Chương 166: Chapter One-Hundred-and-Sixty-Six

Although they had a bone to pick with Gillian, they avoided his tavern as they hurried through the Wine district. Adam was fairly sure that the proprietor was connected to the one that the laboratory bloodfiend had called the Maestro, so getting embroiled in that now might lead them down a rabbit hole they didn't have time for. The others slowed down when they reached the large bridge from the Wine district to Artisan, but Adam quickly reassured them that there were no bloodfiends around.

Still, they didn't linger and hurried across, with Adam's compass leading them towards a lone workshop with a gloomy store connected to it. It was built from wood and stone, and had just a single floor, which made it seem much older than the other buildings around it. From the shopfront, they got a good look at what was inside.

"I should've expected this," Sofia said as she stared at the unmoving face of a doll hanging suspended in front of the window. A sign above the door read ' Puppet Maker Serkil'. Luo looked down at Adam's compass.

"Is this really the right place?" Adam gave him the compass.

"Tell it to show you what you seek." Luo did as instructed, and the compass arrow spun around once before snapping back to point at the store in front of them. He handed the Relic back.

"I just expected something else," he muttered.

"What exactly did your patron tell you?" Adam asked him and Sofia.

"I didn't speak directly with Nharlla," Sofia replied.

"Me neither," said Luo.

"It was a figure of black clay that came out of the altar." Sofia nodded.

"Well, regardless, what did they tell you?" Adam pressed.

"Just that I had to create a Changeling Mask," Sofia said.

"When I asked for a clarification, I was told that a face is no different than a mask."

"I was told the same," Luo added. Adam scratched his chin.

"I guess we'll just see what we find inside, but that's really not a lot to go on."

"If the Changeling's Core is like that of an elemental, we may have to find a vessel within," Kat remarked.

"That's what I was thinking too," Sofia said.

"Maybe it'll be a big puppet or something," Luo remarked.

"If we're bringing a Changeling to life, then we may have to fight it," Adam said.

"So let's make sure we have a plan before we do anything." They all seemed to agree with that, but first they wanted to find out what exactly the compass had led them to, so they entered the puppet maker's shop, a bell above the wooden door announcing their arrival.

"One moment," an old female voice called from within. Inside the shop were shelves and round tables stacked with puppets. A few also hung down from the ceiling like butchered meat. They came in sizes as small as the length of a finger and up to as big as a child. Some had their faces painted on, while others were intricately carved with their eyes made of reflective marbles.

Given the gloom inside the store, due to the lack of lighting, the waning sunlight from outside made the marble eyes of the puppets glow as though they were alive. It was deeply unsettling. They pushed past the many puppets to reach a small counter behind which was an open doorway leading to the workshop connected to the store.

There, amidst fresh logs of chopped wood, hand-carved pieces, and puppets undergoing repairs, was an old wrinkled woman working a small knife across a large human-sized torso, shaving away fine bits of wood with every pass. The other pieces of the large puppet sat around her, with the head fully formed and featuring just a pair of marble eyes and a flat line as a mouth. The arms and legs were joined together with wooden pegs, allowing for stiff and limited movement.

But the torso was different from that of the other puppets in the shop, because it had a large hole in the front.

"Have you brought it with you?" the old woman asked.

"I just got a quest update," Luo said.

"Me too," Sofia replied. She pulled the Changeling's Core out of Adam's backpack where it was packed in with the Mimic Tongue, Ghoul's Eyes, and Bloodfiend Fangs.

"Yes, that's it. Bring it here," the woman urged, gesturing for Sofia to come forward. Adam put a hand on her shoulder.

"Hold on. We need to talk about what we do if this thing comes to life and tries to fight us."

"It's a bit creepy that the puppet maker was waiting for us," Luo also added.

"I have been preparing this one for a long time," the old woman retorted, clearly hearing his comment.

"My Lord promised I would awaken a child of my own after all this time." Adam frowned.

"We'll have to cut off its face to make a mask," Sofia told the woman, holding the runny lump of clay in her arms.

"I will just carve him a new one when you do," she replied.

"Come now, place the core where it belongs."

"Luo, go outside and keep a watch on the building," Adam told the Archer.

"Kat, go to the doorway and be ready." Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. They didn't question it and exited the store. Adam brought out his blood magic and created a curtain that he floated in the air in front of him.

"As soon as you place it, you run back to me," he told Sofia. The old woman looked up at Adam's magic, but then she just turned her eyes back to Sofia.

"Come on now," she urged. I don't like this. Sofia clearly seemed uncertain about this too, but she went around the counter and into the workshop, carrying the lump in her arms.

"Do you want me to put it into the puppet with my magic?" Adam asked her, realising there was no need to risk her doing it.

"It's okay, I can retreat fast enough." She has the Skittish Skaters, so she'll be fine, he reminded himself. They had no confirmation that the Changeling would be dangerous and Adam hadn't heard about this quest from Beck and Emelia, so he was operating on nothing but guesswork. However, the fact that everything to do with Nharlla was unpredictable, such as the mimics and weird appearance-altering powers, made Adam want to err on the side of caution.

Sofia's melody tensed up as she placed the core into the opening of the puppet's torso. Then she sprang backwards with such suddenness that Adam almost immediately flung his magic forward to obliterate the workshop, puppet, and its maker, but he managed to hold off just in time to see that she was unharmed.

"Thank you for bringing this to me," the old woman said.

"Would you mind helping me assemble the rest of his body?" Sofia glanced back at Adam.

