WinterHord (5) – Strange Atmosphere, Fables, and Eye Irritation.

The first thing I did when we entered WinterHord was to look at the city still inside the Humvee.

It was obvious, as there was a barrier covering the city, but it wasn't snowy.

The part of the city I could see had a layout similar to the realm, the major difference being that the houses were made of a dark wood, Boreal Wood, if I'm not mistaken.

It was a beautiful color; if I were to build a house in Terraria, I'd probably end up using that wood.

Well, at least the dye of the house could be made from this wood, since, if the choice was between building a house reinforced with steel or something even more resistant than that wood, the choice was obvious.

The second thing I did was essentially done at the same time as the first, which was to look at the Terrarians at the city gates.

The vast majority of them had matching armor and uniforms, so I'll guess and say they were the city guards.

All of them, without excluding a single one I could see, had a tired and worn-out appearance, with huge dark circles, as if they hadn't slept for days or had been sleeping very poorly.

Even the three people who stood out among the guards, wearing different clothes, seemed tired, albeit to a lesser degree.

"Do you know she can't see you, right?" I looked at Selina, who was waving to Dylan's sister, who was staring at the Humvee as if she would kill the first person to come out of it.

Had she forgotten that the Humvee's windows had a black film that blocked the outside view?

"I know!" Selina said amused with a smile on her face. "That's what makes it funnier for me!"

Ignoring Selina's weird sense of humor, at least she had recovered from the effects of the scream, everyone had, actually, which was good.

I needed to use Analyze: Item on some of them to see the real effects of that scream. I hadn't done it until now for one reason.

Everyone, Dylan, Gilbert, Robyn, Selina, all cost too much to be analyzed.

The cheapest, which was Gilbert, cost about five hundred thousand SP.

Did I have that amount of SP? Yes, but if possible, I would prefer to analyze some random resident of WinterHord to save.

I highly doubted that no one in the city had heard that scream, if that was really the only scream that thing gave. If that were indeed the case, well, I would accept the loss and analyze Gilbert.

Pushing those thoughts to the back of my mind, I stopped the Humvee and opened the car door, which would normally let in a cold wind, but thanks to the still active external barrier, the temperature change was minimal.

I was wearing a winter outfit completely engraved with Mystic Symbols and bathed in a paint made from Scarlet Ore, which also helped.

The moment I stepped out of the Humvee, I felt the gaze of everyone around fall on me, along with a sense of heaviness and ominousness.

Something was wrong with this city; I just didn't know what. It was as if the air in the city was heavier, darker...

It was an unpleasant feeling.

While the others got out of the Humvee, I looked at the three who stood out in the crowd of guards.

The first thing I noticed was Dylan's sister, as I had seen her before at the top of the city wall.

She had a medium height; I'd guess around five feet four to five feet six.

She had blonde hair hidden under a white beanie.

Her eyes were a darker greenish color, looking at something behind me as if waiting for someone to come out of the Humvee.

She had her mother's face, which meant she was pretty; not even the slight dark circles and fatigue could hide that fact.

As for her clothes, she wore white winter clothes with some red details here and there, like the cross painted in the center of her chest.

The nurse... Dylan's sister was the NPC nurse.

I had suspected this when Dylan described his sister as one, if not the greatest combat medic in the realm, but seeing her confirmed it for me.

The second person I noticed was the man next to her.

He was tall, probably as tall as me.

I couldn't see the color of the man's hair as it was hidden under the winter beanie he wore, but if I were to compare it to the man's beard, I'd guess it was black or at least dark brown.

The man had dark tan skin and brown eyes staring at both me and the Humvee with a slight suspicion.

His outfit was a complete winter suit, like Melissa's, but instead of white like the nurse's, his suit was an opaque green color, and he wore black winter boots, unlike Melissa's, which were white.

I didn't know if he was an NPC too, but if he was, I had some suspicions of who he might be...

He also looked tired and had the same dark circles as the nurse, perhaps even more than her.

Finally, the last person on the left side of Melissa, the other woman in the group.

