Chapter narrated by ■
18/14/95
We were all seated at a round table. The purpose was to put everyone on the same level.
Nobody here saw anyone else as their equal.
We were all waiting for ◨ to come back. She tends to get distracted easily, so it wasn't surprising that she was taking longer than expected.
▣ had his usual calm expression. He was patient—waiting a little longer was no problem for him.
▩, on the other hand, was far less patient. She had her face resting on the table, letting out sighs from time to time to make sure we all knew how bored she was.
▤ was busy calculating how much profit he would make from the operation two days ago, too lost in numbers to care about ◨.
The door opened, and ◨ entered the room with a paper in her hand.
"I've got it right here. I also got the report from our little 'interns' in the Church," ◨ said.
She took a seat and looked at all of us. When her eyes landed on ▣, he spoke.
"Read it aloud," ▣ said.
"Why do I have to? You all already made me go all the way to the center. Do you know how much of a pain that was?" she replied.
She looked toward me.
"Could you read it for me, dear?" I asked.
◨ let out a sigh.
"Alright, alright. Everyone pay attention—I won't repeat myself." She adjusted the paper and began reading aloud.
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CHURCH OF REVAL — PUBLIC INVESTIGATION REPORT
Southern District Incident — Vareth
Date of Incident: 15/14/95
Report Filed: 18/14/95
Authorized by: Lucious Valemont, Cardinal of Vareth
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She stopped reading and glanced at ▤.
"Wouldn't you look at that, ▤."
He looked up from his notebook for the first time and stared at her.
"Shut it and keep reading," he said.
"Alright, alright… where was I…"
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Distribution: Open public record. Copies available at all Church of Reval district branches, the Guild of Vareth administration office, and the Office of Regional Governance.
Brief of the situation:
The incident in the Southern District has been classified as a large-scale coordinated massacre.
Over the span of approximately one week prior to the event, an unidentified group systematically eliminated the entire stationed force of the Church of Reval in the Southern District.
The bodies of these soldiers were later recovered within a storage facility in the warehouse quarter.
During this period, no distress signals were received from Southern District personnel, and no anomalies were flagged in routine communication.
The elimination was conducted incrementally, leaving no survivors capable of raising an alarm.
The assailants remained entirely undetected throughout this preparatory period.
On the day of the incident, they initiated a coordinated attack involving multiple simultaneous fires across the district, forcing the emergency mobilization of Church forces from the Middle District, who were subsequently ambushed upon arrival.
The situation was contained only after the direct intervention of the Oracle of Reval. No assailants escaped.
All thirty-four confirmed hostile individuals present at the scene were neutralized.
Four adventurers were present in the district at the time of the incident. They are the only surviving victims.
Casualties
Total confirmed deceased: 268 individuals.
Church of Reval — Middle District: 34 soldiers killed during the engagement on the evening of 15/14/95.
Church of Reval — Southern District: 209 soldiers. Bodies recovered post-incident from the warehouse quarter storage facility.
Manner of death consistent with coordinated execution carried out over an extended period prior to the public incident.
Precise dates of individual deaths have not been established.
Recovery operation concluded 17/14/95.
High-ranking officer fatalities:
1 Father, Middle District, killed during the response engagement.
4 Fathers, Southern District, bodies recovered from the warehouse facility alongside their assigned soldiers.
Civilian casualties: remaining confirmed deaths comprising residents of the Southern District and individuals present in the area at the time of the incident.
This number includes one gnome male found at the initial engagement site. His identity has been confirmed through guild records. His family has been notified.
The Southern District branch of the Church of Reval has been completely annihilated. No personnel assigned to the district survived.
The Church is currently mobilizing forces to reestablish security in the Southern District.
Timeline of events
(The following timeline has been reconstructed from the testimony of surviving adventurers and residents.)
8/14/95
Estimated beginning of the systematic elimination of Southern District Church personnel. Exact date unknown.
Residents were threatened. Any individual who attempted to speak was eliminated immediately.
15/14/95, early evening
Two registered adventurers enter the Southern District under a guild-issued investigative contract.
They note the complete absence of Church personnel and civilian behavior consistent with intimidation. Both are ambushed. One sustains a critical stab wound to the lower abdomen.
15/14/95, approximately 16:47
The adventurers initiate a controlled fire signal from a rooftop. A Middle District response is authorized at 16:52.
