3-12: Into the Holy Land

Having taken out the cannibals at the Suspicious Lab and ended their (admittedly flimsy) attempts to lure travellers to their doom, the gang takes a moment to pick over the fallen cannibals before they leave. Amidst the blood and wreckage, they notice that one of the cannibals is actually a cannibal chief with a c.10,000 bounty on his head! Cannibal chiefs look completely identical to other cannibals so they can be a bit hard to pick out of a crowd, which is why the gang didn't notice him until now. Thankfully he's still alive. Cat and Outlaw Hana patch him up before he bleeds out.

A cannibal chief laying on the floor unconscious, back arched and knees bent. He has a bleeding head wound that's getting worse but it's not because there's a medkit clipping through his head. That is just a coincidence. A couple other cannibals, both scrawny and regular type, lay on the floor nearby. Shryke stands next to the fallen chief.

Cannibal chiefs can be turned in to the Holy Nation, United Cities, or Shek Kingdom, but the Cannibal Plains are really far away from the latter two factions. The Holy Nation is the only option that doesn't involve a long, long trek. The gang has been avoiding the place like the plague so far, choosing to run through places like the Fog Islands rather than risk running afoul of Holy Nation paladins' violent prejudices.

For safety's sake, it's best if the gang splits in two, only half their number venturing into the holy lands. Any skeleton or anyone with a skeleton limb should stay far away—Holy Nation scripture paints skeletons as the root of all evil so seeing one will make paladins fly into a self-righteous murderous rage. That counts Burn out, as well as Jam with their arm and Horse with his leg. Technically, Jam could just detach their arm and someone could carry Horse while he does the same with his leg, but:

Holy Nation doctrine also teaches that shek and hivers are degraded sub-humans who must be “rebirthed”: That is, sent to toil in the vast Holy Nation slave labour quarry, Rebirth, until they die and are supposedly then reborn as “pure” humans. With a bit of sleight of hand, it's possible for shek and hivers to travel through Holy Nation lands in the company of a human man pretending to be their master, but that tactic can be a bit unreliable. While it works on most people, there's always the risk of running into a particularly zealous paladin. As such, Ells, Silvershade, and Beep opt to stay away.

While nonhumans bear the brunt of the Holy Nation's hatred, the place is no picnic for human women either. Holy Nation orthodoxy teaches that women embody Narko, the demoness counterpart to their god Okran, and are thus temptresses naturally inclined to seduce righteous men away from the path of light. As such, they believe that men have a duty to strictly control the women around them and that women must be forced to submit to this control at all times. While human women can travel through the Holy Nation, they can't exactly do so freely. As such, Riddly opts out. She won't be contained.

On the “going to the Holy Nation” team, this leaves Cat, the gang's only human man, as well as Outlaw Hana, Keys, and Shryke, with Outlaw Hana carrying the cannibal chief whose bounty they want to turn in. They bring Pilaf with them for a bit of extra safety.

On the scraggly grassy hill outside Flotsam Village, Outlaw Hana, Keys, Cat, Shryke, and Pilaf run toward the camera. Jam, Riddly, Ells, Burn, Horse, Silvershade, and Beep stand a short ways behind them.

The non-human squad (plus Riddly) decides to spend the time exploring more of the Floodlands, including a ruin the gang couldn't safely enter the last time they were there. We'll come back to them in a bit.

The human squad travels south from Flotsam Village through the Hidden Forest, past the Floodlands, around the Okran's Arm mountain range, past the Deadhive Overrun, then turns east into the holy lands. This is a rocky, arid land known as Okran's Gulf. It's iron-rich and about as arable as arid land gets—a fine enough place if you can stand being within the Holy Nation's borders. A little further, though, is a land completely unique in this rugged wasteland world.

Midway through its evening descent, the sun illuminates a green valley plain on either side of a sparkling blue river. The river is pretty thin and the green is tinged with brown—not that vivid honestly—but it's quite striking against the muted browns and greys of the surrounding landscape. In the lower left of the shot, there's the front gate of a city just peeking in. It's the city the gang is about to visit.

The heart of Holy Nation territory is the aptly named Okran's Pride, a bucolic river valley cutting a lush green swath from north to south right through the middle of Holy Nation land. This farmer's paradise is one of the world's few Green biomes, ideal for growing wheat, greenfruit, and cotton. Predictably, the place is absolutely lousy with patrolling paladins with an absolute hair-trigger for anyone not sufficiently pious.

