Pathologic - Day 11

*Spoilers*

The Inquisitor wasn't satisfied with the architectural plans I brought her, so she sent me to confiscate some more. From Petr's twin(?) brother Andrei. But when I arrived at the tavern, he was unexpectedly missing. A dancer told me he had been taken away by soldiers, for the previous day's scuffle (I think he killed some guards trying to protect his brother or something), and he was to be executed. So I flew out to the end of the railroad tracks to save him. He wasn't there, but the firing squad was, and they thought I was Andrei. I traded them a bottle of Panacea for my life, and by the time I got back to the tavern, Andrei was waiting there. I don't quite understand where he had been, but anyway, I got the rest of the plans and took them to the Inquisitor.

These plans revealed the secret of how the Polyhedron stands up, seemingly defying gravity. A "lever" was dug deep into the earth, deep enough to support the monstrous structure, and give it the appearance of floating. In related news, the Haruspicus got back to me about the mission I semi-sent him on a couple days ago, and I met up with him in an abandoned factory. He verified my concern about the tainted ore under the ground, which the inhabitants of the Abattoir allegedly were not surprised to hear about. But, the Haruspicus assured me that it was deep enough that things like digging wells would not be sufficient to stir up the plague. However, the Polyhedron's base, thrust deep into the earth, could well have been the catalyst.

The Inquisitor explained her theory, that the lever dug under the tainted ore, and then gradually pushed it upward until it supposedly infected the water supply (or something). Interestingly, this evidence all seems to prove that the source of infection was indeed the construction of the Polyhedron - though not for mystical reasons (divine revenge for going against the natural plan), but for more scientific reasons. Of course, a believer would likely argue that the scientific explanation is merely the physical manifestation of divine will. Whatever.

There's something strange going on with the Kains. Maria seems to have been (or is in the process of being) reincarnated as a "Mistress", following in the footsteps of her mother. She plans to reinvent the town as some kind of Utopia. There seems to have been some kind of power struggle between three forces, to attain the title of Mistress - Kapella (the Olgimskiy's daughter) was another contender, and I've tentatively concluded that the Devotress was the third, though she seems to deny it. Certain facts can't be denied, but when people start talking to me about these kinds of superstitions, it's hard for me to know just how much to believe. I guess that depends on how things eventually turn out.

To complicate matters further, I had a talk with the Devotress, who is curiously hanging off the arm of the General (from the Saburovs to the General, she must have a thing for executive types - either that, or she just couldn't resist the General's ginormous gun). She told me that the Inquisitor is actually the sister of not Maria but Maria's mother, and that her connection to the Kains is by marriage rather than blood (if I read correctly), and that she had always been against her sister's will, as well as her 'magic'. In this case, the Inquisitor has every reason to fight the Kains and try to destroy their plans. The Devotress also told me that the Inquisitor is facing execution for failing her duty, so this is actually her last desperate act. It explains her suspicions against the Polyhedron, and her desire to destroy it, but I'm still not entirely sure who or how much I can believe.

Tomorrow there will be a town council, and the final decision will be made - what the town's fate will be. As the General puts it, tomorrow the gun fires, the council will decide where it's pointed. There is question of the town itself being the target, having to be destroyed to purge the disease, and I suspect the Polyhedron too will be considered as the target. Perhaps also the Abattoir. Something tells me the result will depend on which three among us, myself, the Haruspicus, and the Devotress, is worthy of claiming success in this entire maddening affair. But certainly, not all questions have yet been answered. Not by a long shot.