Horace Loux closed his eyes in thought. Attracting the Formless Mother... that outer god with such peculiar tastes.
She craved wounds, craved blood, craved the vitality that blossomed amid pain.
He would not be foolish enough to please her through self-harm. That was far too inefficient.
There had to be a sufficiently "legitimate" reason, a "ritual" large enough to produce vast quantities of "wounds" and "blood." And its purpose had to be so aboveboard that his elder brother and Marika could not oppose it, and would even have to support it wholeheartedly.
The Hornsent? They would certainly make "suitable" sacrifices, but while his elder brother might find it satisfying, Marika might not agree.
No, that excuse was not "perfect" enough.
His thoughts finally settled on the "shamans" stuffed into ritual jars, enduring endless torment.
They were victims of Hornsent atrocities, Marika's own people, and those they should naturally seek to save.
Holding a large-scale "purification" ritual in the name of "treating" those poor shamans was a reason Marika could never refuse.
She should not obstruct any new attempt, even if it offered only a sliver of hope.
Then how could he "treat" them?
Relying solely on the Great Runes? That would be too difficult.
Those shamans had long since been forcibly fused with the flesh of the other beings inside the jars, forming twisted symbiotic or parasitic relationships.
Forcibly "separating" them with the Great Runes would not guarantee their survival.
But the Formless Mother's power could just happen to "make up for" that.
This deity excelled at drawing out vitality by creating wounds.
If he could guide it skillfully...
He could use the power of the Great Runes as a "scalpel" to separate the fused portions.
That process alone would produce immense pain and bleeding, enough to attract the Formless Mother's gaze.
Then, he could use the power of the blessing the Formless Mother bestowed after being drawn there to repair the parts belonging to the shamans themselves even as wounds were inflicted, sustaining their lives and even helping them regenerate.
Two birds with one stone: he could save lives while drawing vast amounts of energy from the process, and perhaps even further study or "borrow" the properties of the Formless Mother's power.
As for possible side effects of the Formless Mother's blessing, such as "Bloodflame Frenzy"...
"Restraint" was precisely what Horace Loux's system of Great Runes did best.
He was confident he could use the Great Runes during and after the ritual to suppress or even reverse those negative effects.
Besides, he had some even bolder "ideas" about this outer god who had given up trying...
He opened his eyes, rose, and left his tent, heading toward the central command tent.
Hoarah Loux and Marika were both there.
His elder brother was wiping his bloodstained greataxe, while Marika fiddled somewhat restlessly with the stone hammer. Clearly, their success in slaying the evil dragon had left her both excited and a little uncertain about the future.
"Brother, Marika." Horace Loux got straight to the point.
"I have an idea concerning the shamans the Hornsent captured."
Marika immediately looked up, a ripple passing through her golden eyes. "The shamans? You..."
Once those people stuffed into jars began to "fuse," it was almost equivalent to a sentence of slow, agonizing death.
"There may be a way to heal them, but it needs testing, and it cannot be done on a small scale," Horace Loux said calmly.
"I need enough shamans. I also need some living Hornsent."
"Hornsent?" Hoarah Loux stopped wiping his axe, a vicious gleam flashing through his eyes.
"How many? I'll go capture them right now!"
"Let me finish first." Horace Loux waved a hand.
"At the heart of my method is a kind of 'ritual.' It will forcibly strip away the parts of the shamans that do not belong to them. The process will be extremely painful, and they will bleed heavily, but it is also the only method that might 'separate' them and restore them as independent individuals."
He looked at Marika. "I cannot guarantee the success rate, or even that the shamans separated this way will survive. But at present, this is the only method I can think of that is theoretically possible. I need a large number of samples for testing and adjustments, as well as some Hornsent... they may serve as a 'buffer' or 'guide' during the ritual."
He concealed his true purpose in requiring the Hornsent as "sacrifices" and "vitality donors."