The first thing I noticed about her was the long red hair falling out of the beanie she wore.

It was a light shade of red, almost pink, but still a few shades darker than Princess Charlotte's hair.

Unlike the other two who seemed to pay more attention to the Humvee and who else would come out of it, the light green eyes of the redhead examined me, just as I was doing with the three of them.

As for her clothes, like the other two, she wore a full set of thick winter clothes, but hers seemed to be somewhat more stylish, serving as a chic outfit rather than just protection against the cold.

The outfit was a soft blue color blending with shades of purple and a darker blue that managed to conceal some of the fatigue on her face.

I wasn't the best with fashion, but it was a beautiful outfit. Even her boots looked like something out of a fashion magazine.

What was she? A stylist...

Damn.

WinterHord had the highest Wall Creeper production, right? Wasn't the NPC stylist found in the game inside the cave of those things?

While I had my little epiphany, the others finally got out of the Humvee.

The first to step down was Dylan, who walked to my right side and stopped, looking at his sister with a complicated expression.

Melissa mirrored the guide's gaze when she saw him, halting her steps and staring at her brother.

They seemed both happy to see each other and somewhat wary. What was that? Were they in a feud or something?

The second to descend was Robyn, who, the moment her feet touched the ground, stretched, flexing her muscles.

As for her animals, the fox, to Robyn's dismay, had jumped on the ground and rubbed its face on my leg a few times before returning to the zoologist, who picked it up and held it close to her chest.

The owl seemed content to perch on the roof of the Humvee and silently observe everything.

The third to exit the Humvee was Gilbert, who got out of the vehicle on the other side and walked to stand next to Dylan.

Finally, the fourth and last to step out, who instantly caught Melissa's attention, was Selina.

When the nurse noticed the presence of the steampunker, she averted her gaze from her brother and stared at Selina as if she had committed a serious sin.

I didn't know if it was out of anger, shame, or the cold; it was probably a combination of all three, but Melissa's face had gained a flushed red tone.

"I'll be kind and give you five seconds. After five seconds when this barrier drops, I'll come after you." Her voice didn't hide the promise of aggression; it was as if she wanted Selina to know what would happen.

She was lucky I had deactivated the sound suppression matrix; otherwise, this threat wouldn't have been heard.

"Oh~ My dear cousin, is this the reception you give me? Even after I came to this frozen hell looking for you?" Selina had a teasing tone in her voice that seemed to irritate the nurse even more.

"I'm grateful for that fact, believe me, I'm really thankful from the bottom of my heart, but one thing doesn't exclude the other, right, cousin..." The nurse replied without missing a beat, walking almost to the edge of the Humvee barrier.

"Are they always like this?" I asked the guide, who still had a complicated look on his face.

The question seemed enough to pull him out of any thoughts he might have had.

"They've always been like oil and water." The guide explained. "Always poking and provoking each other at the slightest opportunity that arose." Dylan's voice sounded tired just remembering.

I guess it must have been an experience growing up with people like that.

"Well, let's get going then." I said aloud while activating the Mystic Symbols on my clothes, preparing for the cold that I knew would come.

I won't leave this barrier on, even though it alone cost less than complete protections, it still cost something! My stock of Artificial Sapphires had been damaged enough.

The others, seeing my actions, did the same. Selina was the only one who seemed not to notice what was happening and didn't activate the symbols on her clothes.

"Kya!" Selina practically curled up into a ball when the cold wind hit her body after I turned off the barrier surrounding the Humvee and stored the car in my inventory.

The angry look she gave me while activating the Mystic Symbols on her clothes to warm up was one that promised revenge.

A look that only seemed to intensify even more when she heard the laughter from the rest of the group.

"You know it was a joke, right?"

"Of course, I know, but as I said before, one thing doesn't exclude the other, right?"

Before I could decide whether to interfere or not, someone did it for me, the redhead.

"As entertaining as it is, and I'm used to the cold, I still prefer the sweet warmth from inside my home..." The stylist said, taking a step forward and placing herself between the two groups.

