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Episode: Part 46 "The Unclean"

Part 46 "The Unclean"

Author: Harlan Guthrie
Duration: 00:46:16

Episode Shownotes

In Part 46, "The Unclean," Arthur and John wake from where they rested by the fire to find strange lights luring them toward the woods. The strange glow seems to call to them from beyond the edge of the woods but as the night carries on and the encounter grows

stranger, they must confront their deepest fears and question whether or not they are strong enough to resist...Support Malevolent today at https://www.patreon.com/TheINVICTUSStream Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Full Transcript

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00:03:03 Speaker_06
Thoreau? Thoreau? What? I... Did you hear that? Hear? No, I was... I had drifted off in thought. What's wrong?

00:03:26 Speaker_08
I was dreaming, but... I don't know.

00:03:34 Speaker_06
There it is. You heard that? Yes. Where am I? Where are we? Still in the village. By the fire, remember? Though the fire is almost nothing but embers now. Do you remember Malum visited us? Yes. How long ago? Hours. You've been fast asleep.

00:04:03 Speaker_06
It's probably an animal, Arthur. Maybe. Probably. Yes, you're right. I... Oh, it's freezing. The fire's almost done. Yes, sorry. I... I didn't even notice. You were... sleeping? No, no. Just... thinking. What about? Oh, nothing important.

00:04:37 Speaker_06
Just... idle... just nonsense. You should try to go back to sleep. No, I care, I do. Tell me, I want to- You should sleep. I will, I will. Tell me what you were just thinking about. Sure. It was just... just... things. Things sparked by what Malon had said.

00:05:12 Speaker_06
Or rather, the story he told. About the villagers, and well... about hope. And... and the light that follows you. And... and the power she gives you. Well, I was thinking about that. That light. And it made me think about my own light.

00:05:49 Speaker_06
Which made me think about Lily. The nurse that gave me my name. Of course, how she took care of us. Of me. You know, the witch, when I told her that, she really twisted my words. She took what I learned from that month and she tried to taint it.

00:06:24 Speaker_06
But I didn't let her. And during the time you were recovering, I was thinking about her. Lily, I mean. and how much I love her. And... And?

00:06:46 Speaker_06
I told you, it's rambling, idle nonsense, I... And I thought about that story you told on the train, and in the elevator at the Masonic Lodge, to Percival. in New York City.

00:07:07 Speaker_06
The one about the man who was traveling alone in the wilderness, through the frozen wasteland of the North, towards an old friend of his, only to be turned away when he arrives. And he wasn't a good man. He had killed someone. He wasn't a righteous No.

00:07:36 Speaker_06
And yet, the woman follows him out into the snow. Joins him. Comforts him. Saves him. He sleeps in her arms, safely and securely. Her coming had driven out the world.

00:08:08 Speaker_06
I wondered why at the time I was so enraptured with the story, why I felt like I understood how such a gesture can drive out the world. Lily, perhaps I'm making too much of a moment from Something a kind nurse thought little of.

00:08:38 Speaker_06
But I suppose that even if it was another day for her, it doesn't lessen the way it changed my life. She gave me my name. Well, thank you, Lily. You gave my friend so much. That's no fucking animal. No, it is not. What do you see? Nothing.

00:09:11 Speaker_06
The moon is above the canopy and the trees allow little light through. What embers remain of the fire obfuscate the woods beyond. Could it be malum?

00:09:23 Speaker_05
No. This feels distinctly different.

00:09:29 Speaker_06
The air feels thinner. It does, doesn't it? Malum said the fire would invite things. Shh, shh, shh. Something's out there. Watching. He said in these woods live beings. How far away is daylight? I don't know. How long was I asleep? I told you, a few hours.

00:09:58 Speaker_06
Fuck. We should... leave, or... Arthur! We're staying here, or... We should put out this fire. Truly and properly. Dirt? Yes, help me. Right. It's out, it's out. The last embers are hidden. My eyes are adjusting to the darkness. Okay.

00:10:26 Speaker_06
And... And there's... light. A light? Multiple lights. Dancing lights. Fireflies? No, no. These are lights, Arthur. Small bulbs, not blinking, but moving, dancing, swaying back and forth.

00:10:50 Speaker_06
They're warm and yellow, close together like little stars, and the soft light that glows around radiates between the trees. Almost like a lantern. A lantern? Yes, but they move unlike anything I've ever seen. What are they? I don't know.

