Chapter Sixty: The Cloven Women (Patreon)

“They’re just…” a man yelled from atop one of the viewing platforms. I couldn’t see his face, but I could hear the confusion in his voice. “They’re just women.”

“What is that you say?” Theodore called out.

“There are no monsters,” the lookout said. “There are women wandering about. Maidens.”

The strange animalistic voice from before did not repeat, but the gate still shook. Something strong on the other side was hitting it.

The animals in the corral had started making noise again. They pushed against the sides of their enclosures.

I had to get a view of the monsters. If I could get a look at them, I could be of use.

We were Off-Screen again. This mini storyline had not been acting strangely like the one before it. I assumed that if the camera was not on us, it must have been on the other side of the valley. I could only imagine what Anna and the others were going through.

The needle on the plot cycle struck First Blood.

With the camera elsewhere, the gate was not going to open. The NPCs were stuck on a loop of waiting for the gate to break down so that the scene could continue. Men stood their ground holding their weapons up in attack position against the unseen enemy.

Among us, there were only three muskets in total. Walter held one and the other two were in the hands of men perched on top of two of the buildings within the newly built walls. I predicted that they would be of little use.

Douglas stood next to me in fear and confusion.

“What is happening,” Douglas said to me as soon as we were On-Screen again. “It cannot be. Why would they…”

He was drowned out by the louder banging on the gate. Men had been stacking anything they could find in front of it. Whatever was on the other side was strong enough to send anything they stacked flying. Wood was splintering off the other side with every blow.

“Ready yourselves,” Theodore cried. He had a hard look in his eye. A focused look. Even at his age, he stood tall and tried to project bravery for his kin.

I had my pitchfork prepared. I would be useless with it. I had not foreseen a direct fight like this. I always thought I would be able to sneak around and avoid danger. At the very least, I expected any fights to happen in the Finale with Anna around so that she could buff my Mettle.

So much for that. I had focused so much on making my Oblivious Bystander strategy work that I had neglected my preparation for an actual fight.

Bam.

Crack.

They would be through soon.

Dina gathered beside me. Her stats were better than mine for a fight. Not that much better, but still.

Bam.

The gate blew open. The boards and crates that had been used to hold it closed were no match for the creatures outside.

~~~

As the gate crumpled from the last strike, I saw the monsters.

But they didn’t look like monsters.

They were women. Just women. The lookout had been correct. They were pretty for this day and age. They wore long dresses that draped down over their feet.

“Oh god,” Dina said with a quiver in her voice.

What was she so shocked about?

Most everyone had the same dumb confused look on their faces that I probably did.

There were six of them. They didn’t seem threatening. Yet, I felt a familiar force on my mind like I had with the Stragglers. I could tell I was being manipulated, but I couldn’t tell how.

“You got anything?” Dina asked me. I could see the fear in her eye. Whatever it was she saw scared her deeply.

But why?

They looked harmless.

Shit, I needed to think. Dina had wanted me to use Trope Master on them. In the moments since then, I almost forgot. My mind was fuzzy. I focused on the one that stood in front of the others.

That was a lot to process in a small amount of time. At the time, the thing I noticed was that it was a Non-Combatant, which meant it would normally not have to risk being hurt. It had completely disregarded that protection by attacking us. Strange.

What this meant to me was that it probably didn’t need a lot of Grit if its build was logical. We might stand a chance.

One of the Cloven Women, the one that appeared to be the leader, walked forward to the nearest man, the red-bearded cousin I had seen earlier. She made eye contact with him. He did not attack her as she got close to him. He was under her spell.

“Run!” a woman screamed from behind me.

“Kill it,” Dina yelled.

Several of the faster-thinking Akers stepped forward to try to intercede, but they were too far away.

The red-bearded man did nothing but look back at us strangely as she approached.

As she neared him, she reached her hand up to the side of his face, caressing it. Then she grabbed his beard and pulled hard. He fell forward onto the ground. Then, she stomped his head. It might as well have been an egg under her foot.

Everyone screamed at the sight of it. Whatever men might have been entranced by the women suddenly snapped out of it and started to attack.

The creatures were strong and fast, but they were wary of the weapons facing them. The muskets fired upon them every time the guns could be reloaded. If the shots hit, they would only leave scrapes. Nothing substantial. None of the shooters had good enough Hustle to get a good shot in.

Walter shot his musket at one of the Cloven Women as she threw three men across the ground into the wall. His shot did nothing. She didn’t even turn to him.

The leading Cloven Woman caught sight of Douglas and began approaching. In the background, the other monsters threw men around and stomped them to death every time the camera returned.

Dina and I raised our pitchforks. Douglas had a crude spear that he held out in a panic.

She moved forward, trying her best to dodge the points of our weapons.

“This shouldn’t be happening,” Douglas said. “This isn’t what I wanted.”

The Cloven Woman lunged at Douglas, but he dropped back behind Dina and me. In the corner of my eye, I saw Walter frantically trying to reload his weapon.

The Cloven Woman still had her eyes on Douglas as she lunged around Dina, attempting to grab him. She wasn’t even trying to get at Dina, despite Dina being in arms reach.

But Walter didn’t see that.

“Dina!” he yelled. In an instant, he jumped between Dina and the monster, trying to point his musket at the attacking woman’s head.

The woman struck him so hard that his musket went flying. He was cast to the ground with a crunch. Then the woman lifted a foot and stomped Walter’s chest with a sickening crunch.

Her... foot?

As I stared, I realized that she didn’t actually have a foot. She had a hoof. A cloven hoof.

The wool was lifted from my eyes in an instant. How had I not seen?

This monster wasn’t a woman, not a human woman. She was a terrifying hybrid of woman and beast. Deer, goat, I couldn’t tell which. Her eyes were large like a doe’s eyes and her look was wild and untamed.

Her magic had stopped me from seeing that.

Now that my head was clear, I jumped toward the musket that Walter had dropped. I picked it up and aimed it at the Cloven Woman. My Hustle was surely high enough to get a hit.

Bam.

She screamed out an animalistic yelp in pain as the shot tore across the bridge of her nose and struck her left eye.

As high as my Hustle was, my Mettle wasn’t enough for the kill. The Cloven Woman pounced on me and drove her hoof down onto my leg. I was able to move it out of the way enough that it only made contact with my foot, crushing three of my toes.

The monster still screamed out in pain from her lost eye.

I screamed out in pain because of my crushed toes.

However, its pain didn't last long because Dina drove her pitchfork into the beast’s back.

As I suspected, the creature had low Grit. Together, we were strong enough that it fell to the ground, dead.

