26th Day of the Growth Cycle, Year 2426 Imperial Standard

Once more I have been ordered to return to the swamps by our dear King, it was a mere two years last I ventured there, yet the time before that was threefold. Either something was happening to cause more Restless to be formed, or they were becoming organised.. I'm not sure which I fear more.

The purges were violent, terrible ordeals. Each one the Empire proudly proclaimed victory, but for those who fought they were pyrrhic, the lives lost not worth the now short-lived peace gained.

I would never admit this to my men, or anyone else for that matter, but I still dream of waking up in the swamps, surrounded by the blood and gore of my comrades who'd been ambushed in their sleep... It was only by luck or fate that those freakish creatures had decided to gorge themselves on the others before reaching me. Even then, after receiving my wits and weapons I still bear the scars of that night.

I had been branded a hero, a brave soldier that against all odds fought to the bitter end and came out on top, the epitome of the Imperial Standard. I do sometimes ponder, if I had been targeted first, would someone else be in my place? Jean? Augustus? Servius? They had all been brave, arguably more competent than myself. Men of honour who did not deserve the ends they received.

Dearest regrets aside, after the sundering of Mareaer I had my men move back to the nearest operational city of the Empire to restock and ready ourselves to venture into danger once more. What was left of the Alchemists all but fled once they heard the assignment, giant demons of flame and magma they may be willing to fight, but ungodly abominations of fear and undeath? Hardly.

Thankfully, Saoirse and a small number of Rangers have been given leave to join us, along with a supplemental force provided by the Empire of fresh-faced recruits... Indeed, I attempted to reject them but had them thrust upon me regardless. No inexperienced boys and girls should have to wade through those swamps, only older men with lives complete and nothing to lose.

-Dismas

29th Day of the Growth Cycle, Year 2426 Imperial Standard

There is a reason these lands were called the Drought Swamps. Not because the lack of water or moisture, but because any water available was either so toxic that it would earn you a faster demise than simply eating a blade, or so disease-ridden that the victim would have to be quarantined until they either died or somehow miraculously recovered... Even then, the chances of survival were minimal at best.

This was another reason why expeditions into the swamps were so dangerous, any wounds or abrasions would need to be tended to quickly, or the risk of infection would be assured. I myself was forced to spend a month in complete isolation under the 'loving-care' of the healers and alchemists in the past.

I recall tales of men dying of thirst in front of toxic pools, even in their last agonized breaths refusing to risk supping on the water. As one who knows the sheer desperation and madness of thirst and starvation, the thought of denying myself the relief is mindboggling.

Before we even enter the proximity of the swamps I make sure my men know the risks and perils within, Purge Order or not, I wish for them to know what awaits them... Should some of the more cowardly wish to desert, losing a couple to 'battle' is within my purview.

-Dismas

Dismas sighs and adjusts his cap as he leads his men into the Drought Swamps, front and centre with his musket at the ready. Gnarled, strangely shaped and coloured trees give way to knee-deep waters that wouldn't smell out of place in an abandoned sewer. All around them were plants and foliage that were each poisonous to some extent.

From thorns that would cause your skin to rot, turn gangrenous and fall off, to leaves with razor-sharp edges that would slice flesh with ease and cause wounds that would be hard-pressed to heal, to blue flower pods that when disturbed burst and shot tiny hairs into the air, that would scratch at your lungs like miniature shards of glass.

The worst of them, at least in Dismas' opinion had been discovered in his first expedition here as a boy. Some chap thought himself invincible and imbibed on some 'blueberries', a mistake to be sure given how he defecated his organs not long after. The most horrific part? It didn't immediately kill him, thankfully he was put out of his misery before sepsis could do it for him.

He shakes the thoughts from his mind and spots some raised ground in the distance, dry enough to make camp and had some distance from nearby foliage, it was ambushes he was wary of, but the chance of one of his men wandering off for a piss and never being seen again was also a factor. He shoots Saoirse a look and raises his voice, "We will make camp here! Have the Rangers scout the area for threats, the rest of you, get on land and check for leeches and parasites!"

"Aye, Commander."

