There were only seven bodies.
I ran back, Elayne and Deacon already helping Zaion stand. I stepped into her protective bubble, and the screaming bugs were muffled, but not gone again. “Problem.” I said loudly. “I counted ten, but there’s only seven bodies.”
Both Deacon and Elayne swore, but Zaion was out of it. Giving him a look over, I felt for how much mana I had available and it wasn’t a lot. Elayne must have been thinking the same and nodded towards a building that was mostly clear of bugs.
Actually, the bugs in general were backing away. It was almost like they were being gently pushed away, and I looked in the direction of the city. Must be some defensive thing. I didn’t question it, since the road was doing the same thing now that I noticed it. The path in the direction of Davesville was slowly starting to clear out.
We started to make our way to the building and Elayne knocked on the door hard enough to damage it. Literally, there was a small crack where her fist had struck. Nobody answered though, and she just tried the handle. When it opened, we all shuffled inside.
I almost jumped out of my skin when I saw a man about twice as tall as I was and built like he could lift a wagon over his head and walk it to Davesville. I then saw a few more people, all standing next to beds. They were all dressed in simple clothes, but not a single one was moving. I’d have thought they were dead, but they were still breathing.
Deacon and Elayne didn’t waste time, moving Zaion to a bed next to a larger brown haired woman. Deacon pushed her out of the way and she just fell onto the next bed over. No sound of complaint or move to prevent herself from falling. It was making the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.
“Deacon… what is this place?” I asked, not sure I wanted the answer.
He gave me an exasperated look and pointed to his throat. Then he lightly slapped Elayne in the side with the back of his hand and pointed at me and motioned to the room. She got it, and rolled her eyes, “It’s not the first time you’ve been to a stable. Don’t be dramatic.”
I blinked a few times and Deacon’s hand slapped onto his face with a rather loud sound in the quiet room. Elayne looked at him in confusion. “What? She has.”
Pieces started to fall into place and my confusion morphed into anger, but I stamped it down. Zaion was hurt and I didn’t have time to think about it. Not that I could do much with no mana. Not for a while, anyway. “So… these are all slaves then?”
Deacon nodded, hand still on his face and massaging his temples. He reached into his bag, which I was amazed he still had, and pulled out a wooden box. Inside were a series of slots, with four out of six filled with small glass vials. Each of the slots was stuffed with enough cotton that Deacon had trouble pulling one of them out.
“You actually wasted money on that stuff?” Elayne snorted, “It’s cheaper to find a healer. Faster too.” She still helped feed the weird red liquid to Zaion, pouring it into his mouth slowly. The elf drank it, but he needed two tries at it when he went into a coughing fit halfway through the contents of the vial.
Curious about the vial, I scanned it.
Major Healing Potion
Assists in the restoration of the body to a healthy state. Cannot replace missing limbs or internal organs. Restore health over the course of an hour. So long as there is life left, this will fix most superficial, minor, moderate, and some serious wounds. Does not work on bones.
I blinked at the description, “I’m probably going to need to still cast Heal on him.”
“No shit.” Elayne said. “He’s at least got multiple broken ribs. Carrying him like you did probably didn’t help, but you didn’t know better.”
I winced and took a seat on the bed the woman had been flung onto. “So, we wait for my mana to recover, heal Zaion, then get to the city?”
Deacon nodded, and pointed to his throat. Then he closed the box and put it back in his bag awkwardly.
“Right, and your throat.” I tried very hard not to look around me, but it was hard not to. There must’ve been at least fifteen people standing next to beds. Motionless, but breathing. Like they were unable to move.
Or were ordered not to.
Alerts popped up in my vision, bypassing the settings t o minimize them.
[Moderation Task Complete]
[Moderation Task Complete]
[Moderation Task Complete]
[Moderation Task Complete]
[Moderation Task Complete]
[Moderation Task Complete]
[Moderation Task Complete]
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
[Moderation Task Complete]
[Moderation Task Complete]
[Moderation Task Complete]
[Moderation Task Complete]
[Moderation Task Complete]
[Moderation Task Complete]
[Moderation Task Complete]
[Moderation Task Complete]
[Compiling Data…]
[Compiling Data…]
[New Moderation Task Assigned]
Investigate Health of Victims
Current victims held in captivity are unresponsive. Determine cause.
Investigate Illegal Modification of System Functions
You have discovered something strange about the people being held against their will. Investigate the anomaly.
I looked at the woman next to me. I looked over to Deacon, whose face was grim. Elayne had taken a different bed and was laying down after setting her own pack to act as a pillow. Which made me take another look and I noticed there weren’t any pillows or blankets for any of the people.
Out of curiosity, I gently shook the woman I was sitting next to. There was no response. I started to again, and Deacon caught my wrist. He shook his head and then pointed to his throat again and looked around the room.