The human squad takes a moment to admire Okran's Pride, Outlaw Hana cursing the fact that just like back home in the United Cities, her sisters in the Holy Nation have to submit to the regime's oppression in order to make a living off the land. For now, they refrain from actually venturing down into the green valley. Today's destination lies on this side of it.

A big city built right in front of a mountain's stone cliff, its high walls connecting directly to said cliff. A second layer of walls sections off a trio of large, long buildings from the rest of the city, a gate just as fortified as the outer ones separating them from the various stone buildings that fill the city's outer section.

The human squad just went to the nearest Holy Nation city out of convenience. Coincidentally, that's the capital, Blister Hill. Built at the foot of the mountains that house Rebirth, Blister Hill is heavily fortified, with the layout of the city of itself making literal a divide between the holy bigwigs and the average citizens. A second layer of stone walls, numerous turrets set on the parapets, surrounds the barracks, inquisitor station, and the throne room from which the Holy Lord Phoenix reigns.

The effect is as intimidating as it's surely meant to be but the human squad reminds themselves they have legitimate business here. Gathering up their courage and trying to look like they belong, they stride up to the city gates.

The human squad runs up to and up the steps leading to Blister Hill's front gate. The Holy Sentinel gate guard runs toward Shryke, demanding she stop for a bag check.

Holy Sentinel: You! Stop there, I need to talk to you.

Holy Sentinel: Submit your belongings for investigation. I can't grant you passage until you're proven clean.

Shryke: What for?

Holy Sentinel: Do not question your holy brother, woman. I ask, you do.

Shryke: Yes, I understand (Show him your gear)

Holy Sentinel: [He looks through your gear without a word]

Holy Sentinel: You're clear. Go.

Whether underscoring his misogyny by reflex or in an act of deliberate emphasis, the holy sentinel then turns, gives Cat a nod, and greets him with “Divine blessings, brother”. Prick.

A bitter taste in their mouths already, the gang decides to get their official business over with before deciding whether to indulge what curiosity they may have about this place. They pass through the inner gate to the government sector without additional harassment and head into the inquisitor station. Outlaw Hana, with the cannibal chief over her shoulder, goes up to the inquisitor to turn the bounty in.

In a building with a cracked stone floor and wooden interior walls, Outlaw Hana stands behind the inquisitor's desk and attempts to speak to him. She has a cannibal chief slung over her shoulder. The inquisitor is dressed in a somewhat fancier version of the Holy Nation paladin uniform, sporting a metal breastplate with segmented faulds over a chain shirt, metal gauntlets, loose pants tucked into plated leather boots, and a rounded metal helmet covering the top of the head with a chain aventail covering the neck and sides of the face. Unlike the regular paladins, who wear white, grey, and brown, the inquisitor's helmet and breastplate are coloured a rich burgundy.

Inquisitor: It is improper to approach your holy brother in this way, woman.

Double prick.

Outlaw Hana resists the urge to stab the man and passes the cannibal chief to Cat—outside the city walls since if the chief touched the ground for even a second in here, the guard would come rushing over to pick him up themselves and if they beat Cat to it, the gang would be out a reward.

Cat, Shryke, and Outlaw Hana now do things quote-unquote properly, standing in front of the desk while Cat talks to the inquisitor. This image is not zoomed as far in as the last; we can now see that behind the inquisitor's desk is a table with some food on it and to the left of the desk is a hallway leading to a room with a bunch of training dummies.

Inquisitor: Blessings from Okran, you've captured a darkened! Hand them over for redemption, we'll take care of them from here.

Cat: Sure. But we'll need to discuss payment.

Inquisitor: *sigh*... To be expected from a godless foreigner. But I suppose we should be able to cover your expenses. I suggest you reflect upon the holy scriptures of radiance though, brother. Your duty to Okran should come above all else, it should not be driven by a lust for money.

What's incredible is this guy really believes the crap he's spouting. It doesn't matter, though. The inquisitors will bitch and moan but they'll pay out for bounties every time if you insist on it.

Their task complete and with nothing to hold them back if they end up having to make a break for it, the human squad decides they may as well explore Blister Hill a little. Call it recon, call it casing the place, call it trying to see if the Holy Nation has any hidden depths—being all human, they should at least be able to get around the city without being attacked out of hand.

3-13: DANGEROUS FOOLS ⮞