[NR] Miasma - Chapter 669

Over the next five days, things go into overdrive for the town. With a System backed prophecy and the bandits handled, they begin to harvest. Early? Yes, but better harvest than frosted.

And on the fifth night, only a day after everything was harvested, the first freeze happens. The town wakes up next morning to frost tipped plants and white shadows, evidence the previous night’s temperature chased away from wherever the sun touched. At least a month, if not two, early.

Not the strangest thing, except the night after freezes as well and the frost is seen to last longer towards a specific side of the town. And it continues to freeze every night.

Then, at a week and two days, the guard’s midday patrol finds that even at the warmest, the forest was still covered in frost in the one direction. From there it got worse, the frost reaching out towards the town like claws, barely retreating even under the harshest rays of the sun.

Not that those rays were as dependable. Drifting counter to every other cloud in the sky, a light hazy cloud began to spread towards them from the frosted region. Bright days turned overcast as one entered the forest over there.

“Miasma”, Siegfried sighed, “The miasma of the undead.” He looks around at the council chamber as Courtney stands behind him and to the side, recording what happens for him.

One councilor shrugs, “We knew it would be the undead. What’s to be surprised about?”

Siegfried shakes his head, “There is a difference between being attacked by the undead, even at night, and being attacked by the undead supported by miasma.” He turns to Courtney, “Your group has fought undead before and not seen miasma I assume?”

Courtney nods, “We were even in a forest known for undead surfacing from old battles and there wasn’t any miasma.”

Siegfried turns back to the council, “Miasma of the undead isn’t some weather condition. It is only ‘natural’ in the largest of massacres left un-cared for and similar. If anything about it can be considered natural. Rather, it is better viewed as a weapon of the undead and those who use them.

“To remove the weakness of simple sunlight. To allow spectral foes free rein. To make an area where fire does not drive back the unintelligent undead? I’d actually prefer this miasma to be ‘natural’, if only because that means there isn’t some tactical mind behind the undead that will take true advantage of it.”

For the next few days, people mostly ignored Siegfried’s warning. What could a few clouds do? Then those same clouds thickened and frost no longer vanished with the sun. All the while a sick anemic lightning could occasionally be seen flashing in the miasma above. A miasma that has taken on a purple tint.

Then the first death happened. An older merchant known to be a bit stingy with their firewood given how his shop tended to be chilly. He was found dead in bed, frozen. Yet, as far as people could tell, it hadn’t actually gotten that cold overnight.

Siegfried and a squad of guards rushed through the crowd, almost bashing aside some of the less observant. In his hand, a torch was blazing with sparks of silver.

The crowd becomes rowdy when they see the guards grabbing the body and tossing it into the street. They try to intervene with the seeming desecration of the body, but the guards are ahead of them, forming a large area around the body free of people. Though they don’t need to hold back the crowd for long.

Siegfried rushes over and touches his torch to the body. The silver of the flame jumps first and the crowd stops dead as a spectral form begins to burn. This ghastly form, only reminiscent of the old shopkeep, soundlessly screams, clawing at the silver flames.

Running up to this, slightly out of breath, one of the local priests dashed in. With their dominant hand, they begin spreading a circle of salt. Their other hand makes signs as they chant to their deity.

Siegfried, “Confirmed spectral slay and corruption! Guards! Spread out, I want a door to door, eyes on check of every person still in the town and I want it done yesterday!”

No longer needing to hold back the crowd, those that had followed him rushed to the houses to each side and began to check for inhabitants. By breakfast, two other deaths are found and spirits forcefully exorcised.

Back in the council room Siegfried stands with his hands behind his back. “And this will only get worse! No one can sleep alone. In fact, we should consolidate down to as few places as possible. We need to house people in large communal sleeping rooms with as many fires as possible going.

“Our food supplies also need to be brought into those locations or it will go bad. Rot and disease are prime tools of the undead. Our defenses have clearly been breached!”

Of course, not everyone wanted to follow these suggestions. The poorer residents didn’t mind sleeping in a crowded room, various inns being requisitioned to hold man and their food. However, the rich weren’t all that trustful at first.

Only at first, though. As more deaths followed, both by spectral assault and also from eating subtly corrupted food. They still slept separate and kept their supplies gathered to themselves. But there simply wasn’t a large population of the rich in this border town and so even that wasn’t as much protection.

Days ticked by till the predicted time and more people were found dead every morning. With only those in the largest rooms that kept their fires going all night, being truly safe. Worse, it stopped being just the elderly. Even young adults began to be found dead.

Siegfried stood on the town wall at midday, a chill in the air as if it was just dawn instead of noon. Next to him was Rosha. “Did your master have anything to say about this sort of thing?”

Rosha squints at the miasma above, “Miasma is shockingly common in the Deep Wilds. Inevitable with how it shifts and connects places. One battlefield shifts next to another and meets up with more until there are regions as large as kingdoms, maybe bigger if you go deep enough. Then they are split up to spread the fun.

“And all that while ignoring the literal kingdoms of undead that dwell deep in the darkest corners. But we won’t be facing that as at that point, they claim their region and it won’t split up. Besides, those would be deep enough that the System couldn’t pull them into an event like this.”