I let go, but decided to Scan one of the standing people.
Name:
Race: Human
I didn’t get anything. Then I remembered a new part of the Assessment skill that I’d gotten. I focused on it and got a return of Not Enough Data. I frowned and got up to explore the building, bored and frustrated.
After about a half hour, I had enough mana to heal Deacon’s throat, and then cast the remaining into a Heal spell for Zaion. I didn’t noticed much change, but his breathing was easier. I don’t know when he’d passed out, but I was glad he didn’t have to be conscious while hurting. I’d had my foot crushed earlier, and I cant imagine ribs felt much better broken.
Deacon walked up besides me as he whistled up a sound barrier. We stood there in silence, with me looking out the window between some shutters. There was no glass, but the stone the place was built out of had prevented some of the sound from coming in from the outside. That and the bugs getting pushed farther and farther away.
“So… I’m guessing you want to talk about it.” He finally said, after standing in awkward silence for longer than was comfortable.
“Not really. I was going to run into something like this sooner or later.” I’d come to that realization while I’d been waiting for my mana. “Only a matter of time.”
“Still. You asked about it before.” He sighed, “I don’t know much, but I can fill in some general gaps. What do you want to know?”
I looked at a man about Deacon’s height, but with bright red splotches that signaled sunburn all over his face and neck. It was peeling and gross, but he just stood there like it didn’t bother him. “Are they aware at all?”
“To a degree… probably.” I turned to look at him and he was frowning. He looked me in the eyes, “I wouldn’t think too much about that. It… doesn’t lead to anything healthy.”
I was quiet and returned to looking out the window. I didn’t say anything for almost a minute. Then, “I got a quest. A Moderation one.”
“Shit.” Was his immediate response, and I felt him move away a little. “Dani, you aren’t strong enough push this And you can’t go around punishing everyone who participates in… in this!” He said, motioning towards the man I had been looking at.
“I’m not going to.” I said, my stomach twisting at my own words. “I’m not an idiot Deacon. There’s…” I tried to think of something to encompass how messed up all of this was. I settled for, “Too much. Too much to be poking at.”
Deacon looked visibly relieved, “Well, that’s one concern gone.”
I looked at the sunburnt slave. “So, are they aware? And how does it work?”
The bard looked less happy about the new questions. “I don’t know. At least, not the first one. The most I can tell are these are Seal Slaves.” He walked over to the sunburnt man and turned him around. Then he pulled the shirt up and showed the guy’s back.
There was a rather intricate design on his back. It seemed to crisscross along the spine and go all the way up to the base of his neck. The whole thing shimmered slightly and seemed to blur so I couldn’t pick out details, which was rather frustrating.
Both of my quests updated.
Investigate Health of Victims
Victims are in a catatonic state and unresponsive. Awaiting Moderator Permission to run full diagnostic.
Investigate Illegal Modification of System Functions
The victims appear to be marked by a strange seal. New Objective: Find an uncensored version of the seal used.
I checked the diagnostic prompt. It wanted permission to scan the guy, and I didn’t see a reason not to. I gave the system permission and waited.
[Scanning…]
[Critical Organs: Intact]
[Vestigial Organs: Intact]
[Heart Rate: Healthy]
[Pulse: Healthy]
[Vision: Average]
[Auditory: Damaged]
[Mana Control Node: Unformed]
[Class: Farmer]
[Brain Activity: 2%]
[Error!]
[Brain Activity: 2%]
[Error!]
[Processing…]
[Ego Death Acknowledged]
[Initializing Instantiation Procedure]
The man just stood there the entire time as I copied the information from the diagnostic into the Note function. I frowned at the Class, but even then, people didn’t deserve this. “What’s Ego Death?”
“What?” Deacon asked, confused. “I’ve never heard that term before.”
I shook my head, “Never mind. I got my answer about whether or not he’s aware.” I turned and walked away, even as I started to accept the rewards for the quest completion.
Investigate Health of Victims
Ego Death Confirmed. Diagnostics from others in the Moderator’s immediate area have confirmed Ego Death from phenomenon declared as Slave Seal. Slave Seal is now classified as a Class 1 Forbidden Item.
Reward:
Moderation Classification Adjusted to NM-02
Trait Enhancement Token
Tier 1 Class Level Token x5
10% Off Coupon for 1 Shop Purchase
The tokens all appeared in my hand, but the coupon didn’t. I looked at them curiously, flipping the circular metal bits over in my hands. I focused on one of the Class Level Tokens.
I focused on No and put them all in my Spatial Closet. I wasn’t in the right headspace to think about the advancement opportunities these provided. I was too busy looking at a room full of people who didn’t even know they were dead.