danko day 12 part 6 (??:??; the council)

: Enter, Bachelor. The Council waits for your decision. They have reached a stalemate, and there is no way for them to come to terms. It would be a shame if this day was lost due to their bitterness. You may be a lowly pawn in this game, but you have the chance to make a checkmate.

Bachelor: Why are you laughing there under your mask?

Executor: It is funny how everything will play out. The Inquisitor seems to believe she has used you. But don't worry, she herself has lost her gamble and now she is alone. Now you only have to do the inevitable. You cannot hide from this.











: And so it has come to this. I have been accused of lies and treason, and now no one trusts me. You should tell me where these accusations began. Why did you turn your back on me?
Bachelor: You cannot hide the truth any longer. You only have yourself to blame.
Aglaja: You speak to me about truth? Don't you see? That Tower is an affront to nature! This Utopia that they are planning, it must be destroyed before it can take root.
Bachelor: Why does this cause so much hate in you, Aglaja? Be honest with me now, because this may be our last chance to talk.
Aglaja: I only do what I must. I sentence a few to death to rescue so many others. Here and now I suggest buying the happiness of thousands, just for a small sacrifice. Because once this so called Utopia is constructed, it will demand much more than that.
Bachelor: But there is nothing evil about their plans. A fresh start without the conflicts and violence that engulfed this town. You are talking as if this is a horrible experiment and a fancy dream. But the Tower speaks for itself. It is real.
Aglaja: That is why we cannot allow this to go any further! This place is not a dream, it is reality, and an awful reality at that. The Tower should not be allowed to exist.
Bachelor: Allowed? Who are you to bring judgement on the whole world?
Aglaja: I only bring judgement upon human beings. This affront to reality is something that was created from human will. But it is not under our control. All the laws we know and live by are broken by it. You cannot live without order!
Bachelor: So the people of the town strives to gain happiness. And now they have a chance to reach it. Why would you deny them that?
Aglaja: What evidence do you have that this will be the path they walk? Happiness? You know nothing, if you think all the problems of human nature will just go away like that. All such dreams and fantasies have failed before, and this is no different. All the so called Utopias of the past have crumbled and there are none left. For but a few years, they may keep the facade up but the outcome is always the same.
Bachelor: And you think we should just surrender? You sound like a coward.
Aglaja: Then let us return to the town. Even in your oh so perfect town, with the miracle Tower, a plague killed countless. The intrigue and the talents of the powerful rulers were of no use. And why? I have the answer.
Bachelor: I am waiting for it.
Aglaja: This miracle, encased in the Polyhedron, requires the town to live. It feeds upon the strife and conflict of the town, and grows stronger with each drop of blood that falls upon the earth. But the town is also its prison, and when its food is finally gone it will starve. Then it will fall, never to be rebuilt.
Bachelor: You still speak fancy words.
Aglaja: Ah, but these miracles do not break because of evil intentions. It is in their true nature not to last. You cannot hold a miracle in your hands, but you can devour its corpse. This plague, it came as a blessing. The time was ripe for it to wash the town clean and deny the hungry Tower its food.
Bachelor: A blessing? You are crazy!
Aglaja: And why did you come to this town, at such an opportune time? By all means, you are the perfect hero. Or shall I say, miracle worker? You were needed to keep this miracle alive, by any means required. The Kain family certainly weren't able to do it. They are posessed by their dreams, and cannot see the nature of actual reality. That is their role in all this. But you, you want to become their slave? Try to do the impossible even if it will be the end of you? Maria will just use you again. It is a shame I didn't have a chance to kill her with my own hands.
Bachelor: Aglaja, you are possessed by your thirst of revenge. You were never interested in finding the truth.
Aglaja: Then tell the General, Daniel! There he stands and wait for your words. He is a puppet, just like you, even if you both deny it. Tell him where to point his guns. He will not listen to me, and I fear you will not listen to me either. But remember my warnings.
Bachelor: You are right. I will not listen to you. You have shown your true self. You will not be happy with my decision, because it will sign your death sentence. But you were doomed from the beginning, anyway.


Aglaja wants pretty much the same thing that Artemiy Burakh does, which is to destroy the Tower. However, while Burakh is motivated by a misguided belief, Aglaja would do it out of hate for her rejected family. It's a shame we spent so much time helping her, but her intentions were brought to light. We won't help her anymore.

I can't let my anger over the Inquisitors lies clouds my judgement now. Let me piece together everything I know. Where is that sketch I made a few days ago?



"Aglaja was correct in that the Polyhedron pierces the ground deep enough to allow the Sand Plague to seep upward. But the Polyhedron cannot be the source of the Plague, merely a way out. This means the Plague must have been hiding and growing down there for quite a long time. Right under the town. But it took this long for the Plague to reach the root of the Polyhedron.

So the main source must be somewhere in the east parts of town. But where, exactly? The Order violently refused to let me investigate that part of town. But if we wipe the whole town, we can be sure the source of the Sand Plague is gone and will never return.

Even if Maria's reasoning is strange at times, she certainly has a solution figured out. I wonder how she came to know all this? The new town will be built far away from the soon to be former sites of the factories, slaughterhouses, cemetaries and bull pens. Clean ground."