00:11:16 Speaker_06
When I was younger, I remember hearing about lights in the woods. Fairy spirits, but It's coming from the direction of the lights.

00:11:34 Speaker_07
Arthur!

00:11:35 Speaker_06
Where are you? I don't know. Something feels... as if they want to help us. Help us? You... Do you think? I do. I really do. I really do.

00:11:54 Speaker_05
Look, we shouldn't just sit here. We should see where they lead.

00:12:01 Speaker_06
Right? I suppose if you... if you think that... I do. I... Dead.

00:12:17 Speaker_04
No.

00:12:18 Speaker_06
Wait, wait... What? No, that's... No, no, no, we... We need to remain. We need to stay here. Where we know what the... Yes, I... Agree. The lights are... What is happening?

00:12:38 Speaker_05
That felt... Like a pull. Like something was... Manipulating me.

00:12:46 Speaker_06
Something is.

00:12:49 Speaker_05
I do remember something about fairy lights leading travelers astray. We shouldn't follow them.

00:12:58 Speaker_06
I feel it too. Seeing them, it's like... I sense this... call to follow them. I know. I know. We can't. So we just stay here. The fire is out, covered in dirt. We won't be able to relight it easily. Yes. Yes, we just... stay.

00:13:24 Speaker_06
It feels awfully exposed here, Arthur. In the dark. Without light.

00:13:31 Speaker_05
Friar's Lantern, that's... that's what it was called.

00:13:34 Speaker_06
Friar's Lantern? As I remember hearing about them.

00:13:39 Speaker_05
Little... beings that led travelers astray. Making you follow their lights to a bog or a waterfall. And then they blow out the light, leaving you lost and abandoned.

00:13:53 Speaker_05
I don't know if that's what we're seeing now, but so long as we remain here, so long as we don't follow the lights, they can't hurt us.

00:14:02 Speaker_06
And what if the light comes to us? What? They're growing closer, Arthur.

00:14:10 Speaker_05
Then no.

00:14:14 Speaker_06
The house is...quickly... You're right. This is the other hut we hadn't entered. Quickly. To the left of the doorway is a window. Crouch behind it so I can see. There. The lights are still approaching. Slowly. This cabin is similar to the other one.

00:14:44 Speaker_06
Though I... There's something carved into the wall here. Almost... Almost like a mural. Or a... A shrine. A shrine? I can't make out much.

00:15:02 Speaker_06
The moonlight is barely enough to illuminate the fire pit we just slept beside, but... It looks as if it's a... A stone. A large stone. Crying. Crying? A sea of candles burnt down to pools of wax lay beneath the wall.

00:15:22 Speaker_06
Beds in this room are merely piles of dried leaves. Nests. They must have prayed for days here. The lights. Yes, yes. The lights are nearly at the edge of the village. They still dance, jostle, spin and dive. Like they're alive themselves.

00:15:45 Speaker_06
A patch of moonlight sits in the center of where we slept. The lights approach. It is... a child, carrying the lantern. He stands near where the fire was. He has a mess of dark hair, his face expressionless. Or perhaps that of... loss.

00:16:16 Speaker_06
He's looking around. He's picked up our bag. Fuck! You left it. It was... God damn it, Arthur. I was half asleep. He's picked it up. And he's... He's leaving. Jesus fucking damn it. Well, that's it. We've lost it.

00:16:39 Speaker_06
We can't go after the bag, not knowing what's at risk. But, Arthur, that bag is just things. Most of which, I'm sorry to say, are largely sentimental. You have your lighter and that's the most essential. The rest can go. Listen to me.

00:17:04 Speaker_06
Yorick is in there as well. In the bag. Yorick? Who gives a fuck about Yorick? This child could be a part of Mother Darkness, Arthur. There's nothing to do with the Blackstone. Let it go! Listen to me!

00:17:20 Speaker_05
How quickly was Yorick ready to tell the witch everything after I died? How quickly was he ready to let any and all secrets bear to his new master once I was out of the picture? You told me that! The Blackstone is all that matters. Agreed? Yes.

00:17:42 Speaker_05
So fuck Mother Darkness. Fuck whatever bullshit she has coming for us. Kain is clearly more powerful. Even if not as he was, surely as he is now. The last remaining of his kind in all dimensions. We are here to serve his purpose.

00:18:02 Speaker_05
As unfortunate as that is. And the only thing to know more about the Blackstone and us than we do. He's in that bag. We need to get him back. Look, we know what it is. We know these lights are dangerous.