15/14/95, 16:53 onward
The Middle District unit enters the Southern District and is immediately engaged by a larger prepared force.
Multiple additional fires are ignited across the district simultaneously.
The majority of responding soldiers are killed within the first minutes of engagement.
15/14/95, approximately 17:01
Two additional adventurers arrive on-site and choose to intervene.
15/14/95, 17:03
The group of adventurers retreats into a building and barricades the door. The last of the Middle District squad is killed.
15/14/95, 17:05
The Oracle arrives at the scene as the assailants breach the structure. He protects the adventurers and engages the attackers.
15/14/95, 17:05
All remaining hostile individuals are neutralized. Survivors are transported to Church medical facilities.
17/14/95
Recovery operation concluded.
18/14/95
This report is authorized for public distribution.
Description of Assailants
Thirty-four assailants were confirmed deceased. No individuals escaped.
General characteristics: dark cloaks, no identifying insignia, equipment without regional markings.
The majority operated while blindfolded. Combat capability was assessed by all surviving witnesses as significantly above standard regional threat levels.
Selected descriptions from confirmed deceased:
Male, beastman, grey fur, approximately 1.82 meters. Cause of death: multiple blunt force injuries.
Female, human, black hair, brown eyes, approximately 1.70 meters. Cause of death: severe burn trauma.
Male, orc, dark green skin, approximately 1.78 meters. Cause of death: bisection at the torso.
Female, elf, silver hair, pale complexion, approximately 1.65 meters. Cause of death: multiple stab wounds.
Male, human, shaved head, approximately 1.75 meters. Cause of death: cranial penetration (arrow).
Female, unidentified origin. White hair. Red eyes. Approximately 1.68 meters. Cause of death: internal trauma. Identified by survivors as the individual who initiated the engagement.
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"Wait, Maggie survived until the Oracle arrived? Hah… I didn't give her that much credit," ▩ said, tossing a gold coin toward ▤. "You won the bet, rascal."
▤ caught it without a word and returned to silence.
"You two made a bet on whether Margaret would survive?" ◨ said. "What is wrong with you?"
▤ glanced at her, as if searching for a polite answer, and said nothing.
▩ didn't bother with politeness.
"She was weak. You know that. The bet was whether she'd last until the Oracle showed up. I didn't think she would. He did."
"How can you say that? She was our—"
◨ was cut off as ▣ slammed his hand against the table.
"Enough. We are not here to argue like children," ▣ said, clearly tired.
"Relax, ◨. I don't see why you're so worked up over Maggie's death," ▩ said. "We all knew it was a suicide mission. The goal was to weaken Reval and draw out the Oracle."
"I know, but she went in thinking she would come back," ◨ replied. "You told them they didn't have to worry about the Oracle."
▩ leaned back in her chair.
"And now you're sounding like a weakling. Sorry if a little lie to motivate them bothers you, but they were necessary sacrifices."
◨'s face hardened as she looked at all of us.
▤ and ▣ both looked annoyed.
▤, most likely because the noise interrupted his thoughts.
▣, because he was as tired of the arguing as I was.
I gave ◨ a small smile.
"We should continue."
She took a breath and nodded.
"The rest of the report just lists the remaining bodies."
"Nothing linking this to our operation in the northern district?" ▤ asked.
"Nothing. The deaths of the Voss family were reported separately. Thanks to your idea of taking the relic, it was classified as a robbery gone wrong."
"What are the spies saying?" ▣ asked.
"That they're focused on damage control. Public perception has taken a major hit."
"Good," ▩ said with a grin. "Now the poor hate them, and the rich don't trust them. That's a success in my book."
"The absence of the Voss family leaves a gap in the market," ▣ said. "▤, that falls to you."
"Of course," ▤ replied, standing. "If there's nothing else, I'll begin preparations."
"You may go. This meeting is concluded. We will reconvene once preparations for Aetherbrook are complete," ▣ said as he stood and left the room.
▤ followed him out.
"I'm leaving too," ▩ said, stretching. "There's business to attend to in the Southern District. People in desperate situations tend to pay double."
She left without another word.
"As if she's going to do anything productive," ◨ muttered, standing. "She's probably going to see her wife."
She walked to the door, then paused and looked back at me.
"Bye-bye, mister ■."
Then she left, closing the door behind her.