~~~

As soon as we got our kill, we went Off-Screen. The monsters retreated until it was time for the fight to continue. Six of our men were dead, a half dozen more injured. The NPCs had managed to kill one Cloven Woman while I wasn't looking, though that was obviously scripted. There were four of them left. Our numbers might not hold our when the fighting started again.

I looked over the remaining men and women of the Akers clan. The NPCs waited fearfully for the next foray. They were shaking, bleeding.

These creatures tropes said that they attacked men, usually through seduction. Looking around, I realized that the only dead or injured NPCs were men. The women were shaken up, but they had largely been ignored.

In fact, the creature had tried to reach around Dina to get to Douglas. Originally, I thought that was because of their different Plot Armor ratings. What if it was more than that? What if these Cloven Women only attacked men?

With my head clear, it was obvious.

“They aren’t attacking the women,” I said. “They have a trope called Succubus. I think it prevents them from harming women.”

It wasn't a sure thing. These creatures hadn’t been sticking to their lore. They were built to lure men away from campfires and get the drop on them. Attacking like this was unusual. They basically forfeited their Non-Combatant trope which would have made them untouchable.

Did that mean they would be willing to attack women too?

Dina looked around at the carnage and saw that what I was saying seemed true.

“We need to get the women out front,” she said.

I nodded.

“That’s the game, isn’t it?” I said. “The main characters are trapped in a cult that subjugates women. The cult gets attacked by monsters that only kill men. That’s the gimmick.”

Kimberly and Anna were the main characters of this story. Dina and I were just part of the B Story. Having monsters that refused to kill women would make sense in that light.

But there was something else we needed to talk about. Douglas. What was it he had said? He didn’t ask for this? We would need to find out more about that.

On-Screen.

The beasts instantly jumped back into the fray, throwing the NPCs around with ease.

“They aren’t attacking the women,” Dina yelled. “These creatures are only after the men!”

She stepped forward, instantly willing to test our theory. She stood before one of the Cloven Women as it charged forward to the group of men where Theodore was.

The creature stopped short of her. They had a sort of staring contest for the camera. The creature backed down and turned its attention elsewhere.

“My god!” Theodore said. Similar exclamations were made elsewhere. “Can it be?”

A voice I had not heard in hours chimed in, “We must at least try.”

It was Esther, Theodore’s sister.

Theodore was hesitant. He clearly had difficulty asking his female kin to step in front of their male counterparts, but as he glanced around at the fallen, he saw the truth in what Dina had said.

“Women, I can only ask you to forgive me if I am wrong. Please step to the front!” he yelled.

Those that had been watching the exchange hesitated. Dina stepped forward. Then Esther.

Soon, other women stepped forward. They waved their spears and sticks at the creatures. The Cloven Women wanted to proceed, but when they could find no men nearby to attack, they backed away.

There was still a group of men toward the entrance of the stronghold fending off two of the Cloven Women. They weren’t doing well.

“Move forward,” Esther yelled.

The women stepped forward, shaking as they did.

“Men, get behind the line!” Theodore yelled to the men who were still confronting the Cloven Women.

They looked over and saw what we were doing, but they were unsure.

The line of women moved forward, weapons outstretched.

The men must have decided that there was something to this plan. They tried backing away from the remaining Cloven Women. At first, they were slow, careful not to drop their guard, but as soon as they had their backs to the line of women, they turned and ran across to the other side of the line.

And so, the line of women held firm between two of the buildings within the walls. The men stood behind them, ready to assist should the Cloven Women attack.

But that didn’t happen.

The Cloven women, unable to get to any men, slowly backed away, turned their tail, and faded into the darkness.

“Why would they attack us?” Douglas was still asking behind me. He spoke with a nervous frenzy. “This isn’t what I asked for.”