Oct 19 • 📣 ANNOUNCEMENTS
(New Ebook)SwornSlayers/Bullet Psalms
POV (Arion Blackpowder)
Dear SwornSlayer Diary,
Scene 1: Public Reckoning [Exterior, Gallows Square, Dawn]
Arion: (Pushing through the gathered crowd, his obsidian gauntlet concealed beneath a worn travel cloak). The morning mist clings to Millhaven Bridge like a burial shroud, and he tastes copper in the air; blood magic, fresh and writhing. Three nooses sway from the gallows ahead, their shadows stretching across cobblestones still slick from last night's rain. Bandits, the crier had said, but Arion knows better than to trust public executions in frontier towns where syndicate money flows thicker than water.
Arion: (Studying the condemned from behind a merchant's cart, silver sparks dancing unconsciously along his concealed fingertips). The first prisoner bears the telltale star-pattern burn of a hellfire round across his throat; the second has her left eye socket sealed with molten lead, a punishment reserved for those who witness daemon summoning. The third man stands too straight for a common thief, his wrists showing ligature marks from arcane shackles, not hemp rope. These aren't bandits; they're witnesses to something the syndicate wants buried.
Executioner: (Ascending the scaffold with practiced ceremony, his black hood sitting oddly on his head). "By decree of Mayor Garrett Finch and the lawful authority of Millhaven Bridge, these three stand accused of robbery, murder, and conspiracy against the peace!" The crowd murmurs its approval, mothers pulling children closer, while old men spit tobacco juice at the condemned's feet. The executioner's voice carries a slight rasp, like someone who's breathed too much gunsmoke.
Arion: (Circling toward the platform's side, noting how the executioner favors his right leg). A memory scratches at the back of his skull; he's heard that limp before, seen it in a Burning Gulch saloon two years back. The hood shifts as the executioner checks the first noose, and Arion glimpses a tattooed jaw, serpents eating their own tails. Silas "The Coil" Morven; I put three blessed rounds in his chest at Widow's Creek, watched him fall into the rapids.
Condemned Woman: (Struggling against her bonds as the noose drops around her neck). "They're burning children in the warehouse cellars! The ferryman brings them at night! Please, somebody has to—" The executioner's assistant, a thin man with filed teeth, drives a rifle butt into her kidneys. She doubles over, gasping, blood spattering from her mouth onto the scaffold's weathered planks.
Arion: (Moving through the crowd more urgently now, his left hand beginning to hum with eldritch energy). Citizens shift away from him instinctively, sensing predator movement in their midst even if they can't name it. A small girl selling wilted flowers drops her basket when she meets his hollow eyes, and her mother yanks her back with a hissed prayer. Morven's resurrection explains the daemon-sign murders last month; only syndicate necromancers can stitch a soul back into a thrice-killed corpse.
Mayor Finch: (Stepping forward with a scroll, his gold pocket watch catching the early sunlight). "Let this be a lesson to all who would disturb our prosperity with lawlessness and lies!" His voice booms with practiced authority, but Arion notices how his left hand trembles, how sweat beads despite the morning chill. Behind him stand four deputies with scatter-guns, their barrels etched with containment runes.
Arion: (Drawing the Midnight Echo from its concealed holster, feeling his friend's ghost-runes pulse against his palm). The revolver whispers its hunger as he thumbs back the hammer, and burnt ozone fills his nostrils; the obsidian gauntlet crackles, feeding a silver-traced bullet into the chamber. One shot to drop Morven's hood, expose him to the crowd, force the truth into daylight; then everything burns.
Progression Status After Scene 1
Arion has identified the public execution as a syndicate cover-up operation, with the supposedly dead enforcer Silas Morven serving as executioner. The condemned are witnesses to child trafficking through the town's warehouse district, and the mayor appears complicit. Arion prepares to expose Morven's identity, knowing it will trigger immediate violence but unable to let innocents die for syndicate convenience.
Investigation Status: [PROGRESS] — Syndicate presence in Millhaven Bridge confirmed; child trafficking operation discovered through condemned woman's testimony
Combat Readiness: [PROGRESS] — Midnight Echo loaded with ghost-rune ammunition; tactical position established with crowd cover
Civilian Danger: [ESCALATING] — Three innocents moments from execution; crowd unaware of imminent crossfire
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(New Ebook)SwornSlayers/Bullet Psalms
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