The room was quiet for a few heavy moments following the travelers' arrival. Morlock broke through the silence with a laugh that felt much too casual for the upcoming battle to the death. He didn't know what was coming, and it would be his downfall. "Come to inquire about a job, have you? Very well..." He looked over to Omar, lips parted as he prepared to speak once more.
But Tressa cut him off by stepping forward, her foot slamming against the floor. "I'd sooner eat those rocks than work for you!" she snapped.
Morlock's expression, previously set in haughty generosity, twisted at her words. "You're as much of a fool as the boy is then," he muttered crossly. "To think two self-styled merchants would be so averse to making money..." He took a step back, and Omar took a position in front of his employer. "You should know that I pay my loyal men quite well. Everyone has a price."
"And the price of human life is enough for you?" Tressa asked as she took a step forward as well. Her grip on the Tempest Spear grew ever tighter, and the wind in the room immediately fell still, ready to listen to her commands as soon as she gave them.
Morlock simply laughed once again. "There's nothing that money can't buy," he answered, his voice all too casual for Tressa's tastes. She saw red as Morlock looked down to Ali, lifting up the merchant's chin with his foot once more. "So what's your price, boy?" He examined Ali carefully, seeing the defiance in his eyes, before Morlock dropped his head and scoffed. "On second though, never mind. You're Maruf's whelp, aren't you? For all I know, you could be a fraud just like your old man."
"S-Shut up!" Ali stammered. He tried once again to push himself to his feet, but Morlock's foot came down on his back before he could get far. Ali groaned as he hit the ground again, his exhausted body unable to put up a fight.
"Didn't he tell you? His father's an infamous swindler in the south," Morlock told Tressa with a smile on his face, though everything about the grin was twisted in ways Tressa had never thought possible. "He made a fortune scamming gullible sops with fanciful half-truths. Until, that is, he got swindled himself... By a trusted friend, of all people. Saddled with debt, poor Maruf ended up bankrupt. A sad tale, no?"
Ali glared up at him but said nothing. Morlock took that as a sign that Ali wouldn't be protesting anymore, and he simply smirked as he leaned down a bit more over his prey. "There's no room for emotions in business." He finally moved away from Ali with a laugh on his lips, unable to restrain himself any longer. "The poor, stupid fool!"
Ali waited until Morlock had turned his back before he started to push himself up once more. "Say that one more time," he whispered, trying to parody strength with everything he had despite his body's desperate desires to give in beneath him.
Still, it was enough to catch Morlock's attention, and he paused before turning to face Ali once more. "What was that?" he asked slowly, clearly having heard the words but giving Ali a merciful chance to back away before the world turned against him once more.
Ali finally managed to push himself up into a crouching position, though he was still shaking from exertion. "Insult my father's name one more time and I'll..." He swallowed dryly before looking up to Morlock with a glare. "My father is a good, honest man! He sold his customers what they wanted, and his words made them happy!"
"Your father was nothing but a lousy, lying dog!" Morlock snapped in return. He kicked Ali in the stomach once again, and Ali yelped before falling back to the ground. "Those with money make the rules, boy! Second-rate peddlers like you and your old man should shut up and die like the paupers you are!"
"You son of a...!" Ali snarled. He looked up at Morlock for a few more seconds, and something in his eyes shifted as shock overcame his features. "You... It was you, wasn't it? You were the one who ruined my father's life!"
Morlock offered no confirmation, but he didn't deny the accusation either. He simply brushed one hand in Ali's direction dismissively. "This world is harsh, boy. You learn to claw and scrape your way if you want to reach the top," he said simply. "If you won't work for me, I'll just find another way to make money off of you. You won't sell for much, but it's better than nothing."
"Do you think so little of human life?" Ophilia suddenly asked, and the room fell silent as all eyes moved to her. "Is that why you were able to destroy Creek without caring for the lives of the people who lived there?"