Dismas nods and checks himself over before beginning maintenance on his weapon. He extracts the clay he'd used to shore up his musket, a trick he'd learned in his last expedition to stop the weaponry from malfunctioning if submerged in the cursed waters, and triple-checks the black powder within.

Later, after the camp was erected, he finds himself unable to sleep... A niggling sensation he'd come to know as a 'sixth sense' in his time, which only appeared when something bad was coming. This wasn't always the case, but he'd learned not to ignore it.

With rest all but forgotten, he gears up and takes a seat on a rotten log not far from his tent to observe the night guards. A frown mars his features as he spots one almost at risk of falling asleep, his eyes fluttering as he starts losing the battle to stay standing.

*Thwack!*

A pebble, courtesy of Dismas bounces off of the man's head, causing him to whirl around with wide eyes and musket ready.

"If you're unable to stay alert, perhaps you would be better served sleeping in the swamp." Dismas growls out, causing the man to freeze.

"N-no sir! J-Just not used to this-, my apologies sir!"

Dismas nods his head over at another guard who seemed as energetic as when they first joined. Hell, the kid almost looked as if he was happy to be here. "You think he's used to this either? Chin up, and know that you are all that's in the way of monsters devouring your friend. Stay. Awake." he growls.

"B-but sir he was top of the academy, comparing us-"

"Shut it!" Dismas spits before glancing over to the 'top recruit', "Sit here, boy." he orders, gesturing to the ground at his side.

"Yes commander!" he says, taking a knee while removing his tricorn, revealing a young, freckled face with messy stubble and short-cut brown hair. Most notable were his eyes, a focussed blue-grey that reminded Dismas of Commander Krecius, his former superior.

Were they related perhaps? No, it was the boy's attitude brought on his nostalgia... Firm yet soft, yet with a sharpness that couldn't be ignored. Given some more years, he imagined they'd be indistinguishable from one another...

"What's your name, recruit?"

"Kanis sir, no family name."

An orphan, why wasn't he surprised? Only those born in wretched squalor would be able to handle this place.

"And why are you here, Kanis? As I understand, top finalists in the military academy are sent to the Capital to better serve the King. Why did you choose to accompany us instead of enjoying the luxuries of the Palace?" he queries.

Kanis looks down for a moment before meeting Dismas' eyes, firm in tone he speaks, "Duty, sir."

Dismas sighs, "Duty...? You should hope to find another answer, men can only subsist on loyalty to their country for so long. Eventually, they break... Love turns to hate. Do they still tell the tale of Gregas the Gallant in the academy?"

Kanis nods, "They do, a man who gave everything for the Empire, and was rewarded everything in turn."

He quirks a smile, "That is what they say... He died in battle and was immortalized, his family was granted honour, titles, and gold. Yet in reality, his end was not so heroic."

"Sir?" Kanis mutters unsurely.

"He met his end in the Broken Steel Rebellion, 'fighting til the end'," he snorts, "It was not so, I was there serving as his captain. He was a good man, too good. He got separated from our unit after a rebel ambush and became a prisoner of war... There, he became, sympathetic to their cause, a land all but abandoned by the Empire in favour of closer and more lucrative settlements. When we finally recovered him, he refused to bear arms against them... Do you know what I did?"

Kanis lets out a cool breath which turns to mist in air. "Insubordination is punishable by, death..."

Dismas nods solemnly, "I shot him, like he was some mongrel, and I, a disloyal dog of duty..." he cups his mouth and strokes his growing beard. "There are higher things than duty, you will learn with time."

"That's why you left the army..." Kanis concludes but Dismas doesn't give any affirmation. "Sir, duty to my country is not why I am here. I speak of duty to my family. My friend, my brother in all but blood was in the last expedition. His fiance begged me to retrieve him, and I promised on my honour I would." he gestures at a shorter female guard on the opposite side of camp, "Maelia is here too, her sister."

"She must have been mad with grief to ask you to come here." Dismas states, frowning, "What was his name?"

"Eddie... Why, do you know of him?"

"No. But in case you do not survive this, I will deliver news to his fiance..." he pauses, "You should pray that your friend is dead."

