18 Lamashan 4715 – Sunday
I don’t remember the few moments between fighting off the hound, the blast of fire, and then waking to Adria looking frantic above me. The pain is like nothing I’ve experienced before, which seems appropriate being the flames of hell. There was some relief in Adria’s touch, but I knew I could do little to help and stumbled back out of the room. Fortunately Niccolo and Lucia were able to finish putting them down.
We retreated back to the larger room to prepare for any reinforcements that no doubt heard the ruckus in the lecture hall. I think our adversaries expected us to push forward. However, they grew impatient and eventually the lock clicked and loud, clunking steps came stomping down the hall.
The man, if you could call him that, stood at least 8 feet tall with one massively oversized arm. He smelled of rotting cabbage, and did not like that we had “hurt his doggies.” He moved forward and Lucia leapt to the attack. A few redactors joined the fray, but with my injuries still so severe, I couldn’t afford to hold back.
The Lout, as the redactors called him, went down under Lucia’s blade, and the redactors fell as well. One by my hand, or my crossbow. I will have to deal with the guilt of that later.
By our count, only Nox should remain, and if memory serves, there was something unnatural about her. I covered my remaining bolts in silversheen. Every movement sent flashes of pain through me, and it’s going to take more than usual for me to bounce back from this. I can’t help Niccolo and Lucia on the front, but I’m a decent aim.
We moved along to the next room through the double doors. It seems to be a common room of sorts. There are more cells for people to stay, and I can’t help but wonder just how large this organization had been. Were all of the rooms occupied at some point or another? Or, like us, were they attempting to build something larger?
V.
