Chapter 2:
Halloween—Day 3
GOOD MORNING. The wind has intensified, sweeping the rain at us from the side rather than directly above. This is the exact sort of weather I would stay inside to avoid in real life.
Let’s check in. They still haven’t finished deciphering the document yet? I’ll open up the UI, join the efforts, and read the updates that happened overnight.
The shadow in the eastern forest has been confirmed to be a Blessed of Shub-Niggurath.
Progress has been made in analysis of the fanatics’ documents (Shub-Niggurath).
You have uncovered a passage that appears to be related to the summoning.
If you continue your analysis, you may learn the length of the ritual and a means of opposing it.
Progress has been made in analysis of the fanatics’ documents (Shub-Niggurath).
You have uncovered the steps of the Shub-Niggurath summoning ritual.
It seems unlikely that enough fanatics are still remaining to meet the ritual’s requirements. So what are they planning, exactly?
It might be best to proceed with deciphering at a quicker pace.
Progress has been made in analysis of the fanatics’ documents (Shub-Niggurath).
The fanatics are attempting to summon a servitor race of the outer one, who will then in turn summon the outer one.
Indeed, that’s probably a more efficient way of summoning Shub-Niggurath.
Still, there aren’t likely to be enough fanatics left walking free to complete the ritual.
And why Shub-Niggurath? It doesn’t seem like you’ll be able to find an answer to that question.
Progress has been made in analysis of the fanatics’ documents (Shub-Niggurath).
One person alone can complete the summoning ceremony, but it appears that, the more people involved, the faster it proceeds.
The remaining fanatics will probably all participate in the summoning. If you catch them in the act, it’s unlikely that anyone will manage to slip away.
Progress has been made in analysis of the fanatics’ documents (Shub-Niggurath).
You have uncovered information about the servitor race the fanatics are attempting to summon.
You now know the spell required for Summon/Employ Dark Young.
“Ie! Ie! Shub-Niggurath! The Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young!
Iar mnar ug nagr tnaror yornrakh shrari!
Imrknarnkrom! Noykrom! Rajni! Ie ie Shub-Niggurath!
T’nro yornrk! O Goat! O Goat of the woods! Accept our living sacrifice!”
That seems to be the end.
It’s actually quite a lot of information. So we gained the Summon/Employ Dark Young spell while I was asleep? It must work like summoning a Byakhee, although the function is locked during the event, so we can summon neither at the moment.
Now for the main issue. The fanatics are trying to summon a Dark Young, not Shub-Niggurath herself, so we’d be fighting the Dark Young if they succeed. Or it might arrive with a Blessed too.
The fourth piece of information tells us that it would have been bad to allow the normal number of fanatics to participate in the ceremony. But now we need to let them start the ceremony and attack them partway through, capturing all of them before it can be completed.
I’m sure the fight will include some sort of gimmick. They’ll probably have guards protecting them during the ceremony, so we’ll have to handle them while we slowly whittle down the fanatics themselves. But I’d laugh if the fanatics were simply too focused on the ceremony to put up any sort of resistance.
Okay, time to get out of bed.
“Good morning.”
“Morning!”
“Princess, you’re up!”
“Has anything happened since I went to bed?”
“Nope, nothing.”
In the end, there’s still no information about the cat or the pumpkins. I suppose it would be strange for everything about them to come to light. It’s not uncommon for horror stories to end without explaining all of the mysteries.
I stretch my body, exit the room, and practice my stances in the church garden. It’s raining, but Laundry will help with that.
I think I’ve gotten my fill of training in.
I can’t practice my reflection and dodging skills without the training environment in the Nether, but complaining about it won’t do any good. It’s not as if I can travel freely during an official event, of course.
“Laundry,” I cast.
By fulfilling special requirements, extra arts have been granted through Ultra Magic Assist.
Domestic Spell Chant Voiding
Firestarter, Drinking Water
Heating, Cooling, Gentle Breeze
Laundry, First Aid
Conditions: Possess Ultra Magic Assist and utilize domestic spells a certain number of times.
In other words, I don’t need to chant these simple domestic spells so long as I have the third-tier skill? However, the problem is that “voiding” a chant and “chantless spells” are very different things, depending on the game you’re playing. From what I remember about chanting in this game…
Ah, I knew it. You still need a key phrase to activate them, and only the chant gauge disappears now. That means I can simply say “Laundry” and the spell will activate.