"What-" Kanis starts but finds his voice lost as a quiet grunt echoes through the camp, barely audible to most, but to Dismas and Kanis it was louder than any scream.

"MEN! WE'RE UNDER ATTACK! TO ARMS!" Dismas roars as he leaps to his feet, cracking a flare on his hip and throwing it over the camp, barely illuminating the haggard, shadowy forms shambling towards the camp.

One of the lookouts rapidly swings a bell, ringing it and ushering soldiers to stream out of their tents, barely awake and gripping their muskets.

An unfortunate man on the outskirts of the camp gets grabbed by a corpse which tries to tear his throat out. Kanis fires a quick shot at it, blowing half of its head away, only for it to continue biting down on the man's jugular. Blood sprays, a gurgled scream, the soldier losing his strength and falls backwards to be devoured.

"Aim for the brainstem, gods damn it!" Disman angrily exclaims while finishing off Kanis' initial target. He'd explained this once before, not to waste their ammunition on shots not assured to hit. A restless losing half of its skull wouldn't matter, and you'd be better off aiming at its legs if you couldn't make the shot.

Dismas fires off another, sending the musket ball through the gaping maw of a corpse and through the base of its skull, killing it.

More screams sound out but he's forced to ignore them as the abominations finally reach camp. Dismas pushes away grasping arms before smashing the stock of his gun into the offender's forehead, sending it sprawling to the ground, a gunshot later puts it down for good.

"Commander!" Kanis exclaims, alerting him to another that was crawling low to the ground. Dismas growls and raise his boot before bringing it down on the back of it's neck, turning the spine to powder.

"Gather center point! Do not let them surround you!" he howls, prompting his men to converge in the center of camp to present a united front. Smoke from the muskets obscures the area, machetes connect with flesh and brittle bone, and steadily the groans of the dead are whittled away, replaced by the exertion and fury of his men.

As Dismas dismantled three undead that tried to swarm him, another leaps out from where it'd been attacking a nearby soldier. He thrusts his arm out and allows it to bite his bracer, but before he can break it's neck, someone smashes it in the face a musket, using it as if it were a war hammer.

He glances over, then down, realising the boy's friend had intervened on his behalf. "Maelia, correct!?"

"Yes, Commander!?"

"Good work." he offers with a slight upturn of his lips.

"Any day Command-, w-what is that!?" she suddenly shouts, jabbing her musket at the underbrush in the distant where beady yellow eyes where watching them. Dismas could barely make out it's form, but what he could were stuff of nightmares.

A metallic body in the shape of some torture device, an iron maiden? It was half broken and torn apart in areas, and from the many holes sprouted disgusting-looking limbs, purple from disease and decay, and from more creatures than one corpse could produce, claws, arms, and stingers were only a few to mention... Its legs were spider-like, almost stumbling over themselves as they try to precariously balance the heavy metal chassis.

Half of the iron maiden's face had been destroyed, but he couldn't view it's face, merely a black outline with yellow eyes and a fanged maw. "It's an amalgam! Fire on the abomination!" he roars, raising his musket and firing at it, accompanied by whichever soldier could spare the focus.

Sparks erupt as musket balls hit and deflect from its metal carapace, while wounds open up on its many limbs. A formerly-human arm goes flying from three projectiles, but none seems to reach its face.

Unfortunately, this forces it into action, the lumbering creature skittering its way towards them at surprising speeds. Dismas pushes Maelia behind him as he readies his machete, chopping down as a large bird-like talon leaps at him. It hits, leaving a large gash on it, only for it to flail and grab the face of the man beside him.

With a yelp, the man is dragged towards the creature, the right half of the iron maiden opening up to reveal numerous pitch-black spikes of questionable material. There's nothing that can be done as he's pulled inside and locked into the torture device. The creature gives a cackling, distorted laugh which drowns out the screams of the captured soldier.

"WRETCHED CREATURE!" Dismas bellows, spittle flying from his mouth as he charges it. Most of the Restless had already been slain, and now with fresh flesh, the abomination appeared to be retreating.