Morlock's expression went dark and slack. "How did you-" He examined Ophilia in full before he shook his head. "Bartolo is a fool for thinking that sending anyone else from the church is going to change what happens here. I rule this town, and I can do whatever I please with it. If he insists on pushing back against me, then he'll simply have to face the consequences for a second time."
"Morlock," Tressa interjected, her expression set with a rage unlike anything the travelers had ever seen from her before. "We came here to Quarrycrest hoping to pass through in peace... But I see now that it was never going to end that way. You decided that the lives of others are worth so little that you would destroy all of them in the blink of an eye. You waged war against Saintsbridge and Creek because of your greed. You continue to underpay your workers for the same reason. You rose to power by stealing money from someone who had faith in you. Everything you've done up to this point is completely monstrous, and I refuse to let it continue." Tressa pointed the Tempest Spear at him, the blade inches away from his throat. "This is where your reign of tyranny ends. I'll make sure of that myself."
Morlock stared down at the tip of the lance for a few moments before he glanced over to Omar out of the corner of his eye. "It seems you've forgotten your manners. Omar, let's help the girl remember her place," he said simply. His voice was soft but cold, a snowstorm waiting to tear the town to pieces.
Omar moved between Morlock and Tressa, kicking Ali to the side along the way. Morlock looked past Omar to glare at Tressa with all the rage he possessed. "It's time you learned that money is might!" Morlock announced.
"It's time you learn that the price of life cannot be forsaken by greed!" Tressa retorted. Behind her, the rest of the travelers launched themselves into the fray, ready to give Omar everything they had. He was strong, but he was outnumbered, and both Omar and Morlock would learn the price of their deeds soon enough.
Tressa quickly shifted her attention from Morlock to Omar, and she stabbed at him with her spear. Omar pulled himself out of the way to keep from suffering significant damages, though the fabric of his sleeve was clipped and began to fray immediately afterward. Morlock raised his axe high above his head before preparing to bring it down on Tressa's head, though a wall of ice came between them just before the attack could land. Ophilia had raised one hand to fend Omar off, and while it wouldn't stop him forever, the ice absorbed his axe's blade for long enough that Tressa could escape, sliding out of the way with the wind at her back.
Cyrus was quick to follow up with a blast of ice magic himself, and Primrose used a streak of light magic to knock Omar backward as soon as he managed to correct himself. Omar ran toward Primrose to try and knock her off her feet, but she rolled out of the way at the last second before slicing upward, her dagger at the ready. She opened a cut across Omar's back, but he barely even seemed to notice. His skin was calloused and tough, difficult to break through and firm in the face of any signs of danger.
The doors stirred a moment later, and Tressa gasped as four guards streamed into the room. She and the other travelers had managed to negotiate with most of the guards stationed throughout the mansion, but it seemed there were a few who were still loyal to Morlock regardless of how foolish that decision may have been. Tressa flicked one hand out, and she managed to send two of the four soldiers sprawling backward. Cyrus created a barricade of ice that trapped the remaining two guards inside while the others were left outside, and Tressa once again manipulated the wind to pull the doors shut. The doors slammed closed with a resounding echo, but nobody dared to look up long enough from the battle to flinch.
Omar surged toward Olberic when he realized that pursuing Primrose was a lost cause because of her speed. Olberic returned the strike with his blade, and the sword and axe of the opposing forces clashed with a sound like scraping steel. Olberic snarled as he tried to push the advantage. Omar was absolutely massive, and his combat muscles were shockingly enough to be a match for Olberic's overwhelming strength. The two were equals in the battle at least in terms of raw strength, though Olberic's cunning was bound to help deliver him to victory.
As Omar and Olberic fought, Tressa, Alfyn, and Therion turned their attention to the other two soldiers in the room. Alfyn slashed at one of them with the Rose Axe, sending him sprawling backward. Therion crept around behind the victim before cutting at his side with a dagger, releasing his sheath from its place at his belt. The sheath, along with the knife inside it, clattered to the floor before Therion kicked it far away, giving the soldier no chance to recover.
