My Evil System

[Lancelot]

I took a quick look over my shoulder and found Soarsie talking to herself. Based on the blank look on her face, she didn\'t notice me peeking at her.

I heard her say \'NOT, yet\' mouth twisting in a grimace. I didn\'t know what her deal was, but I sensed that it wasn\'t good. Something was off about her that I couldn\'t quite put a finger as to what.

To begin with, her magic was already off, and her attitude of not helping and just hiding in her shadows made me feel irked. I got to admit.

But as she said, she didn\'t get anything from not helping, so it wasn\'t like it was a big deal. Still, her help would be much appreciated if we wanted to get out of this in one piece.

We\'ve already lost Gorio, which I kind of already expected. Poor guy. Moving on. I had decided that Soarsie wouldn\'t help in this quest, and she would likely flee if worse came to worst.

Not that I would condemn her about it. I would ditch, too, as soon as I felt the situation was out of my control.

Back to Soarsie . . . I sometimes saw dark fog around her, like a malevolent spirit, but when I blinked, it was gone. I noticed it even before our time in the Academy. And every time I saw it, it gave me the chills, my stomach churned hard like it was made of stone, and all the fine hairs in my body stood on edge.

Amongst the players here, she was the most I was wary about. Not even Rodrick, who had a shiny Platinum badge on his metal plates, could make me alert as I was with her.

And as I got the chance to be with her on this mission, I found that my initial interest in her faded into oblivion, scorched by the danger that surrounded her being.

At this point, it was better to stay clear away from her if I wanted my neck over my shoulder.

As we approached Silvestre Sanctuary, a prompt made us stop.

[The convent\'s nuns, who\'ve been turned to fiendish dark stalkers, are draining the blood of the human farmer Martus and preparing a ritual to turn his wife Emira and the half-elf Arienne into members of their demonic sisterhood!]

The Dark Convent was built from white stones, and the door into the convent was locked, requiring thieves\' tools to open.

But since Gorio was gone, it was left to Rodrick to break the door open, which alerted the dark stalkers in the dining hall and the courtyard based on the sanctuary map that was made open to us as we entered.

"Go and get them noobs." Edgar smiled to the side like he saw everything as a joke.

As usual, we made quick work of the small fries in the convent while Rodrick\'s group stayed at the back, watching, hooting, and laughing. 

After the fight, Rodrick and the others walked passed us, talking to themselves like we were invisible. They then checked the rooms and stole every treasure leaving none for us to plunder while we did all the work.

"Pricks . . ."

I heard Mikaela muttered, and Felix released a massive sigh and curses.

"Why are we paired with this group? Damn it."

I didn\'t comment and proceeded to check the place. No use in wasting words on someone whose ears were closed.

Looking over, the once-beautiful tapestries lining the walls of this antechamber were torn and spattered with blood. Two half-rotted corpses, both male, were nailed to the walls. The corpses belong to two bandits who planned to rob the helpless convent but were killed by the dark stalkers before they could flee.

That information was according to the prompt notification when I inspected the corpses.

Heavy wooden doors inside the convent were unlocked except where otherwise noted. Continual flame spells filled the inside of the convent with dim light.

There was a Dormitory on one side of the entrance hall and a dining hall on the opposite side. Six beds lined the walls of this Dormitory, each with a sturdy chest at its foot. Of course, Rodrick and his gang had already opened it. So there was no use in inspecting those.

A large wardrobe stood in the corner. This Dormitory was where the convent\'s nuns slept, at least when they were still human. I supposed. The wardrobe contained eight nun habits and a mirror. Otherwise, there was nothing here of worth.

In the Dining Hall, a human man lies bound to the large table in the center of this room, his blood seeping into a large bucket in steady drips. This room used to be the convent\'s dining hall.

Two dark stalkers were torturing a human man and draining his blood. They attacked as soon as they sighted us, fighting to their death when Rodrick\'s group personally cut them down.

The chained man was the farmer Martus. He had lost too much blood to move, but he was still alive.

"P-please . . . , save my wife Emira," he begged.

"Deal with him," Rodrick said to Maverick, and the rest of them searched the area.

They were more concerned with the treasures than with helping the dying NPC. The only reason why Rodrick asked Maverick to help that NPC was because of the quest and probably a reward if there ever was.

Maverick was kind enough to unchain him and threw a health potion in Martus\'s way, at least. Still, he was too weak to move.

Martus recounted the same story as Erthan and explained that the three of them were dragged to this place from the goblin\'s camp. He saw the two women being taken through the convent\'s courtyard and to the chapel before he was tied up and tortured there.

"Not even a reward? At least that guy back in the goblin\'s camp offered something." Edgar spat when Martus didn\'t offer anything.

Martus was ashamed and lowered his head. "I-I\'m sorry . . . all my stuff was back in the carriage. I don\'t have anything valuable with me at the moment."

"Let\'s go," said Rodrick after he got all the treasures, not even giving Martus the barest glance.