Dismas catches up to it, barely dodging the many limbs flailing at him. He slashes one, stabs another, and finally chops down on a human arm, severing it from the main body. The beast shrieks in between its laughter and juts its spear-like leg out, hitting Dismas in the side and barely breaching his armour and sending him to the floor, allowing it to escape.

"Commander! Are you alright?" Kanis asks as he runs up, eyeing the departing creature.

With a grunt Dismas forced himself to his feet, ignoring the question in favour of other more demanding matters, "Are the rest dealt with?"

"Yes, the Rangers are helping the wounded. But sir, the undead, they were wearing Imperial uniforms. They must have been the last expedition."

"Pile the bodies and burn them, the undead and our men, have their names recorded." Dismas breathily orders, kicking over the purple arm he'd severed from the abomination...

"Wait, that's-" Kanis speaks up, spotting a black tattoo on it.

"A runic mark." Dismas finishes for him and unconsciously glances to his own arm, "They 'grant' them to the best recruits." he adds, not mentioning the fact that, in his own view, they were basically branding the best and brightest to prevent them from straying away from the Empire. Shaking his head, he looks to Kanis and airs his thoughts, "Your friend?"

Kanis sucks in a shuddering breath, "Y-yes..." he pulls up his sleeve to show his own, an Imperial wolf. "T-that's Eddie..."

"His arm at the very least." Dismas murmurs, "You may be in luck, fresh flesh is always preferable to them... They may be keeping him alive as 'stock'."

Kanis trembles at the thought, but straightens as the thought of rescuing his friend became unlikely, instead of outright impossible.

Dismas cracks his neck and stretches his arms out, nodding in the direction the creature had fled, "We have a lead, I suspect the abomination will have returned to its lair. There, we can put an end to this..."

"Commander, not to question your wisdom but, I believe this plan to be reckless..." Lieutenant Redresk states as the small group heads deeper into the swamp. With as many injured as there was from the ambush, they required rapid care from the Rangers to prevent any maladies, poultices, spells, and regular care was required. Thus, splitting the camp and outgoing force in half, much to most soldiers' disagreement.

"Our enemy does not rest, we will not receive reinforcements any time soon unlike our opponents. Even these swamps contain life, do you wish to see what a dozen undead swamp rattlers can do? They creatures area dangerous even when skittish, make them uncaring of fear and injury, with a bite that can rot a limb in seconds?" Dismas shakes his head, "We will sleep when we are dead, hopefully we will stay that way."

"So manly..." Maelia mutters from the side with a red hue to her cheeks, causing Kanis to wince.

"You can dream of him later, can we focus on finding Eddie?" he quietly asks.

She chews her lip in response, a frown marring her face, "I was trying to not think of it... Thank you for that." she bitterly remarks.

Dismas in the meantime squints at a faint outline in the distance, barely concealed behind some rotten or rotting trees. It was a building of some sort, a dilapidated wooden hut that was raised off of the ground to keep away water, insects, and other pests. The structure also appeared to be connected to a tall rocky mound, a natural formation from what he could tell. The construction itself was falling apart from age and disuse, part of the ceiling and wall collapsed in on itself with seemingly no attempts to fix it.

"Hold!" he commands, "Kanis, Maelia, Ranger Lucretia, accompany me. The rest of you, guard the area and obey Redresk!" he says before stepping towards the structure.

Maelia tinkers with the locked door for a moment before Dismas pushes her aside and simply kicks it open, filling the air with dust and the smell of decay.

"What is this...?" Kanis mutters to himself as they observe inside, spotting various rusty instruments hanging from the ceiling, there was a larger stone table in the center stained black from old blood, scratch marks embedded in it displaying just how roughly whatever or whoever had been operated on was treated.

"I-It looks like a laboratory..." Maelia states. "D-do you think they're the ones responsible for the Restless...?"

Dismas shrugs, unconvinced, "It is more likely that the undead absconded with the property for their own ends... Some seem to retain some deal of their rationality, as warped and twisted as it may be. Perhaps that creature used this place to attach pieces to itself." he says and gestures at the opposite end of the room where a doorway lay, connected to some sort of cave system underneath the stone mound the building was attached to, most likely.

