she would be trying to protect more people or make her life easier. However, according to everyone, Raynara was a battle-crazed maniac. She would thrive when she was hunting, and if she spent more than a couple of days back in the village without going after a monster, she would start to lose it. That just made her request to make this giant trap very confusing. Then again, no one was able to tell what she was thinking. Even Grilat, who was the person she was closest to, had a hard time predicting her behavior.
Bonnie also discovered a few things. For one, Multrak didn't seem to be related to the curse at all. She couldn't find anything about him that would make sense for him to create or be involved with the curse. His legacy was about blood and about getting stronger with blood. It didn't have a way of spreading or talking or infecting anything, and all its effects were temporary on others. Only he could have the permanent effects. The other interesting piece of information was that according to the map and the movement of the monsters, there was a spot in the room where nothing got close. It was in the jungle, nowhere near a water source, but every creature seemed to be trying to stay far away from that location. Even when the destination of a pack of monsters would be on the other side of that area, they would instead take a detour that would make them move to more dangerous paths for some reason.
Hera was the last one to speak. She told them all about the witch doctor and how he would make spells, potions, and hexes and practice voodoo, but aside from the names and the fact that he was the closest thing to someone who used curses, she couldn't bring herself to doubt him. Calling him odd, strange, or weird was an understatement, but he wasn't a bad person. He was earnestly trying to help the people in the village, and his hexes were used to either help him make the potions or change the potion itself so it would perform its job better at the expense of something else. If he created the curse, Hera believed it was an accident or something that evolved in a way he did not expect.
"You know, there's another thing that has been bothering me," Sammy spoke up.
"What's that?" Shane asked.
Sammy stopped himself from speaking. He was going to say that it was weird for a memory to be this detailed, but that would ruin the illusion that they were in the past. Thinking fast, he started talking about something else that worried him, "Why did we arrive here right now? We used a memory to get here, but the curse is not here. How can you remember something from before when he was created?"
Everyone stopped to think about that statement for a moment. It was very weird, everyone had to agree, and when it boiled down to it, the answer should be obvious.
"The curse is already around," Bonnie said.
"That's what I'm thinking. It seems to be the only option," Sammy nodded.
"No, hang on. That's not entirely true," Alex spoke up, making the entire party turn to her, " it doesn't mean that the curse is already here. But it means that all those people that we see were affected by the curse. I can't say this for certain because I'm not the curse, but I'm pretty positive it can read my memories. The curse told me a couple of things that I never mentioned to anyone after I got cursed. So it might have used the memories of those who existed before it did to understand when it started."
"Also. It might have something to do with the Night River and the Boulder of Vines. I mean, it's very weird that we came here now, and there's this weird hunt being prepared. I think that will be the catalyst for everything. Not necessarily they hunt itself but something that's going to happen at the same time. Maybe someone will get hurt, and they will have to do some dangerous procedure to help them. Or the night River has some sort of parasites inside its body that's going to latch on to someone and start to spread. Hell, maybe it's not even related to the night River at all, but it will be something that we stumbled upon when we are going there," Hera added.
"The bottom line is that we are facing the same problem we faced yesterday. We don't have enough information," Shane sighed.
"Yeah. I don't know why, but I thought it would be much easier to figure this out," Adriel nodded.
"Really? I honestly thought it would be harder. I mean, the curse is supposed to have existed thousands of years ago and survived all this. To me, it should be hard even to find people who could be, potentially, related to it," Bonnie replied.
Everyone seemed a bit frustrated with the situation, but Helena clapped her hands loudly, "Okay. I know we're all very stressed, but we are here and making progress. That's all we can hope for. Everyone had a long day, so let's just sleep, and we can try to figure something else out tomorrow, shall we?"
Even those who still wanted to talk all realized how exhausted everyone looked. It seems like the sleep they had the previous night wasn't enough to let them rest properly. Accepting Helena's suggestion, the party went to bed. Nimbus and Lurize kept watch again, but this time, they were joined by Frost and Edge. When morning came, Grilat stopped by to wake them up, this time just at the break of dawn. They walked out, ate, and split off to do their jobs. Hera went straight to the underground 'greenhouse,' and she found Kadhan already working.
"Did you even sleep?" she asked.
"I did. I'm sleeping now," Kadhan pointed to the left where another Kadhan was sleeping.
"Moss body?" Hera turned to the wake witch doctor.
"Moss body. Very helpful, and when most of us are sleeping, it's much easier to hold a conversation," Kadhan continued.
"Oh, so that's why you speak like that at times? Your mind is split, then you can't phrase things properly?" Hera asked.
"That is correct. Even someone like me struggles to talk and control a few bodies at a time. After all, having one is more than enough some times," Kadhan smiled.
"How many bodies do you have active right now?"
"More than I'm willing to discuss."
"And where are they? Like, what are they doing?"
"Preparing materials for potions. Some of the ingredients take a lot of work to make."
"I see…" Hera still had questions, but it was only the second day she was working with the Witch Doctor. It wasn't good to press too much, "Wait, is the reason why there are a bunch of voices when you speak because of your other bodies?" she realized that the voices were quieter now, almost as if there were fewer of them.
Kadhan nodded, "It's one of the drawbacks of the skill. The voice comes from all of us, and the moss makes it sure all can be heard," Kadhan turned to Hera, "No one else realized that before. You are smart. That is dangerous."
Hera smiled, "Thanks. I think. But if you have those bodies, why did you need an assistant?" she tried to change the subject.
"Splitting the moss is not perfect. Making potions requires concentration, focus, attention. With split bodies, it's hard to do that. I wanted someone to make the simple potions, so I only have to worry about more complex work."
Hera nodded and started helping. During the next few hours, she continued helping Kadhan take care of the plants, learn about the potions he would make, and even some of the healing spells he had to use in an emergency. Eventually, the Witch Doctor asked Hera to look for one of the repair team members. He had asked their leader for a few large boulders and pieces of wood, and apparently, he was ready to deliver them. The Empress asked how he knew that, and Kadhan showed a line of ceramic cups. All of them had some moss inside and the name of someone in the city written around it.
"They talk in the moss. I listen. Only one way, but effective. I've tried allowing for two-way communication, but that never worked," Kadhan replied.
"Why? Are they hard to care for?"
"Not quite. This moss only receives. Theirs only sends."
"What if we made this differently? We get someone from the village, and they are responsible for listening to what people say to the moss and then sending that message to someone else. That way, people who might need to give messages to someone else could communicate quickly. That way, we can talk with the hunting teams too or talk to each other without having to find them."
Kadhan tilted his head, "The moss can't send messages outside the village. Too far away. Who would need to talk in such a hurry?"
" I don't know. The guards? Multrak? You? What if there is an attack?"
"Grilat can warn us of attacks. For the rest, nothing is too urgent that has to be said right away. Carrying that would be a hassle. So I only use it when I need something," Kadhan explained and pointed to the door, "Now go. We are making a new field."
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