"...Let's keep going and continue this in a warmer place?" She asked, looking at Melissa and then at me.

"Alright." Melissa said with a sigh in her voice.

I simply nodded in agreement and gestured for her to lead the way.

As I followed the stylist, a thought wandered through my head. Should I turn off the Mystic Symbols on my clothes and let my body adapt to the cold?...

Well, I'll think about that later. For now, let's see what's happening in this city since, after the Humvee barrier dropped, the ominous feeling only seemed to intensify.

My eyes also seemed to get dry for some reason, as if I were straining my vision. Damn, I forgot to make winter goggles... I'll improvise some later today.

The few residents of WinterHord that I could see, those in the streets not locked in their homes, seemed paranoid, as if they were expecting an attack at any moment.

The mere sight of a shadow seemed to scare them...

It seems my suspicions that the scream had reached the city were not just suspicions...

... And it also seems that Robyn wasn't the only one who had seen a hallucination...

[...]

The journey to the mansion of the Count of WinterHord was quick, lasting a few minutes.

Minutes that I took advantage of to read the (CHAT) and ask something I had wanted to ask for some time but hadn't had the chance.

("Did the scream affect you? Did you see the hallucination Robyn saw?") I quickly typed the words on the Minimap for the (CHAT) to see.

[(MOD)GeniusBillionairePlayboy]: Don't worry, DS, the stream protected us. If not, I'm sure it would have affected us somehow. There was even a warning when the scream happened. (Iron Man pointing up emote).

[(MOD)RedHuntressLive]: It didn't affect us, but it wasn't a pleasant sound to hear... My ears hurt a bit. (Little Red Riding Hood covering her ears emote).

[(MOD)Jarvis]: Mr. Stark, I found nothing in the database related to the name: "Deerclops." But I found several legends related to Wendigos and other beings that supposedly appeared in icy places. Would you like me to show the data?

[TohsakaHeiress]: I searched a bit in the books I have about Phantasmal Beasts, found nothing related to that name either, and to answer the question, no, we weren't affected by the scream. (Chibi Rin picking a book from the shelf emote).

[WiseWizardGleam]: This scream reminded me a bit of the cry of a Mandrake, at least the cry of a baby Mandrake. An attack directly related to magic? Or an attack on the soul? (Old wizard with shining eyes thinking emote).

I quickly pulled up the warning Stark said appeared in front of me.

[WARNING! POSSIBLE HARM TO VIEWERS DETECTED!]

[INITIATING SECURITY FILTER]

[SECURITY FILTER ACTIVATED!]

The stream indeed had a security system for viewers... That was good.

I just didn't understand why this filter wasn't something that was activated all the time; it wasn't to save energy, of that I was sure.

Perhaps the filter was something that would hinder viewers from watching the stream, so it was only activated when extremely necessary?

Or maybe the filter was something more individual, activated only for people the stream knew could be affected by something negative?

Damn, it's in these moments that I wish the stream had some kind of manual beyond the "Beginner Streamer Guide."

I also took the opportunity to ask if the hallucination that Robyn had seen appeared on the stream. Unfortunately, the answer was no; the hallucination didn't appear on the stream's camera.

I didn't think the stream was incapable of seeing hallucinations, so it was one of two things: Either I still didn't have the necessary camera for hallucinations to be captured on the stream's camera.

And since the stream didn't offer me to buy a camera like with the "Spiritual Camera," I probably didn't have enough SP to buy such a camera.

Or the "Spiritual Camera" was sufficient, and the hallucinations were just not being seen because I couldn't see them myself, and the cameras seemed to be based on my vision.

Anyway, no matter which of these options was correct, my plan to use the stream as my eyes had gone down the drain...

I had to be careful with some of the city guards too, as the moment I stored the Humvee in the inventory, they blinked red for an instant on the Minimap before returning to yellow.

I didn't blame them for being desperate and wanting to grab the nearest means of escape, which in this case was the Humvee they had seen withstand the storm.

But if they thought they could try to take my car or threaten me to get it, they would have a nasty surprise...