Well, I won’t complain about eliminating my chanting time, even if it was minimal in the first place. It’s just really hard to see how that helps for things like domestic spells. Perhaps it will reduce my stress a little, as I use them quite frequently for production.
This is always an issue when it comes to chant voiding and chantless spells. If this is how chant voiding works, then I can expect chantless spells to require no activation key whatsoever.
For now, I’ll head to the chapel. Actually, no, I’ll visit the lord’s manor. There isn’t much time left before the climax of the event, so I’ll work on deciphering the document at the earl’s place.
Time to teleport using subspace. Once I enter subspace, I’ll cast Laundry and Waterproofing Force Field before I exit.
“Oh, it’s Princess Nemeseia!”
“Good morning. May I enter?”
“Of course!”
It’s nice to have free entry when people recognize me. I sympathize with the guards for having to work in this rain.
I do feel bad for showing up without warning. I’m pretty sure that nobles care about that sort of thing more than most, but us players can’t be bothered with that much work.
“I’m sure the countess will come and greet me even if I say there’s no need, so please just tell her there’s no rush, at the very least.”
I’m the one who showed up unannounced, after all. Lady Margaret will also have to don a dress for visitors, even if it’s not the intricate kind noblewomen might wear to balls. I do feel bad, since it’s not as if I have any particular business with her family.
Once I’m led to a room inside, I sit down and work on deciphering.
My party members join me after waking up. Then I chat with the countess once she arrives.
“How is the search for the missing townsfolk going?” I ask her.
“Poorly, or perhaps I should say, ‘exactly as we predicted.’”
That’s right. There were no records of them ever finding townsfolk after they went missing in the past. They can’t search for long periods of time either, or else the search party members will end up disappearing too. This history is why the residents of Howard stay shut away in their homes.
“How many people are missing this time?” I ask.
“Seven have been reported. That puts it around three times greater than the worst incident on record.”
“In other words, two people at most have gone missing together, according to your records?”
It’s easy to think of the victims as fools, but this town does have a fanatical cult in it, after all.
“Is it possible that, instead of going to the spirit realm, they were kidnapped by the fanatics?” I suggest.
“Maybe the townsfolk are the ‘gifts’ mentioned in the documents,” says Mr. Alf.
“But the problem is that people have seen a Blessed One here,” I respond.
“Yeah. Actually, wait. How often can they even give Shub-Niggurath their gifts?”
“That’s a good point. The people went missing both yesterday and the day before.”
Mr. Alf is right to question this.
They aren’t killing people for sacrifices—their gifts are “remade” into something new, that is, death isn’t the end of the process. They can’t transform into the Blessed of Shub-Niggurath and then go their separate ways.
“They need a gate to connect to Shub-Niggurath, or at least some sort of ritual,” I explain.
“If they have a gate that can access Shub-Niggurath, is that any different than outright summoning her?” Mr. Alf asks.
“I’m reading that there’s an ability to remake Shub-Niggurath’s avatar,” says Mr. Skelly.
“She has an avatar?” ask the twins.
“No, there’s no way.” Mr. Alf and I simultaneously deny the twins’ question—the result of information Mr. Skelly was seeing on the BBS.
If an avatar of Shub-Niggurath existed, the fanatics would have already acted on it in some way. The avatars of outer gods are already quite monstrous, but they should also be able to summon their true bodies just like I can. That would be a bit extreme, considering this is an event.
“So the townsfolk must be kidnapped for some other purpose,” I speculate.
“Or maybe they really are getting pulled into the spirit realm,” Mr. Skelly suggests.
“We’ll probably figure it out once we decipher more of the document. We should hit 60 percent completion soon,” says Mr. Alf.
I just hope we can finish the remaining 40 percent in time.
At least we can leave the UI up and work on it while we’re sitting. There’s nothing we can do for the victims if they did go to the spirit realm, so perhaps we should act under the assumption that the fanatics kidnapped them.
Information has been shared with you.
Progress has been made in analysis of the fanatics’ documents (Shub-Niggurath).
The Blessed of Shub-Niggurath, also known as Gof’nn Hupadgh Shub-Niggurath.
Once human sacrifices or devotees, these beings were captured by an avatar of Shub-Niggurath and reborn.
As a low-ranking servitor class, they often accompany the superior Dark Young.
Most Blessed retain their human bodies with only certain parts that are changed. They also keep any abilities they possessed as humans. On rare occasions, perhaps some may take drastically different appearances.
It’s possible that different Blessed will attack in different ways. Caution is recommended.