H'aanit jumped onto a table stationed near the wall before nocking an arrow and letting it fly. The arrow slammed into the sleeve of the soldier near Therion, pinning him to the wall effortlessly. H'aanit let another arrow whistle past his shoulder again to keep him rooted in position, and the man struggled in vain against the grip of the arrows. This was enough of a distraction for Alfyn to raise the Rose Axe high above his head, bringing the hilt down on the man's head. As soon as the axe's hilt hit his head, the man melted to the ground, unconscious with a small amount of blood flowing from his temple.
Throughout all of this, Morlock had taken to retreating to the corner of the room. The office was too high up for him to even think of escaping through the window, and with the doors firmly locked by the wall of ice, there was no way for him to get out. He would simply have to ride out the storm by hiding in the corner, though that sounded like perhaps the worst idea anyone had ever proposed. Still, Morlock crouched behind his desk, trying to make his body compact enough to fit in the hole beneath the surface of the wood. He couldn't completely hide himself no matter how hard he tried, but he did his best, for whatever the hell it was worth.
The second soldier that had entered the room raised his small scimitar above his head, intending to bring it down on Ophilia's head. She stepped to the side at the last second, though the blade whistled by her arm just close enough to make her eyes shoot wide open with shock. When the man staggered from his attack not hitting any target, Therion came up behind him, knife at the ready, before slashing upward. The man shrieked in pain and tried to face the thief, but he didn't ever get the chance to release another attack. Instead, Tressa brought the base of the Tempest Spear down on his head, and while the hit was clunky and unwieldy, it was still enough for the man to fall to the ground, groaning just before his cheek hit the floor. Once he was down, Tressa released a quick blast of wind that sent both him and the other guard over toward the door, clearing up as much space in the office as possible.
Olberic had started taking a few steps back during his confrontation with Omar, making the bodyguard think he had the advantage and was running with it. However, Olberic was instead keeping an eye on H'aanit where the huntress was stationed just behind Omar, her bow at the ready to hit him with everything she had. Olberic shifted his position a bit as Primrose slid into view, opening enough of a cut on Omar's back to distract him from his pursuit of Olberic. With that, the warrior pulled out of the center of the fight, and H'aanit let her arrow fly.
The arrow slammed into Omar's left shoulder, hitting him with enough force that he staggered backward. Before he had the chance to recover, Ophilia raised the Illumination Staff high above her head, only bringing it down when Omar had finally fallen still. Light exploded around his feet, and he let out a groan of pain before nearly falling into the wall. He moved his axe into his injured hand before reaching up and ripping H'aanit's arrow out of his shoulder, though that only caused the blood to flow more intensely and freely. As far as he was concerned though, that was worth the price of having the arrow out of his way so he could more freely fight.
Cyrus flipped through the Tome of Tundras, only stopping when he found an appropriately powerful spell. He released the attack with everything he had, and Omar was pushed into the wall once again as the ice slashed at his body. The jagged icicles opened many small wounds across his skin, no one attack dealing significant damage but all of them leaving behind some sting or another.
Alfyn swerved in close, his axe primed at the ready for his next attack. Unfortunately, Omar saw him coming, and he barely managed to recover in time to strike back. Omar swung his axe hard, hitting Alfyn with the blunt edges of the blades. Alfyn's eyes went wide just a millisecond before he went flying, streaking across the room and hitting the wall near the desk. No matter how hard he tried to ground himself, Alfyn couldn't quite bring himself to focus once again. His eyes were blurry beyond imagination, and the world refused to come into clarity. His head began to pound and shriek with rage, but there was nothing he could do to stop it.
The room went still for a brief moment before Primrose rushed toward Omar, the Shadow Fan already prepared for an attack. She hit him in the arm near his arrow wound just enough to distract him before she sunk her knife in deep, dragging the blade down and leaving a mighty cut against the muscle. Omar tried to swing for her next, but Primrose jumped backward and concentrated on summoning the power of her fan. She exhaled as a new rush of power overcame the group, making them physically stronger than ever before. The Shadow Fan's abilities to manipulate the strengths of others were certainly useful, especially in circumstances like these.
