Kapella seemed to have a very good idea of what's going on with this whole Mistress thing. I have her necklace, now I have to get a ring or something from Klara too. I last saw her in the town hall, maybe she's still there?
I'm running out of food. All I have is a big pile of nuts. I saved them to trade with the children of the town, but there are hardly any out on the streets. Hopefully they are safe inside the Tower or with their families. Let's see what the food store has for sale.
Hmm, only a single piece of meat left in the whole store. It will have to do for dinner today.
It's a cruel twist that I saved up so much money for when things got really bad, and now I can't really find anything to buy with it.
:
Daniel, look into my eyes. You have to believe me! Aglaja is a traitor.
She has turned into your worst enemy and stands in the way of victory.Bachelor: You're lying! Aglaja is one of my allies and a close friend. She has helped me expose the deceit of the Authorities. She's helped me with so many things.
Klara: She has been telling you lies. She doesn't even want this find the source of this plague and defeat the illness at all. She no longer count on winning. Her mission as an Inquisitor is just a show for fools!
Bachelor: Why would she do that? She's in it just as deep as everyone else in this town. What is she after, then?
Klara: Only one thing. She wants to destroy the children's Tower. Before she dies. She has chosen you to be her tool, her battering ram to break down the gates of the Tower.
Bachelor: What do you mean, before she dies?
Klara: She is already doomed. She was sent here as a last chance to redeem herself, and was ordered to find a way to rescue the infected. But that purpose has already been fulfilled by Artemiy Burakh. The Authorities did not consider her mission a success, and as soon as she returns to the capital she will be executed.
Bachelor: The why would she care about the Tower? I don't see how all this connects.
Klara: Hatred. She sees it as a symbol, a gift from Nina Kain. In it she sees the pride and arrogance of Nina, that provoked the wrath of heaven. Aglaja believes that her only duty now is to destroy this monument of challenge.
Bachelor: Why go so far just for a personal vendetta? Why against Nina of all people? She's dead, right?
Klara: Nina is her sister. Before she married Victor, she was called Nina Lilich. Death did not change that.
Bachelor: This is their idea of family?
Klara: She desperately and terribly hate her sister, even more than her most terrible enemies. I have glanced into her soul and what I saw was awful! She just sees a messenger of death. Her hatred made her use you.
Bachelor: How?
Klara: An Inquisitor that has fallen out of favor has no power over the army. When they arrived everything became troublesome for her. Since the army doesn't trust her, she needed someone else, someone that could convince them to act. But we can use this against her. You, with your pure heart, will present a false report and point their guns in the wrong direction.
Bachelor: This is hard to accept. I need something more reliable than your words.
Klara: If tomorrow, all the Adherents are still alive and safe, then we will bring you all the proof you can ask for. You have to understand, Bachelor. It is not necessary to ruin this town. The town is alive, but you and Burakh wants to cut off either the head or the body, and then it cannot survive.
Bachelor: Then what about you?
Klara: I shall leave everything. It is a tragic unity, but a unity it is. Both of you want to bring big changes, but they will all bring defeat in the end.
Bachelor: Just leave everything as it is? That's not possible, and you know it. The town is almost wiped out already.
Klara: A miracle is needed. You cannot make one, but you can help me do it. You just need to trust me, and that will be enough.
Bachelor: You give me much to think about, Klara. But I have a question for you in return. I came here on behalf of Maria.
Klara: What does your precious Maria want with me? I used to be afraid of her, but things has changed lately. I have more power than before. Anyway, I am not a Mistress. She is mistaken there.
Bachelor: Really?
Klara: Don't you think I know that best myself?
Bachelor: Then where does your so called powers come from?
Klara: My powers are not from this world. They don't come from the town and they are not bound by it. Don't you understand?
Bachelor: No, I don't!
Klara: Ah, why even bother talking about this. Just tell me what she want from me?
Bachelor: A simple formality. She wants you to recognize her. Kapella knew right away what that meant, I guess you should too.
Klara: Simple? Don't you understand what kind of hell that will break loose because of this? Maria will become a new sorceress queen and reshape the town into an Utopia. But she does not understand what she is about to do. It's a violation of everything that connects man to the glory of the heavens.
Bachelor: Why do you get so worked up about this? It's just a ring.
Klara: Then take it! Let this ring remind her of what's at stake.
Now I have both of the symbols. I need to find Maria. She wasn't at her home earlier, but maybe the group of people that were outside it has found her by now.
Lots more kids out on the streets now. They seem exited about something. I wonder what?
Oh. Another sick Adherent. The Executors seems very competent at keeping them alive, but I have no time to waste. I need to find Maria quickly.
Woman: Oh, what could have happened?
Bachelor: I need to find Maria. I have brought these gifts for her.