: I knew that you would come.
Bachelor: When will you put your plans in motion, Maria?
Maria: I have already begun, my dear Daniel. When the night falls and the wind scatters the smoke from the burning ground and the dust from the fallen buildings, you will see new constellations in the sky. They will carry their light to us and when the first ray of this light reaches the tip of the Polyhedron, a new miracle will happen.
Bachelor: Where did you get the inspiration to make a new star map? Every visible star has already been given countless names.
Maria: Wait and see. They will certainly stand out, with their tones of red. Ruby, scarlet, crimson, garnet, blood. Perhaps even you will find some familiar structures in these new constellations. But the stars have existed for a long time alraedy. Most people did not see them before, because their light was coming to us from far off, other-worldy voids. Now the first beams from these stars will reach the mirrors of the Polyhedron.
Bachelor: What about your family, Maria?
Maria: This is the destiny of my family. To perish, burn down and be mixed up with the world. So it was with my mother and so it was with Simon. George will be lost tomorrow, and my father will die away in a week. And after my town has been constructed I shall leave too.
Bachelor: What will happen to all the children? There are a lot of them hiding in the Tower.
Maria: I am sure Khan will bitterly fight me to the very end, but we need to free that space for the new guests. But I will have mercy on my brother. He will hide from the piercing stare of the Scarlet Mistress behind Kapella. That will be a fitting new home for him, I think. There will be plenty of homes for all the children. But all this will happen after you have left, so you do not have to worry about it. Unless you want to stay?
Bachelor: No. At dawn I shall leave this town with the army. I have seen enough of it for a lifetime.


Artemiy Burakh: Look at them arguing! Don't you see she is the victim in this? Do not demonize her because of your own anger. She did her duty, just like you and I.
Bachelor: Do you really have something to say about her so called duties? Why do you protect her?
Artemiy: How she managed to deceive you, I don't know. Did she really lie to you, or hide any part of the truth? It seems to me that everything you have learned you have found out without her help. All the conclusions you made were your own.
Bachelor: She abandoned her duty long ago. This was her personal mission. To seek revenge on her dead sister's family, hiding behind her empty promises to save the town. At any cost, she said.
Artemiy: You are getting caught up on the details. Their family affairs should not be so important to you.
Bachelor: Those are signs that she never really cared about the town at all. When she arrived, she proclaimed herself capable of resolving all the misfortune with the power of her intellect, but in the end it was her rage that drove her.
Artemiy: Yes... You are simply personally offended by her, doctor. You feel that she has betrayed you. But remember that you were the one to trust her. You had impossible hopes for her, like a divine saviour.. When she didn't live up to your ideals, you were quick to hate and slander.
Bachelor: She knew. That is the difference. She knew this all along and played on my hopes.
Artemiy: That does not excuse your actions. You are guilty. If you want to destroy the town and keep the Tower standing just to vex her and to push her to her own destruction... This is unworthy of you, doctor. You will turn into that which you say you hate.
Bachelor: I will not let my anger cloud my judgement. You said it yourself. I have spent a lot of time looking for the answer on my own. 
 

 Klara: Well? Will you make up your mind soon?
Bachelor: I just would like to hear a bit more about how you would save the town.
Klara: No, Daniel. You will never understand it. You are very clever, but your intelligence holds you down. You will never understand my truth. Even though you have learned much since you come to this town, seeking the superhuman abilites of Simon, you have not learned enough to understand the true essence of things. Only I do.
Bachelor: I've worked really hard to learn everything I know, and it has proven very useful these last weeks. Why do you discard that knowledge so easily?
Klara: Your victory is one of pure reason. Look, you have found the cause of the plague and found a way to defeat it, but you have only restored this town in the most strict sense. You are more like a mechanic, tinkering with this town like it was a cold machine. Me and Burakh, we are different. We go much deeper, believe me. You want to keep only that which is directly useful to you, and discard everything else.
Bachelor: If this was true, I would not have brought you to the Cathedral tonight, Klara.
Klara: Yet there Maria stands, and she looks at you with hope. In her eyes the fires of the Scarlet Mistress are already burning. What is it that she is waiting for? Does she not know your mind already? Go and tell the General your decision. There is no point in delaying any further.



General Block: Daniel, your actions over the last few days have earned you my trust. I have recieved the order to raze everything to the ground if not a better solution can be found. I hope this will not be necessary. I am taking a big risk, but I think it is worth it. Where shall I target the artillery?
Bachelor: Let the Town be destroyed. Raze every building on the east side of the riverbank so that we can be totally sure that the source of the Sand Plague is completely destroyed. But do not touch the Polyhedron. Those who survived the plague will take shelter there until we can vaccinate them. This epidemic will finally come to an end, and after that a new town will be constructed on the west side of the river.
Block: So the town itself is doomed?
Bachelor: Yes. It is far too late to save it now. For years the soil underneath it has been impregnated with this poison. We are lucky that the dense layers of the earth here did not allow it to spread further. Plough every inch of the ground with shells, split every brick in half and make sure that no one will ever settle on this side of the river again.
Block: I understand. And you are sure that the Polyhedron will still stand after the bombardment of the buildings nearby?
Bachelor: Yes. The Tower will stand. I have studied its structure and I am sure it is very seismic resistant. It's like a weight on a steel spring. If no shell hits it directly, it will stay upright.
Block: I can assure you, no shell will stray from its target
Bachelor: Then give the order to being the bombardment.
Block: And the means to produce more of the vaccine is at hands? Burakh refuses to explain where he found the vital ingredients for it.
Bachelor: Yes. We have enough samples of the plague and materials here to make enough for all survivors. I also have all my gathered evidence and information about the Sand Plague here with me.
Block: And you have nothing more to tell me?
Bachelor: This is it. The decision is made.