>>5935897>“Stand down, Ingrid.” You lay a hand on her shoulder, allowing Luin to fall and point towards the ground rather than Kate. “I trust her. She chose not to kill me, even when the opportunity must have seemed enticing. No matter how she may feel, I still consider Kate a friend. And right now, we have more pressing matters to deal with. Please, go and alert the others. We need to hurry up and take the tower.”Though seemingly still conflicted, Ingrid nods and complies with your request. She rushes back across the bridge to rally the Blackwings. Meanwhile, you peer over the side and down below, into the canyon still filled with thousands of pilgrims who’d come here to see the second coming of the Goddess Sothis. By now, word had begun to spread amongst those gathered that their Patriarch and Oracle, Bennett, had fallen in battle. You’d hoped that if they’d learned of Bennett’s demise, that it would shatter their resolve. After all, the best thing that could happen for everyone would be if these gathered masses returned home. Instead, you find that things have not quite played out as you would have liked.
The assembled mass of pilgrims had fallen into despair. Thousands of men and women wailed deeply, their voices carrying far across Zanado. You could see people beating their chests in anguish, pulling at their hair, and falling to their knees in utter ruin. Though they’d been tricked into coming here by the work of Bennett and Anacharsis, they were still true believers. Bennett had promised them that the Goddess would be descending from heaven to save them soon. He’d stoked their hopes and wishes. And now that they’d seen him killed by you and the others, it was as if something had broken inside them. The pilgrims no longer seemed intent on fighting the Blackwings, but they certainly weren’t making to leave anywhere. You began to fear that you might have somehow made things worse.
“Blair!” Ashe calls out to you. He and the rest of the Blackwings join up with you. Ingrid leads Elizabeth and Kayla over towards where Anemone is sitting, and the two clerics begin fussing over her immediately, helping to restore her back to health. “Thank the Goddess you’re okay!” He embraces you tightly. Ashe looks shaken, almost in the exact same way he’d been after having been forced to kill Lonato. Being forced to contend with the corpse warriors, it was easy to understand why. You yourself felt as though you were barely holding it together. And all the despair echoing from down below was certainly not helping matters.
>“Ashe, what’s our status?”“Ahh, right.” Ashe takes a second to compose himself. “Those pilgrims have stopped trying to get in our way. They just sort of seem to have…given up. Why are the Hellwings here?”
