Massacre at the High Plains Hamlet

Disaster / Destruction

The Baron's cruel slaughter and dismemberment of the people of the High Plains Hamlet becomes a pivotal moment in The Mask Collector's psychological collapse.

Seething with rage and resentment as he watched the Lord of the High Plains Estate and the Mistress of the Hunt begin to shine with altruistic devotion to people so unexpectedly under their care, the Baron fell upon the hamlet with the intent to make a point: that the Elanni who damned themselves had no right - and indeed, no ability - to receive redemption. He was unfortunately correct.   While the Lord and Mistress were away, the Baron killed the majority of the citizens and ate their bodies, leaving only their masks - torn from their owners and hung from trees like the heads of criminals. Witnessing the grisly aftermath of the Baron's rampage, the Lord drew precisely the wrong conclusion: that somehow the Baron's interest was tied up in the masks themselves and not the people who wore them. Descending into arcane madness, he sought to develop a technique to remove a person's mask without killing them. This, of course, delighted the Baron to no end, as it validated his views with irony unhoped for.   The only blot on the Baron's enjoyment of the event was the reaction of the Mistress of the Hunt, who only devoted herself even more selflessly to the preservation of the remaining townsfolk and the caretaking of the ever more frantic Lord. Just when he thought he could bear no more of her presumptuous charity and resolved to kill her, the Lord perfected his technique and employed it first on the very one the Baron hated most. Thereafter, the Lord - now the Mask Collector - took the masks from the other survivors and made them "guests" at his estate. The Baron finds this farcical paternalistic care to be ceaselessly amusing and allows it to continue. Each day the Mask Collector persists in holding hostage the free will of his charges is another rock piled atop a mountain of sins.