After a few more minutes of walking, we reached the mansion, where the introductions finally began.

[…]

The first to introduce herself when we entered the mansion's meeting room was the stylist, or at least who I thought was the stylist.

"Sorry for the late introduction, but I thought it best not to chat in the cold." She smiled before continuing. "Pleasure, I am the Countess of WinterHord. Annabel WinterHord."

Dylan had explained to me that this city had been founded by a noble family almost two hundred years ago, and the city had been named after that family's surname.

The County of WinterHord.

I took a step forward and introduced myself. Whether I liked it or not, I was the leader of the group.

"Pleasure to meet you, Miss Annabel." I inclined myself gently in a greeting I had learned from Dylan a few days ago.

I quickly found out that I hated noble etiquette, but still made an effort to be polite.

"I'm Devas, the leader of this group of contractors." I said, pointing to the four behind me for them to introduce themselves.

Even though Dylan and Selina were already known, they still introduced themselves, followed by Gilbert and Robyn.

I let Millia sleep silently inside the Slime Staff.

The next to introduce themselves were the two behind the countess. Melissa introduced herself with a slight polite reference, and Darnell, who I found out was not noble, like me, was just a contractor from the Guild.

With the introductions finished before sitting down at the table to start the "meeting," Melissa asked me.

"I had never seen you before in the kingdom." She examined me as she continued. "Are you some kind of secret guard from the castle?" She went straight to the point.

Isn't her family close to the royal family? Shouldn't she know if I were one of those guards?.

I wasn't surprised by this information since it was basically an open secret that the castle had hidden guards protecting it.

And even if it were truly something secret, I still wouldn't be surprised. What royalty doesn't have some kind of secret protector or something like that?.

"I think I'll disappoint you there." I replied, sitting down at the same time Annabel did. "I'm just a Guild contractor."

"And I must be an ant." I heard Selina mutter quietly, sitting two chairs to my left.

Again with this ant comparison? Selina must have some kind of fetish for butts, or maybe one for ants, which would be weird.

Melissa looked at me with a strange look that was mirrored by Annabel's gaze before sighing. Darnell was the only one who seemed to accept my explanation.

"If you don't want to say, don't say, but at least come up with a better excuse." Funny, if a truth was something absurd, it was instantly considered a lie.

I didn't bother correcting the misunderstanding since I was sure Selina or Dylan would do that for me later when they talked to Melissa.

And even if they didn't, it wouldn't change anything anyway.

"Are you the only ones who came, or is there anyone else?"

Melissa spoke again. She seemed to be taking the lead as the leader, even though Annabel was the Countess, who seemed fine with Melissa asking the questions.

"I'm afraid we're the only ones." I said, looking at Melissa's reaction, which didn't seem surprised for some reason.

Had she guessed that something was happening in the kingdom?.

"I figured that was the case. Something serious must be happening in the kingdom..." Her voice faded as she spoke the last part, being just a whisper.

Well, there's my answer, she really had guessed.

"It was my mother who sent you?" Dylan was the one who answered for me.

"Yes, she got worried when she heard about the storm." He said with a tense voice. "All of us did." Well, by all of us, I imagine he meant he was worried.

I hadn't had the misfortune of participating in something like that since I had always been an only child, but I recognized a typical sibling fight when I saw one.

Siblings who, even when quarreling, still cared for each other, just didn't know how to express it.

I'm sure if it weren't a serious situation, Selina would have made some kind of joke, but she seemed able to restrain herself, even though I could see her lips moving slightly as if she wanted to speak.

"Getting straight to the point." Annabel coughed lightly into her hand to clear the air at the table. "What do you know about the storm?" She asked without beating around the bush.

"About the storm or the thing within it?" I asked back, making Annabel sigh and confirm that yes, the screams had reached the city.

Damn... how many hallucinations were there in this place? Were they the ones causing the city's atmosphere like this?

"So, you heard the screams. Do you know what that thing is?" She asked, with a tired and tense voice, as if just thinking about the screams stressed her out.

