Sleeping Gods Quest #33

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Stay calm. Take a deep breath, and don't lose your cool.

Even in times such as these – especially in times like these – it's important not to lose control of the situation. Even if the situation, by all accounts, is well and truly beyond your control. With cultist soldiers attacking the palace ahead of you, and Aya's newspaper office collapsing into a pile of burning ruins behind you, it's hard to think of your next move. Harder still, when a slow and poisonous anger is beginning to boil up from deep within you.

Soldiers were the ones who did this, that was what Aya told you. Her office had been attacked by soldiers. It's possible, of course, that they were defectors from the Imperial army, deserters pledged to the Seer's cause and seeking to silence the reporter for speaking out.

Or perhaps not. Her story was wide reaching enough to make enemies on both sides of the conflict. Now, one of them has taken their revenge.

As you recount the facts – the few details that you know to be facts, at least – you slowly grow to notice the muffled sound of Aya sobbing to herself, mourning the loss of her beloved newspaper as silently as she can. It's an awkward sound to listen to, and you can't think of a single thing to say to her. This sort of thing... it was never your area of expertise.

“We tossed a coin to decide,” one final, choked sob escapes Aya as she speaks up suddenly, her voice cracked and broken, “Who would stay behind and watch the office, I mean. My old man won – he usually does – and normally he'd send me out, saying I should enjoy myself. Only... this time, he said he wanted to get a drink or two. I mean, I was happy to stay behind, so I never argued.”

And that's why she was in the office, you reply softly, alone.

“I didn't know it was gunfire I was hearing, at first,” a sad smile touches Aya's lips briefly, “I guess maybe I'm just not used to hearing it. Then I heard some shouting outside, someone yelling “this is it, this is the place” or... or something like that. I only got the chance to look out the window for a moment before the first firebomb went through the downstairs window. A moment, that's all.”

But it was enough, you press, wasn't it?

“I know uniforms when I see them, Ira,” Aya insists, regarding you with a pair of red, pained eyes, “It was dark, they wore scarves around their faces, but those were uniforms.” Then, falling silent as she looks out across the city for the first time, Aya gasps softly. “By all the gods, Ira,” she whispers, “What's going on here?”

War, you tell her simply, war has reached the capital at last. Now, you've got to figure out your next move.

>It should be safe here. Stay down while I head to the palace
>We need to find your father. Do you know where he might be?
>The city isn't safe right now. We need to get out of here
>Other

>It should be safe here. Stay down while I head to the palace

If her father was out getting drinks he should still be there safe. I doubt cultists would attack a tavern for no reason and I don't think Takino's soldiers would either.

Give Aya our coat and hat. She should stay here, but if she needs to move our traveling gear is nondescript.

this

Also we might want to keep Aya's survival a secret for now, at least until she gets super protected, possibly by the Temple. We should tell her dad of course, but with the building burned down people probably think she is dead. And no one else is going to come after her if they think she is dead.

>>It should be safe here. Stay down while I head to the palace

It should be safe here, you assure Aya, in this lonesome shrine. Safe enough to give her a place to hide out while you head to the palace, at least – and that's your next move. As much as you resent it, you've got your reputation to consider. The last thing you need right now is to have your name slandered, tarred as a deserted or a coward. Just stay down for now, you add as you pull off your heavy coat and drape it across Aya's shoulders.

It fits her like a tent, and the hat you place upon her head immediately sinks down to hide her face. At a glance, she is unrecognisable – perfect. You couldn't say if her attackers know her by sight, but the extra precautions won't hurt. You rise to leave when Aya lunges forwards, catching your arm.

“My old man, he-” she begins, “I mean, if you see him...”

He was out drinking, you ask, wasn't he? This war isn't going to spill over into the taverns and back alley bars, you assure Aya, so she needn't worry about him. You wince inwardly at how that sounds – of course she'll be worrying about him, just as he would be worried about her – but she doesn't seem to notice the ill turn of phrase. Pulling your loose coat tighter around herself, she sinks down into a ragged heap, leaning back against the stone shrine wall.

“Just be careful,” she orders, her voice hollow, “Please?”

You take a long look outside, gazing at the occasional pillars of thick black smoke rising up to blight the first flourishes of dawn. Across the city, the sharp sounds of gunfire suggest countless small skirmishes, all pointing to a greater conflict – one with the palace at the centre of it all.

Careful might not be an option, you tell the young reporter, but you'll survive.

“Good enough for me, chief,” Aya whispers, the words barely reaching your ears. Casting one last glance over your shoulder at her, you head out.

[1/2]

Memory guides you through the winding streets towards the palace, but even if that failed, you could simply cast an eye up into the sky. A ruddy red glow has spread across the clouds like a cancer, a false sunrise that speaks of great fires raging below. You feel a tight grimace of concentration touch your face as you put a fraction more haste into your pace. From here, there's no way of knowing how the battle is going, only that the fighting is still raging ahead.

When the twisted pile of scrap looms high before you, it takes you a moment to recognise it for what it truly is – or rather, what it was. Blasted apart into two ruined mounds, the palace gates offer not even the slightest resistance to any trespass or attack. Just the thought of what kind of explosive would be needed to shatter them like that... it chills you, even with the fires around you warming your skin.

This is what the Seer's monstrous science has led to. A new generation of weapons – rifles, bombs and poison gas, all used with the intent of preventing a greater war. Looking around you, you wonder how the Seer could be so blind to the hypocrisy of his actions. He has prevented nothing.

Forging ahead through the shattered gates, you reach down to pick the rifle from a dead solider, averting your eye from the blackened ruin of the man's face as you do so. Murmuring your thanks, and a short blessing, you rise and move ahead. Keep moving forwards, that's all you can do now.

Following the signs of past battles, you enter the palace and find yourself at a junction. Although splatted with blood and soot, you manage to find a gilded map of the palace engraved upon a pillar. You might know the layout, but with gunfire raging from all quarters, where are you supposed to start?

>The gardens. That's where you last saw Sho and Miura
>The treasury. The cult might be after something
>The private quarters. A good place to retreat to

>The private quarters. A good place to retreat to

>The private quarters. A good place to retreat to
Trusting the competency of Ishida and Sho's guards I assume they wouldn't be at the lightly defensible gardens anymore.