A Jaded Life Chapter 1302

When I returned to Maggie’s town in the late afternoon, I couldn’t help but feel a little more confident about the situation. Luna, whom I had asked first about her willingness to help, had been quite interested. I had a feeling she was planning to quietly talk to the villagers about Lady Hecate and encourage them to believe in her, turning the situation to her advantage. It would be difficult to sell the people of the Blessed City on a new deity, but if they saw Luna be present and actively helping, she might have a chance.

There would undoubtedly be so trauma regarding the Mind Control they had all suffered under and the things they had either passively allowed to happen or even actively participated in, which would have to be worked through. I would have to keep my Mind Magic abilities sowhat quiet, as I wouldn’t want soone with that sort of ability within a mile of after such an experience. It would be a challenge to help them, but maybe it would allow to learn even more about the sapient Mind, how it dealt with trauma and how I could shape it.

Regardless, Luna was completely on board, already planning to move to Maggie’s town for a few days, maybe a week or two, making sure that the people there had all the resources they needed to help the forr residents of the Blessed City.

It was incredibly adorable how invested she beca right away when I told her about the project. She began making lists of available resources, planning how to use our ti and energy to the greatest effect, even wondering about the available space in Maggie’s town, trying to ensure that her efforts had the greatest possible impact. A part of wondered if that might be because she felt guilty over the harassnt Lia and I had subjected these people to, simply to break the Blessed City. It was possible, plausible even, though I knew Luna wouldn’t make the mistake of telling them about our efforts.

Lia, on the other hand, was a lot less enthusiastic. She had basically no interest in helping these people; the plans she started making focused on keeping an eye on those who weren't interested in joining Maggie’s town. While she hadn’t outright said so, I had a strong feeling that the people heading elsewhere would et with terrible accidents if they didn’t give up their faith.

It wasn’t nice, but, quite frankly, it was understandable. People who were willing to keep worshipping Sunna after experiencing just how far the deity was willing to go in order to enforce compliance with her creed and order weren’t sothing we could ever work with. It was an incredibly dangerous ideology, and we wouldn't want to see it spreading. If that ant a few people had tragic accidents and ca down with a sudden case of death, well, so be it.

And there would be so of those. Under the light of day, my scrying constructs had allowed to get a much better idea of the damage their city had taken.

Quite frankly, looking at the situation from above, I was fairly certain that the wards had done more than brainwash the people and protect the city. A few of the buildings had co crashing down without any obvious reason why. Maybe soone had decided to go around breaking buildings, it wouldn’t be too hard to break a building if the person had sufficient Strength or the right, or wrong, skills. Just considering it made wonder how stupid people could be, but given that I had seen a few dead bodies in the snow, my estimation of their intelligence wasn’t high. After all, just how foolish did one have to be to go fornicating in the snow and stay in the snow, still joined to one another? Only to freeze to death in that position, a fate I didn’t even want to consider. It was, quite frankly, insane, making wonder if Lia’s little concoction had been even worse than I thought, making people completely and utterly stupid. Though she had said it should be roughly as bad as soone who was completely and utterly drunk, so who knew? Maybe people were really that stupid. I didn’t want to contemplate it further.

Instead, I focused on the people milling around in the ruins, noticing the obvious groups that had ford. One was centred around the shed I had spotted Lorgar in, with his buddies providing so muscle and order, though Lorgar himself wasn’t visible. Maybe still out of it, I had no idea, but I had a feeling that these people were the ones I had to worry about. The fanatics, who weren’t swayed from their belief in Sunna, even after the mind control broke. Even though they should be fully aware of the horror they had witnessed, they still stayed.

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The other group was much larger and less organised than the group around that shed. They seed to be clinging to one another, seeking assurance, shelter and so form of comfort after the ho they thought they had suddenly crumbled around them, literally in so cases. They were obviously seeking so form of leadership, aning it would be highly advantageous to strike while the iron was hot and the people were cold.

I briefly considered stepping through the shadows and making contact directly, but decided against it. No need to give the people who still believe in Sunna a target for their ire, because they would use it. They might try pinning their troubles on , simply because I was present and Lorgar’s buddies knew about and hated , making an acceptable target. That they would be correct didn’t matter in the grand sche of things, just that they would happily use to provide purpose and unity for their group.

So, instead of stepping through the shadows to Maggie, planning to take her along and let her make contact while I remained in the background.

“Good afternoon,” I greeted Maggie, who looked a lot better than earlier.

“Hey,” she returned the greeting, not even jumping a little. She had clearly been waiting for and ready for my sudden appearance. Maybe I should find a new way to spook her, just to keep things interesting.

“As promised, I talked with Luna and considered the issue,” I began after a brief glimpse around, “We would both be willing to assist for a limited ti. Our current plan is to provide assistance until a month after spring rolls around. By that point, our assistance shouldn’t be necessary any longer, as you should have the ans to sustain your community, even with the additional mouths to feed. After all, you’ll also have additional hands that’ll help.”

For a mont, Maggie simply stared at , her eyes obviously asuring and weighing my words.

“That sounds acceptable,” she nodded after another mont passed, “I’ve also talked with the other village leaders. They are willing to extend a helping hand, especially if you give a promise to assist us. I’m assuming you already have an idea how to proceed?”

“I do,” I nodded, “The biggest issue is that the people there are leaderless. From what I’ve seen, they have no real idea how to proceed; their minds seem to be a ss. Maybe due to the party, maybe because the brainwashing I told you about broke, I’m uncertain. Whatever the case may be, they could easily fall prey to malicious actors, and then you suddenly have a massive group of people willing to do anything to remain part of the group. It is possible that they could beco a threat, or at least force you into fighting them, if they don’t get the appropriate leadership,” I explained, voicing so of my fears.

“Doesn’t sound good. Nobody wants to lose even more people than we already lost. Who knows how many people are still out there?” She shuddered for a mont, the sheer numbers far too big to visualise. How did that quote go, sothing about a hundred dead being a tragedy, a million dead being a statistic? The change and the ss that had happened ever since were beyond that.

“Agreed,” I nodded, “Given that I’ve got so negative history with Lorgar and his friends, could you make the initial contact? Maybe with a few companions, to provide a bit of organisation and order?”

Again, she studied for a mont before nodding in acceptance. “We can do that. But I believe you ntioned ti is of the essence, and given how you’ve been coming and going, you can move a lot faster than we can. Are you able to transport a few of my people there, or is that sothing that only works for yourself?”

“It works for others, but it can be uncomfortable,” I admitted, “You should be alright, and people above level fifty shouldn’t be hard. I’m uncertain about the exact limitations; I only tried it on my family, obviously.”

“I’ll take the chance. You said these people need leadership. I’d like you to get there after I tell a few others to organise here. They can either ask you to pick them up or walk there. It’ll be your choice and theirs,” she decided, already rising to organise her people.

It made wonder just how badly she wanted to absorb these people; maybe her community needed additional labour. Regardless, this was a good outco for everyone involved. Maybe even the best possible outco of this situation.