"I have a suspicion of what it might be." Which at this point was more of a certainty than really a suspicion.

I narrated the "legend" of the Deerclops for the table to hear. Interestingly, Annabel seemed to recall something as I gave the boss's description.

Melissa seemed to notice this fact since she was closest to the countess and asked.

"Do you recognize this thing?" She asked the countess. "Do you know what this deer is?"

"It's not exactly the same description, but I've heard something similar before." She replied after a few moments.

"It's not really a legend, more like something even older, a fable." She explained.

"If I hadn't heard this description, I probably wouldn't even remember this fable; it's something my grandmother used to tell me when I was a child, a silly story to scare me when I didn't want to sleep."

Before anyone could ask what the fable was about, Annabel began to explain.

"I don't remember everything, but it was basically like this: In the snowy mountains, in a frozen place, a demon with large horns and one eye was sealed..." She took a few seconds to think before continuing.

"Do not wander at dusk, where shadows come to life, do not make noise to avoid waking it, for when hungry, it awakens and will try to devour you..." She paused.

"That's it, it's not exactly how my grandmother told me, since I don't remember everything, but essentially that's the fable."

Okay... Even though Annabel might have forgotten some parts of the fable, that was enough.

The description was simple but vaguely matched the Deerclops's description. What gave me more certainty that this fable really talked about the boss was its last part.

"Do not wander at dusk, where shadows come to life..." I murmured, catching the attention of everyone at the silent table who were thinking.

"The hallucination..." Robyn said with a furrowed brow when she realized what it was, the same happened with almost everyone at the table.

"That's what I thought too..." What were the Hallucinations if not shadows that had come to life?

Nightmares that became real?...

"Who told this fable to your grandmother?" I asked. How long ago had this guy come to Terraria?

"Her grandmother." Was Annabel's answer. "And her grandmother before that and so on. It's a very old story, even before WinterHord was WinterHord."

Magnificent!

We were dealing with a very ancient "demon"...

Did its seal weaken? Or was it released by someone? The goblins, perhaps? Or the cultists?... Damn, there were those guys, weren't there?

What would someone gain by releasing the Deerclops in WinterHord other than killing everyone in the city?... Unless the target wasn't WinterHord...

A smokescreen for what's going to happen in the kingdom, perhaps? A distraction?... Something to disperse the kingdom's forces?...

"This thing, this Deerclops." Melissa's voice pulled me out of my thoughts. She seemed to be the most stressed among the three.

"What about it?" I asked, just as everyone paid attention to the nurse's words.

"Does it take hits?" Does it take hits?... What the hell kind of question was that?

My indignation must have shown on my face because Melissa rephrased the question, this time asking something that a person with a good eight hours of sleep would ask, not the two hours Melissa seemed to have slept.

"Does it die? Can it be killed?" She asked, the same question Dylan had asked before.

"As far as I know, yes." Nothing so far indicated otherwise; we even received the bonus information that it could be sealed.

This answer seemed to satisfy the nurse, who sighed and leaned back in her chair while yawning with her hand in front of her mouth, which, in turn, made Annabel and Darnell yawn as well.

The three seemed tired.

I didn't even need to ask to know that the screams were to blame for keeping them awake.

"The hallucinations, is there someone you know who sees them in a recurring way?" I asked Annabel without revealing the urgency in my voice.

We didn't have much time to waste. Forget the city barrier running out of mana, how many days would it take for everyone in the city to go crazy from sleep deprivation and hallucinations?

Annabel hesitated for a moment before answering.

"The prison, my guards arrested some men who had started a revolt; they must be the people who see the most hallucinations in the whole city." Perfect.

"Can you take me there?" I said, standing up. Before anyone could ask why, I specified. "I want to see if I can find out something about the hallucinations." Analyzing a random prisoner would cost much less than analyzing anyone in this room.

"I can take you there." Annabel said as she stood up. "I got curious to know what kind of discovery this is." She explained.

With that, everyone at the table began to stand up. I thought Dylan might want to say something to his sister, but both he and she seemed more interested in what I intended to do.