"We will find nothing in here, we must go deeper." he looks into the doorway and sighs, pulling a stubby object from a pouch on his hip, twisting the cap atop it and illuminating the area with a dull blue glow. "The dark is unnatural."

"Unnatural?" Kanis queries.

"It won't merely rid you of your sight, but your other senses too. You will not smell, hear, or feel... The undead do not function like us, so they are unaffected. I have half a mind to flood this place, or try and smoke it out with fire, but I doubt either of you will accept that."

Kanis nods firmly, "If Eddie's down there then we must help him."

"Lucretia, stand by the entrance and be ready to act, I do not have enough of these," he gesture with the strange technological torch, "To support a larger group, any more would be a hindrance."

He waves away the darkness, grips his flintlock, and steps inside.

"The stench is even worse than before..." Kanis can't help but utter, eyeing the moist-looking cave walls in disgust.

"Yeah... Smells like your cooking." Maelia jokes.

"Really...?"

Dismas interrupts the duo by stopping in place, alerted by the sound of something ahead. He waves the torch ahead and reveals six-no, three creatures... Three figures, but each was made up of two corpses that'd had their backs sewn together, fortunately, none seemed to be coordinating with their counterparts very well, leaving them stumbling clumsily.

The front-facing ones spotted the trio but while they tried to make their way towards them, the back ones resisted, leaving them in an awkward stalemate.

Dismas holsters the flintlock and draws his machete, before he can dispatch them however the sound of tearing echoes out, the stitches of one creature failing as it lunges at him, gorily disconnecting itself while practically leaving behind all the flesh of its back in it's haste.

*SkatKch!*

It goes down with a chop at its skull, and the rest go down just as easily with Kanis and Maelia's assistance.

"These things get more hideous the deeper we go into the swamp... I wonder, just what's at the centre of it." Kanis wonders aloud, wiping his blade off on one of the corpse's rags.

They encounter more creatures as they venture further down, animal skulls attached to hands that scuttled about like spiders, bats with stingers made of highly venomous centipedes, scarecrows filled to the brim and controlled by hundreds of undead rats. The latter of which the group only managed to kill by burning the thing in it's entirety.

Finally though, they seemed to reach the end of the place. A large cave formation with knee-deep black waters that seemed to have a mind of their own, slowly attempting to climb up their legs if the tri stood still for too long.

They all pause as they hear suppressed giggle, and a sniffle...?

"There!" Dismas exclaims, drawing his flintlock and aiming at the upside-down yellow eyes and maw, hanging from the ceiling in one corner of the room.

*Bang!*

*Splash!*

The undead laughs as it leaps off of the roof and lands heavily in the water, avoiding the shot and charging straight at them. Kanis and Maelia fire their own muskets, destroying a leg and an arm, but that didn't seem to dissuade it at all.

With a cackled shriek one of its many arms slams into Kanis' chest and smacks him across the room, all while maintaining its charge at Dismas. He manages to cut one limb off but it doesn't stop the rest from getting a hold of him, twenty or so grasping hands and claws gripping his body, limbs, and face.

He struggles against it but is soon lifted from the ground, he snatches his hand back and chops down with his machete before dropping it, reaching for a device in his pocket... Only to be restrained once again.

"UNHAND ME, BEAST!"

It laughs in his face and leans forwards to take a bite out of him, but he's saved just in the nick of time by Maelia, who'd clambered up it's back and struck down on its head with her weapon. This, knocks the rest of the mask off, causing the creature to scream and spasm, unintentionally smacking away the torch in Dismas hand, leaving the room in darkness.

He lands heavily in the water, or that's what he presumes. The darkness completely sapped away his perception of things, making it difficult to tell if he'd been dropped an hour or a moment ago. Habitually shaking his head, he doesn't shout for the others, knowing it wouldn't do any good, instead reaching for his backup torch.

Finding it was difficult enough, using muscle memory instead of feel since he couldn't actually experience anything in this moment. Any other man would have just flailed uselessly until his last breath.

*Snap!*

With a twist of the device, the room is bathed with light once more, and by god's grace Maelia and Kanis hadn't been devoured as he'd feared... Instead, the creature was cowering, cackling, and sobbing at the end of the room, facing the wall with its many hands fearfully gripping its face.