Marika fell silent for a moment.
Her fingers clenched the stone hammer tightly, her knuckles white.
"...Are you really confident?" she finally asked, her voice somewhat dry.
"Not entirely," Horace Loux admitted frankly.
"But it is better than doing nothing."
Marika slowly nodded. Though worry remained in her eyes, determination outweighed it. "All right. I... support you. What do you need me to do?"
"For now, there is no need for you to risk yourself personally," Horace Loux said.
"Brother, there is no need to mobilize a large force. That would easily alert them. Pick squads skilled in stealth and rapid assaults, and split them into several groups. Their targets should not be the Hornsent's large towns, but their important jar-making villages and the parties transporting 'materials.' Also, try to capture some Hornsent warriors alive, especially those with obvious 'Crucible' traits. Their vitality may be stronger."
He turned to Marika again. "Lady Marika, please set aside an area in the tribe far from everyday activities to serve as the ritual grounds. It needs to be sufficiently open, preferably near water. I will prepare the necessary arrangements."
The plan was settled.
Hoarah Loux acted with astonishing efficiency.
The raids continued over the following days.
Hoarah Loux even personally led several sweeps, returning with plentiful spoils.
Three days later, the clearing beside the river had been completely transformed.
It had been designated a forbidden area, its perimeter lined with sharpened wooden stakes tied with coarse linen strips soaked in animal fat.
These were all superficial measures put on for Marika and the tribespeople to see.
Horace Loux let no one else take part in the truly essential preparations.
He was alone in the center of the clearing
Hoarah Loux's elite squads swept relentlessly through the fringes of the Land of Shadow.
They avoided Belurat and the main strongholds heavily guarded by the Hornsent, targeting villages like Bonny Village and small parties transporting "goods" instead.
The clearing was divided into two areas.
On one side were densely packed earthenware jars, stacked into small mountains.
The jars varied in size, most standing half a person's height, their rough surfaces covered in mud and old, dark-brown bloodstains.
Many of the jars trembled faintly, emitting muffled, inhuman whimpers or the sticky sounds of liquid slowly churning.
A rough count already put them at over a thousand.
Each jar held at least one shaman tortured beyond human semblance. The Hornsent Potentates had "processed" them with whips, blades, and axes, stripping away some of their skin and severing crucial tendons before forcibly squeezing them together with the other chopped-up "materials" inside the jars, to serve as a binding and catalytic "medium."
Most had already lost any clear consciousness, reduced to mangled masses of flesh that barely retained a humanoid outline, awaiting complete fusion or death in a haze of pain.
On the other side were living Hornsent prisoners confined in crude wooden cages, numbering a little over two hundred.
Most bore wounds from battle and were bound with coarse ropes, their eyes filled with fear and humiliation.
These Hornsent warriors were the "buffer material" and additional sources of vitality in Horace Loux's plan.
Considering that the bloodfiends' predecessors could discover the Formless Mother in the shadow of their ancestor.
Was contacting her seemingly that easy? Or did the Formless Mother pay more attention to Omens?
The Formless Mother's blessings seemed to come with bodily alterations. The little horns on the heads of the bank employees (second-generation Albinaurics) and the bloodfiends were typical examples.
But White Mask did not seem to have been affected much. Was that because he had not gone mad?
The currently known outer gods:
Stars and Moon (including the three moons and the Blood Star)
Formless Mother (seems fairly impressive for now)
Scarlet Rot (defeated and sealed by the Flowing Water Swordsman single-handedly)
Dull Sun (little text available; possibly connected to death in the Lands Between?)
The god worshipped by the Deathbirds (the Twinbird?)
God of the Dragons (possibly died and was made into the Fingerslayer Blade?)
God of the Frenzied Flame (seems to rank very high)
Fell God of Fire
There was also some text about a God of Night in the Eternal City. Not sure who that referred to.
The Greater Will should be part of the backdrop.
Before you continue