00:18:26 Speaker_06
We wouldn't be walking into a trap blindly. We'd be walking in with my eyes wide open. Tell me I'm wrong then.

00:18:36 Speaker_05
Tell me we can afford to lose Yorick, and have him reveal any and all secrets to the enemy.

00:18:41 Speaker_06
If that is Mother Darkness... You said it! You're right! Okay? You're right. Okay, let's follow. At a distance. I'm sorry, I left the bag. Let's move. The child has left the fireside where we just were.

00:19:11 Speaker_06
The lights are barely visible now, retreating into the woods. Stay low. Feel for the trees, and move around them. Straight ahead now. The lights grow brighter as we approach.

00:19:30 Speaker_06
The child holds the lantern out before him as if beckoning those in the woods to find him. The lights dance within the lantern. He's stopped. In a beam of moonlight next to a tall willow tree, he's turned around.

00:19:53 Speaker_06
He's facing our direction, though I don't think he's seen us. He's Setting our bag down by the trunk of the tree. Arthur, we can get it and leave. What is he doing? He's moved to the side. He set the lantern down and is hunched over something.

00:20:15 Speaker_06
I can't see, it's dim, but the bag. Arthur, it's a straight path to the bag. We can grab it and head back the way we came. Yes. Yes. Let's. We just... we just need to... ignore the... the lights. We... we will. We can. Right. We will. We... Right.

00:20:51 Speaker_06
Where is the... the bag? Straight ahead? I... Stay low! The child is still hunched over. Looking at something off to the right. Go quietly now. Don't move. He's raised his head. Scanning the tree line to the right. Don't make a sound.

00:21:30 Speaker_06
He's put his head back down. Now, Arthur, move! Almost there. We're almost there. What is he doing? John. John the Willow. He's bent over something. The lantern is by his side on the ground. What could he be? The light is just... there.

00:22:05 Speaker_06
We... we need to resist, remember?

00:22:09 Speaker_05
Right. Which way? Right, right. Where is the bag?

00:22:15 Speaker_06
John! What is he hunched over? Doesn't matter. We... we can... You said it. Maybe this isn't Mother Darkness. Or the Friar's Lantern. What if this is something to help us? Maybe they want to help us. They... They... They do.

00:22:44 Speaker_04
They do, don't they?

00:22:47 Speaker_06
I'm sorry, but you're wrong about them wanting to lead us astray.

00:22:52 Speaker_04
I am.

00:22:53 Speaker_06
The lights are guiding us. Like the creature in the mines, in the dreamlands. The dancing lights. The lights? They are... Guides. He's here. To our right. Looking at us. He's got your back. Somehow he managed to grab it from... He's just before us now.

00:23:33 Speaker_06
The bag extended in his hand. Thank you. See? He... No. He's turned his back to us again. Returning to what he was doing.

00:23:47 Speaker_04
Don't... Don't turn away.

00:23:51 Speaker_05
We saw your light.

00:23:52 Speaker_06
From the village. In the woods. His cloak is covering whatever he has before him on the ground. You wanted us to follow. The boy has his hood pulled up. If you step to the left I can see over his shoulder. Please. Oh. What? A deer. It's hindquarters are

00:24:22 Speaker_06
bloody and torn. Boy is... he's... eating the deer. Raw. No, no, stop, stop, stop, stop that.

00:24:34 Speaker_05
Don't eat that, you'll get sick. It's raw.

00:24:37 Speaker_06
Arthur, he's... he's not... What? This is not a child. The creature looking up at us from beneath the hood is horrific. jagged teeth breaking through parts of its lips. His eyes are deep, red, and angry.

00:24:56 Speaker_06
Blood drips down the wide mouth, which greens at us in the moonlight, and wisps of thinning hair curl down from beneath the hood. Please, please, lead us. He's rising. Though short in stature, he has a menacing presence.

00:25:18 Speaker_05
We only sought your light.

00:25:21 Speaker_06
He's picked up the lantern, and with a long, twisted finger, he's pointing at us.

00:25:31 Speaker_05
Yes, yes. We seek an exit. Please. We just want to leave.

00:25:39 Speaker_06
He's turned around, and is leading us through the woods. Follow him!

00:25:44 Speaker_05
Yes, yes. We'll follow him. Maybe back to the road. Or at least away from the woods. What? No, no, wait. The lights... John, he's leading us again. We're just... following.