Olberic slashed his blade up at Omar, and this time, his strength was enough to push past Omar's defenses. Primrose's offer of power was all it took for Olberic to turn the tides of the battle in his favor. Omar stumbled backward, his grip on his axe starting to fail him. He tried to adjust his weapon to slash up at Olberic, but Therion appeared from the shadows to stab his knife into Omar's arm, forcing the man to cry out in pain. His grasp on the axe's hilt began to loosen, but he refused to drop it.
Instead, Omar clenched his other hand into a fist. He noticed Primrose coming in close just before she could strike at him with her dagger. He punched her in the stomach with enough force that she couldn't even force out a scream around the sudden loss of air in her lungs. Primrose stumbled into the wall, her dagger slipping to the ground before it slid across the room.
Tressa didn't let Omar follow up on attacking Primrose though, instead hitting him with a massive blast of wind that pushed him backward. Cyrus created a wall of ice that rooted Omar to the spot, and the man raised his axe high above his head before bringing it down on the icicles in a desperate attempt to free himself. H'aanit hit him in the back of the shoulder with an arrow, this time attacking the arm that had previously been untouched by her strength. Linde followed up on the attack by biting at Omar's side, forcing him to curl inward on himself from pain. The force of his axe blow was staggered immediately, and the blade embedded itself into the ice below instead of cleaving through.
Therion curled around Omar once again with his dagger at the ready and fire dancing across his hands. He stabbed downward with all the force in the world, and the flames crackled against Omar's back. The damage was overwhelming even for someone with such impressive physical might, and Omar began to thrash in vain against the ice. He hadn't even thought it possible, but he was starting to realize that there would be no escape. The travelers were overpowering him, plain and simple, and there was nothing he could do about it.
Ophilia released an explosion of light magic just in front of Omar to direct his attention elsewhere, and he threw up his free hand to block at the attack, though the damage from the magic still managed to leak through to hit him. H'aanit switched her bow for her axe, and she came up behind Omar while he was distracted with Ophilia. She raised the axe high before bringing it down on Omar's hand, slicing across the back of his knuckles. He wouldn't be able to reach for his axe again as long as both of his arms were too injured to sustain its weight, and he knew it as well. Omar's eyes went wide with pain, but he refused to scream, instead just letting out a strangled and upset yelp that sounded like it came from a wounded animal more than a human behind. The tides of battle were changing, and they were showing Omar that even after all his victories throughout his time in Quarrycrest, he was going to lose his most important battle yet.
Morlock was still hiding behind his desk, but he risked a brief glance around the edge of the wood to see how the fight was doing. He saw Omar struggling and trapped, and his eyes went wide like saucers. After everything he had done in Quarrycrest, this was where it all ended. Omar was about to fall, and Morlock would have no defenses. He had never learned how to fight since he had always told himself that he would just be able to pay other people to do it for him. That would be his greatest mistake though, and he was starting to see just how deadly an error he had made.
Olberic rushed toward Omar, his blade at the ready. He pulled his arms back to try and give the stab as much extra force as possible before pushing forward. Omar's eyes went wide as the sword pierced his chest, and everyone in the room seemed to fall still. The air was tense and silent as Omar looked down to the sword in his chest. Olberic held the blade there for a few moments before he pulled it free. When he did, Omar slumped forward, and he would have collapsed if not for the ice magic keeping him somewhat upright. Cyrus commanded the ice expand to trap Omar just a little bit more, but not even the ice around his chest could save Omar now. He was already dead, and the ice that would have stopped the bleeding was made useless.
Morlock looked over to the door. He couldn't escape as long as there was a wall of ice between him and the exit, but he still had to try and make a break for it. Maybe he would be able to create a distraction that offered him the chance he needed to get away. If he could just skirt around the wall of ice or maybe climb over it, then he would be home free. All he needed was a distraction...