It took about ten minutes to get to the city prison, and if I could summarize the atmosphere inside in one word, it would be: Horrible.

It was like the city, only several times worse. It was as if I had just entered an abandoned insane asylum that I was sure was haunted.

"Nice place." I said ironically as I descended the stairs towards the prisoners' cells.

Downstairs, the few occupied cells were illuminated by torches, and the prisoners, well...

"GET ME OUT OF HERE! SHE'S GONNA GET ME, THE SHADOWS ARE COMING!"

Let's say that a twenty-year resident of an insane asylum would seem saner than some people down here.

"Isn't this kind of cruel?" I heard Robyn murmur behind me.

"Just kind of?" Selina asked back. "For what reason do you keep these men alive?"

"These men were arrested yesterday..." Annabel's voice sounded sad about the prisoners' state. "They're not criminals; they're just people who went mad."

"Encouraging..." Gilbert muttered.

"THERE!" Before I could approach any of the men in the cells, I heard Selina scream and point to the side.

"There's one of those things there... Damn, they really look like bugs...." The Steampunker's body trembled nauseated as she took a few steps back.

Looking in the direction Selina had pointed, I... saw nothing.

"You guys don't see it, do you?" She asked.

"No." Almost everyone answered.

"But I see another one there." Melissa said, pointing to the other side. "They only attack if you're in a really bad state; before that, they just stand there looking. Ugly little things."

Voyeur hallucinations, incredible!

"If I attack them, what happens?" I asked, looking to where Melissa said she saw the hallucination.

"Nothing, only those who see them can attack them; others just pass through them like smoke." Melissa replied without missing a beat.

"How does it feel?" I asked. "What's the sensation when someone else's hallucination passes through you?"

"Nothing, it's like they're not even there." Darnell answered me. "I tried to attack a few times when Melissa said she saw them, nothing happened."

Hmm... The more I learned about these hallucinations, the fewer answers I had.

Well, let's analyze these guys quickly and get out of this place. I'll take the opportunity to throw some Purification Powder in the cells; even though it's not a cure, it should help these men a little.

[...]

POV: Selina Steamhord.

Now I understood why Robyn was disturbed by the hallucinations; they were disturbing...

What I didn't understand was why Devas seemed unaffected by them or the environment around him.

As ironic as he was when he entered the prison, he didn't seem altered. It was as if being in this horrible environment didn't bother him.

"What are you going to do?" Dylan asked, watching Devas walk to the nearest cell.

"I'm going to see if I can figure out what..." Devas stopped the sentence halfway and blinked his eyes a few times.

"Something happened?" Did he see a hallucination or something?

"No, just... My eyes started itching..." His eyes started itching? Is he serious?

"SHE'S GOING TO KILL ME, LET ME OUT!" The screams of the men in the cells didn't help either.

I know they're innocent, but at this point, death was more of a blessing than a punishment.

"SHE'S COMING!" The man in the cell closest to Devas shouted, pointing forward, next to Devas.

Devas turned his head slowly in the direction the man had pointed and looked in that direction as if following something with his eyes, moving his head slowly as something only he could see moved.

Before I could ask if he was okay or had seen a hallucination, he moved.

It was a fluid and quick movement that I could only partially perceive because I was focused on it.

A strange wooden sword appeared in Devas's hand, and he struck forward in a single blow attacking the air...

"Interesting..." I heard him murmur.

...Or at least, I thought it was the air, but the man in the cell seemed to have a different opinion than mine.

"SHE'S DEAD! SHE'S DEAD!" He seemed happy, still insane, but happy.

She's dead? Who, the hallucination he had talked about?

"You killed a hallucination?" Melissa asked with a confused voice. "Did you see his hallucination?..."

It was only then that I realized Devas's eyes had changed; they were still the same light brown color as always, but around the iris, the veins of his eyes were reddish, as if he had been days without sleep.

He also had dark circles that had appeared out of nowhere.

"Yes." He replied. "Yes to both questions."

"..."

WHAT THE HELL!?