Leaving Roundtable Hold, the player teleported to the outskirts of Leyndell. Following the northern road, they headed for Mt. Gelmir.
The sky over the entire Altus Plateau was a grayish yellow, its low clouds pressing down so heavily it was hard to breathe. Especially near Abundance Forest, despite its name, there were hardly any trees to be seen.
Billowing smoke poured from countless chimneys, thoroughly polluting the land. Even simply walking across it caused poison buildup. It was hard to imagine how much the residents of Altus suffered.
The land on either side of the road had lost its original color, becoming gray-black scorched earth. Half-dead trees stood crookedly, their trunks covered in dust, like so many forgotten skeletons.
Riding Torrent, the player followed the main road west, straight toward the faintly visible volcano.
Passing Windmill Village, everything looked perfectly normal on the surface, but deep within the simple village, things had changed.
Dark red runes covered the walls, and bones filled the courtyards-animal bones, human bones, impossible to tell apart, and not necessarily needing to be distinguished.
The people were like walking corpses, simply lining up barefoot and walking toward higher ground, one after another.
A person in a dark red robe held a scythe, muttering incantations. When someone stepped forward, the scythe fell, and blood gushed out.
The surrounding people showed no fear, no sorrow, not even any expression. They merely watched numbly, waiting for their own turn.
Fanatical, bloody rituals could be seen everywhere in the rustic village... It seemed this land had been ravaged not only materially, but spiritually as well.
The player met Rogier at the village entrance.
He sat on a rock, covering his eyes with his hat, seemingly unwilling to look at this absurdity.
When the player spoke to him, he did not