He had a knife in a sheath at his hip. He had always used it for small daily tasks, never for combat, but it was the best thing he had at his disposal now. If the travelers insisted on being a thorn in his side, then he would simply have to show them just how much of a mistake messing with him had been.
Nearby, Alfyn was slumped against the wall, just barely conscious and groaning in pain. Blood was clouding his hair, but he made no effort to wipe it away. His eyes were closed, his breathing ragged. If there was any chance for Morlock to escape, he knew it was with the apothecary...
Tressa was breathing heavily as she stared up at Omar's body. His eyes had fallen shut, and everything about him was eerily still. She didn't know how she had expected the battle against Morlock and Omar to end, but she certainly hadn't imagined that it would end with her looking at the face of a dead man. Death was the best Morlock and Omar deserved after all they had done, but Tressa still hadn't thought through it this far. Her hands shook from where she gripped at the Tempest Spear, her breathing heavy and rattling around in her ribcage. It felt like she was trembling from the inside out with no way of calming herself down once again.
Tressa turned to look at the rest of the room, and she briefly noticed Ali staring up at her with wide eyes. He seemingly hadn't expected his little "Green Pea" to be able to hold her own in a fight, much less that there were others at her side who could take out Omar so easily. Ali barely even seemed to recognize Tressa at all, but relief flooded his eyes regardless. Despite it all, Tressa had saved his life, and he would never be able to forget the look of blood against the ground at her feet as she watched him dully and distantly.
Ali wasn't the only one stirring in the room though.
Morlock had come out of hiding from behind his desk, and his eyes turned to the door just before he reached for a small knife near his waist. He started walking quickly and clumsily toward Alfyn, ready to bring down the blade on the weakened apothecary the instant he was close enough to do so. Desperation had made him bloodthirsty, and Alfyn would be paying the price for it.
The next few moments seemed to stretch on for an eternity.
Ophilia was the closest person to Alfyn since she had been moving to heal him after Omar was taken care of. She wouldn't be able to strike Morlock with a magical attack without risking hurting Alfyn, and as long as Morlock was holding onto a knife, that would only put Alfyn in danger. She was behind Morlock too, in no position to create a blast of wind, ice, or earth magic that could intervene in the strike. Magic was out of the question.
Ophilia wasn't sure what prompted her to look down and realize that Primrose's knife was resting near her foot, but as soon as she saw the dagger, her body acted on its own. Ophilia crouched down and picked up the knife before rushing forward, letting out a battle cry she didn't even recognize as she ran toward Morlock with all the force she could muster. She raised the knife high...
...And brought it down right in the center of Morlock's back.
He immediately froze, and Ophilia knew she had struck true and hit his heart with the attack. Morlock's eyes went wide, and beneath him, Alfyn had managed to force himself to look up as well. The apothecary stared at the mark of death and horror on Morlock's face, his heart screaming in his chest. Morlock's heart, on the other hand, would never beat again, not after Ophilia's attack.
It wasn't until after Ophilia pulled the knife free of Morlock's back that the man crumpled to the ground off to the side. The wound on his back bled lifelessly onto the expensive carpeted floors of the office, but Morlock could no longer complain about the mess the travelers were making. The room had been absolutely destroyed by their fight, leaving behind few signs that this had ever been the heart of greed to begin with.
Ophilia stared down at Morlock's body, and images screamed through her mind like comets. She remembered seeing the fall of Creek, the way homes were burned and ransacked by soldiers who had been commanded by selfishness itself. She remembered the smell of ash on the wind as she hid in the corner of the one building that had managed to escape their wrath, knowing that her mother and father would never smile at her again She remembered the name of the monster responsible for it all as Bartolo had told her previously, Morlock's name a mantra that she couldn't seem to escape.
Morlock, Morlock, Morlock.
But now he was dead, never able to hurt anyone ever again.