00:26:06 Speaker_06
Where is the clearing? Behind us. We... we can't... We can't. He's leading us, Arthur, to... To what? You don't know. To... I... We need to turn back. I... Where's the clearing? I don't see it. I don't see anything familiar. Jesus. He's leaving! Quickly! Left!

00:26:37 Speaker_06
There! The trees break ahead. Maybe he's led us back to the village. Or the road. Where? Where are we? He's standing. There are stones all around him. He's turned to face us, standing next to a spring of water. Water? From where?

00:27:11 Speaker_06
It's coming from out of the ground, like a natural spring, burbling and collecting in a small pool of clear blue water. It looks inviting.

00:27:26 Speaker_05
Why have you led us here?

00:27:29 Speaker_06
He gestures to the water. Many of the stones around him, they're... they're graves, Arthur. Stones piled upon each other to cover the dead. From the village? It must be. We're not far. Why have you brought us... He's gone, Arthur. He's gone.

00:27:57 Speaker_06
No, no, no, no, no. His lantern is gone. He's... No, no. There's nothing here. No! Just the spring and the stones. We... Look, look, this graveyard is clearly close to the village. We can't have gone far.

00:28:13 Speaker_08
No. No, we couldn't have. We couldn't have. He... God damn it.

00:28:22 Speaker_05
I feel like such a fool. The lights, I can't... I can't even think straight. They're clouding my mind.

00:28:41 Speaker_06
He... He wanted us to drink from this. I think so. The waters reflect the moonlight. Glints of blue like gemstones dance along the surface of the water. It looks... invited. Does it? I am... I am parched. We've come this far.

00:29:13 Speaker_06
Perhaps we should see what this spring offers.

00:29:19 Speaker_04
Perhaps.

00:29:20 Speaker_06
You drank from the stream earlier without a second thought. I did. Didn't I? Then... Drink! I... No. We can't. What? We can't. Why? We are... This place... A graveyard... Why did he lead us here?

00:30:04 Speaker_06
You said... The friar's light... It... leads men astray... Lost in darkness... This isn't darkness... This... This is... This is not a chasm or a hole... No... I can see the woods that surround... The graves piled high with stone.

00:30:32 Speaker_05
I feel something here.

00:30:35 Speaker_06
Something? In the air. Are we being watched? The trees that ring the graveyard are tall and thick.

00:30:49 Speaker_06
shrunks almost like walls as if one large tree surrounding us one I can't see the forest for the trees they encircle us in this graveyard nothing gets through no further into the forest not the eyes of those who may be watching nothing the center of the forest

00:31:17 Speaker_06
The heart.

00:31:19 Speaker_05
What lies at the heart?

00:31:25 Speaker_06
There must be something here. The graves are marked by stones. Between them the grass sits a lush, verdant green washed out in the moon's hue. The canopy opens wide to the skies above. A cloudless night. Night still.

00:31:45 Speaker_06
I don't remember how long we've been moving through these woods. It's only been minutes. Has it been? I... I think so. You're so sure we're by the village still. But I don't... I don't feel like we're in the same woods at all.

00:32:07 Speaker_06
In fact, this feels like a different forest entirely.

00:32:11 Speaker_05
A different forest? Doesn't this remind you of the forest? In the dreamlands?

00:32:22 Speaker_06
I... I suppose so. We fed that forest. Are we to be this forest's meal as well? I don't know.

00:32:37 Speaker_05
I... My head is spinning. I feel like... I'm in a dream.

00:32:47 Speaker_06
Odd. What? Here. In the center of the graveyard, practically. What is it? On the ground is a ring of... mushrooms. Almost a perfect circle. A fairy ring. A fairy ring? You mentioned fairies when the lights began. Arthur, what are you... Do you smell that?

00:33:16 Speaker_05
They smell sweet. Almost... earthy.

00:33:23 Speaker_06
They just look like mushrooms, but... clearly you're enjoying them. What memories.

00:33:32 Speaker_05
That smell, it's like... Oh, being a child again. Yes? Yes! Yes, we used to find these all the time.

00:33:43 Speaker_06
I remember one. I remember one! John! Arthur! I remember finding a fairy ring, just like this. In the boys' brigade, with my friend. William! You remember! Yes! Of course! You've only just told me about him. He told me about them.

00:34:02 Speaker_05
about how his father and he used to find them in the moors around his childhood home. Really? The fairies were all over the land where he grew, in and around the ancient burrows that lay undiscovered.

00:34:16 Speaker_05
He'd tell me about finding them with his father's friends and how he'd watch them dig as he danced around the fairy rings asking them questions.

