Chapter Sixty: The Cloven Women

“They’re just…” a man yelled from atop one of the viewing platforms. I couldn’t see his face, but I could hear the confusion in his voice. “They’re…”

“What is that you say?” Theodore called out.

“There are no monsters,” the lookout said. “There are women wandering about. Maidens.”

Whatever was outside struck the gate again. The lookout should have been able to see whatever it was, but something had transfixed his attention in a different direction.

The animals in the corral had started making noise. They pushed against the sides of their enclosures.

Off-Screen.

This mini storyline seemed to be functioning normally. I assumed that if the camera was not on us, it must have been on the other side of the valley. I could only imagine what Anna and the others were going through.

The needle on the plot cycle struck First Blood.

With the camera elsewhere, the gate was not going to open. The NPCs were stuck on a loop of waiting for the gate to break down so that the scene could continue. Men stood their ground holding their weapons up in attack position against the unseen enemy.

Among us, there were only three muskets in total. Walter, Dina’s character’s new husband, held one and the other two were in the hands of men perched on top of two of the buildings within the newly built walls. I predicted that they would be useless.

Douglas stood next to me in fear and confusion.

“What is happening,” Douglas said to me as soon as we were On-Screen again. “It cannot be. Why would they…”

He was drowned out by the louder banging on the gate. Men had been stacking anything they could find in front of it. Whatever was on the other side was strong enough to send anything they stacked flying. Wood was splintering off the other side with every blow.

I wracked my brain for some prediction that I could use for Cinema Seer to buff Dina, but I could think of none at the moment. Our part of the plot had very little information about the monsters. Anna and the others might have known more than me at this point. Luckily, Dina already had a huge Grit stat, so she likely wouldn’t be able to use the buff that much anyway.

“Ready yourselves,” Theodore cried. He had a hard look in his eye. A focused look. Even at his age, he stood tall and tried to project bravery for his kin.

I had my pitchfork prepared. It would take a lot of work to make any real use of it. I had not foreseen a direct fight like this. I always thought I would be able to sneak around and avoid danger. At the very least, I expected any fights to happen in the Finale with Anna around so that she could buff my Mettle.

So much for that. I had focused so much on making my Oblivious Bystander strategy work that I had neglected my preparation for an actual fight.

“They need our help,” the lookout said from atop his perch near the wall. He was looking at something beneath him. He didn’t look scared or confused anymore. He was almost smiling.

He jumped off his stand over to the other side of the wall.

“Jeffrey!” someone from the crowd yelled.

Moments later, we heard the NPC Jeffrey screaming as something struck him so loud I could hear his bones breaking. This sent the Akers into a fearful uproar.

Bam.

Crack.

They would be through the gate soon.

Dina gathered beside me. Her stats were better than mine for a fight. Not that much better, but still.

Bam.

The gate blew open. The boards and crates that had been used to hold it closed were no match for the creatures outside.

As the gate crumpled from the last strike, I saw… nothing.

Nothing at all but a shadow fading into the tree line.

But I heard something. Whispering. I couldn’t discern actual words, but I could hear it coming from a distance. It was a fascinating sound. SO pure and sweet. I couldn’t place it. Had I heard it before when I was young and things were better?

Dina grabbed me by the back of my collar. Suddenly, I looked around to realize that I had walked five steps forward without even knowing it.

“What are you doing?” she screamed.

“I… I don’t know,” I said.

Something was pulling me forward. It was pulling several of the men forward.

“Stand your ground!” one of the women in the back screamed as half a dozen men began slowly walking forward.

I heard whispering again. It was different. This time, it had no effect on me. In fact, it sounded closer to an animalistic bray than human speech.

But the handful of NPC men were still mesmerized by it.

Those affected inched their way toward the smashed gate. Those unaffected did everything in their power to stop them from leaving.

“They weren’t trying to get in,” I said. “They were trying to let us out.”