"I will do it," he said and shifted his blood around to pick up the various pieces, placing them next to the torso with the runny clay lump poking out slightly from within. Meanwhile, Sofia backed up behind the counter. Once the head, arms, and legs were in place, Adam worked his magic with finesse to insert the pegs that would connect them to the main body.

"Now there is only one thing missing," the old lady said.

"I will need the worshipper for this." Adam frowned as Sofia went over to the old woman's side.

"What do I need to do?" Sofia asked as she looked down at the puppet. Despite the body being fully formed and the core set in place, the wooden man was no less puppet than the others scattered around the store. The only difference was its size.

"First we must name him," the woman said, taking Sofia's hand and putting it on the puppet's simple face. Adam scrutinised the old woman's melody for hostility, but it was completely calm, as though she had done this a thousand times and knew all the steps. It put him a bit at ease, though he kept his magic floating near the puppet, ready to tear it apart the moment it became a threat.

"Michael," Sofia said. The old woman nodded.

"That is a good name."

"What next?" Sofia asked.

"Now we need to awaken him," the old woman replied, her hand still on Sofia's. With a single gesture, she reached her other hand up, the one still holding the knife, and slid it across Sofia's neck, casting a deluge of blood down onto the wooden puppet. Fuck! Adam brought his magic down swiftly, tearing the old woman to ribbons with three separate blades. Then he grabbed Sofia, switching his blood magic's form to stabilise the wound on her throat, while pulling on his own body to fly them out through the store.

He crashed into several puppets as he flew to the door, but then Kat was there, holding it open for them as they crossed the threshold. She followed them out but stayed in front of the door, preparing for whatever might follow. Something was violently thrashing about inside the back of the workshop, destroying puppets and wood in a frenzy.

"Do we have any potions!?" Adam yelled to the others as Luo came running with his crossbow in hand. They had rushed to get to the Artisan district and not fully considered the ramifications of the Changeling quest nor the issues they might run into, no doubt owing to complacence bred from overcoming the Patriarch and a human mimic, and now they were really paying for it. Adam had stemmed the tide of Sofia's bleeding, but the old woman's knife had dug deep, damaging both of her arteries and trachea.

As swiftly as he could, Adam wove his magic to rebuild Sofia's artery walls, but the way she lay limply in his arms and the raspy breath that flowed from her made him unsure if he was actually doing anything.

"I'll go to the bridge and get potions!" Luo exclaimed decisively. Adam told him to grab their coin pouch from his backpack, and the moment Luo had it in hand, he flew off with his grappling hook, swinging it in such a way that it sent him flying across the district.

"Something is coming," Kat said. Adam lifted himself and Sofia off the ground and flew them away from the front of the puppet maker's shop. Then a wooden creature exploded the façade, sending a cascade of wood and glass towards Kat." Mother…

"the puppet groaned, his voice like the creaking of an ancient oak." You killed… Mother…" The Changeling had transformed from the simple puppet the old woman had carved, and now it was like a naked man, the stiff joints replaced with actual elbows and knees, and his face shaped into that of a human. But his body was still made of wood, just like before, and his face was unmoving, nothing but a facsimile.

Kat flung her body forwards with a strange animalistic leap, smashing her claw into the Changeling's neck, gouging out his throat and sending splinters down onto the ground, along with red blood. That's Sofia's blood! The creature instantly retorted, but Kat was ready for it with her daggers, parrying his hand as it warped into a blade and creating a glowing weak spot on his body, right on top of where the core had been planted.

Then she swapped back to her claws and swung her fist forward in a strike empowered by the Duellist's Glove, punching her hand all the way through the Changeling's torso. The wooden body immediately closed around Kat's arm, locking her in place, and Adam was forced to take his attention off of Sofia as he sent his magic down to slice through the puppet's right arm just before it could stab Kat in the neck.

With another empowered attack, this time with her left clawed hand, Kat tore through the Changeling's neck, sending the head flying away, then with a loud roar she pulled her arm out of its torso, casting a lot of blood and splinters all around her. But she didn't let up. She utterly obliterated the wooden body, until only the head was left intact, and splinters and blood surrounded its mangled remains. Adam brought his magic back to continue stabilising Sofia, but her melody had become incredibly faint.

Not knowing what else to do, Adam discarded all of the blood filling his Crimson Shirt and flew down to where the Changeling's body lay, pulling its spilled blood up from the ground and into his armour, before extracting it again and pumping it back into Sofia's body. But it didn't change anything, and her melody continued weakening by the second. I could try Beckoning Crimson on her, he considered.

But I've never tried it on someone else, and if returning her own blood didn't work, then there's no guarantee it'll work on her either. Kat pushed Adam aside and started performing CPR on her chest, moving with a practised rhythm to try and keep Sofia alive long enough for Luo to get a potion to them.

"Keep going!" Adam told Kat as he returned to where he'd discarded the blood and reabsorbed it into his shirt, before flying off to follow Luo, knowing he could go much faster than him. By the time Luo and Adam returned to Kat with two medium healing potions, several minutes had passed, but she was still going, rhythmically compressing Sofia's chest. Adam ran over to her side as he landed, only to pause and lose his determination the moment he didn't register any melody from Sofia's body.

Luo grabbed one of the potions Adam was holding and dropped down onto his knees to pour it into Sofia's mouth, but it changed nothing. Then his cube spoke up. [When looking at a lootable corpse, you may utter the command 'Loot' to receive a list of Relics available to take.] Kat slowed to a halt, and lifted her hands off of Sofia's chest, a sad expression on her face. Luo threw aside the empty flask with an impotent yell, and Adam looked down at his feet with guilt and regret flowing through him.