"Are you two uninjured?" he quietly asks, managing to find his machete under the black waters.

"M-My leg is broken..." Maelia painfully breathes.

"I-I'm good, just bruised," Kanis says, readying himself to continue the fight... The creature was still alive after all. "Why the fuck is it crying?"

Dismas doesn't answer, instead slowly approaching it...

"L-Leave ME!" two voices shout, both distorted and warped. "I-I can't STOP IT!"

"Face me, Abomination." Dismas spits.

...

Surprisingly, it listens, slowly turning around, revealing the now maskless face. One side made up of an amorphous darkness, yellow eyes and mouth still visible. While the other side was human, eyes turned yellow with pulsing black veins under his skin, hair dirty and shedding, revealing a bloody scalp.

"E-Eddie!?" Kanis' horrified voice draws its attention.

"KILL me! K-Kanis! I-, it wants to kill YOU ALL!" the man-beast shouts, letting out a warbled scream as it once again lunged towards Dismas... Or tries to, the left side of its body stays firmly rooted in place, Eddie somehow restraining it with whatever willpower he had left.

Dismas doesn't wait, bursting into action and sprinting to the currently paralysed side, he avoids the clawing limbs and spider-like legs. He cuts two off bringing it closer to the ground and allowing him to jump up, gripping the metal-remains of the torture device the creature was housed in.

"Wait! Maybe we can save him!" Kanis exclaims but is ignored outright.

"KILL!" Eddie roars, his arms suddenly grasping Dismas and throwing him heavily to the ground, the right side of his body now trying to drown him in the dirty black waters of the cave.

Kanis runs over with blade drawn and tries to pull him away to no avail, "EDDIE, STOP!"

"KILLLLL!" it roars as Dismas keeps cutting limbs, barely keeping his head above water.

"God damn it!" Kanis shouts, letting go of the limbs and scrambling up his side. "PLEASE, STOP!"

"DO IT, SOLDIER!" Dismas shouts while Eddie and bursts into warbled laughter and manically continues its assault, steadily beating down the commander's resistance.

"DAMN IT!" Kanis raises his weapons and-

*BANG!*

Falls backwards as the body slumps, Maelia having retrieved her musket and fired it despite it being completely soaked... "Hah... Commander, hah... The clay, worked..." she drops the gun and slumps backwards, Kanis only now noticing the faint red tinting the black waters... Her leg hadn't just been broken, but wounded too... Which was a death sentence in these waters.

He sends one last look at Eddie's mutilated form before rushing over to her side. Dismas was already tiredly getting to his feet, the man letting out a long sigh, "I'm too old for this shit... We need bigger guns."

1st Day of the Bloom Cycle, Year 2426 Imperial Standard

The battle was hard fought, but not one without losses. The creature that was once Eddie may have been found but the purge must still go on, thankfully, the Empire is not without its mercies. I have been allowed to immediately take my men out of the swam for resupplies, rearming, and reinforcements.

The creature also needed to be recorded, its corpse brought to the alchemists and artificers for discovery. Even in all my years I have never seen a Restless retain even part of its original personality. That fact 'Eddie' had enough sense left in him to hold back the monster for a moment was a staggering finding on it's own. Though, it does worry me that these creatures are seemingly becoming more... Advanced, as time proceeds.

Eddie could not have been the one using the laboratory we found, which was likely used to create those amalgam abominations. This surely meant that someone else was involved, that someone was responsible for the creation of the undead.

After putting Eddie out of his misery, the three of us were hurriedly brought to the Rangers. We had contracted many ailments, but none too serious in comparison to what could have been. Under the gentle care of our Rangers, we would survive... Maelia however, had to have her leg amputated. Strangely, the girl seemed almost giddy at the thought of having a mechanical one installed, and I'd even heard the girl discuss having explosive weaponry implanted into it, but perhaps that was her attempt to reinvigorate Kanis, who'd sunk into depression after his friend's death.

Our whole entourage will be required to enter isolated to prevent any unforeseen illnesses from affecting the common populace, but as far as I am concerned, that is fine. We could all do with a rest, some more than others.

-Dismas