Pathologic - The Inquisitor Arrives

*Spoilers*

Morning of Day 7 brought a disturbing series of events. I got an alarming note from Eve, and was led mistakenly out to the swamps I had scouted out earlier, only to receive another note from the Devotress explaining that Eve had plunged from the top of the Cathedral to her death. I think she was trying to pull off some kind of miracle or something, but it sadly seems to have been in vain. She hadn't contributed a whole lot, but I'll miss her just the same. I'm actually still kind of skeptical as it's not like I saw her body or anything (and if I'm learning anything, it's that you can't quite trust anybody's word in this town), but I'll take it at face value for the time being.

In Eve's place, the Inquisitor arrived (and surprise, she's a woman), and took up residence in the Cathedral. I wasn't quite sure what to expect - I've heard lots of nasty rumors about the Inquisitor - but she's proved a valuable ally, at least for this first day in her service. She seems to have suspicions about the Authorities' true goals, and, though it's hard to follow some of the dialogue (likely due to the wonky translation), I'm getting the feeling that this isn't just any old backwoods town, and that there's more to this whole infection business than I've been led to believe (conspiracy, anyone?). I'm still not sure how much I can trust the Inquisitor, but as long as she serves my interests, I'm happy. Can you believe, she's actually the sister to Maria Kain, the Kain's daughter, who lives in town, and who is one of my adherents?

Among the revelations brought by the Inquisitor was the fact that three Observers from the Authorities, hiding among those wearing the bird costumes (which sufficiently hide one's identity), have been here in town the whole week watching and reporting my actions. Furthermore, one of them was revealed to be a traitor to the Authorities, and it was my duty to sniff him out and offer him up for the Inquisitor to apply her exacting (and lethal) judgement. I'm a little concerned that maybe I should have been on the traitor's side, since I myself am suspicious of the Authorities, who seem to be out to ruin my career back home (wherever home is), but I didn't appear to have much of an option to go against the Inquisitor's advice. Besides, she did me a personal favor in sparing one of my adherents (the architect Petr) from the petty wrath of the over-zealous previous commandant Saburov (upon arrival, the Inquisitor attained full and undisputed authority over the town).

So I really don't know which way things are headed, the most I can do is just go along, trying to keep my head above the water, and doing the best I can to try and do what's right, while trying to figure out (in vain or otherwise) the mysteries as they are thrown at me. Meanwhile, the infection's continued to spread and it's been getting harder and harder to avoid contamination. In addition to the shambling infecteds, scurrying plague rats, mobbers, and now Molotov cocktail armed disgruntled soldiers, the clouds of infection seem to be getting more numerous and more aggressive and, perhaps, worst of all, a new source of infection has appeared in the form of a rust brown-colored apparition shaped strangely like an angel that comes out of nowhere and chases you with speed and precision that the regular clouds of infection lack. It's pretty intimidating. I'm finding myself quicksaving a lot more frequently in order to make "clean runs" through the dangerous areas. Just can't afford to make too many mistakes, and I can barely afford to even get infected at all.

Speaking of which, I bumped into a little girl (real young) who had another dose of powder to trade (the kind that cures infection straight up). But I didn't have enough trinkets of interest to the girl to trade for it, which really frustrated me. Powder, so very useful, and so very rare, and there it was, and I couldn't trade for it! Sigh.

Oh yes, and somebody at the shelter house apparently got infected. One of the bird costumed figures (though not, from what I can tell, one of the hidden Observers), wouldn't let me in until I brought him some antibiotics. It's unclear who exactly got infected (it was implied that it was one of the important townsfolk, but the only one inside is Lara Ravel, and the sick person was referred to as a 'he' - maybe a translation error, perhaps), and when I finally got inside, I didn't see any evidence to suggest that anyone was infected, or even sick at all. So...I'm not sure if I was scammed, or if I'm missing something, but whatever.

One of the side quests for the day got me one of those bird costumes - bird hood + cloak. Not sure how useful it is outside of specific quest-related objectives, although it is neat to have. But anyway, I got a note from the Haruspicus asking me to return the favor he did me in helping me to procure an infected heart the other day (as if breaking him out of jail counts for nothing!) - and what he requires is one of those very bird costumes. The hint on my map indicates that he "may" be waiting for me at the tavern in the "evening". I'm at the tavern and it's 9pm and he's not there. I hope I haven't missed my opportunity. There's still a chance that he'll show up at 10, so I'm crossing my fingers.

And hopefully, Eve's death was truly unavoidable (if she really is dead), meaning that I will live to see the sun rise again. Who knows how things will progress from here, going into the second half of this nightmare.

But in happier news, food prices have miraculously and drastically dropped for once! Maybe that's a result of the Inquisitor having brought supplies to the town with her arrival. Hmm. Better play it safe and stock up while that option's available to me...