How should someone react to this situation?
At first, the person who was supposed to be a regular boy turned out to be the LOMs, then, later on, slaughtered more than half of the sisterhood. Thanks to that, he was hated by his victims.
AND ON TOP OF THAT, Now the new being that controlled his body claimed to be one of the archangels, the one of kindness...
Warriv didn't know what to say or do now, so he looked to his lover that was waving at him in the background behind this troublesome person...
Okay, while Akara did do her best to signal something to him, Warriv didn't understand a single thing. Thus his growing headache left him no choice but to say this...
"Sure, I can take you there, but You'll need to explain a few things..."
The caravan leader tried to say this as calmly as possible.
Since he was still affected by the sudden changes and some stories about the archangels weren't exactly for a general audience, hell, even a hardened warrior like him was disturbed by some of the atrocities they HAD to do to save the rest of the world.
One example of the lesser evils they had to do was, slaughtering 1 million children to slay the human incarnations of three greater evils ranging from newborns to 5 years old, and that's not including the millions more that tried to protect the children.
While it was a necessary task, many humans didn't think kindly of the angels from several generations, just like the greater evils planned.
Constant scheming of the demons and the hardheadedness of angels always brought suffering to the humans.
But while the angels ARE on the side of righteousness, it doesn't necessarily mean that they are allies of humans, as there were countless times that they slaughtered anything that got in their way thanks to their common trait mentioned earlier.
They originally fought to protect one thing, the balance of the world. As time passed and more outside influences took effect... who knew what they truly fight for now?
Who knew if they still held true to the ideals or to the emotions that clouded their minds?
Xacuel did his best to describe what can be talked about.
His history, what was going on, what needed to be done, it was like the archangel was releasing all of his bottled-up emotions that remained for how many centuries, if not more!
The heavens and other important details were strictly forbidden to be mentioned to outsiders, thanks to the atrocities that were done, many of the potential angels rejected the offer of joining their ranks, That was obviously a heavy topic that he wanted to bring up to them, but the restriction prevented the words from being mentioned.
There was so much that Xacuel wanted to say, wanted to do, but thanks to his change in status, the faction that he stilled loved and cared for quickly abandoned him for being too much of a threat.
Causing the archangel to enlist monsters into his army with the unique ability that was just as terrifying as Jabawock's.
But putting that aside, Xacuel was begging to be escorted to the east, unaffected by the scornful looks the surrounding people were giving him.
His next words brought hope to the gradually weakening rogues.
"I know of a way to help you recover from your predicament."
Xacuel's words resounded in the ears of the young rogues, for those that suffered heavily under Jabawock's ill intentions. They didn't believe the words so quickly.
Not that anyone could blame them, it was like getting stabbed in the back by a dear friend, sure. You recovered now, but that same friend was now behind you again, leaving you unsure if it will be another backstabbing session or comfort.
The Ex-archangel's following words only served to make them even warier of the possible hidden schemes that were waiting to be sprung.
"There are three ways that you can heal yourselves of this ailment; joining the ranks of Walter's army, join the angel's faction as the conversion will help you recover old injuries, be it bodily or spiritual, then the last option..."
Upon hearing the first two, the rogues were already angry while staring daggers into Xacuel while they did want to kill him for the obvious traps(in their eyes, at least, angels in this world tend to be too blunt at the worst times~) they waited for the last one, if it was just as bad as the previous two then they won't care of what will happen next they'd beat the shit out of Xacuel regardless of what Akara and Kashya would say!
While all of this was happening, Deckard Cain was already falling into his old habits, writing down everything that Xacuel had mentioned as a reference for the future generation, as the third option was rather interesting.
"Using the souls of the Claw vipers as the scapegoat to move your spiritual damage to them."
Deckard Cain was Aghast from hearing this option, and it was pretty much a demon's method!
So how did an Archangel from a faction that had been forbidden from even thinking about such methods learn how to do such a thing!?
While the rogues were unfamiliar with such knowledge didn't understand what this implicated, yet thanks to how much they hunted monsters and such, they didn't think much of it and found it acceptable.
While Deckard Cain wanted to say something, his curiosity had gotten the best of him as it wasn't often that he gets to see these methods up close. Thankfully Xacuel told them the details.
"This method can be dangerous. If your will is weaker than the scapegoat, your body will only experience some changes as long as Walter is nearby during the process -"
While the LOMs had good intentions, his truthfulness made them suspect that he was trying to make them into monsters!
They started drawing their blades and loaded their arrows preparing to attack this bastard that kept on bringing their hopes up then dropping them the next second!
But then he said something that made sense... well, somewhat.
"Yes, such things could happen if you use this method alone, but if you worked together with your other sisters at the same time against one without 'breaking' the claw viper's soul, that would greatly reduce the burden that you have to endure!"
Hearing that part, while they were still skeptical, it was worth a shot, and this was way better than being Walter's slave for the rest of their lives or joining the angels whom of which many of them last their true families too, a little side note though, some of the rogues with particular quirks were tempted with the idea of serving Walter for the rest of their lives.
For two reasons, immortality and a strong partner!
One of them happened to be a certain amazon that squinted dangerously at Xacuel as she wanted to have a strong partner that can make her grow even more!
The rogues agreed to follow while Akara and the rest of them prepared to rebuild the monastery in this encampment since their old home was now turned into a damned crater...
Little did they know that Xacuel had lied to them!
The first method was to help Walter, who, it turn, can truly help them recover through his unique skill.
The second method was to help his brother and sisters have a fighting chance since they had fallen from grace, as mere shambles of their haven outside of the heaven's gates were threatening to collapse.
Then the third method, the Souls of the Claw vipers, weren't meant to make them recover just like that. To release one of the seals on Walter, to awaken the eater of taints and ailments, the supporter of hunters and souls, Deafall, the serpent priestess.
One of the few monsters that loved humans, she was formerly a claw viper that looked more human upper body-wise.
Once released, she could help these girls, while he was somewhat worried about this snake woman's tendencies towards other women, no matter, when the time comes, who knows, they may come to enjoy it like how all of Deafall's lovers did in the past.
-------
Deckard Cain was baffled by Xacuel's explanation, as he had heard and read of such methods in the past. While he wanted to verify it, all of his research and books were burned down with Tristam.
So He couldn't really say anything, but his inquisitive mind made him inquire more details about this method from Xacuel as they now had a small army coming with them to Lut Gholein, and something told him that something wasn't right.
Xacuel smiled gently while explaining whatever details the older man wanted to know as before long, Warriv with over 200+ rogues joined them in their journey, headed out to the desert city, not knowing that Lut Gholein had more problems to deal with compared to how it was in the original game.
End of act one