1 Joint Rescue
The Escaped Vessel
"Today we will force away the evil that has scarred the beauty of nature around our brilliant city. The ones that have kidnapped many travelers indiscriminately. The cult of the eldritch god will not be allowed to live any longer. Even repentance is too little. We stand to bring justice to the murderers of an entire village!"
The speech had begun as a tall and elegant figure had raised her sword before the many light paladins. The believers in the holy goddess of light. The ornately carved armor glittered in white metal. It stood for the goddess she pledged her blade to. That they all pledged their service to.
As she spoke, they banged their shields in agreement. In unity.
This was their justice. They would right the wrongs of these villains. That was their just cause.
They stood outside a large mountain. Multiple dead cultists were already strewn about. Various marks of magical skills scarring the landscape. Many poorly carved runes and ritualistic symbols as well.
These scars and symbols made every single eye that fell on them tremble. This was not the peace nor the flow of nature at work. This was a war against those who lived and breathed evil. Who would not stop because they were told or asked.
This mountain path had been taken over by the cult months ago as they worked their twisted worship. Yet, the city guards had managed to track the kidnappings of various races to this place. Many merchants had even reported thieves kidnapping children or monster parts from them. All coming together with one definitive end.
The adventurers guild and the church of light banned together.
When it was realized that this was a cult, naturally, those who believed in the purity and cleansing of light would stand up. That they would prepare to bring true justice and purify the evil that murdered innocents in cruel ways to their god.
When the charge in to the cave dug out by the cultists began, battle erupted everywhere.
Many began fighting in rooms, cavernous hallways, and even at the largest chamber where the rituals had been going on this entire time.
The main chamber held many depictions of unknown creatures. Unknown scenes that could have come from both dreams and nightmares alike. It was something that would make anyone uncomfortable while burning the images within their minds. The unknown was terror. It was untouchable.
"The eldritch lord shall breathe in the mana of the world. The lord shall bury the false gods in the tombs of their own followers. Souls shall burn as our lord walks through the plains of mere mortals! Accept this vessel and become one!"
"Drop that dagger and step away from that innocent boy!" The shout paired with a Devastating sword strike full of light elemental mana. It blinded the cultist leader, causing him to drop the dagger on the floor.
The long slab of stone that he had just been about to use in his ritual cracked slightly. Everything had been made with this as the center of everything. The center of his ritual.
Rune circles faded and burned away. "You garbage light paladin! How dare you interrupt the awakening of our lord! I will slaughter-"
The cultist leader fell down, a large one handed sword piercing his heart. There was no mercy for one of the people who had killed ninety nine beings from various races. However, even though mercy could not be given. Multiple priests acted and healed. The light cleansing the body and causing the heart to heal. To become a prisoner to them.
Many things needed to be asked. Many answers were needed for those who had lost loved ones.
"Clean up the remainder of this room. Purify it with light! Find the bodies and return them to their homes and families. Healers, to me, this boy needs our help!" The young paladin's orders carried a weight beyond what any of the healers could handle. They could only understand the dire need of their orders.
Five healers rushed forward to meet the light paladin. Multiple healing skills began to close up the criss crossed scars all over the boy's body. His face softened. Muscles and clean cut features repaired themselves to show him as he should be. But scars were left behind. Evidence of the torture.
"They tortured all of them. Leader, they turned them all in to pieces…" The reports coming to the female paladin were crushing. It was ridiculous and gruesome to know the level of horrible actions that had occurred here. "They did it all while they were alive, but their bodies..."
Many of the healers and warriors of light appeared crushed by this. Their hearts aching knowing the pain that all of these people had been through.
To see the remains of many races and monsters torn apart. Left here and there like discarded toys that a child could no longer love. It weighed on each of them.
However, this reinforced their values. Their reasons for bursting in here and ceasing the evil ritual being done. They had stopped this fate from befalling any others. From more dark futures filled with only pain that might not end.
But they had made it in time. They had broken the ritual happening. They had saved the hundredth victim. Or at least, that's what they thought.
It took hours for the church of light members to coordinate the removal of bodies. To send the living cultists to prison. To gather the few living victims who had been kidnapped and travel back to the city of light. The largest city in the Celestial Kingdom.
Countless adventurers had patrolled the area to ensure that no cultists escaped to begin this again. Or to communicate with other groups of cultists that their ritual had failed. Various priests and nuns went around purifying the area from the evil deeds that had happened.
Meanwhile, the rescued victim had been taken to the city of Light. He was brought directly to the best whalers and eventually to the adventurer's guild.
With the success of their battle, not a single one of the adventurers nor the forces of the church of light cheered. They could not do so. What they had found was too gruesome. The monsters that were the cultists had created scenes that even the cruelest gods would shake their heads at. Now, they could only hope that the one single survivor of all this was able to live, maybe even smile one day.
