((This is a half-turn because I don't have the time to write a full turn at the moment. This means that food will not be consumed and stats will not change negatively. I will replace the current system with a time-based rather than turn-based system in the next update.))
Observing this new development from the well-shadowed ceiling, you watch as the miners scurry to obey their orders. Several pass directly under you, and for now you resist the urge to eat them. That will come later.
As the eleven remaining able-bodied miners go about creating barricades from ore pallets and rubble, you pursue the six sent to warn the village of their plight.
Meanwhile, the ghosts are at work.
Shadows move in the corner of one's eye, a barricade shifts and collapses, and an inexplicable fog of dust rises in the mine, thick enough to cause the miners to don face cloths. These supernatural happenings are negatively affecting morale, and you feel their fear.
Floating gently behind the last miner in the moving party, what you do to him is anything but. Unfortunately, his scream of terror and agony echoes down the tunnels, and the other five miners turn in time to see his corpse fusing with the ceiling. Understandably, they turn their run into a dead sprint for the outside world.
Ironside stopped short as he heard the scream, and sent two men to barricade the entrance to the room as well. As they were gathering materials to do this, a body, flying from the direction of the entrance tunnel, slammed into the far wall with incredible force, fracturing the stone of the back wall with a sickening
Crack. On impact, each and every bone shattered and killed the unfortunate (or perhaps fortunate?) miner instantly.
That did it. The morale of the miners broke, and they fled into the deeper reaches of the mine and left tools and equipment behind them. Ironside shouted after them, but they took no heed and he had no choice but to follow.
Meanwhile, the four remaining men in the entrance tunnel realize that they had nowhere to run, and halt as you appear in front of them with a sharp
snap of displaced air. You let out a roar so loud and so chilling that the lenses of one man's glasses shatter. Flinching, he rips them off of his face and they all back up several paces. One simply faints dead away while the others cluster together and try to hide behind one other. They are obviously terrified and with no means of escape, and you consider your options.
Strength End of Last Turn: 15 base 10 ( +1 for killing, +1 for good meal, +2 for causing terror, +1 for Fun)
Start of This Turn - 11 base 10 (-1 (hungry), +1 for causing terror)
End of This Turn - 15 base 12 (-1 (hungry), +2 for causing terror, +2 for killing, +2 base for same)
Mind End of Last Turn: 18 base 10 (+1 for killing, +7 for causing terror, +2 base for same)
Start of This Turn: 16 base 10 (+6 for causing terror)
End of This Turn: 26 base 13 (+9 for causing terror, +1 base for same, +6 for causing terror, +2 base for same, -1 for TK stunt, -1 for fusing man into ceiling
Time: 3:00
Resources:
1 human corpse in the deeper mines - 3 food
1 human corpse in the upper mines - 3 food
3 Souls
Sitrep:
11 terrified miners hiding in the deep mines -
1 moderately wounded in arm and leg
4 terrified miners in front of you in the entrance tunnel -
1 incapacitated due to sheer terror
Village -
pop. 380
7 militia
1 militia commander
1 Ecclesiarchy priest
Body Count -
1 sheep
3 Kylings Cross militia
5 Miners
You have reached the 2x base limit on your Mind stat, meaning that any further temporary buffs will "bleed" at four times the normal rate until falling back to twice the base stat. Upon this happening, the bleed rate will return to normal.
Also, you can make a conscious choice to sustain yourself off of your temp stats, depleting two temp strength per turn instead of consuming flesh. Mind is worth half of Strength, meaning that you will have to consume two Mind to gain the same amount of sustenance as 1 Strength.
EDIT: Fixed some inconsistencies and general derpiness. Let me know if you find anything I missed.