Ophilia didn't even notice the blood that was starting to seep into her gloves from the stab until after she dropped the knife, realizing that she was still holding the weapon with wide, terrified eyes. The dagger clattered to the floor like it was made of fire, hot and horrifying. Ophilia stared down at her hands, only just starting to realize how much they were shaking.
Before Ophilia knew what was happening, her knees crumbled beneath her, and she fell to the ground. She sat on the lower half of her legs, staring down at her shaking hands as tears welled up in her eyes. She shouldn't have felt bad for killing Morlock. If she hadn't done something, then he would have killed Alfyn. Morlock had already ruined countless lives in the pursuit of his greed, and Ophilia had been the only one to survive the onslaught that came with his scorched earth policy against Saintsbridge. She shouldn't have felt guilty.
No, she didn't feel bad for killing Morlock specifically. She felt awful about the fact that she had been put in that position at all. She felt awful about having to stand there and consider how to kill a man before he could tear someone else's life asunder. She felt awful about the shockwaves that she could already feel this would spread throughout the rest of her life, changing the course of her views on the world forever.
Alfyn was still too out of it to say much of anything, his eyes wide as could be as he stared up at Ophilia. A small streak of blood had appeared on his cheek, no doubt a trace of Ophilia stabbing Morlock. Alfyn blinked a few times to try and ground himself, but nothing seemed to help. Instead, all Alfyn could do was stare as Primrose appeared beside Ophilia, reaching down to pick up the dagger before tucking it away. Once the knife was out of sight, bloodied though it may have been, Primrose wrapped her arms around Ophilia's body. It was a small mercy and a small blessing, but it was all any of them could have offered in that moment.
Ophilia's blonde hair fell like a curtain around her face, and she yearned for the simpler times the group had known just earlier that day. It all felt so distant now. They had been planning to find a way to take Morlock down and bring salvation to Quarrycrest, but they had never thought it would end like this. Ophilia hadn't wanted to be the one to kill him if it really came to a life or death situation. She had told herself that she wouldn't fall victim to the waters of revenge. She thought she was past this already, that her history couldn't touch her.
Instead, all Ophilia could think as she sat there on the floor sobbing in Primrose's arms was that she didn't know what to do. Should this have happened sooner? Should someone have murdered Morlock before now to ensure that he could not hurt anyone? Would that have helped the people of Quarrycrest who went missing because of his negligence? Would there have been a way to save the lives of those he had hurt?
Ophilia stared down at her hands for a short while longer before she practically collapsed sideways into Primrose's arms. Ali said nothing as he watched the scene unfold before him, too injured and shocked to fully process what he was seeing. Cyrus and H'aanit carefully approached Alfyn before starting to tend to his wounds enough to get him back on his feet, and Olberic and Therion turned their attention to Omar's corpse. At long last it was all over. They had won the battle for Quarrycrest's future.
But somehow, to Ophilia, it didn't feel like a victory at all.
That was one hell of a chapter, huh?
Yeah, I've been looking forward to this one for a while. This is, admittedly, a massive note of canon divergence from the game. Omar and Morlock survive in the canon of the game and spend their time in Bolderfall's lower regions in the post-game. Given how much I've built up Morlock over the course of this story though, I didn't feel right doing that, so... Here he is. He and Omar are dead. They have no impact on the story from here on out alive or dead, so I don't feel bad about it.
As for the fight itself, I had a lot of fun with it since it was something I had been looking forward to for so long. I went in with the image of Ophilia killing Morlock with Primrose's knife specifically to save Alfyn, and I loved getting there. I wanted to have her save Alfyn specifically for contrasts with his chapter three, and Ophilia killing him with Primrose's dagger felt like the perfect way to set up parallels between them, especially since Ophilia has been uncertain about Primrose's quest for revenge since the Helgenish fight. They're going to have a lot to talk about now, to say the least. There's a lot to be covered before we're ready to leave Quarrycrest.
We'll dive right into the consequences of this battle next week, and I hope you're all as excited for it as I am. Until then, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Feedback is appreciated as always. Have a nice day, everyone!
-Digital