00:34:26 Speaker_06
Dancing? Dancing! How? Like this!

00:34:34 Speaker_05
He'd tell me about his childhood, growing up. How his father would tell him stories of the fairies' gifts. Go on. I haven't thought about William in years.

00:34:47 Speaker_06
He'd talk about how he'd bring me there one day.

00:34:50 Speaker_05
Show me the barrows and we'd crawl and explore them like the Vikings of old. Vikings? Yes. And the dance we did when we found a fairy ring at camp was just like this.

00:35:05 Speaker_06
We were young and faster, of course. You can go faster? I can, can't I? He was so awfully proud of his father, William, and I envied him, really. Envy? Greatly. Very much so. He talked about his dad with the most admiration and love. He was a wonderful man.

00:35:25 Speaker_06
Oh? I hated him for that. And I hated seeing them together. He was my first real friend that I mentioned. You did? But when he came back to the boys' brigade with a wooden train his father had carved him, I had nothing but envy in my heart.

00:35:42 Speaker_05
Did you? It was beautiful. He told me his father made it. It was a piece of art. I bet. His father and he had such a wonderful relationship.

00:35:52 Speaker_06
Not a man drowned by drink or on the verge of tearing his life apart like mine was. Of course. And seeing him this way, seeing him with this toy, it made me feel everything I didn't have with such an immense weight. I cried. You cried? I cried.

00:36:09 Speaker_05
And cried all night. All night. Away from the other boys, of course. Until the next night. While around the fire, I did something. What did you do? I snatched the toy train from William.

00:36:22 Speaker_07
The wooden train. I tossed it into the fire. You did?

00:36:27 Speaker_06
It crackled and burned. It faded and died in those flames as William cried and cried.

00:36:33 Speaker_07
It disappeared into ashes like my friendship with William. Like my envy. Like my own parents. Dead. Dead. Dead and gone. And gone. And gone. My head is still swimming. All that was left was the ash. It burned because he was happy.

00:36:56 Speaker_07
I didn't want him to be happy. I didn't want him to be... to be... my...

00:37:18 Speaker_04
Where... am I? John? John who?

00:37:26 Speaker_06
Hello? Who?

00:37:29 Speaker_05
Who is this? You're calling out to someone in a dream. How interesting. Am I? Are you... you're... Why do you sound like me? Who is this? You followed the light.

00:37:48 Speaker_06
You came to my grove. I'm happy to have you here. Your grove? You led us. You came. Unlike the others. The others?

00:38:01 Speaker_05
The dead? Some of them.

00:38:06 Speaker_06
Many of them. I am curious as to why you came to me. We were lost. We followed the light. You couldn't resist.

00:38:16 Speaker_05
We tried.

00:38:18 Speaker_06
It's alright. We did.

00:38:22 Speaker_04
You're here now. With me. What do you want? I want nothing.

00:38:31 Speaker_06
I have. You. What are you going to do with me?

00:38:35 Speaker_04
I will feast upon you, stave off my hunger for another short while, as I have done since arriving here. Here?

00:38:47 Speaker_08
Where are you from?

00:38:49 Speaker_05
Beyond the stars. You speak in my voice, use my words. I've been here for a long time.

00:39:01 Speaker_04
And you breathe so deeply of my scent. The mushrooms. I am much deeper, much safer from the elements. Though curious foxes often turn out to be a wonderful snack between meals. Meals? How?

00:39:22 Speaker_05
You're in a graveyard. You feast on the dead. Surely there can't be that many.

00:39:28 Speaker_04
No.

00:39:30 Speaker_06
No.

00:39:31 Speaker_04
The graves are what they make of them. They come and bury only the scraps of the lambs they led. Who? Who comes? I have told you. I have been here a long time.

00:39:46 Speaker_04
So long that the people have chosen to see the lights I offer as a cleansing fire of righteousness. The people. The village you mean? The nearby settlement, yes.

00:40:01 Speaker_04
Though small in numbers, they have faithfully and generationally led unsuspecting visitors to my grove.

00:40:08 Speaker_05
The village brings you people to feast upon? They do. They murder people. They murder the man who spilled his blood. Did they feed him to you?

00:40:27 Speaker_04
The last was not alive, if that's what you're asking. It was... disappointing. I... How long have they... Long enough. And now? And now, you're here. I am known as Horig.

00:40:56 Speaker_06
I am this forest.

00:40:58 Speaker_04
The trees are an extension... of me. You can move them. I can. And do.