Woman: It is strange that she entrusted this to you. She was supposed to receive them straight from the hands of the other Mistresses.
Bachelor: Give them to her. The sooner this is done, the better.
Woman: No, I can't do that. We shouldn't touch them. Madam would be very angry at us. If you do not find her anywhere, you better leave them in the tomb of Scarlet Nina. For the sake of the house of Kain, don't let anybody touch them.
Bachelor: You think so? Well, stay on the lookout for her.
This must be the private memorial for the Kain family. Certainly a big step up from the graveyard for all the common people.
This is the only actual building here, so it must be the grave of Nina. I'll just leave the signs inside.
: Hahaha, I'm not your Maria anymore. Nothing of me is here. If you try to touch my flesh, you'll grasp only the empty air.Bachelor: I have brought the signs of recognition from Klara and Kapella.
Maria?: Let it be so. If tomorrow everyone needed for my plans are still alive, we shall deny these harsh laws of life, and then the dream will triumph! A new Utopia will rise.
Bachelor: What do you mean by Utopia?
Maria?: It's not just the Tower, dear Daniel. The whole town! My Utopia isn't just a way of laws, social tradition and politics, oh no. We will rise above the very limits of our earthly existence. That which you clever academics deny will appear right before our very eyes.
Bachelor: Who is speaking from your mouth, Maria? This is not your language.
Maria?: That is right. At least you listen closely. My Utopia is already here, but it is not easy to see. It is revealed only by delicate hints. This world rejects it, enslaved under the truth. It would rather die and take us with it.
Bachelor: So this is why the pestilence really began?
Maria?: Most likely. But even in the most well balanced of machines can a failure happen. Two completely different worlds are colliding, and it is only natural that what you would call antibodies appear, and fight. But this is not a battle to be won. In the end, they will merge into a marvelous symbiosis. And then my Utopia is achieved, an earthly embodiment of the heavenly miracles.
Bachelor: So the Tower is what your Utopia would look like? This whole town?
Maria?: Yes, we built it up slowly but surely. What were you expecting, roads made of ruby and houses of crystals, like in the children's fairy tales? But this is a home for living people, of flesh and blood.
Bachelor: Is this really an Utopia? Dirt and dullness all over, worn brick walls and rusty metal?
Maria?: But this is how it looks. That is why it is an Utopia, instead of a dream. It needs the dirty. My town accepts everything that crawls on the earth, even the most unattractive kind. That is why both the marvelous Tower and the bloody Abattoir exists here.
Bachelor: So...
Maria?: We need unity between the world of people with the world of beasts and spirits. Our animal nature lays as the basis of our civilization. Dirt, blood, manure, bones and meat, all tools from which human civilization grows. And with it, our powers as creators!
Bachelor: Where is the miracle in all this?
Maria?: Surely, we can't just stay as crude animals. In the clashes between man and beast, miraculous changes turned us from devourers to creators. This town around us is a miracle in itself, an example of our strong wills. We thought we had reached it's peak when we built the Cathedral, but it was not enough.
Bachelor: And so you built the Tower next.
Maria?: Yes. The Tower on the river bank finally showed us the next step, the merging of the worlds. The worlds of the possible and the impossible, and we living in it.
Bachelor: If all this was so ideal, why did the Sand Plague begin?
Maria?: That was not our fault, Daniel. The town has not sustained the tension, not endured the heat of changes. The earth screams under the weight of the Tower. But this is not the end. After we tear it all down, we will begin again, and build something that lasts. Now, there is no death to be afraid of. You see, I am dead, but I am still here. This earthly plague can no longer harm me. And eventually, others will join me.
Bachelor: Yes, now I understand what you are.
Summary: If what we've been told is true (and we can't really trust that) the Inquisitor wants the Tower destroyed. It's due to personal reasons, but everything we've learned so far indicates that the Tower actually IS a big part of why the Sand Plague started and why the town is so screwed up. Maybe it's best to evacuate all the children and just blow it up with the artillery cannons and pull out that big metal spike?
Klara seems to think it will ruin the town's spirit or something silly like that. She claims she can use some sort of magic to fix everything but that's REALLY far fetched. She hasn't really done much useful stuff for these past dozen days but she sure talks like she knows that's going on.
Burakh is off somewhere hidden, but Klara hinted that he has his own plans on how to fix the town up. It seems to involve sacrificing something else, but will that actually work or will it just cause more problems?
Maria, or what is left of her, wants to merge the heavens and earth together and lead humanity from it's animal roots. She says the Kain family has been trying to do this for some time now, and the whole town is a series of more and more complicated attempts. The last one was the Tower, which almost got it right. But the earth rejects it's strange and impossible shape and the plague might have been an attempt to wipe the Kain family and all the rest of the people of this town away.
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