Sure enough, just as I said that an older man on the front lines broke free from his kin and started running out into the darkness following the tantalizing whispers.

As he ran, he threw down the spear he had been holding and yelled out, “I’m coming! All will be well.”

It wasn’t though. He started screaming as something crushed him in the darkness.

This was how we spent much of the next few hours. The camera jumped back and forth between us and other things. When it was on us, the whispering would return and one of the NPCs might break for the exit while the other tried to throw up a barricade.

There were more screams coming from across the valley whenever it was their turn to be attacked.

Even I was not spared the hypnotic effect of the whispering. Sometimes the whispers sounded rough and unappealing, other times they were soothing and beautiful. Dina was there to stop me when I couldn’t snap myself out of it.

My theory was that there were multiple monsters in the shadows. Some had lower Moxie, so their whispers didn’t work on me. Others had enough Moxie for their spell to send me stumbling toward the exit without a thought.

Dina and the other women were completely unaffected.

First Blood was long gone by the time we made it to the midpoint of Rebirth. We had lost several NPCs at that point.

The monsters’ calls were strong, but it appeared they could only affect one victim each at a time. By that logic, there must have been six of the creatures waiting for us out in the dark.

I heard the whispering again. This time, it was so strong I was almost out of the broken gate before Dina could stop me.

I “woke up” with Dina and an NPC wrangling me to the ground.

“I’m fine,” I said. “I’m better.”

That one was powerful.

I could almost feel its whisper like it was a physical force on my ear. I looked out into the wood where the beasts hid.

It must have been time for the reveal because as I lay there with Dina’s arm clamped around my neck, I saw a woman walk out of the forest. five more followed her.

They were women. Just women. The lookout had been correct before his demise. They were pretty. They wore long dresses that draped down over their feet.

“Oh god,” Dina said with a quiver in her voice.

What was she so shocked about?

Most everyone had the same dumb confused look on their faces that I probably did. We scuffled back into the ruined fortress. I retrieved my pitchfork which I had dropped moments earlier on my way out toward the forest.

There were six of them. They didn’t seem threatening. Yet, I felt a familiar force on my mind like I had with the Stragglers. I could tell I was being manipulated, but I couldn’t tell how.

“You got anything?” Dina asked me. I could see the fear in her eye. Whatever it was she saw scared her deeply.

But why?

They looked harmless.

Shit, I needed to think. Dina had wanted me to use Trope Master on them. In the moments since then, I almost forgot. My mind was fuzzy. I focused on the one that stood in front of the others.

Cloven Woman

Plot Armor: 22

__________

Tropes

Succubus

This creature targets men, usually through seduction.

Violated Lore

This creature is acting outside of its normal behavior. This includes ignoring some of its tropes.

Pale Imitation

This creature is an artificial or false version of a traditional monster or entity.

Judgement Call

This creature only kills those who it has deemed unworthy or immoral.

Undetectable

This creature warps the mind of its victims so that they will not notice that it does not belong, despite all the evidence.

The Evil Version

Many folklore creatures have versions that are good, neutral, and evil depending on story and context. This creature is the evil version.

Whispers in the Dark

This creature can sense a player or NPCs vulnerabilities and manipulate them via impulsive thoughts that are perceived as whispers.

Non-combatant

This villain cannot be attacked On-Screen until it attacks the player or is otherwise identified as hostile. Attacking it will not be effective, nor will it change the story. It will cause the player to go Off-Screen for a time.

Arms of the Host

This creature will take up arms for the enemy.

That was a lot to process in a small amount of time. At the time, the thing I noticed was that it was a Non-Combatant, which made sense. Whispers in the Dark was familiar. The stronger Grotesques had the same trope, but for them, it manifested differently.

Non-Combatant might have been useful information though. What it meant to me was that the Cloven Woman probably didn’t need a lot of Grit if its build was logical. Why invest points into Grit when you cannot be attacked?

We might stand a chance.