00:41:07 Speaker_06
No one leaves this place. Unless I so choose. You intend to eat me. I do.

00:41:17 Speaker_05
You... are hungry?

00:41:20 Speaker_06
Truthfully, I am still in the midst of consuming my last offering. You are? Then you don't need me. You don't need more, do you? I always need more.

00:41:35 Speaker_05
Right, but what good is that? I'll simply die before you consume me. Do you not prefer your offerings to be alive? You said your last was disappointing. You are correct. I suppose I could be consuming you first. and let the other rot. Wait! Wait! Wait! Wait!

00:41:57 Speaker_05
Wait! Wait! Wait! Wait! Wait! I'm listening. Or... I could bring you more. Sooner. Healthier. Livelier. Younger? Younger. Yes. If that's what you desire. Yes. The young ones are always the most... delicious. Let me leave.

00:42:26 Speaker_04
I will ensure I send more. I have no way to know if you're telling the truth.

00:42:34 Speaker_05
I came from the village, didn't I? Your lights led me. You must have seen that. I did. You know, you know I will honor you.

00:42:48 Speaker_04
Oh great one. Very well. You already carry what I desire, even if you're lying. You'll do just as well as an apostle.

00:43:07 Speaker_05
Thank you, Horik. I will spread your word.

00:43:12 Speaker_06
You will, indeed. John! John? What? John! What? Arthur? What are you doing? What were you doing? What happened? Where are we? We're... We're in the graveyard. It's... It's morning. Arthur, we must have... I think I slept. You slept? I think so. What happened?

00:43:58 Speaker_06
The last thing I remember was- We need to leave. What? Why? Just- Please, please. We need to get back to the stream. The spring? No, the stream that we first found. The one I drank from. Right, right. Before the village. Right, right.

00:44:19 Speaker_06
It looks like this way slopes down and we were heading uphill from the stream when we first approached the village. Okay. Are you okay? Let's just move. Straight ahead. Yes. When we first passed the stream, we walked on an incline.

00:44:40 Speaker_06
I remember thinking in the morning at the village, if we got turned around, we would head down towards the road. I do think I was sleeping. I can't say as whether or not I dreamt, but... I've never experienced something so... quiet. So solemn.

00:45:03 Speaker_06
I understand why you covet it so much. Arthur? Are you okay? What happened? A little further, please. Sure. If this is about William... What you said. What I said? What did I... Oh. Listen. You were young.

00:45:26 Speaker_06
I know you haven't spoken much about your parents and... It isn't about that.

00:45:31 Speaker_05
Look, are we at the stream yet?

00:45:34 Speaker_06
No. But... Wait, I can hear running water. This way. A little further. Arthur, slow down. No need to run, we're almost there. There, there! Jesus, we're here. What is wrong? That graveyard.

00:45:54 Speaker_05
The forest. It wasn't just a forest. It was a piece of this... thing. This... alien.

00:46:03 Speaker_06
Horig. This creature. Slow down. What are you talking about? I had... I dreamt it. It spoke to me. In my voice. What did it say?

00:46:17 Speaker_05
It wanted to consume us. to feast upon us. It told me that the villagers were part of its congregation, its followers. They would lead people there. Oh.

00:46:34 Speaker_06
Remember the man they killed? The one Malm told us about? Yes, of course. They spilt his blood.

00:46:43 Speaker_05
They buried him there, to feed Horig.

00:46:47 Speaker_06
How did you... What did you say? I told them we'd speak to the villagers.

00:46:53 Speaker_05
Bring more. I don't know whether it believed I was a villager or just had influence over them, but... regardless, we caught a stroke of luck. That it had... recently been fed. Jesus.

00:47:09 Speaker_05
Now... we just need to find a way to... stop the villagers... from... Arthur... Malum said he enacted the young boy's wishes that the village is no more, but... Arthur... We need to make sure they're really gone.

00:47:26 Speaker_06
John, that thing is... Arthur! What? We're upstream from where we first crossed the river. Right? Yes. I think I know why the water tasted foul. Why? Malum has truly made the village no more. All of them. In a pile. At the top of this river.

00:47:58 Speaker_06
Where it heads downstream.

00:48:09 Speaker_08
Jesus!

00:48:14 Speaker_06
I don't think we'll need to worry about Horig's followers any longer. Where is the road? Should be straight past the river. It ran parallel.

00:48:30 Speaker_05
Let us be done with this cursed forest.

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