One of the Cloven Women, the one that appeared to be the leader, walked forward to the nearest man, the red-bearded cousin I had seen earlier. She made eye contact with him. He did not attack her as she got close to him. He was under her spell. She was the highest Plot Armor among them.

“Run!” a woman screamed from behind me.

“Kill it,” Dina yelled.

Several of the faster-thinking Akers stepped forward to try to intercede, but they were too far away.

The red-bearded man did nothing but look back at us strangely as she approached.

As she neared him, she reached her hand up to the side of his face, caressing it. Then she grabbed his beard and pulled hard. He fell forward onto the ground. Then, she stomped his head. It might as well have been an egg under her foot.

Everyone screamed at the sight of it. Whatever men might have been entranced by the women suddenly snapped out of it and started to attack.

The creatures were strong and fast, but they were wary of the weapons facing them. The muskets fired upon them every time the guns could be reloaded. If the shots hit, they would only leave scrapes. Nothing substantial. None of the shooters had good enough Hustle to get a good shot in.

Walter shot his musket at one of the Cloven Women as she threw three men across the ground into the wall. His shot did nothing. She didn’t even turn to him.

The leading Cloven Woman caught sight of Douglas and began approaching. In the background, the other monsters threw men around and stomped them to death every time the camera returned.

Dina and I raised our pitchforks. Douglas had a crude spear that he held out in a panic.

She moved forward, trying her best to dodge the points of our weapons.

“This shouldn’t be happening,” Douglas said. “This isn’t what I wanted.”

The Cloven Woman lunged at Douglas, but he dropped back behind Dina and me. In the corner of my eye, I saw Walter frantically trying to reload his weapon.

The Cloven Woman still had her eyes on Douglas as she lunged around Dina, attempting to grab him. She wasn’t even trying to get at Dina, despite Dina being in arms reach.

But Walter didn’t see that.

“Dina!” he yelled. In an instant, he jumped between Dina and the monster, trying to point his musket at the attacking woman’s head.

The woman struck him so hard that his musket went flying. He was cast to the ground with a thud. Then the woman lifted a foot and stomped Walter’s chest with a sickening crunch.

Her… foot?

As I stared, I realized that she didn’t actually have a foot. She had a hoof. A cloven hoof.

The wool was lifted from my eyes in an instant. How had I not seen?

This monster wasn’t a woman, not a human woman. She was a terrifying hybrid of woman and beast. Deer, goat, I couldn’t tell which. Her eyes were large like a doe’s eyes and her look was wild and untamed.

Her magic had stopped me from seeing that.

Now that my head was clear, I jumped toward the musket that Walter had dropped. I picked it up and aimed it at the Cloven Woman. My Hustle was surely high enough to get a hit.

Bam.

She screamed out an animalistic yelp in pain as the shot tore across the bridge of her nose and struck her left eye.

As high as my Hustle was, my Mettle wasn’t enough for the kill. It was enough to blind her though. The Cloven Woman pounced on me and drove her hoof down onto my leg. I was able to move it out of the way enough that it only made contact with my foot, crushing three of my toes.

The monster still screamed out in pain from her lost eye.

I screamed out in pain because of my crushed toes.

However, its pain didn’t last long because Dina drove her pitchfork into the beast’s back.

As I suspected, the creature had low Grit. Together, we were strong enough that it fell to the ground, dead.

As I looked back at the other women, they saw their dead leader and drew back. The other Cloven Women still looked like humans to my eyes, but I found that if I intentionally focused on their hooves, suddenly I would see their true form. Just glancing at them wasn’t enough. You had to look at them purposefully.

Off-Screen.

The women didn’t leave. Instead, they pulled back into the shadows and started whispering again.

The screams across the valley were getting closer. That meant the survivors of the Lord’s Glory cult were running this way.

And bringing more monsters with them.

I noticed that Second Blood had passed. We were in the Finale and the needle on the plot cycle was ticking along steadily.

The Final Battle was coming.

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